Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Julesy]

Are crutches a viable weapon for dwarves who can use literally nothing else? My macedwarf had his arm and leg torn off by an ettin, and since crutches require a free hand, he is unable to use it unfortunately. However, I did notice that when he was next sent out to battle, he used his artefact adamantine crutch as a weapon.I knew, at that moment, what had to be done to further !!SCIENCE!!. So then: what would be the ideal material to make a weaponised crutch out of? How do I take the artefact adamantine crutch away from him in favour of a more effective one?

[ProtoZoa]

Ive heard a few stories of dwarves killing things with crutches.  It can be pretty lethal in the right hands.

[Pirate Santa]

Well a crutch is a blunt weapon I'm fairly certain so the heaviest material you can get.
Unless you score an artifact of stone or dense metal (not addy), you'll be wanting to order a crutch made of the densest wood you have on hand.

No wait, the wiki informs me you can make them out of metal. Lead, silver or bronze would all be solid choices I believe.

[Melting Sky]

Platinum crutches make quite effective weapons. It won't be quite as a good as a mace or war hammer but it will kill.

Actually, after doing a little research, against smaller foes with bones and capable of feeling pain, platinum crutches might be better than some standard bludgeon weapons in some instances. They hit with greater energy due to their large size and density but that energy is not concentrated into a single strong striking point as with a weapon and there is no velocity multiplier. My guess is you will get a lot of twisted and broken limbs beating people with platinum crutches. Just stay away from attacking larger enemies with them. I think trolls are about as big as you ever want to go with human sized or smaller enemies making better opponents for your cripples. It should also be noted that a platinum crutch is so heavy it will slow your dwarf down a bit unless they are very strong.

I should add that you can probably snatch the crutch from him by putting a dump order on it. Make sure there is a nice new platinum crutch ready for him.

[Thisfox]

Some serious !!science!! was done on this in the past (probably 2014? Not sure. It was a while back, could have been 2012...).

The result was, that I never make crutches out of anything other than gold, and I forbid or destroy or immediately sell all crutches that arrive in the fort that aren't made of gold (or occasionally steel). Reason is twofold. Firstly, they make great blunt force weapons out of heavy metals. Secondly, when someone tries to steal the expensive steel crutch plated with (totally decorative) silver and gold spikes, set with precious stones, the owner of said crutch tends to beat said thief to death with it. Heavy gold crutches are excellent as bludgeoning weapons.

My fortress champion is always a crutch-user, and always has a seriously heavy, nasty crutch. This is in memory of my most beloved fortress, known to me as Alligator Creek, where almost all my dorfs were missing at least part of an appendage. Alligators are very good at removing limbs, hands, toes.... whatever happens to be at the end of the dorf closest to the beast. If I don't have a crutch-user, I don't tend to bother with a champion. I once had a 5 year old dorf child who was an excellent crutch user take out a werebeast. He didn't do much crutch-bludgeoning, to be fair, but he did chase that damn werebeast around and wrestle it until the military were able to cut it to pieces.

[Baffler]

Old, but here's the thread for anyone interested.

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=135129.msg4881661#msg4881661

[OAOGigmaster]

IIRC, one of the advantages of crutch-use is that it also counts as training a skill, so your dwarves will stat up as they hobble around. I also seem to recall that legendary +5 crutch users will move faster than equivalent dwarves that do not.