Survivor's Arsenal: an array of craftable weapons

Game Talk The Lab
1

So I’ve had my eye on suggestions about adding new weapons to the game, and one that comes up often is “more craftables!” So, I’ve worked up some preliminary plans for some new options. However, I know balance/realism are also a concern for the devs, so I figured I’d post them here for feedback before I get to coding.

First off, traditional guns in more calibers.

38 Saturday Night Special: a cheap and crudely made double barrel hand gun, but it gets the job done and is easy to craft (low mechanics required). It’s also got the advantage of being more portable than the pipe rifles.

.40 revolver: Now that’s more like it! This homemade revolver may not look like much, but it’s a step up from having to load each bullet one by one. (Made at same level a revolver shotgun) Niche: decent homemade small gun that’s also portable. Not amazing, but usable.

.45 Hand Cannon: Damn that’s got some kick! This thing is pretty heavy to compensate for the recoil, but it’ll put some hurt on whatever is on the wrong end. (Higher mechanics) Niche: powerful handgun

Pipe sniper: made to fire .308 rounds and required with a decent scope, you’ve finally made a decent long range weapon. The long barrel is accurate, but unwieldy. (High mechanics) Niche: sniper

.223 carbine: that old pipe rifle ain’t cutting it anymore. You’ve managed to make a passable clip to get this semi automatic, but it won’t be as good as a real rifle (higher mechanics) Niche: semi-auto rifle

That’s the basics. I’ll write up the more …unique ones when I get some more time. Thoughts? Also, constructive criticism is welcome as my knowledge of firearms is from videogames only, so…

2

All of these have a chance to blow up :slight_smile:

And I think making a scrap rifle a loading it with (imaginary, since magazines/clips aren’t even in the game/meant to hold ammo) homemade stripper clips ingame will be amazing.

(Small gripe; We need magazines and clips. Carrying 20 bullets with me everywhere sound… you know.)

3

This all fucking day.

4

Currently there isn’t much use for homemade guns since milspec firearms are so easy to obtain (easier than a decent store of ammo).

One I have considered though is a single-loading .50 BMG rifle made using the barrel off an M2 machinegun. Abandoned military vehicles with a mounted M2 and often some ammo are dotted around, but a dismounted HMG is too heavy to be much use. Making something capable of firing that ammunition while still being carryable would be a useful thing for a survivor to do.

5

Part of the reason for making these is due to the planned changes of making firearms a bit rarer, as per this topic: http://smf.cataclysmdda.com/index.php?topic=8239.msg188909#msg188909

.50 rifle sounds good to me; I’ll give it some thought. If you couldn’t tell, I was just doing the must common ammo types not already used by a craftable gun. I was also hoping to add in some recipes for in game items (Survivor Special, modern wrist brace slingshot), but I want to contact their creators for permission (Rivet and John Candleberry). I’m definitely adding the pipe shotgun as an option for the revolver shotgun recipe though.

Anyway, enough miscellania, on to phase 2: unique contraptions. These have almost all been brainstormed with various forum members. Unfortunately I don’t have my notes on who to credit for them right now, but I’ll try to remember to credit them in the commits.

Blunderbuss: A precursor to the shotgun, this handcrafted version is still useful in the post apocalypse for its ability to fire just about anything. Pack in some scrap with some gunpowder, and recycle your junk into zombie slaying. (Adding several ammo types, crafted from gunpowder, paper for wadding, and junk. Should sit between shotgun and 40mm shot damagewise, varying on material. Current ideas: scrap, pebbles/marbles/bearings, nails, sand, glass shards…basically anything. I’ll have to research weapon durability for this and the 2 Shot Special)

Rock launcher: a simple cannon for launching simple ammo: rocks. (Not quite sure where to put this. I want it to be craftable early, but large, unwieldy and slow to compensate. This is something you’d leave loaded around your base for emergencies early game. Don’t expect to reload it in combat, but it will do some good damage in one shot in exchange for a good deal of gunpowder.

Acid sprayer: essentially a child’s water gun (think super soaker) upgraded to spray out deadly acid. (I think I can repurpose the spitter code for this, but I’ll need more research. This is probably the trickiest to implement so far actually.)

Sawblade launcher: brutal, yet satisfying. This madman’s contraption hurls circular sawblades with messy but effective results. (Gotta do some balancing on this, as I’m unsure where to put it. Optional over the top addition: chainsaw bayonet? Probably a touch too far)

Demolition cannon: sure, grenade launchers are nice, but it’s tough to find ammo, so you’ve cobbled together a launcher for your pipe bombs and molotovs. (Definitely needs work, but I’d love a launcher that doesn’t require 40mm even if it’s less effective)

Again, feedback is definitely welcome. Obviously this half is less fleshed out, partly due to having less to base these off of already in game. Let me know if anything is too far off canon/flavor too. I think the game could use more creative homemade weapons, but if some of these are too out there, I may just make them into a mod.

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I like the idea of more calibers available for handmade guns, but tbh revolvers and sniper rifles seem unreasonable for a survivor with a bunch of hand-tools. I think it would be more realistic if you limited it to two-shot pistols and piperifles, at least until stuff like factories with machine dies, lathes etc. gets added to the game (if ever).

I like the contraptions. I might suggest naming the “Demolition Cannon” a “Hand Mortar” instead, though. Also, “Rock Cannon” is more or less a traditional potato launcher, right? Just add rocks instead of potatoes.

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Well, we do already have the revolver shotgun in the game, so I think a revolver fits current tech. I agree sniper rifle is a bit of a stretch. I was thinking extra long barrel to compensate for poor tools.

Hand mortar is a much better name. I hadn’t had my coffee yet and just true something out there. And yes, the rock launcher is sort of a potato gun. I was thinking gunpowder instead of pneumatic, but I might tweak it to be made with an oxygen tank.

8

I think more craftable firearms would be nice. I often play with low loot spawns, so finding guns with matching ammo(or vice versa) is sometimes problematic. Also it’d tie in well with a more deteoriated theme

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[quote=“jokermatt999, post:1, topic:7940”]38 Saturday Night Special: a cheap and crudely made double barrel hand gun, but it gets the job done and is easy to craft (low mechanics required). It’s also got the advantage of being more portable than the pipe rifles.

.40 revolver: Now that’s more like it! This homemade revolver may not look like much, but it’s a step up from having to load each bullet one by one. (Made at same level a revolver shotgun) Niche: decent homemade small gun that’s also portable. Not amazing, but usable.

.45 Hand Cannon: Damn that’s got some kick! This thing is pretty heavy to compensate for the recoil, but it’ll put some hurt on whatever is on the wrong end. (Higher mechanics) Niche: powerful handgun[/quote]
No problems with these, and the descriptions are an upgrade from the existing no-flavor craftables.

The main issue you’re going to run into with decent accuracy is tolerances and rifling. Without very fine tolerances in manufacture and good rifling, you’re just not going to get decent accuracy.

Yea adding a magazine is doable. A pipe magazine (built in, reload one round at a time) might be more reasonable to achieve than a removable box magazine.

That’s a great idea. I think salvaging from existing unusable or hard-to-use weapons would be a great way to go.

Very yes, though the code to make it work with miscellaneous items will be… interesting. Take a look at the top of the method player::fire_gun() in ranged.cpp around line 272 for how an existing weapon does it.

Keep in mind with a projectile that large you’ve wandered out of “large gun” into “small cannon”.

You’re not talking about enough volume to create acid pools large enough to melt things that step in it, so if it adds fields they should probably be cosmetic.

A bit silly, but no problem.

Basically this is an upgraded spud gun, you can make it with PVC pipe, an ignition source, and hairspray or another flammable aerosol. The downside is you have to spray in the aerosol right before firing, so the firing time would be quite high.

10

Sniper, I’ll have to work out the numbers. I guess it’ll be less of a sniper and more of powerful hunting style rifle.

No issue with the reload one. No current idea for weapon salvage, so if someone gives me a good idea I’ll json it.

For the Blunderbuss, I was just planning on adding several craftable shots, rather than allow absolutely anything. I fear coding that.

Small cannon is exactly right. Large, heavy, and not to be toted around scavenging.

Good call on no acid pools. I’ll just take more time and do it right. This and the sawblade launcher (along with some other goodies) will probably learned from a book. I’m thinking “Scribblings of a Mad Engineer”.

Hand mortar with a long firing time works for me. I’m wondering how I could simulate ranging. Maybe an effect after firing?

As for more goodies from Mad Engineer:
Atomic Chainsaw: A combat chainsaw, modified to run off of plutonium cells. Extremely heavy and loud, but deadly.

Electro-glaive: Part pole arm, part taser.

Still brainstorming, but I’m probably going to submit the mad engineer stuff as a separate PR or maybe a mod.

11

Pipe bombs, okay sure, but when you load a glass bottle of gasoline into a tube and attempt to launch it with a chemical explosion, you’re probably just going to blow up the Molotov, and quite possibly, tube.

12

Did you guys forget about CO2 or…?

13

All I can really think of in this moment in time is this:

Tennis Ball Launcher (Overdrived) Turret:

Firstly, you could find one of those training tennisball launching this in sporting goods stores. Then with a very high computing/mechanics skill you could rig up the machine to firing at enemies (maybe even automatically) and you could load the tennis ball launcher with all sorts of stuff! Maybe even remake it so it fires grenades. Sounds OP but the costs and skill requirements would obviously be super high.

14

Shot pistol. Short barrel, one shot, loads o’ damage.
Barely any range.

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[quote=“Slax, post:14, topic:7940”]Shot pistol. Short barrel, one shot, loads o’ damage.
Barely any range.[/quote]

12 Gauge Pistol, already craftable. I always forget about that too.

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Ok, the first part of this is mostly ready. I just need to finish a few recipes and I should have a pr up tonight hopefully. Included so far: 2 Shot Special (38), Survivor’s Six Shooter (40), Homemade Hand Cannon (45), Pipe Rifle 308, Survivor’s .223 Carbine, and the Blunderbuss. It may need another balance pass, but I’m willing to tweak it until it’s ready for mainline. Everything is subject to change.

Edit: pull request submitted! I’d love some feedback.

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this will be mainlined? cool
[me=Arek_PL]looks at his 9 m2 machine guns[/me]

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Blunderbuss? Hell yeah!

(I mostly recall them from Tolkien’s hilarious mock-epic)

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I dont know if this is mentioned but a paintball gun?

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[quote=“Arek_PL, post:17, topic:7940”]this will be mainlined? cool
[me=Arek_PL]looks at his 9 m2 machine guns[/me][/quote]

It has been mainlined, but I still need to do a separate pr for the m2 rifle, sorry.