Spread of Firearms

Hey all! I'm starting on my first TL, which starts in the Majapahit Empire in the 14th century, and I was wondering what their weaponry might have been like? Would it be likely for them to have any guns? And if so, would those likely be used at all commonly?

In fact, I don't know much in general about the spread of guns. Does anyone know much about the spread of firearms, particularly amongst the cultures often ignored in euro-centric history?

The first guns were bamboo tubes firing stone balls used in China. By the time of the Mongol conquests metal tube guns appeared in north China. Then in a surprisingly short half century it had spread across Eurasia as far as Europe where it was known as handgonnes. Various improvements followed across the continent, including flash pans and serpentine triggers.

The most advanced design was the arquebus which appeared in Spain around 1450. It's not known if these were invented by the Muslims in the region or Christian reconquistadores. Both sides used it and the Ottomans were enthusiastic early users. It's eastward spread by Muslims was instrumental for the creation of the Gunpowder Empires of the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals. By the early 1600s the arquebus reached China via Muslims and Europeans. The Portugese's snapping matchlock design was embraced by Japan at this time.

Well as others have already mentioned, the Chinese had developed primitive versions of cannons and rockets already. Given that Majapahit had so much trade going on in SE Asia, I can see them acquiring some.

The problem is this: gunpowder becomes ineffective when wet. It was difficult not to get the gunpowder wet if used in places with high rainfall. Furthermore, early cannons were really just artillery design for taking on walled cities. I assume that there were some large cities in maritime SE Asia, but I'm not sure to what extent they were walled (as in, were cannon really necessary). Given the high rainfall in the East Indies, I'm assuming that cannons would be useless at least as often as they are useful.

Of course, early adoption of gunpowder would seem like a really good idea in hindsight, but there needs to be an immediately apparent reason for them to adopt these weapons. The only one I can think of would be in ship-to-ship combat, but I'm not sure to what extent the Majapahit prioritised destroying their enemies' ships versus boarding and seizing them.

Thanks for the response! The point about them needing good motivation to use guns is good. Nowadays, we think of guns as far superior to swords, but at the time of their early spread, that might have been hard to see.

For the sake of my TL, it would probably be pretty convenient for the Majapahit to have guns from a fairly early point, and I think I can work a way to make that happen believably. But do you think they would have to trade for guns and gunpowder, or do you think it could be easy to imagine them making it themselves?