EVERYONE knows how fucking shit the improvised shotgun is and how literally less than 10 people have made them since implementation because of how stupidly difficult they are to make, so now I've devised a weapon that can replace its spot as 'homemade firearm'.
CRAFTABLE MATCHLOCK
Now any assistant can pretend they're the pilgrims, coming to forge themselves a new future (lynch all the lizards) in a nanotrasen-owned station (hell)!
25 brute, creates a puff of smoke in front of you that clouds your view. Needs to be reloaded by pouring flashpowder (made from 12 matchs, a single box, essentially all the ground up heads mashed up) down the barrel, then a steel 'bullet' (steel rod + wirecutters, pretty much just a peg), and then use a match or lighter on the lock and fire it. Rinse and repeat.
And before the unevitable "durr hburr dont give assistants guns" fuck shows up, they'd have shotgun accuracy (bullet counts as a pellet and moves left or right after 4-5 tiles because unrifled barrels) and they do 25 brute, plus the fact that you wouldn't be able to simply store them in your bag (they can be slung on your back) and as such, you better have a lot of (stackable) flashpowder AND (stackable) steel bullets.
Loading two loads of flashpowder makes it so the next shot flies straight and does 40 brute, but the gun asplodes and knocks you down, doing 10 brute to your arms.
Loading three loads just makes the gun explode and do 25 damage to your arms without shooting anything.
Loading four loads gibs you when you try to shoot.
Loading a bullet before powder renders it unusable/broken so you're shit out of luck, pal.
Loading powder, a bullet, and powder again is the same as loading it thrice, same if you load powder, bullet, powder, bullet. This ain't a superimposed.
Funfact: if this became a thing (I doubt it will with how xenophobic a lot of this community is towards change unless it's their ideas only) it would actually make two basically-useless items not useless: matchboxes and fannypacks. Matchboxes make sense as they're used to make the 'powder', but fannypacks?
Fannypacks can carry small and tiny items. Flashpowder (which stacks to 5) is a tiny item. Steel bullets (which also stack to 5) is also a tiny item. Lighters are small items and don't have fuel, so you can leave them on. So now you can carry: five extra shots and something to light them with while still being able to carry around a rifle on your back and not in your disarm-able hands.
Here's a suggestion I have of my own that would give this weapon the full 18th century experience: when walking and on help intent, you shoot over whoever is touching you/an adjacent block. What this means is that you can have a group of 6 people, three in the back, three in the front, the ones in the back fire first, and reload as the ones in the front fire, giving rapid alternating fire as each group fires and reloads. It also would allow you to meatshield people which is fucking hilarious as you can pelt nuke ops with musket fire (eswords don't deflect bullets thank god) as you use other, less useful people as shields (other assistants, prisoners, the clown).
IDK what materials would be needed, but stuff that's relatively UNCOMMON, not rare, as this should be a simple weapon to get, but not so simple to use. Oh and to stop people from dual-wielding them you'd have to hold it in both hands like Colonial Marine's pulse rifles or the axe/spear.
