Weapons Added:
Trap Component: Cat's Tail
Available to: Dwarves, Orcs
A series of metal chains strapped to a rotating post
Does only 50 base damage, but three sets of chains strike at once.
Deals gore damage
Not likely to stop an orc incursion, but is resource friendly and intended to counter lightly armored foes. (See: The local wildlife.)
Effectiveness versus elves not yet tested. Eagerly awaiting initial results.
Sword: Rapier
Available to: Humans, Elves
Ah yes, the rare odd item not naturally available to dwarves. It doesn't seem fitting for the mighty forges of the world's keenest axes and mightiest hammers to waste their time on flimsy little foils such as these. If you're absolutely inclined to do so though, they should be available as a drop in adventure mode.
Because of their distinct style, rapiers are considered to have a piercing attack. They are not quite as damaging as a proper short sword, but have a higher chance of dealing critical hits. Also, because of their sleek design, they have a low chance of becoming stuck in a wound; that's not to say, though, that those pesky elves might not grab hold of it with their feeble tendons or some such thing.
-- Note -- You CAN supposedly use these in fortress mode, as your dwarves use the sword skill, but it's up to your own forces to choose them from among fallen foes. Hold any swordsdwarf who does so suspect as an elven sympathizer.
Dagger: Matchet
Available to: Dagger using races
Alright, so there's another which doesn't default to dwarven use (although, were it to fall into another weapon class, a good ol' machete would not be entirely undwarfy!). Matchet is the "proper" English name for a machete, which I thought might be a bit too culturally weighted a name to include in Dwarf Fortress. Its uses are self-explanatory, of course.
As far as gameplay, its place is to give dagger-using races an alternative to the traditional Large
- Dagger, and to provide the occasional kobold with a two-handed weapon. They do fair damage (slightly greater than a basic short sword), but have a bad habit of embedding themselves in their target. They also lose the critical hit bonus that benefits your standard dagger.
Mace: Flanged Great Mace
Available to: Dwarves
Ah, now here we go. A weapon fit for a dwarf! This massive two-handed tool of bashification stands neck-high to a human, but gods help the man who laughs at a dwarf wielding one. Heavy, intricately designed, and set with a spike-brimmed head larger than those it’s designed to bash in, great maces are an investment to be made only for your strongest macelords. (Or your adventurer, should you run across one of these.)
The key word there -is- strong, mind you. Their devastating power comes at the cost of being by far the heaviest weapon in common use, outweighing the better part of a dwarf’s armor. They also require five bars of a given metal (or fourteen adamantine wafers!) to properly forge, making them a significant investment for even a wealthy fortress. I would recommend issuing them to your champion macedwarves of at least so many elf kills as a symbol of honor, perhaps including with them a free gold-walled tomb and pet GCS. : ]
Hammer: Pole Hammer
Available to: Dwarves, Humans, Orcs, Goblins
A long-shafted hammer with a precise head and an armor-breaking spike on its back. Similar to the real-world lucerne hammer, these are an alternative to the standard war hammer.
Though they are a bit more unwieldy, their focused head carries greater angular momentum, and will do very nicely for punching through thick-skinned and heavily armored opponents. As such, these have a reasonably higher rate of critical hits, and a very slight chance to become embedded in the (rather unfortunate) target.
Clothing Added:
Head, Over layer: Bandana
Available to: All
A simple tied bandana or do-rag.
Legs, Over layer: Breeches
Available to: Dwarves, Elves, Humans
Knee-length, buckeled-cuff trousers.
Chest, Over layer: Vestment
Available to: Dwarves, Elves, Humans
A long dress robe, associated with religious individuals and positions of social honor. Historically, these would reach to the wearer's lower legs or feet, and were associated heavily with western Christianity.
Legs, Over layer: Kilt
Available to: Dwarves, Humans, Elves
A thick, mid-length skirt with masculine connotations. For the slightly morbid (or dwarvenly badass) among us, it is quite possible to craft these out of tied bone.
Hands, Over layer: Bracers
Available to: All except kobolds
A wrap-around piece for the forearms and bottom of the hands. These can be crafted as an item of fashion to go with those nice cave spider silk gloves, or can be forged from thin padded metal sheets to complement a suit of light armor.
As they are not particularly heavy, metal versions of this item default to “leather” level armor, if you want to give your light infantry an extra dose of protection.
Hands, Under Layer: Hand wraps
Available to: All
Simple cloth or leather strips to wrap around the wrists and palms of the hands.
Armor Added:
Plate-layer Armor: Bone and Shell Carapace
Available to: Dwarves, Goblins, Humans,
A simple breastplate or brigandine, crafted of woven and bound bone shards.
An alternative to full plate armor for new or resource-strapped fortresses.
Rather cumbersome for the modest protection it provides, but when times are tight, you have to make due with what's at hand.
This piece does not give much protection to the waist or arms, but is not as heavy as the alternative. As a single piece, it is somewhat better reinforced as well.
If you're into fluff and fiction, it can also be quite a gruesome sight to behold, depending on the tastes of the bone carver responsible.
Plate-layer Armor: Bone Plate Harness
Available to: Dwarves, Orcs
A full-upper-body harness, crafted from bone or shell pieces, reinforced, tied, and bound into a rudimentary set of threequarter armor. A second alternative to platemail for new or metal-poor fortresses.
Its pieces come together to form a simplistic battle harness, including what amounts to a rudimentary cuirass, gorget, spaulders, and tassets.
Even more cumbersome than a bone carpace piece, this crude armor should not be a mainstay of your army once true platemail becomes available. It does however provide your militia with a full complement of protection when the need arises. Its sole advantage, aside from being inexpensive, is that the auxiliary pieces cover the entire upper body, affording complete (and minimal) protection.
==
Note, that these -are- exactly what the description says. Even a basic chainmail shirt would out-perform the harness in most uses. The key difference is that these pieces do not require any metal, coal, or magma to forge -- just one dedicated, patient craftsdwarf, and a whole lot of bones. They are heavy and somewhat restrictive for the protection
they provide, but if nothing else, they're a good way to train your future dwarves-of-the-line to move in full plate and to keep them intact during their early sparring sessions.
==
Plate-layer Armor: Ornate Plate mail
Available to: Dwarves, Humans
A "delicately" crafted version of standard plate mail. With all the basic vulernabilities covered, room is made for elaborate metalwork and otherwise superfluous components. A set of such armor as this offers little more protection than the standard, and is thus an item of prestige or luxury. (A luxury it is, too; its value is much greater than that of non-ornate plate mail.)
Plate-layer Leggings: Ornate Greaves
Available to: Dwarves, Humans
A companion to Ornate Plate Mail, beautifully refined and forged to fit. Includes front and back greave plates, joined knee-guarding poleyns, and the ever-vital codpiece.
Chain-layer Helm: Ornate Helm
Available to: Dwarves, Humans
Another part of the ornate armor set, helms of this type are forged into grand or terrifying pieces, often bearing such dwarfy things as horns, engraved beard-holes, and multiple flask mounts.. In keeping with the concept, they are heavier and require more resources to forge, but give slightly improved protection and have a much higher value.
Plate-layer Shoes: Sabatons
Available to: Dwarves, Humans, Orcs
Another auxiliary armor option. Much heavier than high or low boots, but offer somewhat better protection.
These "plate shoes" are cut around the ankle, and amount to an extended version of your every day steel-toe shoe. Take the high boots if you’re worried about weight on your new recruits, but these ought to be standard issue for any fully trained armor-user. Make sure, though, that they are also given proper leggings; as I said, these are traditionally fit only to the top of the foot.
Chain-layer Armor: Padded Mail Hauberk
Available to: Dwarves, Humans, Orcs
A large, well-padded chain shirt which hangs as far as to the wearer's knees. These are heavier than a typical piece of chain mail, and are too long to be worn beneath another armor piece, but generally offer superior protection. Scale vambraces and an extended ring skirt make these a worthy protection option indeed.
These have far superior stats to typical chain mail, so they are a viable option when metal is too scarce to issue every melee dwarf a suit of plate mail. They cannot be worn with leather or plate armor, however.
Misc. Additions:
Instruments:
Lyre
Pan Pipes
Toys:
Toy Soldier
Toy Swords
Toy Picks (Dwarven folk teach them young'uns early!)
Shapes and Images: (On crafts, engravings)
Hill
Spiral
Valley
Entrance
Pattern
Disbursed among races as is befitting to each. These have no major effect on gameplay, but should serve to add just a bit more depth and flavor to the game.
Author
Topic: Arts and Arms: A Very Dwarfy Content Mod [[ Pre-release release up!]] (Read 2134 times)