Weapons and Ammo

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The general categories of weapons available include melee (hand-to-hand), dual weapons (fewer reloads and ability for multi-damage types), and ranged (distance attacks).

 

	Combat Type	Progression Examples
	Melee	* Makeshift Scavenged Weapons – corkscrew, fireplace, poker, 2x4, shovel * Scavenged Weapons – tire iron, crowbar, golf club, pickaxe * Basic Weapons – knives, billy clubs * Moderate Weapons – baseball bats, combat knives, axes, machetes * Advanced Weapons – swords, spiked baseball bats, heavy machetes
	Pistol	* Zip Guns * Revolvers * Semi-Automatic Pistols/Sawed Off Shotguns * Machine Pistols * Submachine Guns
	Rifle	* Crossbows * Bolt Action Rifles/ Double Barrel Shotguns * Pump Shotguns/Semi-Automatic Rifles * Automatic Shotguns/Assault Rifles/Sniper Rifles

Up to six weapons at a time can be slotted and players can switch between them. Switching is not instantaneous and takes around one second.

There are few “real” weapons in the early stages of the game, so characters will have to use a variety of weapons made from whatever they can find. Players will work their way up from such weapons as crossbows, zip guns and pipes to more advanced weapons like assault rifles, submachine guns and baseball bats wrapped in razorwire. Progressing through the game will generally give way to better scavenged or crafted weapons. Towards the later stages, there will be a mixture of real weapons and salvaged weapons.  Weapons have weights assigned so what and how much a player can carry will be limited by their Strength.

A formula is used on all firearms based on that weapon’s range, ammunition, rate of fire, desired length of combat, etc. to determine weapon damage. Firearms each have their own rate of fire, magazine size, range, damage, durability, ruggedness, etc. that contributes to this formula. Some weapons may give their users a bonus to certain skills (i.e. Melee) and upgraded versions of these weapons give slightly higher bonuses. 

Each weapon has a damage number and type associated with it, so a Wood Board may do 30 points of Crushing damage while a Zip Gun may do 12 points of Ballistics damage. Fairly weak weapons like corkscrews and pipes do around 5-30 points of damage depending on speed and whether it’s one- or two-handed. Most melee weapons inflict around 20-60 points of damage per attack, while more advanced weapons like top-end axes and swords can do upwards of 100 points of damage.

Zip guns start out inflicting around 10 points of damage and crossbows around 40 (you can fire zip guns much, much faster than crossbows). Most pistols and sub-machine guns do in the 30-50 damage range, while rifles are generally in the 40-60 range, except for shotguns and bolt-action rifles like hunting and sniper rifles, which do substantially more damage.

Players will be able to make various types of throwable explosives.  All important weapons will be craftable with the more powerful weapons being both more difficult and expensive due to the increased amount of materials needed to make them.

Ammunition:

Ammunition is moderately scarce and will correlate with the weapon used. It has a weight value assigned to it so players are unlikely to be able to carry more than a few hundred rounds at a time. Crafters can make all types of ammo, but the more powerful the ammo, the more components are required and the rarer some of those components are. Gun using NPCs will drop ammunition but it may or may not be the kind you need and some larger towns will sell ammo, but it won’t be the best of what’s available. If a character is using a special firearm, they will likely have to make their own ammunition or purchase it from a crafter.

Each firearm uses a specific class of ammo only (ammo is stackable in groups of 500).

Resources: 92, 93, 97, 111, 117