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Origins of Gunpowder

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BarryManilow
Sep Member 2016

BarryManilow

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Eren Lapucet said :
Actually Ava, I'm not sure if you were referring to this, but we did use a chemical compound to destroy a pile of ricks ingame during The Dig Site quest. We made it by using charcoal, ammonium nitrate, nitroglycerin, and an arcenia root. So it's very similar to gunpowder's ingredients irl. There's a short book from the quest called "Book on chemicals" written by the person who made the recipe, if you want to read it.
That's just about the ingredients that make modern gunpowder. I always theorized that the powder that the East and the Dwarves used was black powder. So maybe there are parties that know the recipe for modern gunpowder. That led in part to the invention of modern bullets.

Concerning the power of gunpowder weapons, I don't think that they are really THAT powerful in the game. While real world guns could pierce steel armor, its easy to forget that we have materials that are vastly stronger than steel on Gielinor.

If I were to balance Gunpowder weapons in term of weapon tiers, I'll probably start with Handcannons at 75 and escalate from there. At level 80 I'd introduce either an arquebus, at level 85, I'd introduce a musket, and at level 90 I'd introduce something like a rifled musket.

Instead of relying on boss drops, they would be crafted by gathering blueprints and buying parts using some other type of currency from either Dwarves and Easterners.
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30-Aug-2015 18:23:09

Iron Vampire
Mar Member 2023

Iron Vampire

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Well, Runescape likes to take some footnotes from the real world, SO.


"Gunpowder was made accidentally by some Eastern alchemists trying to make everyone live forever. Oops." 7:46 speedrun for "Lurkers in the Woods"
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16-Sep-2015 07:11:30

Sabre Taser
Aug Member 2019

Sabre Taser

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I'd say that the Dwarves and Eastern Land peoples developed their own versions of gunpowder and weapons separate from each other, due to the lack of contact between the two which would make it impossible to share discoveries and/or work together to develop a single compound (think the Dwarves retreated underground during the God Wars which would well keep them away from anyone, even the Eastern Land people).

Though based off the tech differences, I'd say the Dwarves may have developed an earlier (and possibly more volatile) version of gunpowder, since the musket seen in the Eastern arsenal is considered to be an evolution of the hand cannon + the hand cannon has a risk to explode in your face while trying to fire it.
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17-Sep-2015 06:19:03

BarryManilow
Sep Member 2016

BarryManilow

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Is there a timeline in which gunpowder is developed by the Dwarves? Most Dwarven designs seem relatively new, as in they only existed after they contacted the outside world. I'd like to think that they got their hands on gunpowder via surface world trade and then made a bunch of things to utilize it.
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01-Oct-2015 15:43:00

Sand Traven

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I know this is an old discussion but the TC seems to have bumped it, so if I may I'll weigh in a tad.

Someone mentioned gunpowder weapons would penetrate steel plate armour - the jury's out on this. We have examples of plate armour that has successfully deflected musket rounds in museums and private collections. It was by no means unheard of - at the Siege of Clonmel, the English parliamentarian infantry, having lost about a thousand men in the space of a few minutes, threatened to mutiny if sent in again to face the determined Irish defence and demanded the cavalry, who wore partial plate, were sent in instead. Cromwell sent them in on foot, but their armour just meant that the Irish musketeers aimed for their legs and groins and they inflicted a similar number of casualties - assisted by two cannons firing chain-shot. This is in the mid-16th century, by which point flintlock technology was beginning to be seen more often.

These musketeers were not shooting their targets from far away - the defenders had built a V-shaped earthwork around the breach blown in the walls by Cromwell's cannons and were standing shoulder-to-shoulder with one-another, and were sometimes no more than several feet from their armoured targets. In the case of the armoured attackers entering the town, the Irish defenders allowed them to enter at first without resistance so as to goad them into coming closer for the musketeers to shoot at. Despite all this the armoured cavalrymen lasted just under an hour under these circumstances.

This isn't to say that gunpowder weapons were ineffective against plate armour, but that their rumoured armour-piercing capabilities were not the reason for their propagation. One man's trash is another's treasure, and one man's cash buys another's pleasure.
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09-Nov-2015 18:37:49

Deltaslug

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irl - gunpowder wasn't the most reliable way to wage war.
yes. a cannon was a frighteningly effective weapon.
Muskets could kill a knight.
But the weapons did have their flaws
- muskets had a painfully slow reload time (I could shoot more arrows in the time it took it reload a musket once)
- even then musket accuracy was low
- early canons only had a few shots before something went wrong

Magic however, in Runescape, has a great deal more potential than gunpowder to cause harm.
(look at surge spells and ancient magics). It also allows a lot more flexibility in use.
Gunpowder? all it is good for is causing small to large explosions to propel an object at very high velocities (or just break down walls).

in a time like the 5th Age when rune supplies were dwindling, relying on gunpowder would make for an acceptable alternative.
also, there are races (like the dwarves) that aren't inherently adept at magic, and ofc, you have individuals who simply lack a talent for it. so again, gunpowder does allow for an equalizer.
you could also see gunpowder as a replacement for runecrafting since the materials are more natural.

10-Apr-2017 15:25:37

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