Dev Log: Guns

A Dev Log so soon? Early Christmas. As I said, we are working on it.
The sneaky people who have fully read the previous Trading change Dev Log know that there was a hint about Guns coming to Elysian. It's been a while in the plans to add Guns to Elysian; we were just not quite sure how to make it happen. Guns are guns after all, and weak guns lose their meaning, so making the bullets just weaker wasn't the right approach. 
Guns are not expensive to make; they are simple just some wood and iron and you are good to go. This means if we add unregulated guns, they will be overpowered and will completely replace regular combat. This isn’t something we want, as we don’t want to turn Elysian combat into an FPS game. 
However, at the end of the day, Guns should be an option, as historically speaking, they are appearing at this time. 
So we have come up with a way to ensure guns are balanced while retaining their shooting power and realistic material expectations. 
On Elysian, guns will not always be the preferred way to fight despite their ability to kill anyone in a few shots. Let me explain:
Obtaining guns is where most of the magic happens. Guns can be made, and the materials needed are just your usual wood and some iron. However, guns are too precise to be made just in a crafting table or via automated create machines, and require manual assembly and configuration.
In case this isn't clear. Guns cannot be crafted regularly or made automatically. They require a custom procedure to make them. 
We have 3 new functional blocks to make guns: (Smithing)Forge, (Smithing)Anvil, (Smithing)Bench.
In the Forge, you can heat materials up to their preferred temperature so you can work on them.
In the Anvil, you are able to form the materials you heat up in the Forge.
In the Bench, you can assemble the parts and carve some of them.
The entire process from start to finish is manual and requires skill. When you handle the materials, you will need to handle them precisely through simple “minigames”. Such as heating them up to the right temperature, hitting the material in the right place, or carving the correct shape.
Video showcasing the most basic tasks:
Your ability to perform these tasks determines how well the finished firearm holds up in action. A poorly made gun will frequently jam, require repairs, may not aim well, and break sooner, unlike a mastercrafted gun. To some extent, all guns, regardless of quality, will have issues, but the frequency/speed matters greatly, especially in battle.  Gun bullets can be automated, but require some manual labor as well.
Video showcasing Gun jamming, reloading, and shooting:
 
Mastering the process may take some time and practice, as if you really mess up, it might cost you your entire progress. Ruining a material doesn’t just revert to the previous state; it's lost. Lower-quality, but not ruined, materials can be used if you are fine with the frequent defects. 
One of the most important, and annoying, ways we will ensure guns will be very hard to obtain (especially early game) is that we will give no instructions on how to make them. Players will need to figure them out via trial and error. There are clues among others, but exact configurations, etc., will need to be figured out by the players.
Will all of this work perfectly? No. Guns will become a major part of pvp and everyday gameplay even with all of these changes, but at least it won't replace everything. In case guns do go out of control severely, we have multiple ways to ensure we can balance them. We plan to watch how players obtain and use them and adjust them accordingly.
Are Cannons from CBC affected? No. They will function as they did before. They are very different and already decently balanced enough. 
Thank you for reading.
-Nyseus