Ammo Crafting Schematics


Summary:

In vanilla Fallout New Vegas, there are many ammo types that can't be constructed at Reloading Benches. During my first playthrough of the game, I was expecting to be able to buy - or perhaps find - schematics that let me make these ammo types, and I was disappointed when I found that this wasn't the case.

So in a nutshell, that's what this mod does. For each calibre of ammunition in the game, there is a corresponding schematic that unlocks construction and breakdown recipes for all variants of that calibre (e.g. armour-piercing, hollow-point, hand load, etc). It also expands the ammo crafting in FNV generally, making it possible (with the appropriate perk/schematic and skill) to make and breakdown any munition in the game; from .22LR rounds, to frag grenades, right up to C-4 and mini-nukes. There are also other elements like ammo types that visibly utilise shell casings - but lack recoverable shell casing objects in vanilla FNV - being given shell casing objects (e.g. .22LR, 40mm and 25mm grenades).

To exhaustively list the intimate details of every recipe in Ammo Crafting Schematics (ACS) would be the wall of text to end all walls of text, so I'll instead just try to describe the main features below.



Details

- Schematics
These will be available from various merchants, and their price will vary depending on the power of the calibre and how many recipes you get from the schematic (some calibres have more ammo type variants than others). I may also add the schematics to the game world to be found (each one placed in one specific location, rather than as random loot, as you only need one); not sure yet.


- Ammo Crafting Expansion
This is fairly extensive. Notable features include:

- New shell casing items: .22LR, 25mm, 40mm.
- Shell casings can be broken down into the new 'Brass' item.
- Brass can be used to make (among other things) shell casings and primers (in combination with pistol or rifle powder).
- Shotgun shell hulls (and certain plastic items, like toys) can be broken down into the new 'Hull Plastic' item.
- Hull Plastic can be used to make new shotgun shell hulls, and certain other items.
- Explosives (such as frag grenades, dynamite and 40mm grenades) can be made using ingredients including the new 'Explosives Fuse' item and a combination of rifle and pistol powder - or broken down to recover those same ingredients.
- Recipes are organised into new categories (e.g. '9mm Ammo', 'Explosives', 'Brass and Cases', 'Primers', etc) to keep the reams of new recipes tidy.


- Perks
No perks are directly edited, and they should retain their usefulness - or perhaps be even more useful - with ACS. The Hand Loader perk now gives access to recipes for all the ammo variants (for 'Guns' weapons) in the game - not just the 'hand load' ammo variants. It also retains the bonus to shell casings recovered when firing Guns. This effectively means that you can take the Hand Loader perk - and not have to buy all those schematics - or you can buy the schematics and not take the perk (though you'll forego that shell casing recovery bonus in that case).

The Demolition Expert perk will work in a similar fashion; with the added detail that each of the three ranks of the perk unlock the recipes for increasingly powerful explosives. Edit: As it turns out, you apparently can't check what rank the player has in a perk - only whether they have it or not. So I've changed this part so that different explosives-related perks unlock different sets of explosives-related recipes, as follows:

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Demolition_Expert - Dynamite, Powder Charge, Frag Grenade/Mine, Incendiary Grenade, 25mm Grenades, 40mm Grenades.
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Hit_the_Deck - Plasma Grenade/Mine, Pulse Grenade/Mine, Missiles, C-4, Mini-Nuke.

These recipes all still have skill requirements of course - and can be learned via schematics rather than through those perks.



Examples

For most of the recipes in ACS, there were similar recipes in the base game that I could base the new recipes on. For example, the recipe for a hollow-point bullet will be the same as the recipe for the base ammo type of the same calibre; only with slightly less lead, and slightly more powder (just to balance things out gameplay-wise).

I just had to make something up for other recipes, though - and it can be difficult to know in isolation if the ingredients I chose will make sense to others, and be not too expensive, or too cheap. I'm fairly happy with the ones I could base on real-world equivalents - like hand grenades - but for things like mini-nukes and C-4, it's a bit tougher. I did some research, but I kind of don't want to look too hard on the Internet for information on making plastic explosives, you know?

So here are some example recipes from ACS. I'd be interested in hearing what people think of them - or if there are any other specific recipes people want to hear more about.


Dynamite
- Requires: 25 Explosives
- Ingredients:
---- Explosives Fuse (1)
---- Hull Plastic (80)
---- Explosive Powder (100)


Frag Grenade
- Requires: 35 Explosives
- Ingredients:
---- Bobby Pin (1)
---- Explosives Fuse (1)
---- Large Pistol Primer (1)
---- Lead (100)
---- Explosive Powder (75)
---- Shell, Hand Grenade (1)


40mm Grenade
- Requires: 55 Explosives
- Ingredients:
---- .50MG Primer (1)
---- 40mm Case (1)
---- Lead (160)
---- Explosive Powder (75)


Pulse Grenade
- Requires: 40 Science
- Ingredients:
---- Bobby Pin (1)
---- Conductor (1)
---- Electron Charge Pack (20)
---- Scrap Electronics (1)
---- Shell, Hand Grenade (1)


Plasma Grenade
- Requires: 65 Explosives
- Ingredients:
---- Bobby Pin (1)
---- Explosives Fuse (1)
---- Large Pistol Primer (1)
---- Microfusion Cell (20)
---- Pistol Powder (30)
---- Rifle Powder (30)
---- Shell, Hand Grenade (1)


Missile
- Requires: 75 Explosives
- Ingredients:
---- Brass (100)
---- Flamer Fuel (20)
---- Lead (100)
---- Explosive Powder (125)


C-4 Plastic Explosive
- Requires: 90 Explosives
- Ingredients:
---- Duct Tape (1)
---- Hull Plastic (300)
---- Explosive Powder (500)
---- Sensor Module (1)


Mini Nuke
- Requires: 100 Explosives
- Ingredients:
---- Fission Battery (5)
---- Lead (300)
---- Explosive Powder (25)


There's a lot more, but I'd be typing all day.

Suggestions welcome.

Sounds great! I'd love to see this include as many unique rounds as CALBR has, .406, .416, etc etc

OH HELL YEAH.

Thanks guys.

I had to change the part regarding different ranks in the Demolition Expert perk unlocking different recipes; see the (edited) OP for details.





Supporting the new rounds added by CaliberX is possible, but not something I'm likely to do in version 1.0 of the mod.

This will be a must-have for my next play-through. Somehow powder has been very rare in my game, especially rifle powder, it rarely shows up in shops, so it will really help if I can dismantle grenades and mines to get some powder. Would a conversion from pistol powder to rifle powder also be a possible feature?

Sounds fantastic. The bit about being able to break down casings is really nice. Lack of casings is usually the biggest inhibitor to making ammunition, at least in the rarer calibers. I especially would like being able to craft explosives, plasma grenades are all too rare.

I'm worried though that without increasing the price of ammunition in the game, and having most of the materials cross-compatible would make ammunition far too available, which could ruin the scrounging feel of the game. My concerns however are purely personal and selfish and should probably be ignored.

can't wait for more of your work anitstar. most of your mods or must-haves in my load order! i have a suggestion on this one:

i would like some type of variant for the more technologically advanced items.

being able to make something like a plasma grenade out of a tin can seems silly to me. a simple name change to "homemade plasma grenade," or the like, could work, but a change in stats or item's appearance would be really neat a nuka grenade-like appearance would really draw me in, personally.

ACS is coming along fairly quickly. The recipes are all in, as are the schematic items, notes and scripts (you find/buy the item, which includes a script that adds the note that the recipe/s check for). I mainly just need to add everything to merchants and the game world, then do some more testing.





That would probably work. Off the top of my head, I'll make the powder conversion recipes require Science 50, and work like this:

Pistol Powder (2) -> Rifle Powder (1)
Rifle Powder (2) -> Pistol Powder (1)





No, that's a fair enough concern. ACS doesn't change the overall amount of ammunition available in the game, however; it just makes it easier to get whichever specific ammo type/s you want to use. Provided you invest time/money/perks/skill points/etc towards that end, of course. You also don't get as much out as you put in: every item requires more ingredients than you get from breaking down that same item.

This is all much the same as in the vanilla game (it does let you breakdown the vast majority of the ammo you find, and make new ammo with it) - until you get to ACS' Explosives recipes. They're the ones that most concern me, balance-wise, since there's the potential to get lots of powder and lead out of breaking down explosives (again, provided you invest resources first). Time will tell though; and things can always be tweaked.





Yeah, I know what you mean with the tin cans. My original thoughts on this mod included shell casing anologues for the grenades and mines; something like 'grenade hulls' and 'mine frames' - which would replace tin cans (and ashtrays for the mines) in the relevant recipes. The main reason I haven't done that so far is the extra art assets required - I may still do it in future.

I thought Splash Damage was bugged and basically non-functional (and non-fixable by mods, ie an engine thing)? Or am I misinformed?

- DU

I hadn't heard of that, but yes, now that I look further down on that Fallout wiki page for the perk, I see it mentioned there. I might redistribute the explosives recipes unlocked across just Demolition Expert and Hit The Deck, then. Neater that way anyway.

A pity too, that perk had the best icon, man.

Yeah, it is on my list of fixes that I'd really love to see...

...right along side making things like weight reducing weapon mods actually function.

Rather than rush ACS out, I decided to polish it up some more, and do more testing (I finally started my second playthough of FNV the other day, after months of just modding). I've changed all the explosive device recipes to use the new 'Powder, Explosive' item rather than equal amounts of Pistol and Rifle powder, as before. I've also added conversion recipes for 'Firearm to Explosive' powder and vice-versa. They require 50 Science and work like this:

Powder, Pistol (2) + Powder, Rifle (2) -> Powder, Explosive (1)
Powder, Explosive (2) -> Powder, Pistol (1) + Powder, Rifle (1)

This will dramatically reduce the amount of pistol and rifle powder you can get by breaking down explosive devices.


I'm also planning to add 'hand grenade shells' and 'land mine shells' items to replace the tin cans and ashtrays; and on top of that, make some new icons so that crafting items look distinct in the inventory, rather than all looking like scrap metal.

Here are the icons I've made for the mod:

- http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b300/jlollback/falloutnv/icons01-1.png


From top left:

- Explosives Fuse
- Hand Grenade Shell
- Land Mine Shell
- Brass or Lead
- Primers
- Shell cases

Cool. Looks like I won't need to do those for the next T3T_MII update then.

Thanks; you can use them in T3T_MII, if you want.

Neato Torpedo.

Any chance you'll put some work into energy ammo creation? That would be rad. Something like a use for fission batteries, conductors, sensor modules etc. With similar requirements for perks to be unlocked or to be bought. Plus, could you add certain recipes to more difficult to get to areas, instead of just being buyable? Like the BOS safehouse for one of the energy ammo recipes, gunrunners base in a veryhard locked locker, that kind of thing. Great work thus far, thanks.

The more love for Energy weapon stuffs sounds like a good idea.

Err, one quick correction to my previous suggestion, instead of "just being buyable", I meant 'instead of being buyable". So you couldn't buy them, but had to find them, or at the very least, were cost prohibitive to buy. Basically, weight the perk a bit more.

I've already hand-placed one of each schematic somewhere in the game world - so they can be found rather than bought. They can also be sold, if (and only if) the player already knows the recipe/s on a particular schematic.

I'll give some thought to energy ammo recipes. I'd be pulling the recipes out of my... out of the air even more than with some of the explosives recipes, so yes... I need to give it some thought.

I eagerly await this mod's release.

Currently working on the documentation. As you can probably imagine, there's a fine line between 'enough information' and 'phone-book levels of impenetrable text'.

I get where you are coming from with that.

Praise be thine air that doth produce such energy ammo schematics.