Grenades

[imgran]

-- Because they were period.  Thrown bombs are as old as handguns and older.

-- Because you have already coded a splash damage mechanism from Cannons.

-- Because it would add an interesting Thrown weapon back into the mix making that skill a little less useless.

-- Because it would be awesome and we all know it.

 

[xenoargh]

I agree, on all counts.  Main issue has been finding a picture of a period grenade and being non-lazy enough to model / skin one

 

[imgran]

That help at all?  All they were was a clay ball filled with gunpowder and shrapnel and with a fuse in the middle.  There's a lot of leeway because there wasn't exactly a military equipment standards regulation back in the day.  Make a grayish ball, stick a wick in the top, and no one would be able to tell you that isn't a 15th century grenade.

EDIT: Actually they were iron balls.  The guys who used clay were the Chinese when they fought the Mongols, and the Mongols themselves after they picked it up from the Chinese (the Mongol army in the Battle of Hakata Bay was armed with grenades.  Yes, that means that there's no reason there couldn't be a Khergit Grenadier)

EDIT: I have also found pictures in the past of 15th Century grenade LAUNCHERS.  Interested?

 

[imgran]

Thought this might help too -- a Grenadier in action.  Match in the left hand, grenade in the right.  For the purposes of animation, just make sure the off-hand touches the grenade before they throw and then the ordinary throwing motion should be more than sufficient.  A glowing thing in the left hand would be an added little cherry-on-top bonus.

 

[MayPeX]

This is a must Rhodok weapon =D

 

[imgran]

It's a weapon that could be integrated into any race.  The worst stretches of history would be the Vaegirs and Nords.  The Khergits, Swadians and Rhodoks all have strong historical ties to nations that IRL used grenades, the latter two quite liberally, and the Sarranids fought with gunpowder as long as, or longer than, Europeans did (we didn't get the tech first, we just MASTERED it first)

EDIT: By the way, I want that feathered hat the grenadier is wearing in the game too lol.  I have a black Musketeers' hat that's screaming for some plumage.

 

[nilloc93]

as long as the grenades don't have to hit the target to cause the AOE damage

 

[imgran]

It depends on the kind of data the engine does and does not record, whether that's even possible.  I agree that it should be tried if possible.

 

[Sir OnuSetallis]

Also, if you successfully implement the grenade, make it so every time someone throws it, they say "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" or "BOMBS AWAY!", if you catch my drift. 

 

[imgran]

No.  Do not.

 

[nilloc93]

^ *10

 

[HunterAlpha1]

Also, if you successfully implement the grenade, make it so every time someone throws it, they say "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" or "BOMBS AWAY!", if you catch my drift. 

or maybe when you throw the grenade and it lands near enemy soldiers they yell "Granate!!!" like in Call of Duty

 

[nilloc93]

or mabye we can stop attempting to derail imgrans thread.

just a thought, would it be possible to have the grenades timed, cause they did explode in mid air sometimes due to the primitive fuses

 

[HunterAlpha1]

just a thought, would it be possible to have the grenades timed, cause they did explode in mid air sometimes due to the primitive fuses

and sometimes in the thrower's hand!  being a grenadier in those days was asking to get your hand blown off.

 

[imgran]

... let's keep this pretty simple.  IMHO, you get the grenade in the game, and then you refine it with all the extra cool stuff.

 

[UltimaGecko]

just a thought, would it be possible to have the grenades timed, cause they did explode in mid air sometimes due to the primitive fuses

and sometimes in the thrower's hand!  being a grenadier in those days was asking to get your hand blown off.

That's not modelled with the firearms, I don't see any reason why a grenade would be different. If you're going for that kind of depth you're better off forcing arquebusiers to use their weapons as clubs when it's pouring and only allow flintlocks to potentially discharge in the rain.


If you don't want to go with traditional explosive grenades (mostly stemming from the 1600s), an alternative is Byzantine and Arab naphtha bomb (basically a ceramic pot filled with an inflammable gel-like substance). They're basically ceramic spheres with a cap. They're then filled and can be lit and thrown when needed; then it breaks and spreads the flaming liquid over a group of soldiers.

This follows early gunpowder trends as well (not that the mod strictly follows any sort of firearms progression...there are already flintlocks in-game). Early gunpowder didn't so much explode as burn, making it an excellent incendiary weapon (bombs were used commonly along side firearms, but the explosive consistency of early gunpowder was notoriously bad). There aren't many ships or wooden buildings in Calradia, but that just means grenades don't have to be ridiculously overpowered.

As a plus in the case of naphtha bombs, they would make more sense to do AOE damage on contact, otherwise they're just spreading fire all on the ground instead of into people's faces.

 

[WuTaNiSt]

Wait, why would it be bad for naptha or greek fire bombs to spread fire on the ground as well as on enemies?
Also, if we go down this greek fire route, you could even include flamethrowers

 

[HunterAlpha1]

Wait, why would it be bad for naptha or greek fire bombs to spread fire on the ground as well as on enemies?
Also, if we go down this greek fire route, you could even include flamethrowers

i believe the WWII China Battlefield mod has working flamethrowers

 

[UltimaGecko]

Wait, why would it be bad for naptha or greek fire bombs to spread fire on the ground as well as on enemies?
Also, if we go down this greek fire route, you could even include flamethrowers

The way native M&B works it's easier to (reliably) have weapons that have an effect on contact with another person than having weapons that have an effect when they hit anything. It would be best if they did spread fire on the ground, but realistically speaking it's more likely that they would only reliably work if they actually hit a person.