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+--- Thread: How rare are firearms in Eorzea? (/showthread.php?tid=20070)
How rare are firearms in Eorzea? - MrSongarg - 07-10-2017
Or more to the point: Would it be possible for someone not trained as a Machenist to get and use a gun? I know Garlemald has loads of them due to Magitech, but they don't seem to be in a sharing or trading mood. So would it be possible for the average Adventurer/Mercenary to obtain a firearm for their line of work?
RE: How rare are firearms in Eorzea? - Unnamed Mercenary - 07-10-2017
There's the Musketeer's Guild in Limsa Lominsa which would have given us a gun-enabled class had 1.0 not flopped. The Marauder's Guild was moved into their space in 2.0, but you can still see some of them practicing.
I believe a lot of the guns were either stolen are manufactured to be similar to Garlean arms. So they're likely not something anyone could just buy in a market, but they're also not some super-secret rare and exotic weapon.
RE: How rare are firearms in Eorzea? - Nero - 07-10-2017
Of the Eorzeans, Limsa Lominsa has the biggest firearm trade, followed by Ishgard in the form of the Skysteel Manufactory. While they're not so widespread that everyone has them, it'd a simple matter of finding the right merchant to obtain a firearm. Typical fare is muskets, but more complex guns such as revolvers are also available.
RE: How rare are firearms in Eorzea? - Kilieit - 07-10-2017
It's worth noting you need a licence in order to possess a firearm in Limsa Lominsa. If nothing else, that means they're common enough to require legislation.
RE: How rare are firearms in Eorzea? - shotgunbadger - 07-10-2017
Yea guns are at the very least a known enough thing for LL to not only be a major source in the gun trade but also have regulations about randos owning them. So yea, I imagine they're not COMMON, but unless you've been extremely sheltered no one's gonna be all 'what is this magical hand blaster you're using????' It's more 'oh, huh, so THAT'S what a gun is like? Cool to see one up close'.
RE: How rare are firearms in Eorzea? - Wemrys - 07-10-2017
It should also be noted there are distinct differences between Eorzean firearms, Machinist firearms, and Garlean firearms...
"Common" Eorzean firearms generally tend to be in the style that you would see in on the hip of certain Yellowjacket and Lominsian NPCs. They have a less intricate look and tend to look like real world black powder pistols, I personally refer to them as firesand pistols. They come across as single shot, pellet-based weapons (if their design is assumed to mirror their real world counterparts) meant as a last resort or for when you really need to drop someone or something fast so that the considerable reload time doesn't hinder further conflict. This is of course barring cutscene which show the Admiral firing multiple rounds from her double-barreled pistol which can be seen as mostly cinematic. Eorzeans also have muskets as evidenced by the unfortunately unused Musketeer's guild in Limsa. These have longer range, but still would likely fall under the single shot style of weapon.
Garlean firearms tend to come in a couple of flavors. They appear to have developed revolvers even before the advancements in magitek (see also the Pre-Imperial Garlean Revolver which drops from Gubal Library normal mode). As such revolvers have fallen into use in just about every aspect of their firearm technology. The standard issue Garlean gunblade has a revolver cylinder for ammo for instance. This ammo I believe falls under more modern cartridge based ammo rather than pellet rounds. Garlean characters (or those from Garlean provinces) may be able to get their hands on revolvers if such a thing is explained. While we haven't visibly seen any Garlean long-barrel rifles, it stands to reason that if Eorzea has them, it's likely Garlemald has developed something similar.
They also have Magitek arms which only seem to be used by upper echelon Garleans if not mounted on their mobile weapons. These tend to fire blasts of charged and volatile ceruleum with the intent of explosive impact damage rather than penetrative. The likelihood of a random Eorzean/Garlean having such a weapon is slim to none as we've only ever seen Legatus-level characters with these weapons (Gaius' wrist-mounted magitek cannon, Regula's magitek greatsword, etc)
Lastly and most recently we have Machinist guns. This are given freely to those who would sign up with the Machinists at Skysteel Manufactory. These weapons tend to be modified arms which (one would assume) fire cartridge based rounds rather than the pellet rounds of older firesand weapons. This is evidenced from the fact that one can load multiple rounds into the weapon at once and they can be fired in quick succession. This also goes without mentioning the Aetherconverter which Machinists make use of. The converter uses your own aether to empower your weapon with aether-based rounds which do not require reloading but do not hit quite as hard as a physical round. Combining this with physical rounds actually increases the damage output of your weapon such that you'll be doing even more damage than if you were firing physical rounds alone as well. Given that the aetherconverters are a creation of the Skysteel Manufactory though...there are no real exceptions to how to get one other than becoming a Machinist.
Now with all that stated I know I didn't exactly quote any lore openly so if there is anything that contradicts what I'm saying, please do correct me, but otherwise I hope this is helpful.
RE: How rare are firearms in Eorzea? - Valence - 07-11-2017
As evidenced in the MSQ and sidequests for Stormblood in Yanxia, there is some shenanigans around acquiring gunblades and magitek equipment from imperials, so it's not impossible to stumble on those considering the amount of fighting that has already happened for long between garleans and their enemies (since Carteneau for Eorzea, and before for Ala-Migho and Doma).
Moreover, in the last two territories that are occupied, it comes to reason that finding those gunblades or gunhalberds/gunspears in circulation is even more common.
RE: How rare are firearms in Eorzea? - Lucius - 07-11-2017
Wemrys pretty much covers it. Limsa utilizes black powder era weapons, but their so...Yeah. Think weapons that pirates would be able to have in RL, that's Limsa's guns. But you need a license to carry them. So they'd need to be stolen or you work for the state to get your hands on them I would imagine. Mechanists 'guns' don't...really work like guns. It's more like they shoot compressed wind aether to attack someone. When you add a bullet or a ball it's sorta like an airsoft gun. As you can see with most of the designs, they are more akin to black powder with some flair.Â
Nothing new to add on magitek or gunblades. Except that with Garleans are only issued gunblades at Centurion rank. With Stormblood, that's about four legions I believe...? Even if *all* of the centurions were killed (doubtful) there would only be 240ish gunblades available in all of Eorzea, Ala Mhigo, Doma...?Â
Anywho. Back to OP. Yes, they are semi-rare. Not impossible to find though. Likely only Cid's organization(s) have the know-how to make something more complicated than a black powder weapon, or how to repair, maintain, etc.
RE: How rare are firearms in Eorzea? - Valence - 07-12-2017
The compressed wind clusters instead of standard chemical ammo system is only true for the machinist relic Ferdinand rifle. All other machinist guns work like standard guns as far as I know.
I'm also not totally sure where you got that only centurions and higher get gunblades? The usual low level conscript and auxilliaries seem not to get any for the most time yes, as the usual rabble and low rank of the military, but their standard soldiers sure have gunblades.