Empire Master Engineer for SFO II/Grimhammer

The engineers pride themselves on their scientific minds. But scratch under the skin, and you’ll find them as passionate and irrational as the rest of us. They may claim to find pleasure in the mechanical workings of their machines, but put a pistol in their hand, and their blood will run as hot as any man’s. Indeed, it has often been my supposition that the hearts of our famous mechanical scholars may be particularly prone to excitement in the heat of battle. Their imaginations are fertile, and their capacity for rage strong. If it were otherwise, how could they come up with such dreadful devices?

—Emperor Karl Franz

Emperor Magnus the Pious famously said that three things make the Empire great: faith, steel, and gunpowder. In the Total War: Warhammer games, the Empire has heroes that embody the pillars of faith and steel, yet they’ve left a glaring omission: the one embodying gunpowder, the Master Engineer. In the Warhammer world, without Master Engineers, there is no Repeater Rifle or Grenade Launcher. Nor is there the Helblaster Cannon, Helstorm Rocket Battery, or my favorite invention: the mighty Steam Tanks. They fulfill a support role (like the Vampire Coast’s Gunnery Wight) and add flavor that the Empire sorely needs and so, instead of waiting for CA to make one, I decided to take on the task myself. I’ve attempted to make them as useful and fun in that role as I can, without being too overpowered, and keeping as friendly to lore as possible. Anyway, on with the show!

• Three weapon loadouts, each with their own skill lines, including brand-new skills:
  • Repeater Rifle: The main weapon used by the Outriders of the famed Pistolkorps, the Repeater Rifle is meant to throw as much lead at the enemy as possible. The skill line for the Repeater Rifle is meant to bolster gunpowder units by providing more ammunition, faster firing rates, and better ammunition replenishment.
  • Grenade Launcher: Used by the more daring (or maybe just plain crazy) members of the Pistolkorps, the Grenade Launcher is there to make the other side go BOOM. Thus the skill line for the Grenade Launcher adds two special grenade types for the Engineer and makes war machines more deadly.
  • Hochland Long Rifle: Famed for its accuracy amongst the hunters of the eponymous province, the Hochland Long Rifle is the weapon of choice for sharpshooters. Unlike the skill lines for the other two weapons, the focus is on improving the abilities of the Engineer himself, with longer range, greater accuracy, and a Sniper ability for taking out elite units or characters.
• Mechanical Steed: The Mechanical Steed is one of the most fascinating–and frightening–inventions to come out of the Imperial Engineers School. Given the level of tinkering needed to maintain battle readiness, it is the endcap of each of the weapon skill lines, and adds considerable cost to the upkeep of Engineers in the campaign while mounted.
• New abilities: The Engineer has several abilities adapted from the tabletop rules or other characters in the game:
  • Extra Powder: Adds to the impact of projectiles fired by the buffed units (red skill) or the Engineer himself (yellow skill).
  • Master of Ballistics: An offensive buff that makes nearby artillery fire more accurately.
  • More Powder!: Allows the Engineer to replenish a unit’s ammunition during battle.
  • Pigeon Bombs: A bombardment attack with a small but powerful area of effect, great for taking down bunched units.
  • Stand Back, Sir!: A defensive buff that can take some of the heat off an Engineer targeted by enemy missile fire.
• New Legendary Hero: Based of off Forge World’s Tamurkhan: Throne of Chaos campaign, Jubal Falk is the Captain-Engineer of Nuln. He can be recruited when either the Empire or Wissenland constructs the Nuln Gunnery School. He starts armed with a Hochland Long Rifle, and although it’s his only ranged weapon, he has additional effects that make him and other gunpowder units even deadlier.
• New starting traits, textures, and models
• Optional submods for Mechanical Steed effects and Imperial Engineering Landmarks

RECRUITMENT: The Engineer is recruited from the same menu as the Empire Captain. The following buildings unlock the Engineer, increase agent caps, and/or increase recruitment level:

• Tier 4 & 5 Forges
• Nuln Gunnery School
• Imperial Academy

WEAPONS: The Engineer starts armed only with a pistol and sword, with each weapon loadout unlocked at different ranks. In order to make the loadouts work properly, each weapon functions as a "mount" that is enabled when unlocked. Each weapon’s skill line also locks out the other weapons, to help encourage specialization and variety.
OTHER FACTIONS: The Engineer can be used in both campaigns and custom battles by any Empire faction, including the AI and unlocked playable factions, and each faction uses the appropriate uniform colours.

This version is designed around Grimhammer, but modders are welcome to make compatibility mods. Also, there shouldn’t be any conflicts with mods that reskin/recolour Empire units.

Q: How do I get those sweet effects on the Mechanical Steed?
A: See the link in the "MOD FEATURES" section.

Q: Will you be making a version that is compatible with <INSERT MOD HERE>?
A: See COMPATIBILITY above for currently-supported mods. Other than that, I don’t have any immediate plans, but modders are welcome to contact me.

Q: Can I suggest some ideas and/or improvements?
A: Of course! Any sort of suggestion or constructive criticism is welcome in the comments. Note that there are modding tool limitations that may make some ideas difficult or impossible to implement.

Q: Dude, this mod SUCKS!
A: ¯_(ツ)_/¯ If this is all you have to say, I don’t know what to fix.

• Better Mechanical Steed textures: I’m still working on it, but if any texture artists out there who want to take a crack at it, let me know.
• Engineer-specific ancillaries: A future update will have ancillaries based on mentions in the rulebooks and White Dwarf. Von Hugon’s Terror Bell, anyone?

Willemsen, for his Hochland Long Rifle
Frodo45127, for the RPFM modding tool, which made creating and editing this mod so much easier
Cataph, for help and feedback on character modding
Vandy, for help with Jubal Falk and scripting
Drunk Flamingo, for feedback and scripting
Mixu, for permission to build off his Ironsides textures for Jubal Falk and for help with scripting
All of the above and rest of the crew at the C&C Modding Factory Discord, for putting up with a bajillion annoying questions.