Research in Aranum firearms- which is the best?

Research goal: determining which of the Arcanum firearms is most combat effective in turn based combat (in conditions of unpatched game).

Primary factor examined: damage per turn at DX 20 (speed= 25)

Tesla Gun: Damage 10-80+ Speed 6= average damage 45+ 4 shots per turn= 180 per turn

Droch's Warbringer: Damage 20-40+Speed 13= average damage 30+ 6 shots per turn= 180 per turn

Blade Launcher Damage 30-60+ Speed 6= average damage 45+ 4 shots per turn= 180 per turn

Mechanized Gun: Damage 1-30+ Speed 25= average damage 15 + 12 shots per turn= 180

Conclusion: all best guns in the game produce equal average ammount of damage per turn.

Secondary factors taken into account:

TH bonus:
Tesla gun: none
Droch's Warbringer: none
Blade Launcher: none
Mechanized Gun: none

Best gun in this category- none.

Ammo usage:
Tesla Gun- 4 charges per shot= 16 charges per turn. Considering that charges are more difficult to obtain (maximum 160 to buy and make in Tarant per day as opposed to 450 bullets to buy only), one charge equals in value to 2.5 bullets. This way, Tesla Gun's ammo consumption is 45 per turn.
Droch's Warbringer:1 bullet per shot= 6 per turn
Blade Launcher:6 bullet per shot=24 per turn
Mechanized Gun 6 bullets per shot= 72 per turn

Best gun in the category- Droch's Warbringer, with Blade Launcher being second.

Damage reliability:
Tesla Gun: minimum damage of 40 per turn, maximum damage 320. Gap- 280
Droch's Warbringer: minimum damage of 120 per turn, maximum damage of 240. Gap- 120
Blade Launcher: minimum damage of 120 per turn, maximum damage of 240. Gap- 120
Mechanized Gun: minimum damage of 12, maximum damage of 360. Gap= 348

Best gun in this category- Droch's Warbringer, Blade Launcher

Conclusion: the best weapon in the game by all standards is Droch's Warbringer, Blade Launcher being close second.
Opinions?

 

good on you
maybe u should have taken weight into account
there now i didnt spam

 

I'd say that, since Droch's can still do the same damage a round as the other, and you have to carry around so much less ammo, it is by far the best. I know you calculated ammo in the first section, but I don't think you gave it the weight it requires. If your guy with ST12 can wear mech armor AND wield Droch's at full speed because he only has 100 bullets inhis inventory, it makes it faster than the others. If you have to carry 1000 bullets for the blade launcher or mech gun, you are likely going to be slower than the full weapon speed. That said, do you know the strength requirements and weight of each weapon? That should affect the ratings, too, I think. So, basically what I am saying is that I think you are right that Drochs comes out way ahead. I'm just adding that, as far as I can see, it comes out WAY, WAY, WAY ahead.

 

Are you including the 10-10 electrical damage in here as well or am I just in need of another caffeine fix. :/ Anyway, nothing new to add really. I rather like the Warbringer because it's one handed, consumes a single bullet (oh what I would give for different types of bullets), and has a very low MSR of seven. I think it's seven anyway. Yes, definitely seven, as opposed to FIFTEEN for the blade launcher. Pftt, I hardly ever raise my gunslinger's strength beyond ten or so.

Labyrinthian, why would a gunslinger want to wear mech armor? It would have to be a very inept gunslinger indeed if he found himself taking so much damage as to call for such heavy armor. Remember: if they can hit you, you've already lost!

Welcome to the forum, and please don't spam.

 

Wolf, you're only embarrassing yourself. You spammed. Eat it and move on.

Canis, I know what you're saying, but I tend to like really high armor ratings for everybody in the party, even if they don't really need it. In fact, in this game, they rarely need it. The second time through with a mage, I F5ed every single encounter. Fireflash, harm, fireflash, potion, harm, harm, harm. God magic is dumb in this game. I never let my boys get hit, or hit back, really. No more than pack animals, really.

But if you're roleplaying in the truest sense, there are two ways of looking at it. One is that these are 19th century-style gunlisgers who really shouldn't be wearing any armor heavier than a long coat. The other is that these are the earliest prototypes for robotech-style battlemechs, and that's what the mech armor is. Both are valid, I think.

Also, for those with low or no electric skill, there is just about no good tech armor in the game except for the mechanized stuff. As far as game mechanics are concerned, it increases your strength olmost enough to make its weight negligible, once you get the hack, at least. So for the powergamer, better armored is better than worse-armored, no?

 

An excellent explanation, particularly the roleplaying approach. :thumbup:

For myself though, even from a powergaming perspective I don't see much use in raising strength past around ten-ish, which is the point at which one can carry a good amount of ammo and loot without being inconvenienced by encumberance. Everything is dead before they can get to me anyway, so armor doesn't come into it. As a powergamer the extra strength points would be wasted since armor doesn't even come into it. For a melee character it's different of course, as strength would also determine how much damage is dealt, but for a gunfighter it's a total non-issue.

Well, I guess. I've been plenty of a powergamer in other games but not in Arcanum, so maybe I'm looking at it wrong.

If you're just doing it for roleplay though that's just fine and dandy, and as long as it's consistent with the character there's really no argument against it.

 

my gunslinger used oiled-leather thieves armor almost the entire game, not because he was a thief, but because it was much lighter than studded leather, and only slightly less defensive.

but you have to admit there is something completely cool about seeing someone in chainmail holding a kite shield and a revolver isnt there? i think that some of the coolness of this game comes from the whole medieval/technological imagery crossover. you have to consider the fact that this isnt OUR world, its arcanum. just because its the 18th century doesnt mean a gun slinger wouldnt wear armor. especially if he was of a highly technological bent. in that case i think it is very likely that a strongly tech oriented gunslinger type character would use light to medium armor in most situations. not necessarily the same armor a melee character would use, but enough to keep him protected just in case things did get up close and personal. i remember a few times i wish i had opted for heavier armor, (especially when i ran out of molotovs to push back the skeletons) and my character wound up dying, especially in dungeons where there wasnt that much room to run away. this is supposed to be taking place during an industrial revolution too, wouldnt these "techie" schientists be pretty eager to try out all the new goodies available to them?

p.s. can you buy things like tech armor anywhere? my char has magical allergy for his background, and all i can find is generic/magickal armor, no tech... one of the flaws in the game imo, is that you can buy and find a ton of sweet magickal items but you have to MAKE all of the good tech ones. the best tech items should be made by your char, but there should be some decent ones available for those neutral characters you know?

 

i think in caldon theres a store where u can buy dwarven platemail IIRC

 

Yea, like having AT LEAST ONE DAMN FIRE OBSTRUCTION IN THE WORLD SO I CAN GET A PYRO BOW WITHOUT PISSING OFF THE ENTIRETY OF TULLA!!!! :x

Most armor is slightly tech, but alas no, you can't really buy too many tech items in stores.

 

Sleek, There is a tech armor shop in Tarant, It is fairly close off of the N-S road w/ the Rail station, if I remember correctly.
I think that is a good point re: roleplaying in Arcanum, I mean look at the opening sequence, that is basically exactly what sort of thing is going down.

 

I think my favorite revlolver is Schreck's Multi-Barreled Pistol... did you guys take that into account? that has to be one of me favorite guns of all tyme...

 

Please, tell us why you think Schreck's is one of your favorite guns. Posts that simply say,"This gun is cool because it's my favorite and vice versa," are simply a waste of space. No, we did not take into account that it is one of your favorites because a) we did not know and b) we did not give a crap. Besides, this discussion so far has been limited to firearms that actually exist in the game.

And please stop writing it "tyme". You made a typo once, fine. But as a running joke it's not nearly as funny as you seem to think.

 

Hmm, I was examining the gins in the unpatched game, where Droch's Warbringer does not add 10-10 electrical damage. 10-10 electrical damage sounds more like Charged Accelerator Gun to me.

As for the gunslinger armor- with ST 15 you can wear an Elite plate without slowing yourself down. Besides, there is always all sorts of Barbarian armor

The character I'm playing right now is planning to reach ST 21, so he could also carry enough Stun grenades. Besides, I have three gunslinger followers in need of decent weapons, and they all have low ST, which is why I will probably have to give them Warbringers and settle for a Blade Launcher myself.

 

Where do you get the Warbringer?

 

In Vendigroth ruins. Towards the end of the main plot of the game.

 

my gunslinger wheres ordinary robes, sure not much protection but not much encumberance. And in my opinion. IT LOOKS BITCHIN'!

 

I think "best" is a POV thing. I personally prefer the Mechanized Gun. Its all a matter of what you have avalible. I mean, if youve got a flamethrower and 3000 bullets and 3 coins, the bullets aint gonna do you much good. The best gun (for non-undead) is the Tranquilizer Gun. Blast someboddy 3 times and theyre down, draw a blade and slice slice, your done.

 

Well, that isn't obvious? I prefer the blade launcher too, just because I like the idea of shooting someone with a giant shoty, AND stabbing them at the same time. We New Yorkers are busy people, we have to multi-task like that . But you can't give anything a grade when you include preferences, so you can't include them. In his post, he said the most combat effective, and no matter if you like the Mech gun or not, it's not very effective, it's expensive as hell.

Oh, why the fuck would you get 3000 bullets for a flamethrower?

 

i dont think the question is why he would have the bullets, the true enigma would be why would he use a useless weapon like the flame thrower? i really wish it was useful though, it looks so cool when you use it...

i'd also like to point out that sometimes you dont realy need a big gun, i kept the sharp shooters pistol with me throughout 60% of the game because it was so fast (especially as i boosted my dexterity) and accurate, and perfect or all of those encounters where itd be a waste of ammo/charges (i still like the tesla gun) to use another weapon. of course, i still havent gotten past the 6% of the game, so i guess this would be what i am currently doing in arcanum... shooting rats and sick ly bear cubs with a pistol at what seems like 100 shots a second...

if only there were as wide a variety of ammunition, (and animation) for firearms as there were in fallout 2...