[DEVBLOG#282] Medieval weaponry (Patreon)

Hey everyone and welcome to a development blog that will cover all the new (and old) weapons you can find in Vanilla Factions Expanded - Medieval.

We're currently implementing numerous systems into the mod, including the previously mentioned heraldry system. In the meantime, I have been designing some more Medieval-fitting weapons to make the medieval factions feel more authentic, and to also add some more melee weapon progression to all in all just add depth to the Medieval period.

After all, if we were to add swords, medieval mod is probably the best place to do so.

A mighty weapon on the battlefield in the right kind of hands. Made to cut through flesh and bones alike. The axe edge extends into what's called horns, ideal for cutting through light armor and flesh alike.

This weapon has a chance to deal a critical strike, stunning the opponent.

Dane Axe is making a return - it was previously found in VFE-Vikings, but I figured it still has a place in the mod. It's an axe that has a chance to deal critical damage (almost double damage) to the enemy, stunning them in the process. Takes a long time to swing, but the damage potential is truly astonishing.

A heavy mace consisting of a shaft and a heavy ball adorned with spikes. Very effective at piercing plate armor, this weapon is often used by more vicious knights and mercenaries.

Heavy mace is also coming back, previously found in VFE-Medieval. It's slower than standard mace, but deals more damage and has a little bit more armor piercing. It's still not a lot, because maces are not meant to pierce armor.

A single-handed axe made for throwing. Light enough to be thrown accurately at medium range, it's also a great melee weapon in the hands of a capable warrior.

Throwing axes are just so 'viking' that I couldn't release this mod without them. Previously found in VFE-Vikings (duh), they deal substantial damage in melee, but can also be thrown over short distance. Charging into a group of viking warriors means you will have to get hit by a volley of these bad boys before you engage in melee.

A brutal, ancient weapon of heavy knights, the claymore can be used cleave through enemies with ease, occasionally dealing critical damage and stunning the victim.

Claymore was previously an easter egg weapon in VFE-Medieval. You had to have a pawn name Arthur cross a bridge in a caravan. Then, an event triggered in which a black knight attacks you. He's immune to all attacks, except those made by Arthur. Each attack by Arthur cut off another limb from the black knight, until he died, and dropped this sword. Well, now you will be able to craft it! Claymore is unlocked with Long blades research and works similar to Dane Axe. It has a chance to deal critical damage and stun an opponent, but takes a long time to swing.

A long, unwieldy polearm with a sharp edge and a sharp point. The simple, ancient design concentrates cutting power generated from strong overhead swings. The reach of the pike allows to strike enemies much further away.

Pike is a new addition, and I think it's absolutely essential. It's a weapon similar to spear, but more focused on Cut damage and not Stab damage. This means it has lower armor piercing. It also takes a very long time to attack with it: over 4 seconds! The gimmick? It has a 2 cell attack range. Your pikemen can attack in melee while standing behind your front line infantry. Unlocked with Long Blades.

A long, unwieldy polearm tipped with a sharp point for stabbing opponents. The reach of the long spear allows to strike enemies much further away.

Similar to Pike, but slightly faster to attack with, Long spear is focused on Stab damage and has no capacity to slash people or cut them. It has a higher armor piercing and also has a 2 cell attack range.

A powerful crossbow. Fires a heavy bolt over extreme distances, but takes a long time to cock it due to the need to use the cranequin.

Arbalest is our evolution of the heavy crossbow, which will not reappear as it was in VFE-Medieval. Instead, arbalest is a neat ranged weapon capable of firing very heavy, armor piercing bolts over extreme distances. Range-wise, it's similar to sniper rifle. Accuracy unfortunately suffers because of that. It also takes a very long time to reload: 4.7 seconds.

A versatile and compact blade designed for both thrusting and slashing. Its nimble design makes it effective in close-quarters combat, where quick strikes can overwhelm slower foes.

Shortsword was created as we really lacked a standard, basic sword, and I didn't want to use the base game gladius for medieval knights. As a result, shortsword is a mix between gladius and a longsword, trading damage for attack speed. The DPS is the same as longsword, but attack speed is higher.

A refined mace, with a spiked head connected to the handle with a chain, engineered for efficient swinging and deadly impacts. The randomness of the chain movement means that damage may fluctuate greatly.

Flail gives me many good memories (Stronghold: Crusader was my poison of choice when I was younger), so I felt the need to add it too. It's essentially a heavy mace, same damage and everything, however the damage is made inconsistent. It can fluctuate between 50% damage and 150% damage. So, if you like the risk, you can use it and potentially deal even more damage!

A powerful, long variant of the greatbow. While it doesn’t excel at hitting nearby enemies, arrows fired from the warbow curve over walls and can be fired without requiring line of sight.

Warbow is a new heavy longbow with quite a unique trait. It has low accuracy and takes quite some time to fire, but it does not require line of sight and can fire over walls. This means you can position your archers inside your castle's courtyard and fire it outwards, bombarding the invading enemies. It also means they can do the same to you.

Now, there is a new research project before gunsmithing too, giving you access to some truly unique weapons in the medieval period.

Chempowder weapons are a new weapon type that the player will naturally procure before advancing to machining, gunsmithing and so on. The research to obtain those will be a prerequisite to later on obtain guns.

Chempowder weapons are not designed to be subpar to early industrial guns. I figured that’d be a mistake - because people would just instantly discard them and trade them for modern guns. Instead, chempowder weapons fill a really unique niche. Their four main traits are described below:

Damage fall-off

Chempowder weapons’ damage scales with the distance to the target. At point-blank, that damage is multiplied by x200%, and at maximum range, that damage is multiplied by x0%. This means that the closer the target is, the higher the damage will be.

The damage curve is as follows:

• 0% maxrange, 200% damage

• 50% maxrange, 100% damage

• 100% maxrange, 0% damage

Negative Armor penetration

The AP of chempowder weapons is negative. This means that these weapons are particularly bad against armored enemies, to the point where even the smallest amount of armor has a high chance of completely deflecting the damage.

Blindsmoke

When fired, chempowder weapons emit blindsmoke on the tile they were fired from. It acts both as a cover for them, and a hindrance. Fortunately, it doesn't really matter considering that they fire many projectiles.

Projectile count

While these weapons don’t fire bursts, they fire several projectiles with each shot. These projectiles each have their own angle deviation, same way burst shots do. It’s essentially a burst, but I fired all in one tick.

An ancient firearm with a smoothbore barrel, the arquebus delivers powerful shots at decent range. The lead balls lose velocity and damage with distance, and are extremely ineffective against armor. Due to the chempowder reaction when firing the arquebus, plumes of blindsmoke are ejected from the barrel.

Arquebus is the long range chempowder weapon. It has about the same range as a bolt action rifle, and the same accuracy. Just remember about the damage fall off - just because the range is the same, doesn't mean it's as reliable as the boltie.

It fires three projectiles, and at point blank it has the capability of pretty much instantly killing someone, as is deals 72 damage due to the 200% damage multiplier on each projectile.

An ancient crude but deadly firear, the hand cannon fires a devastating grapeshot over a short distance. The lead balls lose velocity and damage with distance, and are extremely ineffective against armor. Due to the chempowder reaction when firing the arquebus, plumes of blindsmoke are ejected from the barrel.

Hand cannon is the close range chempowder weapon. It has the same range as a pump action shotgun, and fires not 3 but 7 projectiles, each dealing 10 damage. This means that at point blank, if all 7 projectiles hit, it deals whopping 140 damage, probably obliterating anyone unlucky enough to stand so close. Sadly, due to the long reload time (again, over 4 seconds), you probably will only get to fire it once before the enemy reaches you and engages you in melee.

I don't envision us adding any more weapons, but I hope you enjoyed this devblog. Let me know what you think, and I will come back soon with more information about Medieval 2!