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[simonthedwarf]

Well, my first successful fort reaching adamantine and starting the production of it finally died. I had a lot of spearmasters.

But a FB breathing dust attacks killed 20 dwarves, half of the military. From there I expected it to go downhill cause all my military dwarves were dead plus happiness had dropped sincerely overall.

What I've noticed is that some FB I've been fighting bascially has EVERY limb "RED" and then some, but it KEEPS trucking. It seems like the only way to guarantee kills somewhat fast is to have trained sword/axedwarfs. Maces, hammers and spears seem to maim more than they kill against tougher opponents.

So is it like that, do you really need a lot of axedorfs to make sure you're able to deliver killing blows?

[eataTREE]

I had always heard that speardorfs were boss against FB's and other large opponents, so I'm surprised to hear this. On the other hand, I almost always deploy swordsdorfs if I have bronze or better, and they seem to dispatch FB's without much difficulty unless they're made of something stupid.

[Yeti]

I've had spear dwarves single handedly take out FBs (not made of liquids) with copper spears, so this provides evidence for their being "boss".

[eataTREE]

Post your FB's description so we can further ponder this mystery.

[Shootandrun]

I guess he was made of granite or somethin' like that, and the dust attack did the rest.

Next time: tell your soapmaker to punch it first, just in case it's dangerous.

[ThatAussieGuy]

I had always heard that speardorfs were boss against FB's and other large opponents, so I'm surprised to hear this. On the other hand, I almost always deploy swordsdorfs if I have bronze or better, and they seem to dispatch FB's without much difficulty unless they're made of something stupid.

I have a legendary speardorf with an artifact bone spear in my fort. Any time he turns up to a fight, whether it's against invaders or FB's, it's all over save the flying limbs hitting the ground.  Worst he's ever gotten was stunned.

[Deus Machina]

Spears don't work great against really hard material.

So far, I've done well with a fairly even mix of spears, axes, and hammers. Not counting the crossbow squad.

[Lectorog]

Spears are great if the target has organs. Spears pierce organs very well, disabling and quickly killing most foes. Against things like solid material FBs, their success varies. Spears are also a tad overpowered now, especially with how often they pierce the brain, which is almost an insta-kill.

Swords and Axes are good for lopping off stuff, particularly limbs. Missing limbs are a huge handicap, and often lead to a quick death. Slashes and other large wounds come from swords and axes as well. This can cause a lot of blood loss.

Hammers and Maces deal crushing damage. They're great for disabling enemies, whether from a broken arm or bash to the upper body. They generally aren't great with killing blows (you can keep bludgeoning an enemy into the ground until their limbs are a paste, and then they might die) but blunt weapons are good for support attacks.


Generally, it's best to keep a well-rounded military. Sword- and Axedwarves are good at delivering killing blows, but may not kill the enemy fast enough because they're still too strong to be hit effectively (sort of like Pokemon, FB hunter edition). Exclusive Hammer and Mace squads will rarely get a kill quickly, though will also rarely take damage. A spear squad can be great or keep poking the enemy in all the wrong places - it's kind of a gamble with those guys. Put them all together, though, and you've got a very effective killing force.

[CriticallyAshamed]

Spears are also a tad overpowered now, especially with how often they pierce the brain, which is almost an insta-kill.

As compared to real life, where spear stabs to the head typically bounce right off heads right?

The thing was probably just a bit of a bastard due to the random generation. From what I've read spears were good for organ piercing, so body stabs would inflict more damage to the guts and stuff. Good for slowing enemies down and then brain shots.

[Doro]

yep, spears are only good against anything that has organs. things like Bronze colossi just laugh at your spear dwarves, when an axedwarf with candyaxe would just lop it's limbs and head away