Karicter's SHTF Handloader Mod

Game Talk The Lab
1

[center]Hello and welcome everyone to Karicter’s SHTF Handloader mod.
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This mod is a new, more canon, non-game-breaking, mod that reinvents not only the use of crafting gunpowder and firearms without scouring for a kinetic bullet puller, but also fleshes out the process as an actual in game hobby/pastime of destruction. The mod rose from MANY other players desires to keep gunpowder crafting: center[/center]

[center]However This iteration of mine is mostly, for me anyways, a reason to validate all my work on the wiki [/center]
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[center]I will use this thread to post updates and of course releases that will hopefully maintain compatability with the Actual game as it releases. Everyone’s help is much appreciated both past, present, and future. Have fun handloading![/center]

[center]Current Visual Update:[/center]
[center][/center]

After gathering previous posts and discussions from players concerning handloading as a whole, I think I was able to list a number of items and devices that will be need to be created in order for this to work. That list and its progress is below.

Gunpowder will need:

  1. Static version: Ball mill and chemistry set (which will actually be mobile like the hand press & die.
    [left]|||\ .[/left]
    Mobile/handheld version: Mortar & Pestle (produces “broken gunpowder”) and chemistry set.
    [left]| . . . .[/left]
  2. Power system (Generator or UPS), or heat source for mobile version.
    [left]| . . . .[/left]

Bullet Casings will need:
Static version: Large drill press & die machine and Hand prime tool
[left]|. . .[/left]
Mobile/handheld version: hand press & die set and Hand prime tool
[left]| . . . .[/left]
While repairing gunpowder is impossible for obvious reasons, “broken” casings can be repaired via use of an Annealing machine, whether they are fired or die pressed ones.
[left]|. . .[/left]

Handloading (Current “mobile” process) uses:
hand press & die set
heat source of some kind
[left]| | | | | [/left]
As stated earlier, this will be made inferior to Static handloading via “broken” rounds/powders/casings being created which of course may misfeed or backfire.
[left]| . . . .[/left]

Handloading (Static) will need:
1.Large drill press & die machine.
[left]|. . .[/left]
2. Power system (Generator or UPS)
[left]| . . . .[/left]

New items needed for the process:
Graphite - Powder used in the Ball mill to coat the Black gunpowder along with Ammonia turning it into modern Gunpowder.
[left]| . . . .[/left]
Pencil - very small source of Graphite.
[left]| . . . .[/left]
Pencil box - disassemble for multiple Pencils.
[left]| . . . .[/left]
Jar of Graphite - usually found in school labs and hardware stores.
[left]| . . . .[/left]
Casing mold (9mm) - Different caliber molds, but this is a 9mm version just as a placeholder. Used to make casings.
[left]| . . . .[/left]
Hand prime tool (Maybe) - used in conjunction with the Drill press & die machine OR the Hand press and die set for priming cases.
[left]| . . . .[/left]
Barrel brush (Maybe) - used to clean out crude firearms that use black gunpowder as a propellent.
[left]| . . . .[/left]

Proposed new Recipes:
Gunpowder = Black gunpowder+Graphite+Ammonia+Ball mill (Nearby)
[left]|||\ .[/left]
Casing (High chance to produce “broken” casings.) = Hand press and die set+Hand prime tool+Casing mold (desired caliber version)+Copper+Primer (desired firearm model).
[left]| . . . .[/left]
Casing (Low chance to produce “broken” casings.) = Drill press and die machine+Hand prime tool+Casing mold (desired caliber version)+Copper+Primer (desired firearm model).
[left]| . . . .[/left]
All reloaded round recipes stay the same, however crafted with “broken” casings or crafted themselves “broken” by low skill or the Hand press and die set can be repaired with this recipe:
Annealing machine (Nearby)+power source.
[left]| . . . .[/left]

So, tl;dr:
Large drill press & die machine
Annealing machine
Ball mill
Hand prime tool
Mortar & pestle
The above “machines” are offically TBA for this mod, and the infered tweaks to canon/vanilla game mechanices i.e. producing “broken” casings/gunpowder/rounds will be the finalized fine tuning.
Please let me know of any suggestions if you’re interested.

Special thanks to:
Noctifer - starting the discussion in a more organized manner and equipment theory.
SkyeAuroline - documentation on RL handloading for reference.
vache - Equipment theory.
Kevin Granade - code description/definition/breakdown.

2

OH I love the organization. And the broken casing bit. Should a reloading skill start to form here? Kind of feel like it should. Perhaps later make it so that you have options on how much powder to put in…

and those with low skill will have more variable powder amounts. At the high end trying to make an overly hot round makes gun blow up in your face… maybe just make gun accuracy with weapons using … Novice skill level have less accuracy or more specifically the ammo less accurate.

hmm no… lots of reasons that wouldn’t work… oh well. Keep up the good work ^.^

3

Interesting. Still pondering how this could translate into expanding gunsmithing, but refining handloading is a neat concept.

4

Firstly, thank you, i thought it was a little clever.
Secondly, This is a theory I would like to dabble with, however there are already basic recipes that utilize this function; P+, +P+, beanbags, etc. As for a “gunsmithing/handloading skill” while i would like to suddenly be that important in the game’s direction, lets be realistic here, mechanics is the only easily translatable skill thusfar. Farming has construction, Drugs have cooking, and other “hobbies” have their own less translatable skills. What my point is is that a skill that directly affects a single “hobby” would not be beneficial to all player builds and likely just annoy Some other players. But yes a man can dream.

and those with low skill will have more variable powder amounts. At the high end trying to make an overly hot round makes gun blow up in your face... maybe just make gun accuracy with weapons using \..... Novice skill level have less accuracy or more specifically the ammo less accurate.

hmm no… lots of reasons that wouldn’t work… oh well. Keep up the good work ^.^


Actually I will be posting a modification to my OP discussing new recipes and general items needed for the process, since so far I only discuss large machinery and handloading specific ones at that. Case in point, gunpowder will be a “next tier” version of black gunpowder, similar to RL. Players will make the black gunpowder with sulphur-saltpetre-charcoal as before, but then once finding/building a Ball Mill and standing near it, they can add Ammonia and “Graphite” (soon to be found in “Pencils” and school labs in larger amounts) which will “stablize and standardize” the black gunpowder into modern gunpowder (aka the smokeless powder we use IRL). This makes the crafting process a bit more costly, but also gives a small importance to black powder (my way of creating that “amounts of powder” feel you mentioned before).

The above answers might clear that up, but I do have a few other ideas:
Black gunpowder will no longer be substitute (in larger quantites) for Gunpowder, but rather a very crude alternative in a rush or lack of a Ball Mill. Anything using black gunpowder will either be single use (zip guns either break or blow up on you) or require a hand device to clean the weapon (like a sort of barrel brush a-la old flintlock rifles).
Sulphur+Saltpetre+Charcoal=Black Gunpowder
Black Gunpowder+(Nearby)Ball Mill+Ammonia+Graphite=Gunpowder
----->is fired---->breaks.
OR----------->is fired----->clogs/dirties----->clean with barrel brush----->load again.
But again this is a very early stage version of theory behind the mod, I seriously would like the process to get a good fleshing out.

5

Oh maybe make it so weapons firing blackpowder make 1 tile of thin smoke in direction of fired weapon… hmm prob a little way away from that though.

6

Might be might a tad awkward to implement. Though the trail ammo flag would sorta work.

7

Omg, this, so much this! So added furniture can be successfully implemented. Broken casings and such make sense since a survivor is not by any means a professional bullet factory. This is alone should make firearms a viable self sufficient route. I will keep an eye on this to see where it goes.

8

Definitely something for later version fine tuning, maybe just cloning using cigarettes.

If youre refering to the smoke, I dont believe it is, but if you’re refering to the black gunpowder weapons youre right, though causing the black powder to “break” the gun somehow and the barrel brush to “repair” it might be a decent workaround.

Much appreciated, considering You technically started this. The cases seemed logical since we dont want this to drop game difficulty drastically in the late game. Most likely the Annealing machine and Ball mill will be rarer than the Drill press and die machine so that even if a play finds the mobile Hand press and die set, they are producing substandard “broken” casings and ammunition in general.

9

Update to OP, added:

New items needed for the process:
Proposed new Recipes:

10

[quote=“Karicter, post:1, topic:10662”]New items needed for the process:
Graphite - Powder used in the Ball mill to coat the Black gunpowder along with Ammonia turning it into modern Gunpowder.
[left]| . . . .[/left]
Pencil - very small source of Graphite.
[left]| . . . .[/left]
Pencil box - disassemble for multiple Pencils.
[left]| . . . .[/left]
Jar of Graphite - usually found in school labs.
[left]| . . . .[/left][/quote]

I quick look revealed that graphite is also sold in hardware shops. I guess jars of it could also be found there.

Edit: it appears graphite is also used in batteries and motors but extracting it from it would be hard I imagine… Mining and producing it is way to complicated from what Wikipedia says for the average survivor to do.

11

Thanks for that, I had completely forgotten hardware stores. Ill be sure to add that on the locations as well. I agree, that is some CVD machine level stuff, and for now im already teetering on the crap most survivors cant pull off as it is.

12

Finally an update. (About time Karicter, you asshole.)

Update to:

Current Visual Update

Gunpowder will need:

  1. Static version: Ball mill and chemistry set (which will actually be mobile like the hand press & die.
    |||\ .

Proposed new Recipes:
Gunpowder = Black gunpowder+Graphite+Ammonia+Ball mill (Nearby)
|||\ .

What does this mean?
I finally got the source code to accept a new object: the Ball mill, as well as built the recipe to require said ball mill in making gunpowder. However it reads the ball mill as an item only, I need to work on getting it to read like a cvd machine

13

Does the recipe work as a construction recipe? If so then just need to make it a furniture.

14

I assume you mean a recipe for building the Ball mall, because I was referring to the gunpowder recipe; I have to make sure the Ball mill works properly first. However mentioning furniture seems to be my next goal, see this thread:
http://smf.cataclysmdda.com/index.php?topic=11420.0

15

Oh, my bad, so gun power is down. So it appears that “crafting_pseudo_item” is a place holder furniture type to make it a requirement for furniture. This route should make it quicker by making it part of a recipe than trying to make furniture have a specific function but I think that it would not allow for “chance”. What I mean is that in a recipe the item crafted is always the same ( when you plan to implement broken casings, a recipe that creates casings will always create a type of casing.)

16

I was gonna say, yeah. Using crafting psuedoitems should work fine unless you need it to be able to also drain batteries or some other resource. In which case, you can also sidestep that by adding the required fuel cost as a component, as one alternative. >.>

17

looking into the lard recipe showed me you could make the “broken casings” a by product and making the actual wanted item less. This would still not allow for chance but its something I guess…I guess I am getting to ahead…

18

Working overnight, and decide to take a quick peak at the thread in case someone has some more help. See Major portions of the mod seemingly solved WITHOUT ME.

Why am I even here.

19

'cause solving bugs and problems is different than creating content.

20

Suddenly I feel less useless. Thank you for the motivation. Now to actually Get Home to work on it.