Well, handguns, even really primitive ones, would certainly be useful, and since it was a 100 roll, they're probably relatively advanced, hopefully.
So,
@Magoose , some questions:
- How advanced are these first handguns, considering the high roll? Did we skip levels of tech advancement, like wheellocks or flintlocks instead of hand cannons or matchlocks?
- Did Leonardo also invent better powder, like serpentine powder, or the principles of corning? (
Gunpowder - Wikipedia)
- Are they mass-producible, or bc they were made by (presumably) Leonardo da Vinci they're Wunderwaffen for now?
If they are mass producible, I would also desire handguns for our armies so Russia is ahead of technological and tactical innovation for once...but that will probably have to wait until our Mongol campaign ends, when we can retrain troops and formations in their use without too many problems. Since our nobles are pissed at us, we should probably get the campaign rolling next turn, I don't think we can wait any longer.
EDIT1: Something else I should point out, there's lots of options for gunpowder research other than cannons and firearms. China alone had primitive rockets (similar to modern fireworks), Fire Lances, even arrows that could carry gunpowder charges for an explosive bang at the end. (
Gunpowder - Wikipedia).
If our current guns are shitty (even with Leonardo's genius behind their design and principles, which I doubt), we could modify our existing crossbowmen with gunpowder arrows, and we might come up with an acceptable alternative to firearms for the moment, at a cheap upgrade. If we also made sure to upgrade the crossbows (steel crossbows, with winches for maximum pull/force), that would be a very good long-ranged force, and would be much more silent and less visible than OTL firearms.
There's also land mines, grenades, etc. Now that we have our own gunpowder and cannon manufacturing abilities, I would definitely want to get our engineers and scientists working on more uses for gunpowder.
Above all else I want Russia to be providing inspiration to the WEST eventually, not the other way around.
EDIT2: There's also the naval component to consider. We have shitty naval forces at the moment, but we now have our wife's rule on the Polish throne to consider, as that also means any naval forces Poland has are also theoretically available to us.
For obvious reasons, we should push for both nations to pool their industry and intellectual manpower and design new, larger warships that can optimally utilize various types of cannons as long-range weapons. In doing so we can utilize the benefit of our hindsight, if possible, and focus on the development of higher-quality ships with an emphasis on better naval training, supply, and overall discipline. Also, onboard crews of marines, equipped with firearms, crossbows, and a mix of melee weapons would make boarding MUCH harder, meaning our ships, with high rolls, might be very difficult nuts to crack.
We have shitty ships, and I doubt Poland possess a strong or capable navy, so in doing this we'll be massively upgrading and expanding both navies, allowing for much stronger control of the Baltic and North Seas. More control = greater levels of possible trade, cultural spread, and overall power and influence. Thus, naval power is absolutely critical to the growth and benefit of the growing Russian nation.
I'm also not entirely sure if the European Empire in this story have conquered Sweden, Norway, or Finland yet, or maybe the Empire has some territory but they're just outposts, idk. If not, a massive upgrade and expansion of naval forces would provide the first steps in making a conquest of the far northern territories by the Empire MUCH easier by way of naval logistics. Obviously invading Mongol territory, taking it from them and purging their people, and making it RUS is more important, I'm just thinking of potential opportunities for expansion and growth.
I know developing a lot of this stuff from scratch will be EXPENSIVE and probably require high rolls to even make progress in, but we should do this for the following reason: In all the glimpses into Emperor Alexander we have received, it has never even been mentioned the concept of using cannons for naval warfare, so we should beat him (and thus the Empire) to the punch if we can in this regard. The kingdom (and thus the king) who thinks of, develops, and properly leverages the benefits of naval cannons/warships first will reap massive benefits from doing so, and prestige.