Create Big Cannons in FTB Skies 2: Aero

Create Big Cannons is an addon for Create about building big cannons that work with Create's kinetic system. This pack ships version 5.11.7, and the mod needs Ritchie's Projectile Library to run.^[1][2]

You get multiblock big cannons and faster multiblock autocannons, both in materials of different tiers. There is a menagerie of projectiles, different fuze items, and kinetic-powered mechanisms to load and aim your guns. Cannons are built through a crafting and multiblock casting system. The mod is mostly meant for multiplayer PvP servers.^[1]

Where it sits in the quest book

The mod lives in the "Aeronautics" chapter, in the "Main Questline" group. It is chapter 5 of 31 in the book and has 58 quests. The chapter is about building a ship that flies, and arming it is the last of its quest paths. The mod comes in at the "Armament" quest quest, which pairs it with Shield Generators and says both run on the same Create rotation and redstone as the rest of the ship.^[3]

After Armament the quests branch out like this:^[3]

• "Casting a Cannon" quest comes right after Armament. It asks for the Basin Foundry Lid and Casting Sand, because cannons are cast, not crafted.^[3]
• "Big Cannon" quest follows Casting a Cannon and asks for the Cannon Mount and the Yaw Controller.^[3]
• "Autocannon" quest also follows Casting a Cannon. It asks for the Cast Iron Autocannon Breech and the Autocannon Ammo Container.^[3]
• "Munitions" quest follows Big Cannon and asks for the Powder Charge and the High Explosive (HE) Shell.^[3]
• "Mounted Potato Cannon" quest and "Shield Generator" quest also come straight after Armament, but they are not part of this mod.^[3]

The chapter has more quests than are summarised here, so check the quest book for the rest. None of the quests shown mention the ATM Star path.^[3]

Create Big Cannons is covered by the "Aeronautics" chapter of the quest book, in the Main Questline. The "Armament" quest quest starts it off. It promises real artillery on your airship deck, from a cast-iron field gun up to a built-up steel monster, all running on the same Create rotation and redstone as the rest of your ship. Here is the order I'd go in.^[3]

First: foundry lid and casting sand

Cannons are cast, not crafted. The Basin Foundry Lid sits on a heated Basin and melts metal. The cast you pour it into is built from Casting Sand and a cannon mould. Cast Iron is the starter metal, so begin there. The "Casting a Cannon" quest quest asks for exactly these two items.^[3]

Basin Foundry LidMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

4 × Andesite Alloy

Recipe id: createbigcannons:basin_foundry_lid

Casting SandMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Sand
• Sand
• Dirt
• Clay Ball

Recipe id: createbigcannons:casting_sand

For the metal itself, the melting recipe turns 2 storage blocks of cast iron into 810 Molten Cast Iron. You can craft the Block of Cast Iron from ingots.^[4]

810× Molten Cast IronMod recipe

Melting (createbigcannons)

• 2× any cast iron storage block

Recipe id: createbigcannons:melting/melt_cast_iron_block

Block of Cast IronMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

9 × Cast Iron Ingot

Recipe id: createbigcannons:cast_iron_block

Next: drill the barrel

Fill the cast, wait for it to set, then break it open. You get an unbored block, so the Cannon Drill comes next. The quest says it needs rotation, water, and a lathe turning the cannon at the same speed as the drill. The pack changed this recipe from the mod's own. In the pack's server config, a single cast can be 32 blocks high (crafting.maxCannonCastHeight) and a drill can be 32 blocks long (crafting.maxCannonDrillLength).^[3][4][5]

Cannon DrillChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Iron Ingot	Empty slot
Fluid Pipe	Andesite Casing	Fluid Pipe
Empty slot	Piston Extension Pole	Empty slot

Recipe id: createbigcannons:cannon_drill

Then: mount it and aim it

The "Big Cannon" quest quest asks for the Cannon Mount and the Yaw Controller. The mount holds the assembled gun and pitches it with rotation, and the yaw controller under it turns it. Blocks you place by hand don't join on their own, so weld them with the Cannon Welder, or build the gun once and move it whole with a contraption. Guns can be up to 64 blocks long, which matches cannons.maxCannonLength. The pack changed the mount recipe.^[3][4][5]

Cannon MountChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Iron Plate	Shaft	Iron Plate
Shaft	Andesite Casing	Shaft
any gunpowder	Shaft	any gunpowder

Recipe id: createbigcannons:cannon_mount

You can load by hand with a Ram Head on a stick, or let the Cannon Loader do it.^[3]

Cannon LoaderMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any gunpowder

Andesite Casing

Piston Extension Pole

Recipe id: createbigcannons:cannon_loader

Finally: powder and your first shell

The "Munitions" quest quest asks for a Powder Charge and an High Explosive (HE) Shell. You make the charge in two steps, starting from an Empty Powder Charge. Shells need a fuze to go off. The pack changed the HE shell recipe.^[3][4]

Empty Powder ChargeMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

String

any wool

String

Recipe id: createbigcannons:empty_powder_charge

Powder ChargeMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Packed Gunpowder
• Empty Powder Charge

Recipe id: createbigcannons:powder_charge

High Explosive (HE) ShellChanged by the pack

Mechanical Crafting (create)

Mechanical Crafting (create)

Empty slot	Iron Ingot	Empty slot
Iron Ingot	any high explosive material	Iron Ingot
Iron Ingot	any high explosive material	Iron Ingot
Empty slot	any wooden slab	Empty slot

Recipe id: createbigcannons:he_shell

Want something smaller?

The "Autocannon" quest quest also unlocks after Casting a Cannon. The autocannon is cast the same way and feeds from an Autocannon Ammo Container, which holds 64 rounds or 128 Machine Gun Rounds. The pack changed that recipe too.^[3][4][5]

Autocannon Ammo ContainerChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Brass Ingot	Empty slot
Iron Plate	Empty slot	Iron Plate
Iron Plate	Iron Plate	Iron Plate

Recipe id: createbigcannons:autocannon_ammo_container

The chapter has 58 quests, and the text of 21 of them is not covered here, so check the quest book for the rest.^[3]

Create Big Cannons is about building multiblock big cannons and autocannons out of cannon blocks in different materials and tiers. It adds kinetic-powered mechanisms to load and aim them, and a crafting system that runs on Create's kinetic system plus a multiblock casting system. It needs Create and Ritchie's Projectile Library to run.^[1]

Building cannons

Cannons are made with the Cannon Builder and the Cannon Drill, and the pack's config caps how big everything can get. Those caps are the same as the mod's defaults.^[5][6]

• cannons.maxCannonLength: finished cannons can be up to 64 blocks long.^[5]
• crafting.maxCannonBuilderLength and crafting.maxCannonBuilderRange: a Cannon Builder can be up to 32 long and reach 32 blocks.^[5]
• crafting.maxCannonCastHeight: a single cannon cast can be up to 32 blocks tall.^[5]
• crafting.maxCannonDrillLength: a Cannon Drill can be up to 32 long.^[5]

Built-up cannon blocks take time to finish. Each one has to be heated for 6,000 ticks until it transforms into its finished form, set by crafting.builtUpCannonHeatingTime.^[5]

The mechanisms are kinetic-powered, and the config sets their stress impact like this: Cannon Builder 8, Cannon Drill 8 and Cannon Loader 4. Breeches have their own values: bronze sliding 12, cast iron sliding 16, steel sliding 32, steel screw 16 and nethersteel screw 40.^[1][5]

Cannon DrillChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Iron Ingot	Empty slot
Fluid Pipe	Andesite Casing	Fluid Pipe
Empty slot	Piston Extension Pole	Empty slot

Recipe id: createbigcannons:cannon_drill

The pack changed this recipe.

Cannon LoaderMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any gunpowder

Andesite Casing

Piston Extension Pole

Recipe id: createbigcannons:cannon_loader

Casting and materials

Cast cannon parts start as molten metal. In the pack, a Block of Bronze melts into 810 units of Molten Bronze, and this recipe is changed by the pack. Cast iron works the same way: two cast iron storage blocks give 810 units of Molten Cast Iron.^[4]

810× Molten BronzeChanged by the pack

Melting (createbigcannons)

• Block of Bronze

Recipe id: createbigcannons:melting/melt_bronze_block

The pack changed this recipe.

810× Molten Cast IronMod recipe

Melting (createbigcannons)

• 2× any cast iron storage block

Recipe id: createbigcannons:melting/melt_cast_iron_block

Nethersteel goes the other way: 810 units of Molten Nethersteel are compacted into a Block of Nethersteel.^[4]

Block of NethersteelMod recipe

Compacting (create)

• 810× Molten Nethersteel

Recipe id: createbigcannons:compacting/forge_nethersteel_block

Cast moulds are cut from logs with Create's cutting recipe. For example, the Autocannon Barrel Cast Mould is made this way.^[4]

Autocannon Barrel Cast MouldMod recipe

Cutting (create)

• any log

Recipe id: createbigcannons:cutting/autocannon_barrel_cast_mould

Strength and failure

Hover over cannon blocks with goggles to see their properties. Cannon blocks show a strength in Propellant Stress, and a breech shows how much Propellant Stress a cannon closed with it can safely handle. Cannons can also show how many blocks per second per barrel they need to avoid jamming, a weight impact on RPM, and whether they fragment or rupture when they fail. Autocannons show a maximum barrel length that includes the breech.^[6]

Failure is on in the pack: failure.disableAllCannonFailure is false. An overloaded cannon has a 0.5 chance to fail, set by failure.overloadBurstChance. A projectile can get stuck in the barrel with a 0.25 chance, set by failure.squibChance. A catastrophic failure explodes with a power of 2, scaled by how many charges were used, set by failure.failureExplosionPower.^[5]

Loading and automation

The Cannon Loader is one of the kinetic mechanisms used to load cannons, and loaders can be built up to 64 long (kinetics.maxLoaderLength). By default, kinetics.enableIntersectionLoading is false.^[1][5]

If you load by hand, the Ram Rod reaches 5 blocks into a cannon and pushes at most 3 munition blocks. The Worm also reaches 5 blocks. Each use has a cooldown of 20 ticks, and moving one munition block one block costs 2.5 hunger and saturation points.^[5]

Quick-firing breeches have timers. They take 5 ticks to fully open or close, and during that time they cannot be loaded. Mechanical Arms can't load them for 40 ticks after loading. Drop mortars fire 5 ticks after a munition is inserted, and you must wait 40 ticks before inserting the same munition type again.^[5]

The Big Cartridge is compact propellant that can be filled to various levels. It can only be used once in a shot but can be refilled afterwards.^[6]

Mounts and aiming

The Cannon Mount is the automatable option. The Cannon Carriage is a mobile mount that you can move around, but it cannot be automated. Right-click a carriage with a wrench to assemble or disassemble it. A carriage holding an autocannon changes its rate of fire when you scroll the mouse wheel. On a mount, the rate of fire is set by the signal strength on the firing side.^[6]

Cannon MountChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Iron Plate	Shaft	Iron Plate
Shaft	Andesite Casing	Shaft
any gunpowder	Shaft	any gunpowder

Recipe id: createbigcannons:cannon_mount

The pack changed this recipe.

Carriage turn rate is 1 degree per tick, and cannon weight affects carriage speed. Recoil scale is 1 for big cannons and 0.5 for autocannons. Display Links can show a cannon's rotation and its contained munitions.^[5]

When a cannon fires from a Sable physics object, recoil is multiplied by 40, and projectile impact force on a Sable object is also multiplied by 40.^[5]

Autocannon ammo

The Autocannon Ammo Container holds up to 64 autocannon rounds or 128 machine gun rounds.^[5]

Autocannon cartridges are built with Create's sequenced assembly. The filling recipe uses an Empty Autocannon Cartridge and gunpowder to make a Filled Autocannon Cartridge.^[4]

Filled Autocannon CartridgeMod recipe

Sequenced Assembly (create)

• Empty Autocannon Cartridge
• 2× Partially Filled Autocannon Cartridge
• any gunpowder

Recipe id: createbigcannons:sequenced_assembly/filling_autocannon_cartridge

The pack changed two related recipes. A Brass Plate cuts into 6 Autocannon Cartridge Sheet. The Machine Gun Round assembly needs a Copper Nugget from the pack's materials.^[4]

6× Autocannon Cartridge SheetChanged by the pack

Cutting (create)

• Brass Plate

Recipe id: createbigcannons:cutting/autocannon_cartridge_sheet_brass

The pack changed this recipe.

Machine Gun RoundChanged by the pack

Sequenced Assembly (create)

• Empty Machine Gun Round
• 3× Partially Assembled Machine Gun Round
• Copper Nugget
• any gunpowder pinch

Recipe id: createbigcannons:sequenced_assembly/assembling_machine_gun_round

The pack changed this recipe.

Munitions and fuzes

Projectiles can bounce and ricochet, and the damage setting is ALL_DAMAGE. That means projectiles destroy what they hit and explosive ones destroy blocks on detonation.^[5]

Impact and inertia fuzes can each hit 3 blocks before breaking. The proximity fuze arms after 5 ticks in the air, then detonates when it gets close enough to a block or entity.^[5]

Some munitions have special rules. An Armor Piercing Shot cannot be fuzed and detonated. A Bag of Grapeshot disintegrates when fired and its grapeshot can damage soft blocks such as wood.^[6]

Bag of GrapeshotMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

String	String	String
any wool	Shot Balls	any wool
Empty slot	any wooden slab	Empty slot

Recipe id: createbigcannons:bag_of_grapeshot

In this pack, Create Big Cannons sits in the Aeronautics chapter of the quest book (Main Questline, chapter 5 of 31). The Armament quest frames it as real artillery on your airship deck, from a cast-iron field gun to a built-up steel gun. The path is short and mostly linear, so you can follow it quest by quest.^[3]

1. "Armament" quest is the entry point. It's a checkmark quest that warns guns kick: mount them near the centre of mass and fire in pairs.^[3]
2. "Casting a Cannon" quest comes after Armament. It asks for the Basin Foundry Lid and Casting Sand.^[3]
3. "Big Cannon" quest and "Autocannon" quest both come after Casting a Cannon. They cover the big gun and the autocannon.^[3]
4. "Munitions" quest comes after Big Cannon and covers ammunition.^[3]

Casting: where every tier starts

Cannons are cast, not crafted. The Basin Foundry Lid goes on a heated Basin and melts metal into molten Cast Iron, Bronze, Steel or Nethersteel. You pour it into a Cannon Cast built from Casting Sand and a cannon mould. Fill the cast, wait for it to set, then break it open. A comparator on the cast reads 0 to 14 while it fills and 15 when it's done.^[3]

Basin Foundry LidMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

4 × Andesite Alloy

Recipe id: createbigcannons:basin_foundry_lid

Casting SandMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Sand
• Sand
• Dirt
• Clay Ball

Recipe id: createbigcannons:casting_sand

What comes out is an unbored block, so the Cannon Drill comes next. It needs rotation, water, and a lathe turning the cannon at the same speed as the drill, and it eats more water the faster it runs. The pack changes the Cannon Drill recipe.^[3][4]

Cannon DrillChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Iron Ingot	Empty slot
Fluid Pipe	Andesite Casing	Fluid Pipe
Empty slot	Piston Extension Pole	Empty slot

Recipe id: createbigcannons:cannon_drill

The pack changes this recipe.

The metal tiers

Cast Iron is the starter metal. Steel and Nethersteel cannons are built up in layers with the Cannon Builder and finished under a blasting fan, and they take far more powder before they burst. A cast iron gun with too many charges has a coin-flip chance of bursting, so learn its limit on the ground before you learn it at altitude.^[3]

Cannon BuilderChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Iron Nugget	Iron Plate	Iron Nugget
Empty slot	Andesite Casing	Empty slot
Empty slot	Piston Extension Pole	Empty slot

Recipe id: createbigcannons:cannon_builder

The pack changes this recipe.

The pack changes the Bronze melting recipes: a Bronze Ingot melts into 90 units of Molten Bronze and a Block of Bronze into 810. Nethersteel goes the other way, compacting 90 units of Molten Nethersteel into an ingot and 810 into a block.^[4]

90× Molten BronzeChanged by the pack

Melting (createbigcannons)

• Bronze Ingot

Recipe id: createbigcannons:melting/melt_bronze_ingot

The pack changes this recipe.

Nethersteel IngotMod recipe

Compacting (create)

• 90× Molten Nethersteel

Recipe id: createbigcannons:compacting/forge_nethersteel_ingot

There are two Nethersteel alloy routes. The one that starts from cast iron is the mod's own recipe. The one that starts from steel is changed by the pack.^[4]

8× Nethersteel IngotMod recipe

Mixing (create)

• Netherite Scrap
• 8× any cast iron ingot

Recipe id: createbigcannons:mixing/alloy_nethersteel_cast_iron

8× Nethersteel IngotChanged by the pack

Mixing (create)

• 4× Steel Ingot
• Netherite Scrap

Recipe id: createbigcannons:mixing/alloy_nethersteel_steel

The pack changes this recipe.

Big Cannon quest

The quest asks for the Cannon Mount and the Yaw Controller. A big cannon is a line of bored cannon blocks with a chamber at the back, a barrel in front and a breech to load through. Blocks placed by hand don't join on their own, so weld them with the Cannon Welder or build the gun once and move it whole with a contraption. Guns can be up to 64 blocks long. The Cannon Mount pitches the gun with rotation and the Yaw Controller under it turns it. You load a Powder Charge and a projectile with a Ram Head on a stick or the Cannon Loader, then give the mount a redstone pulse.^[3]

Cannon MountChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Iron Plate	Shaft	Iron Plate
Shaft	Andesite Casing	Shaft
any gunpowder	Shaft	any gunpowder

Recipe id: createbigcannons:cannon_mount

The pack changes this recipe.

Cannon WelderChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any valve handle	Iron Plate	Empty slot
Brass Plate	Blaze Burner	Brass Plate
Empty slot	Brass Plate	Empty slot

Recipe id: createbigcannons:cannon_welder

The pack changes this recipe.

Autocannon quest

The autocannon is the small, fast gun. It uses a breech, a recoil spring and a few barrel blocks, cast the same way as the big gun except the moulds shed their sand on their own. It sits on a Cannon Mount and aims the same way. The quest asks for the Cast Iron Autocannon Breech and the Autocannon Ammo Container, which holds 64 rounds, or 128 Machine Gun Rounds. Recoil is half of a big cannon's.^[3]

Cartridge sheets come from cutting plates, and the pack changes both versions: a Brass Plate gives 6 sheets and a Copper Plate gives 3. The pack also changes the ammo container recipe.^[4]

6× Autocannon Cartridge SheetChanged by the pack

Cutting (create)

• Brass Plate

Recipe id: createbigcannons:cutting/autocannon_cartridge_sheet_brass

The pack changes this recipe.

Autocannon Ammo ContainerChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Brass Ingot	Empty slot
Iron Plate	Empty slot	Iron Plate
Iron Plate	Iron Plate	Iron Plate

Recipe id: createbigcannons:autocannon_ammo_container

The pack changes this recipe.

Munitions quest

The quest asks for the Powder Charge and the High Explosive (HE) Shell. It lists Solid Shot, AP Shot, HE Shells, Shrapnel, Smoke Shells, Fluid Shells and a Bag of Grapeshot that turns the gun into a very large shotgun. Shells need a fuze: an Impact Fuze detonates on a hit about two times in three, and an Inertia Fuze nine times in ten. Keep a Gas Mask aboard if you're the one firing smoke.^[3]

Powder ChargeMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Packed Gunpowder
• Empty Powder Charge

Recipe id: createbigcannons:powder_charge

High Explosive (HE) ShellChanged by the pack

Mechanical Crafting (create)

Mechanical Crafting (create)

Empty slot	Iron Ingot	Empty slot
Iron Ingot	any high explosive material	Iron Ingot
Iron Ingot	any high explosive material	Iron Ingot
Empty slot	any wooden slab	Empty slot

Recipe id: createbigcannons:he_shell

The pack changes this recipe.

Create Big Cannons is an addon for Create, so the two are tied together from the start. Create is a required dependency, and the cannon mechanisms run on Create's kinetic system. The quest book says the same thing: the guns run on the same Create rotation and redstone the rest of your ship already uses.^[1][3]

Create parts in the cannon recipes

Most of the machinery you build around a cannon is made from Create parts, such as Andesite Casing, Shaft, Cogwheel and Piston Extension Pole. The pack has changed several of these recipes, including the ones below. The Cannon Loader still uses the mod's own recipe.^[4]

Cannon MountChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Iron Plate	Shaft	Iron Plate
Shaft	Andesite Casing	Shaft
any gunpowder	Shaft	any gunpowder

Recipe id: createbigcannons:cannon_mount

The pack changed this recipe.

Cannon DrillChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Iron Ingot	Empty slot
Fluid Pipe	Andesite Casing	Fluid Pipe
Empty slot	Piston Extension Pole	Empty slot

Recipe id: createbigcannons:cannon_drill

The pack changed this recipe too.

Cannon WelderChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any valve handle	Iron Plate	Empty slot
Brass Plate	Blaze Burner	Brass Plate
Empty slot	Brass Plate	Empty slot

Recipe id: createbigcannons:cannon_welder

The pack changed this recipe as well.

Cannon LoaderMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any gunpowder

Andesite Casing

Piston Extension Pole

Recipe id: createbigcannons:cannon_loader

This one is still the mod's own recipe.

Pack metals in cannon recipes

Many cannon recipes are flagged as changed by the pack and use its metal plates, ingots and nuggets, for example Iron Plate, Brass Plate and Steel Ingot.^[4]

Create's cutting turns plates into ammo and spring parts. All of these recipes are changed by the pack:^[4]

• Brass Plate gives 6 Autocannon Cartridge Sheet.^[4]
• Gold Plate gives 5 Autocannon Cartridge Sheets.^[4]
• Copper Plate and Iron Plate each give 3 Autocannon Cartridge Sheets.^[4]
• Steel Plate gives 3 Spring Wire. An Iron Plate can be cut into Spring Wire as well.^[4]

Melting and alloying

The pack's bronze and steel items can be melted into the mod's molten metals, and the pack changed all of these recipes. A Block of Bronze gives 810 Molten Bronze, an ingot gives 90 and a nugget gives 10. Block of Steel, steel ingots and steel nuggets give Molten Steel in the same amounts.^[4]

Nethersteel is made with a Create mixing recipe that starts from steel and yields 8 Nethersteel Ingot per craft. The pack changed this recipe too.^[4]

8× Nethersteel IngotChanged by the pack

Mixing (create)

• 4× Steel Ingot
• Netherite Scrap

Recipe id: createbigcannons:mixing/alloy_nethersteel_steel

The pack changed this mixing recipe.

In the quest book

Create Big Cannons lives in the Aeronautics chapter, in the Main Questline group (chapter 5 of 31). "Armament" quest introduces it alongside the Shield Generators mod. From Armament the path splits into "Casting a Cannon" quest, "Mounted Potato Cannon" quest and "Shield Generator" quest.^[3]

"Casting a Cannon" quest leads on to "Big Cannon" quest and "Autocannon" quest, and "Munitions" quest follows Big Cannon. Most of the chapter's other quests are not covered here, so check the quest book for the rest.^[3]

Every Create Big Cannons quest in this pack sits in the Aeronautics chapter, which is chapter 5 of 31 in the book and part of the Main Questline group. The artillery branch starts at "Armament" quest, and the chapter intro "Taking to the Skies" quest describes arming the ship as one of its quest paths.^[3]

The Armament quest is a simple checkmark. It sets the scene: the cannons go on the deck of your flying base and run on the same Create rotation and redstone as the rest of the ship. It also warns that guns kick, so mount them near the centre of mass and fire in pairs.^[3]

The order to follow

1. "Armament" quest is the checkmark entry point for the branch.^[3]
2. "Casting a Cannon" quest comes after Armament and asks for a Basin Foundry Lid and Casting Sand. Cannons are cast, not crafted: the lid goes on a heated Basin to melt Cast Iron, Bronze, Steel or Nethersteel, and a Cannon Cast built from sand is what you pour into. Cast Iron is the starter metal.^[3]
3. "Big Cannon" quest comes after Casting a Cannon and asks for a Cannon Mount and a Yaw Controller. The mount pitches the gun with rotation and the yaw controller under it turns it.^[3]
4. "Autocannon" quest also comes after Casting a Cannon and asks for a Cast Iron Autocannon Breech and an Autocannon Ammo Container. It is the small, fast gun.^[3]
5. "Munitions" quest comes after Big Cannon and asks for a Powder Charge and a High Explosive (HE) Shell.^[3]

What each quest teaches

Casting a Cannon covers the whole workflow. Fill the cast, wait for it to set, then break it open. A comparator on the cast reads 0 to 14 while it fills and 15 when it is done. The result is an unbored block, so the Cannon Drill is next: it needs rotation, water, and a lathe turning the cannon at the same speed as the drill. Steel and Nethersteel cannons are built up in layers with the Cannon Builder and finished under a blasting fan, and they take far more powder before they burst.^[3]

Big Cannon explains that blocks placed by hand do not join on their own, so you weld them with the Cannon Welder or build the gun once and move it as a contraption. Guns can be up to 64 blocks long. A cast iron gun with too many charges has a coin-flip chance of bursting, so find its limit on the ground before you try it at altitude.^[3]

Autocannon feeds from a container that holds 64 rounds, or 128 Machine Gun Rounds. Flak rounds burst in the air and AP rounds go through armour. The recoil is half of a big cannon's, which still matters on a small ship.^[3]

Munitions is the ammunition lesson. Shells need a fuze: an Impact Fuze detonates on a hit about two times in three, and an Inertia Fuze nine times in ten. A Big Cartridge, used with the Quick-Firing Breech, is how a Mechanical Arm can reload a gun by itself.^[3]

Other quests after Armament

Two quests that are not Create Big Cannons content also follow Armament in the book: "Mounted Potato Cannon" quest, the handheld-style potato gun bolted to the deck, and "Shield Generator" quest, which covers shielding your ship from incoming fire.^[3]

Create Big Cannons has a lot of config, so here are the options you are most likely to touch. The good news: every option in this pack that lists a mod default is sitting at exactly that default. The pack has not retuned any of them, so what you see below is stock Create Big Cannons behaviour.^[5][7]

Cannon failure

Cannons can blow up on you. failure.disableAllCannonFailure is false, so failures are on. If you build a lot and want zero risk, that is the switch to flip.^[5]

• failure.overloadBurstChance is 0.5: the chance that a cannon loaded with more Powder Charges than it can handle fails.^[5]
• failure.squibChance is 0.25: the chance that a fired projectile gets stuck in the barrel after exceeding the squib ratio.^[5]
• failure.failureExplosionPower is 2, scaled by the number of charges used in the shot.^[5]
• failure.barrelChargeBurstChance and failure.interruptedIgnitionChance cover igniting a charge in a barrel-type block and loads with gaps between charges. Both are at the mod default.^[5]

Damage and projectiles

munitions.damageRestriction is set to ALL_DAMAGE. Projectiles destroy what they hit, and explosive ones destroy blocks when they detonate. The other allowed values are NO_EXPLOSIVE_DAMAGE and NO_DAMAGE, which is handy on a server where you only want entity damage.^[5]

munitions.projectilesCanBounce is true, so shells can bounce, ricochet and be deflected. Both munitions.chunkloading.projectilesCanChunkload and munitions.chunkloading.smokeCloudsCanChunkload are true too.^[5]

Impact and inertia fuzes can each hit 3 blocks before breaking, set by munitions.fuzes.impactFuzeDurability and munitions.fuzes.inertiaFuzeDurability. Setting either to -1 makes the fuze never break. The proximity fuze arms after 5 ticks in the air (munitions.fuzes.proximityFuzeArmingTime).^[5]

Both munitions.bigCannonMunitions.trailType and munitions.autocannonMunitions.trailType are SHORT. The allowed values are NONE, LONG and SHORT.^[5]

Loading and size limits

• cannons.maxCannonLength is 64, and kinetics.maxLoaderLength is also 64.^[5]
• The Ram Rod reaches 5 blocks into a cannon (cannons.loadingTools.ramRodReach) and pushes up to 3 munition blocks (cannons.loadingTools.ramRodStrength). The Worm also reaches 5 blocks (cannons.loadingTools.wormReach).^[5]
• cannons.loadingTools.loadingToolCooldown is 20 ticks, which is 1 second, between manual loading tool uses.^[5]
• cannons.loadingTools.deployersCanUseLoadingTools is false, so deployers cannot use loading tools.^[5]
• A built-up cannon block needs 6,000 ticks of heating to become its finished form (crafting.builtUpCannonHeatingTime).^[5]

Stress and Sable

The pack sets these stress impacts: kinetics.stressValues.v2.impact.cannon_loader is 4, kinetics.stressValues.v2.impact.cannon_builder and kinetics.stressValues.v2.impact.cannon_drill are 8 each, and kinetics.stressValues.v2.impact.nethersteel_screw_breech is 40. The sources do not list mod defaults for these, so whether the pack changed them is unverified.^[5]

For cannons on Sable physics objects, compat.sable.sableRecoilMultiplier and compat.sable.sableImpactForceMultiplier are both 40, which is the mod default.^[5]

Client visuals

Screen shake from big cannon blasts and shell explosions is capped at 45 degrees with a power multiplier of 6, via client.bigCannonBlast.screenShakePowerLimit, client.bigCannonBlast.screenShakePowerMultiplier, client.shellExplosions.screenShakePowerLimit and client.shellExplosions.screenShakePowerMultiplier. If the shake bothers you, lower these on your own client.^[7]

FTB Skies 2: Aero 1.10.0 ships Create Big Cannons 5.11.7. The mod was first included in pack version 1.6.0 or earlier, so it has been in the pack for quite a while.^[2]

5.11.7

This is the version you have in 1.10.0. The mod's changelog describes it as a release with more fixes, plus support for Sable 2.0.0.^[2][8]

• Added: example JSON files for big cannon and autocannon materials, in the built-in example_createbigcannons folder. This one is for datapack makers.^[8]
• Fixed: unfuzed and non-tracer projectile block items could not be consumed by the schematic printer.^[8]
• Fixed: a NoSuchMethodError crash in the Sable shell impact compat.^[8]

Unverified No pack changelog entries for this mod were available, so any changes to it between pack releases are unverified.