Meh. I was annoyed by it when I first saw it, but then I thought about Pillars of Eternity, which has guns yet still manages to have a Tolkienesque vibe to it, so I'm not worried about Dragon Age losing its fantasy setting.
Couple things:
One, guns existed alongside swords and bows for a long time. In fact, blacksmiths used to test plate armour by firing a rifle at them. They just paled in effectiveness compared to bows. And medieval weapons development never had to compete with magic.
Two, these are lyrium-based weapons used by lyrium-crazed dwarves. The operative word here is "lyrium." I doubt very highly that anyone except a Sha-Brytol dwarf could use them.
To put it another way:
Did the creation of golems revolutionize warfare in Thedas? No? You mean a technology that turns both willing and unwilling into subservient supersoliders DIDN'T cause a tremendous societal shift? The dwarves lost the means to create golems and never figured put how to make more? How silly is that!
There's also Eluvians , in thousand of year Tevinter never figured them out.
Merrill though it was some kind of phone.
We're pretty safe , the current people living in Thedas aren't the smartest.
Did the creation of golems revolutionize warfare in Thedas? No? You mean a technology that turns both willing and unwilling into subservient supersoliders DIDN'T cause a tremendous societal shift? The dwarves lost the means to create golems and never figured put how to make more? How silly is that!
It revolutionized warfare for those who possessed the technology, yes. In addition, there was a tremendous societal shift until the Anvil was lost/re-lost. The Lyrium guns could be buried in a similar manner, true, but that's no fun. We have Dagna.
It revolutionized warfare for those who possessed the technology, yes. In addition, there was a tremendous societal shift until the Anvil was lost/re-lost. The Lyrium guns could be buried in a similar manner, true, but that's no fun. We have Dagna.
We also have Bianca who created a crossbow who could be used as prototype for the lyrium one , but her and Varric decided it was far too dangerous to made those crossbows available to everyone.
It's a bit dumb because the dwarves are at the mercy of darkspawn right now.
It revolutionized warfare for those who possessed the technology, yes. In addition, there was a tremendous societal shift until the Anvil was lost/re-lost. The Lyrium guns could be buried in a similar manner, true, but that's no fun. We have Dagna.
We also have Bianca who created a crossbow who could be used as prototype for the lyrium one , but her and Varric decided it was far too dangerous to made those crossbos available to everyone.
It's a bit dumb because the dwarves are at the mercy of darkspawn right now.
The Bianca crossbow alone would certainly be high-maintenance, and expensive to produce on top of that. The Lyrium guns would suffer from the same problems at a much higher magnitude, and that's before we even start factoring the additional costs from the Lyrium itself. So, the idea that any random schmuck could go out and buy their own Lyrium machinegun... yeah, I don't think so.
Being tested and adapted by the various military forces is a more realistic concern. To that extent, we know that rotary-powered-rapid-fire ballistae already exist and are in use, which makes those conversations with Varric, Bianca, and Solas rather ironic in hindsight.
Not really? It certainly threatened to get before control, but there is no Before Golems and After Golems in dwarven society. They never shared the technology with anyone else either, aside from providing the odd golem to their allies.
Except... it did and there is? Caradin's status alone is proof of this. The significance was mitigated by the Golems being unable to outpace the might of the Darkspawn, and yet contemporary Dwarves were still ****tting their pants at the prospect of getting the Anvil back.
Hmm, I would've preferred simple muskets.
Spoiler
Triple-barrel, rapid fire, Lyrium-powered. In addition: appears to be magazine-fed, with possible centrifugal system? Repeating crossbow comparisons and justifications need not apply.
So, what kind of consequences could this have upon the setting? Please tag any major spoilers for The Descent.
Er...
Here are a couple of screenshots I took of them in action, where you can actually see the ends of the "barrels".
You can clearly see that at the end of each "barrel" are six crossbow bolts. They fire in bursts of six. (And indeed the soldiers that fire them are called "bolters".)
The parts you call magazines are clearly supposed to be some form or ratcheting mechanism. They interlock with two gears!
So I'm afraid that indeed, repeating crossbow justifications need very much apply.
God knows how it's actually supposed to work, though. You never see any form of animation except for a handle that moves back and forth underneath.
So I'm afraid that indeed, repeating crossbow justifications need very much apply.
I know they shot crossbow bolts, though this is the first time I've seen their exact placement on the weapon.
My statement regarding repeating crossbows is borne of this nonsensical logic many people have regarding firearms in high-fantasy settings. Metal-ball projectiles and exploding powder? The world is ending. Franchise over. Everything is ruined.
But... if it looks like a gun, handles like a gun, functions like a gun, is exceptionally more advanced than any early firearm, but shoots a crossbow bolt? The crisis is averted. The canon is saved (pun intentional). It doesn't matter if we're bordering on sci-fi tech, as long as we call the thing another thing, everything is good.
So the appearance of a crossbow bolt doesn't really change anything, save for the appeasement of certain individuals. In fact, the bolts being where they are makes even less sense. The only way I can envision these working would be the suspension and projection of bolts through some kind of Lyrium field... and that would make it more like some kind of magi-tech railgun.
I know they shot crossbow bolts, though this is the first time I've seen their exact placement on the weapon.
My statement regarding repeating crossbows is borne of this nonsensical logic many people have regarding firearms in high-fantasy settings. Metal-ball projectiles and exploding powder? The world is ending. Franchise over. Everything is ruined.
But... if it looks like a gun, handles like a gun, functions like a gun, is exceptionally more advanced than any early firearm, but shoots a crossbow bolt? The crisis is averted. The canon is saved (pun intentional). It doesn't matter if we're bordering on sci-fi tech, as long as we call the thing another thing, everything is good.
So the appearance of a crossbow bolt doesn't really change anything, save for the appeasement of certain individuals. In fact, the bolts being where they are makes even less sense. The only way I can envision these working would be the suspension and projection of bolts through some kind of Lyrium field... and that would make it more like some kind of magi-tech railgun.
Well I certainly agree that they make no sense mechanically. They're just supposed to look cool, I think.
I know they shot crossbow bolts, though this is the first time I've seen their exact placement on the weapon.
My statement regarding repeating crossbows is borne of this nonsensical logic many people have regarding firearms in high-fantasy settings. Metal-ball projectiles and exploding powder? The world is ending. Franchise over. Everything is ruined.
But... if it looks like a gun, handles like a gun, functions like a gun, is exceptionally more advanced than any early firearm, but shoots a crossbow bolt? The crisis is averted. The canon is saved (pun intentional). It doesn't matter if we're bordering on sci-fi tech, as long as we call the thing another thing, everything is good.
So the appearance of a crossbow bolt doesn't really change anything, save for the appeasement of certain individuals. In fact, the bolts being where they are makes even less sense. The only way I can envision these working would be the suspension and projection of bolts through some kind of Lyrium field... and that would make it more like some kind of magi-tech railgun.
There are runes that can project kinetic energy in DA2 given a hopper of ball bearings and a way to trigger the rune you could have a magic railgun. Somehow, Thedas invented the steam engine and a version of the McCormick reaper (according to WoT2) but hasn't cracked black powder.
The reagents Anders has Hawke go after in the quest Justice are Sela Petrae and Drakestone. Now drakestone in DA 2 is presented at the Bone Pit as being a yellow substance, and Sela Petrae is found in the sewers beneath Darktown, and is suspiciously similar to Salt Peter in composition. All that Anders would need then would be charcoal...
But can he get it all before the Gorn catches up with him??
I like to know the weapon's origin. Is it dwarven-made? or is it a stolen qunari prototype?
It is of Dwarven make.
I like to know the weapon's origin. Is it dwarven-made? or is it a stolen qunari prototype?
I don't have the Descent DLC yet, so I discovered these while playing MP. I was not pleased. It's like automatic crossbows are all over the freaking place, but my Inquisitor (who by all right should be able to at least make a standard version) still can't get her hands on one.
Unless we can pick one up in the DLC? That would be cool, but I'm expecting not.
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