Iron's Arms 'n Artifice in FTB Evolution 2

Same as in the All the Mods 11 0.8.0-beta guide

Iron's Arms 'n Artifice adds historical-fantasy firearms and an Artificer-style buildcrafting system. You craft guns, tinker with them, and engineer builds around them. If you want to add ranged combat to your modded run and enjoy experimenting with gear setups, this mod is for you.^[1]

The pack includes version 0.2.1 of the mod. It runs on NeoForge and needs GeckoLib, which is why you'll see that library alongside it.^[1][2]

What you can do with it

• Start with the Flintlock pistol, the simplest gun in the mod. Blackpowder is a new crafting ingredient used for guns, modifiers and bullets.^[1]
• Hold a gun and press G to open its modifier slot menu. Press R to reload and add more bullets.^[1]
• Craft a variety of Mechanical Components to forge other guns. Each gun has its own niche and is viable at any stage of the game with the right build.^[1]
• Craft modifiers with a variety of ingredients, and visit the wardrobe to craft armor that goes with your gear.^[1]
• Hunt the Illificer, the first gunslinging enemy. It drops the modifiers from its gun when killed, and you can find it in later raid waves or leading Illager patrols.^[1]

Where it fits in the pack

The mod page says each gun is viable at any stage of the game, so you aren't locked behind a particular point in progression.^[1]

Unverified The sources don't show a specific place for this mod in the pack's progression, such as a quest path or a required tier. Treat it as an optional addition you can pick up whenever you like.

Welcome to Iron's Arms 'n Artifice! This is the firearms and gun-building mod, and getting going is simple: make some Blackpowder, craft your first gun, then start tinkering with it. Here is the order I would do things in.^[1]

Step 1: Make Blackpowder

Blackpowder is a new crafting ingredient used for guns, modifiers and bullets, so it comes first. The pack has three ways to get it.^[1][3]

2× BlackpowderMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Charcoal
• Redstone

Recipe id: irons_artifice:blackpowder

This recipe makes 2 Blackpowder per craft.

6× BlackpowderMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Gunpowder
• Charcoal
• Redstone

Recipe id: irons_artifice:blackpowder_from_gunpowder

Turning gunpowder into Blackpowder gives you 6 per craft.

BlackpowderMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Charcoal

Charcoal

Recipe id: irons_artifice:blackpowder_from_charcoal

The charcoal route makes a single Blackpowder.

Step 2: Craft the Flintlock

The Flintlock is the simplest gun in the mod, which makes it the perfect starter.^[1]

FlintlockMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any iron ingot	Empty slot	Empty slot
Empty slot	any iron ingot	Flint And Steel
Empty slot	any log	Blackpowder

Recipe id: irons_artifice:flintlock

Step 3: Get bullets

A gun is no use without ammo. Bullet can be crafted from copper or from iron. Iron is the better deal: it makes 16 bullets per craft, while the copper recipe makes 4.^[3]

16× BulletMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any iron ingot

Blackpowder

Recipe id: irons_artifice:bullet_from_iron

The iron recipe makes 16 bullets.

4× BulletMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any copper ingot

Blackpowder

Recipe id: irons_artifice:bullet_from_copper

The copper recipe makes 4 bullets.

Once you are carrying a lot of ammo, the Bullet Box is a handy container that holds bullets for you.^[4]

Bullet BoxMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any gold ingot	any gold ingot	any gold ingot
Bullet	Bullet	Bullet
any gold ingot	any gold ingot	any gold ingot

Recipe id: irons_artifice:bullet_box

Step 4: Learn the controls

• Hold the gun and press G to open its modifier slot menu.^[1]
• Press R to reload and add more bullets.^[1]

Step 5: Add modifiers

Modifiers are what turn a plain gun into a build. After your first gun, they are the next thing to craft, using a variety of ingredients. The mod also has an advancement for installing your first gun modifier.^[1][4]

There is another way to get them. The Illificer is the first gunslinging enemy, and he drops the modifiers out of his gun when killed. Look for him in later raid waves, or leading Illager patrols. In this pack the chance for an Illificer to replace a Patrol Leader on a natural patrol is set by illificer.replacePatrolLeader, which is 0.5, the same as the mod default.^[1][5]

Step 6: Move on to the other guns

To forge the other guns you craft a variety of Mechanical Components. The first one to aim for is Simple Mechanical Components, which has its own advancement. Further along you will meet Mechanical Components and Clockwork Components.^[1][3][4]

Simple Mechanical ComponentsMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Copper Chain	any copper ingot	Copper Chain
any copper ingot	any copper nugget	any copper ingot
Copper Chain	any copper ingot	Copper Chain

Recipe id: irons_artifice:simple_mechanical_components

There are seven guns in total, and each one carves out its own niche. Armor pieces such as the Cowboy Hat and Tricorne are worth crafting to go with them.^[1][3][4]

The systems the sources describe for this mod are all about guns: building them, loading them and fitting them out with modifiers. This section covers how that works, then the pack-specific parts, which are the config values and the Gunslinger duel event.^[1][4]

Guns, reloading and modifiers

The simplest gun is the Flintlock. Other guns are forged using the mod's Mechanical Components, and each gun has its own niche. The mod says every gun is viable at any stage of the game with the right build.^[1]

FlintlockMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any iron ingot	Empty slot	Empty slot
Empty slot	any iron ingot	Flint And Steel
Empty slot	any log	Blackpowder

Recipe id: irons_artifice:flintlock

The Flintlock is the starting gun.

Hold a gun and press G to open its modifier slot menu, which the key list calls Open Gun Modifiers. Press R to reload and add more bullets. A gun's tooltip shows how many modifier slots it has and which key opens the menu.^[1][4]

Modifier items carry a tooltip section headed "When Used as Gun Modifier:". The mod's advancements point at the same loop: install a modifier, then fill every modifier slot on one gun.^[4]

Bullets and blackpowder

Blackpowder is a crafting ingredient for guns, modifiers and bullets. In this pack there are several ways to make it, and the output differs between them. The basic shapeless recipe gives 2 and the gunpowder recipe gives 6. The charcoal recipe is a shaped recipe.^[1][3]

2× BlackpowderMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Charcoal
• Redstone

Recipe id: irons_artifice:blackpowder

Makes 2 Blackpowder.

6× BlackpowderMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Gunpowder
• Charcoal
• Redstone

Recipe id: irons_artifice:blackpowder_from_gunpowder

Makes 6 Blackpowder.

BlackpowderMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Charcoal

Charcoal

Recipe id: irons_artifice:blackpowder_from_charcoal

The charcoal route.

Bullet has two crafting routes. The copper recipe makes 4 bullets and the iron recipe makes 16.^[3]

4× BulletMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any copper ingot

Blackpowder

Recipe id: irons_artifice:bullet_from_copper

Makes 4 Bullets.

16× BulletMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any iron ingot

Blackpowder

Recipe id: irons_artifice:bullet_from_iron

Makes 16 Bullets.

Hats with abilities

• Cowboy Hat: its tooltip reads "Insta-Reload Gun on Kill" and shows a cooldown in seconds. A reload shows the message "Reloaded +N Bullets!" with the number of bullets gained.^[4]
• Tricorne: its tooltip says the first shot from a full magazine does bonus damage, with the percentage shown on the tooltip.^[4]

What the advancements tell you about bullets

The mod's advancements show some behaviour you can aim for. Bullets can ricochet, since there is an advancement for killing with a ricocheted bullet. They also work while you are fully submerged, and you can fire 15 shots in one second. A single shot can hit a target with 12 or more bullets, and it can kill 5 or more creatures at once.^[4]

The mod also has block tags named always_break (glass blocks, glass panes and the decorated pot) and never_break (the target block). The sources here do not describe exactly how they affect bullets.^[6][7]

Where guns and modifiers come from in the world

The Illificer is the first gunslinging enemy. It drops the modifiers out of its gun when killed, and you find it in later raid waves or leading Illager patrols. Its loot table also gives emeralds and Blackpowder, and Looting can add more of each.^[1][8]

Drowned Pirates carry a gun picked from a small loot table. The Flintlock has a weight of 3 and the Blunderbuss is the less common pick.^[9]

drowned-pirates.drownedPirateAmbush is the chance for Drowned Pirates to ambush ocean chests. This pack leaves it at the mod default of 0.25, and the allowed range is 0.0 to 1.0.^[5]

illificer.replacePatrolLeader is the chance for an Illificer to replace a Patrol Leader on a natural patrol. This pack leaves it at the mod default of 0.5, and the allowed range is 0.0 to 1.0.^[5]

Unverified Which items count as ammo, which entities bullets target and what the Illificer's gun loadout can contain are set in the mod's data files (the ammo item tag, the bullet_targets entity tag and the illificer loadout loot tables). The sources here do not show those files, so check them in game.

The pack's Gunslinger duel

This pack adds a random event of its own using the mod's Gunslinger. If you carry a gun in your hotbar, a Gunslinger can challenge you to a duel, and the script gives the event a 0.15 chance. It is skipped if you have no gun in your hotbar or if something is already targeting you.^[10]

The Gunslinger appears 8 to 12 blocks away and stands still and invulnerable while a 3, 2, 1 countdown plays. When the draw message appears, he can be hurt and starts targeting you. He has 5 health, so hitting him first wins. If nobody lands a hit within 30 seconds of the draw, he vanishes.^[10]

Winning drops a glowing stack of 8 to 24 bullets and pays money: 25 plus 2 for every hour you have played. If he hits you first, you lose the duel and get nothing.^[10]

This section covers what the sources show about getting started with Iron's Arms 'n Artifice in this pack. They do not give a tier order for the guns, so I won't invent one. What they do show is the early materials, the recipes that exist, and what the mod's mobs carry and drop.^[3]

Blackpowder and bullets

Blackpowder is the base material. The basic recipe gives 2 blackpowder, another turns gunpowder into 6 blackpowder, and a further one uses charcoal.^[3]

6× BlackpowderMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Gunpowder
• Charcoal
• Redstone

Recipe id: irons_artifice:blackpowder_from_gunpowder

Gunpowder gives you 6 blackpowder in a single craft.

Bullet has two recipes. Copper makes 4 bullets per craft and iron makes 16.^[3]

16× BulletMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any iron ingot

Blackpowder

Recipe id: irons_artifice:bullet_from_iron

The iron recipe makes 16 bullets per craft.

4× BulletMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any copper ingot

Blackpowder

Recipe id: irons_artifice:bullet_from_copper

The copper recipe makes 4 bullets per craft.

Crafting the guns

The guns you can craft in the pack are the Flintlock, Blunderbuss, Musket, Arquebus, Blackpowder Revolver, Six-Shooter and Clockwork Rifle. Alongside them you can make the Simple Mechanical Components, Mechanical Components and Clockwork Components. Here are the first two guns:^[3]

FlintlockMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any iron ingot	Empty slot	Empty slot
Empty slot	any iron ingot	Flint And Steel
Empty slot	any log	Blackpowder

Recipe id: irons_artifice:flintlock

BlunderbussMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Simple Mechanical Components	any iron ingot	Empty slot
any iron ingot	Simple Mechanical Components	any iron ingot
Empty slot	any iron ingot	any log

Recipe id: irons_artifice:blunderbuss

Drowned pirates

The drowned pirate is a source of early materials. On top of the normal drowned drops, it drops 3 to 6 Blackpowder. It also drops a bonus item: emerald (up to 3, weighted 6), a smaller amount of gold ingot (weighted 3) or a diamond. Looting can raise the counts by a small extra amount.^[11]

A drowned pirate's loadout picks its gun from a pool with the Flintlock (weight 3) and the Blunderbuss. Its loadout also includes the Spiral Tip Modifier and the Bayonet Attachment Modifier.^[9][12]

The Illificer

The Illificer drops a few emeralds and a small amount of Blackpowder. Looting can raise both counts a little.^[8]

Its loadout has a single main modifier roll, plus a few rolls on an auxiliary pool. The auxiliary pool holds the Scattershot Modifier, Wind Chamber Modifier, Singularity Charge Modifier, Lead Core Modifier, Trick Bullet Modifier and Voltaic Core Modifier.^[13][14]

Unverified The Illificer's main modifier comes from the loot table irons_artifice:loadouts/illificer/main_modifier, and the sources here do not show what is in it.

Iron's Arms 'n Artifice has two server options in this pack's config, and both sit at the mod default. The pack changed nothing here, so what you read below is also what the mod ships with.^[5]

Both options live in config/irons_artifice-server.toml, and each is a chance between 0.0 and 1.0.^[5]

Drowned Pirate ambushes

drowned-pirates.drownedPirateAmbush is the chance for Drowned Pirates to ambush various ocean chests. The pack sets it to 0.25, the same as the mod default.^[5]

Illificer patrols

illificer.replacePatrolLeader is the chance for an Illificer to replace a Patrol Leader on a natural patrol. The pack sets it to 0.5, again matching the mod default.^[5]

This matters if you want the Illificer's drops. The mod's project page says he drops the modifiers out of his gun when killed, and that you can find him in later raid waves or helming Illager patrols.^[1]

FTB Evolution 2 1.1.0 ships Iron's Arms 'n Artifice version 26.1.2-1.1.0, and the mod was already in the pack by 1.0.2 or earlier. The only changelog I have for the mod is the one for this exact version, so here is what that release brought.^[15][16]

26.1.2-1.1.0: additions

• A new Soulfire Coin Modifier, which gives you a chance to create a Soul-Empowering Coin on hit.^[15]
• A new Bullet Box item that stores up to 256 Bullets, working like a bundle.^[15]
• Korean translations, contributed by spongebob98636e.^[15]

Changes and fixes

The Blackpowder Charge Modifier now stacks explicitly. Each additional modifier you add gives +1 Radius.^[15]

Muzzle Flash no longer spawns incorrectly when you are using shaders.^[15]

API additions for addon developers

If you write addons, this release adds SimpleMobEffectPostHit, a generic handler for applying mob effects as a PostHitEffect. It also adds a ShotComponents.ON_SHOT component of type OnShotEffects, a stack of OnShotEffect handlers that get called whenever the gun shoots. Finally, there are BulletContainerItem and related bundle-like handling classes, including BulletContainerContents, a resizable bundle-like item component.^[15]

Unverified The pack's own release changelogs are not shown in the sources here, so I can't tell you whether FTB Evolution 2 changed anything about this mod in a given release. Check the pack's published changelogs for that.