From the team
Hey guys, in this news post we thought we’d show you the rest of the weapons that will be in the initial weapons update. Though these weapons may seem a bit overspecialized, we’re confident they will all find a place in your future creations.
First up is the lovely 9mm pistol:
Safety, reliability and ergonomics is the first thing that comes to mind when handling this weapon. This weapon was first introduced in the 1980s as a high reliability firearm with good accuracy and easy handling. It features the use of composite materials throughout and has a moderate sized magazine and easy trigger pull. In Homebrew it represents the smallest firearm available both in terms of scale, but also in terms of weight and recoil. Players will find this weapon right at home mounted on small remote control vehicles or even mounted in an array on a kart.
For those of us who want a little more power without delving into autocannons, consider the 50 Caliber Machinegun:
With the memories of World War I still in the minds of many weapon designers, the need to develop the next generation of weapons took high priority. The appearance of lightly armored tanks, the adoption of airplanes, and the increase in ranges required to engage infantry formations required a new generation of machine guns. One solution to this was using a 50 caliber cartridge coupled with a water cooled barrel. While the round was effective (and with a high muzzle velocity for the day), the weapon system proved very heavy and awkward. It was realized that by attaching a heavy barrel to the weapon instead of the water jacket it would be possible to have good heat mitigation without a compromise in performance or durability. In Homebrew this weapon is meant to provide a little bit firepower without the bulk and recoil of some of the heavier weapons. It can also utilize a special high-velocity sabot ammunition for defeating light armor.
Speaking of versatile weapons, the 30mm Autocannon definitely fits the bill:
This weapon was developed in the late 1970s and was put into use in personnel carriers in the early 1980s. It fires a good sized cartridge with a wide variety of different payloads from high explosive to sabot and conventional armor piercing through a relatively short barrel. It is designed to engage all manners of infantry, aircraft and light armored vehicles at moderate ranges. Unlike the twin version of this weapon, the rate of fire is much more subdued and thanks to a longer and heavier barrel, it is able to more easily engage distant targets without chewing through ammunition. In Homebrew this represents a solid mix between the heavier anti-vehicle weapons and the high rate of fire needed in close range engagements. It is easier to use than the twin version of it although it still lacks the punch to successfully engage medium and heavy armored vehicles.
All of our weapons featured so far have been typically vehicle mounted direct fire weapons, that’s why we also included an 82mm mortar for all your indirect fire needs:
This mortar was patterned off a French design and features a simple tube that would normally be mounted on a simple base plate with a bipod for aiming. Operation of the mortar is quite simple, after setting the desired elevation (mortars are designed to fire at angles greater than 45 degrees) for a given range, the mortar shell is armed and a set number of charges is attached to it. The shell is then dropped down the tube where a firing pin hits it and sends it back out the top. Mortars have limited range and muzzle velocity compared to other indirect fire weapons but they do carry a significant payload. In homebrew we modeled the tube section of the mortar as well as giving users the ability to choose how many (1-6) charges to fire the shell with. The greater the number of charges, the longer the shot will travel. When testing this weapon we dug up an actual manual (dated in 1937!) for the operation of the mortar and were able to get the real world ranges to match up with our model.
What's next?
This concludes the weapons that are going to be featured in our first weapons update. We will have some more weapons to show you including a howitzer and a cannon from the age of sail in future updates along with some really special weapons that may or may not begin with rail and end with gun or an energy weapon that rhymes with maser. In our next post we’ll go over how we calculate gun performance as well as how we model armor penetration and damage. Stay tuned!