Firearms

Firearms are gunpowder-based ranged weapons. They can inflict very high damage, but have a slow reloading rate.

In general, firearms within the Mount&Blade games are very similar to crossbows.

Gameplay

The original Flintlock Pistol.

Firearms have existed in Mount&Blade games from the first one in the form of a hidden Flintlock Pistol powered by Cartridges.

Their role was augmented in With Fire & Sword, where they replaced crossbows as the counterpart to bows.

Advantages

• Fast projectile speed reduces target dodging.
• High striking power disables targets in fewer shots.
• Less physical fitness/training required to use (as opposed to bows or melee weapons).

Disadvantages

• Slow loading speed limits overall damage and can be interrupted.
• Difficult to see projectile trajectory.
• Less ammunition can be carried compared to bows.

With Fire & Sword

A Swedish Musketeer

During the Mid-17th Century, firearms have been mass produced in European armies and thus have been highly augmented in both numbers and varieties in With Fire & Sword. By this time, Wheelock variants are very common in European armies, although some Ottoman armies and militia still use the outdated Matchlock variant. The Miquelon variants have started to become more prominent, and are only used by elite soldiers.

There are three types of firearms in With Fire & Sword:

Muskets

• This type of firearm is the most accurate and deal the most damage, but at the cost of being the slowest firearm type to reload.
• There exists 3 variations of Muskets: Matchlocks, the firearm with the worst stats, Wheellocks, the firearm which is used more often in armies with better stats, and Miquelet, the firearm with the best stats. There also exists the variations of "Good", which is an improved version of the original musket. They also have the buffs of "balanced, tempered, and masterwork" variations. While the Hand made firearm can be used on horseback like a carbine, its stats are very low, lower than the matchlock.
• All factions have Musketeer Units wielding Muskets. Militia or Posad Musketeers Units wield Matchlocks, while normal Musketeer or Marksmen Units wield Wheellocks. Elite Musketeer Units, such as the Polish Veteran German Infantry Musketeer, Swedish Lifeguard, Cossack Serduk, and Ottoman Janissary, wield Miquelet Muskets. Mercenary Marksmen also wield Miquelet Muskets.
• This Firearm is recommended for Infantry type heroes skilled with Firearms (E.g. Fedot)
• This Firearm cannot be used on horseback due to its heavy weight.
• This type of firearm doesn't have a double-barreled counterpart.

LIST OF MUSKETS

Weapon	Speed	Damage	Accuracy	Weight	Base Value	Trait
Matchlock	25	79	79	7.0	600	No horseback
Matchlock	26	80	80	7.5	640	No horseback
Simple Wheellock	29	83	83	6.5	2100	No horseback
Wheellock	31	85	86	6.3	3600	No horseback
Turkish Matchlock	26	82	77	7.8	580	No horseback
Good Matchlock	29	84	79	7.3	1800	No horseback
Turkish Wheellock	30	88	83	6.8	3000	No horseback
Turkish Miquelet	33	93	88	6.3	5300	No horseback
Miquelet	35	90	89	5.8	6000	No horseback
Good Miquelet	34	95	89	6.0	6900	No horseback
Miquelet	37	92	90	5.8	7000	No horseback

Carbines

• This firearm is a mix between a musket and a pistol. It is the second most accurate type of Firearm, but faster to reload than the Musket.
• It is more reliable than a pistol, although its reload time is slower than its smaller counterpart.
• All factions have Medium Cavalry Units that are equipped with Carbines except for the Crimean Khanate, which only uses bows and arrows. Medium Cavalry Units, such as Dragoon and Moscow Reiter wield Wheelock Carbines. Although there is the Matchlock Carbine, only Djura wields it because of its inferior stats to the Wheelock.
• Has a Double-barreled Carbine, which is strangely less accurate than a Double-Barreled Pistol.

LIST OF CARBINES

Weapon	Speed	Damage	Accuracy	Weight	Base Value
Handmade Firearm	23	66	69	6.0	225
Handmade Firearm	23	67	71	6.0	250
Matchlock	35	71	72	5.0	480
Matchlock	36	72	73	5.3	490
Simple Whellock	40	76	76	4.5	2500
Whellock	42	78	78	4.3	3400
Good Miquelet	44	83	81	4.3	5500

Pistols

• This firearm has the least accuracy because of their short barrel, but is the fastest firearm to reload than the other firearm types.
• There exists 3 variations of pistols: Old Pistols, the pistol with the worst stats, pistol, the pistol most used by Cavalry Units, and the Good Pistol, the pistol with the best stats and commonly used by the Reiters and Generals. There are actually two types of pistols with each variation: The first type has a shorter barrel and has the faster reload than the other, while the second type has a longer barrel and has the better accuracy.
• Due to its inferior stats, pistols are wielded by only a few Cavalry Units: It is wielded by the Djura, Watchman, Zaporozhian Cavalryman, Volunteer, Polish Reiter, Swedish Reiter and Moscow Reiter. The only Unit that is not mounted on a horse is the Cossack Netyag. Generals also wield a pistol.
• There are two Double-barreled Pistol varieties, the Miquelet (Flintlock) and the Dutch Miquelet, both are able to out rank the double barreled Carbine, strangely enough.

LIST OF PISTOLS

Weapon	Speed	Damage	Accuracy	Weight	Base Value
Old Pistol	43	42	60	2.5	475
Pistol	45	48	66	2.0	600
Pistol	47	66	67	2.3	600
Good Pistol	60	67	70	2.0	3100
Good Pistol	61	69	73	2.3	3400
Good Pistol	59	71	75	2.5	3600

Napoleonic Wars

Firearms make a return in the Napoleonic Wars DLC. Muskets with bayonets are very common and are typically used by most infantry, while pistols, cavalry muskets, and rifles are used by other units.

Muskets

Muskets are the primary weapon of the backbone of each Napoleonic nation; the line infantry. They're cheap to mass produce, which makes them great military firearms for the time. Muskets in Napoleonic Wars are reasonably inaccurate and take a fair amount of time to reload. There are two variants of muskets, the infantry musket and the cavalry musket. The infantry musket is the ultimate equilibrium weapon: providing a fair reload time, accuracy and melee capability. It takes approximately 12 seconds to reload and cannot be used on horseback whatsoever, only put on the user's back to use if they are dismounted. The cavalry musket is less accurate, but is faster to reload. Its lack of a bayonet may be seen as a large disadvantage to many, as the bayonet is a very deadly weapon in the hands of a good player, while using the stock of a cavalry musket can be daunting. Cavalry muskets can be fired on horseback but only reloaded while the horse is stationary.

Rifles

Rifles of the time had rifling technology. Grooves cut into the interior of the barrel meant that cartridges would spin, which would give the advantage of superior long range accuracy over their musket counterparts. In game, this does have its drawbacks. Rifles have a slower reload time than muskets, at 16 seconds, and rifles can only melee with its stock which has its aforementioned problems. France does not have a rifleman class, their closest to a skirmisher class being their light infantry, which can only spawn with muskets. Rifles can be fired, but not reloaded on horseback.

Pistols

Pistols are the sidearms of officers in Napoleonic Wars, packing a decent amount of punch in a small package. Pistols should never be relied upon however, as they will only kill a full health opponent in one hit if it's a headshot, not to mention they're frighteningly inaccurate. However pistols do have the fastest reload time, and are the only firearm in the game to allow the user to move while reloading.

Other

Other less conventional choices are available for use. These are carbines and musketoons. The musketoon is available to very few troops, and is useful in very few situations. Essentially acting as a shotgun, the musketoon spreads out many shots in a large area at closer ranges. It has no bayonet and a slow reload time, on par with the rifles. It should be used carefully around teammates.

Carbines are another choice for cavalry troops, acting very similarly to cavalry muskets, but are better at closer ranges for quick strikes, fitting perfectly for dragoon regiments.