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[dwarfhoplite]

I need some help with weapons. i want to know what weapons i should start making to have maybe 1 or 2 types of different melee weapons.
I've read silver warhammers are good. should I equip my  military with them? what weapons do you guys suggest for good overall weapons(preferably no addy weapons , i haven't struck adamantine yet)

[Alastar]

Weapon balance is... complicated. It all depends on what you want.

Silver war hammers are the best can openers your dwarves can usually make - density trumps rigidity or strength here and small contact area is also good. They are even worse against fleshy targets than other blunt weapons though - here small contact area is a drawback and strength/rigidity is more important than density. All shapes and materials are servicable for blunt weapons - it's all a tradeoff between lethality and anti-armour performance.

Against small fleshy things you want blades with a large contact area (glorious showers of limbs). Spears are good against large fleshy things (penetrating to the vitals through the blubber) or somewhat-armoured humanoids (small contact area makes it easier to pierce armour, still more lethal than blunt weapons if they get through). At least with sharp melee weapons, the material is easy - adamantine if possible, steel otherwise. For pointy rather than slashy things, the lesser materials will do in a pinch.

Ranged weapons don't depend on material unless you club someone over the head with it - use whatever is the lightest if you don't expect to enter melee. For ammunition, density is important but strength also matters. Silver, bronze and copper are all good, differences are mostly academic.

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The best weapons from my experience are those witha high velocity entry:

Whips, because they use a flawed model: we get the supersonic velocity of the tip, but the game treats it as if the weight of the whole weapon was behind that. Almost ignores armour and not really any worse than larger blunt weapons against naked targets.

Mining Picks: Faster than most edged weapons with decent penetration depth, contact area is large enough to take off limbs and small enough to dig through something solid. Strangely, probably the best overall compromise as a weapon.

Morningstars: Very small contact area, high velocity, and more substantial than scourges... worse against flesh than picks and worse against armour than whips.

[shlorf]

Axes seem to be the best at severing limbs and since goblins and other siegers fail to bring leg arm and foot protection the AI will take those shots, the only downside is having to clean up ca 4 parts per goblin/troll.
Swords are good a good all round weapon. They work well against goblins but also ok against megabeasts and the likes.
Maces I'm not sure about but if made of steel testing indicates that they have a decent chance of critical wounds.