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[knowbuddyuno]

To take a tangent from DJ's post, what about the idea of the manufacturer's name being on the weapon? It might have limited use, but perhaps there was some dwarf who died centuries ago who was renowned for his/her beyond-legendary smithing abilities? Finding some of his/her weapons or armor would surely give at the very least a morale boost to the user. It could even be magical, since it was in times long past.

Oh, and to clarify my earlier post about a worldgen-derived likelihood for a magical weapon to be generated under certain circumstances (i.e. sword becomes magical 1 time in 10 or 1000 each time it kills a megabeast, depending on a set value), I was speaking only about worldgen deciding a weapon had been magical the whole time and creating an entry for the weapon in question, not that the act of killing the megabeast made the weapon magical (Or that the shield was magical the whole time and that's why it stopped the dragonfire. Not that stopping the dragonfire made the shield magical). I have no original ideas about the actual formation of magical weapons during gameplay.

That's my two cents. Worth every penny.

[Mel_Vixen]

Toady did sometime back state the following:

Coins have their coin batch index (year for dwarves) and the material, but there's also ownership, contaminants, temperature, damage, age, storage information, maker id, flags based on if your fort owns/made it, melt/dump/forbid/hide designations, job information...  and probably more. [...]

(thanks to Footkerchief who found that pearl)

Well i am not sure but i think the attributs also apply to (almost) every object that exists in DF. So an Producer name as well the age and the place where a weapon was forged isnt that far of. So half of the framework for "named weapons" is already done.

[Felblood]

Currently, only engravers are noticeably signing their work, even though the game tracks who made what, so they can become upset if their masterworks get destroyed.

Would it be good to have every sword description go "This is a +steel short sword+ by Urist McGuy"? --or do we need to have a signature bit for every object, that tells the game whether you can identify the smith by looking at it.

I don't know how Toady is handling the memory allocation for object stats, but he seems loath to revise it at this stage, so I assume that changing it would open a can of worms, at least to some degree.

Perhaps, only superior and greater weapons are signed, but all of them are. That way, not every little thing is signed, but objects take no more variables than they do now, since their quality is already tracked. A very minor impact to CPU, when you view the object description is all the check would cost, and you don't use the CPU for much when the game is paused.

This still isn't unique weapon names though, and there's no substitute for "This is Calliburn, Sword of Kings, a steel short sword. All craftsdwarfship..."

Though showing the name of the smith in that block would be nice to see.

[Footkerchief]

Just noticed this in the List of Remaining Items thread:

Squads
...
Familiarity with individual weapons, attachment to them, weapon mentions in legends

[Felblood]

...

That explains a lot, actually.

I've been assuming everyone here was looking at the development thread and that was why the topic came up. the development thread, and basing my arguments on that assumption. No wonder it feels like some people are reading very different things from what I am writing.

Weapon kills and weapon naming are going in, and that's awesome!

Can we now argue about whether this should allow for extra magic swords, or be used to limit the number of magic swords?

If stabbing dragons enchants swords, this increases the rate of magic sword generation.

If you can only enchant swords that have stabbed dragons, this reduces the number of enchanted swords.

[zagibu]

Why should stabbing a dragon enchant a sword, and if it did, what would the enchantment be like? We don't need hundred and twentythree flaming swords of burny death.

[Mikademus]

Why should stabbing a dragon enchant a sword, and if it did, what would the enchantment be like? We don't need hundred and twentythree flaming swords of burny death.

Thank you for ignoring the previous discussion about this very thing.

[mickel]

Can we now argue about whether this should allow for extra magic swords, or be used to limit the number of magic swords?

If stabbing dragons enchants swords, this increases the rate of magic sword generation.

If you can only enchant swords that have stabbed dragons, this reduces the number of enchanted swords.

Well, either way we're going to have more enchanted swords than now. Or at least not less. 

I'm for the latter option. It'll keep the enchanted items relatively rare and will open up for interesting situations.

"Okay, this part of the ceremony calls for the knife to be stabbed three times into the side of a flaming googlehydra while being struck with lightning and singing the holy words. Here's the knife, Bob. Let me know when you get back."

[Felblood]

Naturally this only holds true under given assumptions about the possiblity of enchanting swords.

Urist McHero: I offer my services to you.
Creepy McWizard: Bring me the sword that struck down the acid breathing dragon Gorgonak, and you shall be rewarded.

It shouldn't have to matter whether Gorgonak is dead. However, the game should make sure that if he's dead, he was killed with a sword, before giving you that exact quest.

[zagibu]

Why should stabbing a dragon enchant a sword, and if it did, what would the enchantment be like? We don't need hundred and twentythree flaming swords of burny death.

Thank you for ignoring the previous discussion about this very thing.

Sorry. In return, here is an overview of what has been said up to this post:

• weapons used in heroic fights become masterpieces
• moody weaponsmiths reforge historical weapons into artifact weapons with decorations depicting the historical event
• stab dragon -> fire sword
• strike down undead king -> cursed sword
• no special powers, but more valuable
• hidden stat boosts for the wielder
• weapons used in heroic fights become artifacts and weoldgen retroactively invents their history up to the event
• only weapons used in heroic fights can be enchanted with magical abilities
• named weapons are generated at worldgen and tracked (or culled) throughout history
• weapons used in heroic fights can get imbued with the wielder's soul, granting him more effective and frequent martial trances
• weapons used in heroic fights give morale boosts (increase combat efficiency)
• all weapons are signed upon creation and those used in heroic fights can be tracked and identified by this signature

I still don't like the "stab dragon -> fire sword" idea. It's very unflexible and makes enchanting weapons less important, because there are already so many fire swords around. Also, it's probably not possible to find suitable magical bonuses for all monsters.

People seem to crave magic, though, so what about this:
- Introduce a new value that determines magical potence for every item
- this potence is based on materials, weapon quality, and number of heroic events, the weapon has been used in
- magical effects use up potence, so that you cannot enchant a regular pitchfork with awesome firey insta-death, because this pitchfork doesn't have enough potence, but the artifact crossbow used to shoot down 30 dragons can be turned into the fantasy-equivalent of a nuclear warhead launcher

This would make weapon fame AND the enchanters "profession" important.

[RantingRodent]

Are there really that many dragons in worldgen?

[JohnieRWilkins]

I liked several ideas that were mentioned outside of this thread. For example, a sword should be enchanted through several possible means. However, all enchantments take the form of a spirit possessing a sword and those spirits will generally be mean and will try to corrupt/destroy the wielder while providing just enough incentive for the user to keep using them. So that spirit of fire that you killed had a part of his soul embedded in your weapon and now gives the sword a burn attack. However, you slowly become zombified while in possession of the sword.

The other method should be through rituals. Embedding weapons with souls of the good will will give you a magical weapon without bad side effects. (as long as you're not evil yourself)

Also, artifacts created by dwarves shouldn't have any bad side effects either.

Famous weapons:
A weapon should become famous when a small genocide was committed with it. It should offer absolutely no bonuses, but certain entities will give you a lot of money for the item and others will attack you on sight if they see you holding it. For example, a dwarven butcher that uses his -butchering knife- to slaughter 100 kittens or 100 goblins will have the knife named and a reference in legends will be made.