New to this game and made my character a gunslinger. I'm beginning to regret that: bullets are expensive and hard to come by. I've been told to get a schematic for making my own bullets. Where the hell do I get such a thing?

Thanks a lot. To be honest, I'm not sure I'll be keeping this character, but this gives me some hope. Cheers.

A lot of first-timers choose this; I guess it's the appeal of literally being able to bring a gun to a sword fight. But don't be misled by your expectations: the majority of the guns in this game are more akin to early muskets, in terms of accuracy and damage dealt (pretty much everything other than rate of fire).

It takes a lot of investment in Perception and the Firearms skill to overcome these hurdles, and even then the availability of bullets remains a pinch point throughout the game. There are non-bullet firearms available that work around that, and finding out how to get your hands on one is part of the adventure. Figuring out who can grant you Firearms apprenticeship, expertise and mastery will also improve your skill.

Also, being a gunslinger commits you to staying away from learning magic, since having a high MA (magic aptitude) can actually cause tech weaponry to blow up in your face. But this in turn makes healing spells ineffective, and alternatives such as salves and bandages become that much more important. And this doesn't even get into the option of building your own firearms, which would require spending still more of your precious points on Intelligence and the Gun Smithy college. And then you'll want Dexterity as well, so that you can shoot more often....

Still, if you feel that you're up for the challenge, go for it. You can always go with a completely different character in a subsequent playthrough.


TL;DR: Almost anything else is easier.

Like Sword said, it's not really a great build for your first game (despite the fact that everyone seems to want to try it).

It can be done, of course, but it will probably be more fun and less annoying in a second or third game when you have a better grasp on the game mechanics.

Thanks for all you advices. I don't have a great deal of time to spare on games, so I'm not going to waste it on this character. Time to start again. It was always on the cards, but your insights have sealed the fates. Thanks again.

You're welcome.

Feel free to ask any more questions you have or tell us about your game. The people on this forum love to talk about Arcanum.

You're right in that there's a ton of ways to acquire GP in this game. But the issue isn't really money; it's the availability of bullets. A typical merchant stocks from 50-100 at a time, which can easily be used up in a few firefights, especially at low level. Running from merchant to merchant takes time; sleeping for a day (so that they can restock) takes time; running back and forth from dungeons to merchants takes time; scrounging enough of the components to make your own, even with the schematic, takes time. And carrying all those bullets can eat into your encumbrance, especially since as a gunslinger you're unlikely to invest highly in Strength.

If you really want to do Firearms, I say go for the Tesla Gun. It's the best option by far.

Another option is the often-overlooked-but-surprisingly-effective Tranquilizer Gun.

Something that is a bit cheesy but actually great fun is to take all Firearms companions and arm them with Tranquilizer Guns. You can use whatever you want for a weapon, because you'll just be killing unconscious enemies all the time.

And if you really want to go cheesy, play as female and call her... Trank Girl. :D

The general store in Tarant carries 260 every day, so it takes a couple of minutes to rack up 1000 by waiting outside a day with the shop keeper offscreen. If you're using a one bullet per shot gun (which is most of them), that'll probably last you a fair few hours of game time. Regular guns are a piece of cake to be honest, so long as you have the cash. For earning money, explosive grenades at least will probably take you around 10 minutes to get the necessary tin cans and powder, and they make three and sell for 700 each at gun stores - so it's not very hard to rack up 10000 gold without breaking a sweat. On the encumbrance issue, it's better to use lighter armor - I tend towards featherweight chain if I can make it.

What I have noticed is that weapons that consume fuel instead are much more of a pain (e.g. Flamethrowers), as fuel is only sold in lots of 10 or 30 for a much higher price than bullets. If you get the buy the common schematic to make fuel, you can make 50 at a time with wine and yeast... but wine and yeast are only stocked about 50% of the time at a herbalist it seems (wine is more common at a general store, but yeast is way less common so I tend to stick with the herbalist). This means to get a stock of 1000, it'll probably take about 15 minutes.

Currently I've got Vollinger on a Flamethrower, Sebastian on a Grenade Launcher, and myself on Bronwyk's Gun - all requiring fuel (I was going for weird projectiles flying all over the place). To get us all up to 1000 ammo for the latter bits of the game probably took about three quarters of an hour. I'd say that's a pretty big flaw in the game, because to get potions for mages (if you even need the potions in the first place), it takes a minute or two tops. Same goes for other tech items, like the top tier ones in the Therapeutics discipline or Paralysis Grenades. But supply of bullets themselves, I don't have so much of an issue with.

One of the features that makes the Tesla Gun so good is that it uses Charges for ammo. Charges are cheap to make, lightweight, and the components are readily available.

Yeah charges aren't near as bad as fuel, and the second level of the chemistry discipline makes producing them much easier than fuel too (electrolytes and metal plates seem much more common than yeast). In the same party I mentioned, I've got Franklin Payne on the Tesla Gun, using Muscle Makers on him to make sure he permanently meets the strength requirements (11 strength) - with Eye Gear to offset the drop in perception and thereby maintain his max firearms skill.