Hello!
Long time no log right?
Well if anyone was in doubt the project is alive and kicking. Life seems to always get in the way of modding and progress as before is sporadic, always depending on inspiration and free time ratio.
I know my previous posts have always been quite long.. maybe even too long ;D so I've decided to give a go for a suggestion from one of our biggest fans ParaCombatant and do a series of (hopfully) shorter articles on more specific aspects of the development. So lets try this out with something simple
Lost Dragons - Weapons Part #1 - AR-42
Introducing weapons development for Lost Dragons mod and starting with the most changes seen weapon. The AR-42 rifle.
The AR-42 is a corporate standard issue weapon for one of the player factions in our gamemode. The design process began only with 2 parameters. It should be a bullpup rifle to make it shorter and thus easier to use in tight spaces and it should have a launcher either as a separate addon or incorporated into the design for launching a range of ordinance from offensive munitions to flares and sensor, maybe even climbing devices.
The first draft of the weapon - V1:
was quite simple design, little edgy to give it more distinguished look, but some things on it eventually began to bother me and the whole weapon went through a redesign.
V2:
Made it bulkier and longer though it kept some of the elements of V1. The design was much more satisfying, but after a while when looking at it in game I realized it had become too big. Not that we wouldn't have big guns in our world, but for the purpose of being a weapon for close combat and personal defence the design was not fitting and it went through a new redesign phase.
V3:
Was a complete redesign where I tried different method of design and approached the concept by creating a simplified firing mechanism for the gun and worked my way up from that. The Launcher got smaller from the original 40mm to 23mm but the intended munition grew in length. Also the caliber of the gun was fixed to a powerful 7.62 for more stopping power when you never know what you will run in to while rummaging through relics of war.
Some time passed again and I began to see some flaws in the design. The top rail goes too long towards the rear and the rear stock should be a little longer, things like that. Now that im writing this it occurs to me that the bullet should have shorter shell. It would fit the proportions of the gun much better and cut the weight of the gun a little. Maybe the launcher wasn't fitting the overall look. Things like this lead to a new design phase with altogether different configuration.
V4:
V4 took inspiration from the FN P90 personal defence weapon and other designs derived from it floating around the internet. The multi purpose launcher got a all new place on top of the barrel and the mag also was relocated topside and pushed all the way in the rear. The firing mechanism I've envisioned to be much like in the H&K G11. Maybe too complex for use in real life, but this is fiction so we can get away with it. This makes the gun very short, but still allows it to have quite long barrel.
The specifications for the AR-42 V4 also changed a little. Rifle caliber got reduced to 6mm and I've envisioned the bullet to be caseless. While caseless ammo might not be efficient and reliable enough for use today I see no reason why it could not be in the far future.
The launcher became slightly larger becoming 30mm in bore diameter and the barrel is now a lot shorter. Thus the munitions for it are shorter too than the V3 had. The purpose is still the same though, to launch offensive and utilitarian munitions.
The gun will have incorporated laser pointer and the top rail can mount any sight that fits it short length and is compatible with the standard rail system. It can also mount a silencer if needed and there will be long barreled marksman variant without the over barrel launcher and with longer rail for larger scopes and support for bipods. For those situations where longer range fire is needed.
To finish the design off I made a custom reload animation for it. The animation speed has already been tweaked from what this demo video shows and there might be some adjustments when its gone through proper testing. But overall Im very happy with the V4 and have to say it looks now more than ever the way I had first envisioned it.
So the post isn't actually very short.. But I hope you do enjoy the read none the less. And as always if any questions/comments/ideas arise, don't hesitate to ask!
-Goat
Glad to hear from you! I wish you the best!
Thank you! Though short articles probably won't become a thing after all, I'll try to write up stuff more often!
mmmm... you should add both v3 and v4 due the model diference, the v4 being the interior combat variant, while the v3 the "Urban exteriors" version, for example, there are times where few units (something around 4-6 units) using the v4 would enter a room after firing an flashbang from the launcher, while, several (Something like 6-10 units) Would jump off a small transport to a building, to raid it using the v3, and if istead from a land transport, they would use the laucher to, errr, launch... hooks to the roof top, or to launch granades through the windows. (Somehow i also see the V4 to be used by private security when you paint it black lol)
V3 needs some touching up before it gets back into the game. Im sure though it will find a new life eventually!
thanks to godness, v3 was too awesome to be lost XD
Hey, while not the shortest of articles it does a fine job in detailing content.
Perhaps being able to concentrate on a particular subject of the project will prove to be a productive, effective way of detailing progress. Why worry about length if that's the case? There is a lot to cover since the last update. And should you find yourself (and the others on the team?) writing more of these types of articles eventually such may very well shorten in length, should frequency of updates increase/ remain steady.
It's interesting seeing how the weapon's design has progressed for sure. Cheers!