Flintlock is probably gonna be pretty useless if it's actually made realistically. Short range of like 500 yards (rough guess, idc to go look it up), accuracy goes out the ass, and damage output would be a lot lower than Ben thinks it'd be (considering it's just a bead traveling at low velocity. Any real damage inflicted by flintlocks were caused by the projectile ricocheting off bones in the chest cavity or turning the brain to mush by bouncing around in the skull)
But that's just my 2¢
I think weapons that wouldn't realistically have a charge up, like crossbows or guns, could work like they do in Pirates Vikings and Knights 2, in which they have kinda poor accuracy, but pressing right click aims the weapon, slowing you down, but increasing the accuracy. I feel it works out pretty well, balance-wise.
I mean, the crossbows and rifle in that game
also have a 4-6 second reload animation that makes you stop moving and forces the camera down towards the weapon, so it's not just the need to aim. Maybe that could work too, I suppose? (although I don't think that bit about the camera is possible in Torque.)
As for the actual stats as long as we're spitballing here, maybe it could work like one of the crossbows, or the rifle from PVK2.
- The rifle deals moderate-high damage (I think the equivalent would be about ~40-45 damage) to the torso, deals high damage to the head. Probably the most "sniper" weapon of the ranged weapons in the game, but also generates a stuffton of smoke both trailing the projectile and in a cloud in front of the gun.
- The crossbow used by the Archer class deals moderate-high damage, but has a large amount of knockback, used mainly as a "get the hell out of my face" weapon.
Granted, these are both on classes with low health and armor, average speed, and with poor melee weapons, so it's really the server owner's fault when the guy with plate armor and a longsword also gets a crossbow and then suddenly everything turns into Call of Duty: Medieval Warfare, but there are ways to make ranged weapons balanced as sort of secondary weapons for melee-focused guys.
Also on an unrelated note I think that's actually a matchlock.