Why are rifle cartridges so complex-expensive

Question

Admittedly the rifle is a fairly late game (for now) weapon, but the production chain for cartridges is silly complex! Manufacturing beacons for your bullets is beyond silly.

Comments

I agree. What's the point of making remotely triggered explosives and then use the gunpowder to make cartridges? Why not use gunpowder + some steel for them instead?

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I also feel like the damage of the rifle is woefully underpowered for its cost and complexity.

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I was expecting black powder and steel ingot, but it's steel pipes and nobelisk.

They really need to change it its way to complex and the materials doesn't make any sense, it's the first thing I have crafted that didn't make even a little bit of sense.

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A large bomb, plus four large steel pipes used in construction to make four small, underpowered bullets.  If the pipes are that big, this should be a rocket launcher.  If we're using nobelisk, these should be explosive rounds.  We should have mag sizes of 30, same damage, but made with gunpowder and screws or something... Then perhaps a different type of ammo, high-velocity rounds, that use nobelisk and steel pipes, where you only have 10 per mag, but do way more damage.

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I can see why they did it in terms of game balance. The rifle provides a huge advantage just with its range and accuracy. I can pike the glow bugs almost as far as I can see them. If I can get a comparable distance on the smaller flame spitty things, they don't get close enough to do anything to me. That said, I think the low damage output of the bullets is enough of a balance.

My usage rate of beacons and nobelisk is so low that setting up the fabrication chains isn't worth it. I only just recently automated black powder to save me time and a couple steps in making the ammunition and I have a separate assembler and manufacturer that I use for things I sometimes need in quantity but aren't automated in the main factory, but that's it.

If the ammunition was simpler, or at least used components I use more often, I'd automate it. I use enough of it that a simpler recipe would be worth automating.

Black powder is an obvious necessity. Iron ingots or even iron rods would be appropriate. I would also suggest that one black powder and one ingot or rod should yield 10 bullets, but I can live with half that. Maybe even add a plastic component for the clip and to make the recipe fit the mid to late game better.

Answer 1

And a bullet = a magazine? I just made couple of shots and all supposedly magazines disappeared! So silly!

The player loads whole magazine into an empty rifle and then shoots with whole magazines. Clearly a bug and seems that rifle is still WIP.

I don't have reloading sound.

Answer 2

Agree the recipes are odd, but hey thats why we are here and the game is still a WIP :)

Comments

The first thing I thought when I used the rifle was:
Having this now just make me wonder what kind of creature they are developing that we will need to use it. Just think that the latest technology on firepower was the rebar gun and we had the alpha badass Aliens with fire breath and stuff. So I am expecting new more creatures.
PS: I noticed new one in a lake, never did contact.

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I saw that thing too, over in the desert area, did a triple take. I tried to hover above it but it dove under.

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Rebar with slow flying bullets was silly. The player builds enormous factories and can't even make a proper gun ;)

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Concerning power, be it the rebar gun or the rifle (mk1 only here cause I have yet to unlock tier7 and 8) are way less powerful than the xenobasher and appart for the glow bug I can kill almost all the hostiles creatures with the basher without taking too much damage so I do ask myself why is there such a things.
Like I have a knife which do more damage than a rifle, is it an air rifle ?
Will they implement a nuclear bomb just to have a nice firework display ?