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[SharpKris]

I wish I could find a Katana, I keep dying very early because there are always several special zombies guarding every house, road, and piece of dirt on the map.

Tip: break windows. Broken windows slow zombies down a LOT, so you can get more hits on them before they get a hit on you.

also cars

[Mephansteras]

Realistically, you're not going to find an authentic historic Katana anywhere outside of Japan. They're considered national treasures and are illegal to export. So anything you get in Cataclysm is going to be a replica of some sort anyway. At best, you'd get a WWII era sword that was captured by a soldier and brought back.

And any sword is probably going to be pretty good for hacking up zombies, assuming it's decently made and not just a wall-hanger. Swords are pretty much ideal for cutting, and one of the few items that had no other purpose than killing people.

For pure slashing ability, you'll want a curved blade. Katana, Sabre, Scimitar, and the like are all good for that. Straight bladed weapons aren't quite as good, but since your goal when hitting a zombie is to hack them apart and not just make them bleed, it's not a big deal. Remember that a human when slashed will probably fall down in shock and grab the cut. Doesn't have to be too deep to take a person out of commission. A zombie doesn't care, so it has to be a serious blow to make them notice or disable them. A short hacking blade like a Falchion might actually be better than a katana, actually, since those were designed for close quarters work and hacking through both armored and unarmored opponents as well as wood (pike hafts, specifically).

Thinking about it, a Boar Spear and a falchion would be a pretty good combination. Stick a zombie with the spear to keep it from advancing, and use the sword to dispatch it or fight off any other zombies. A shield would also be quite handy, since your basic zombies can't really do much against a metal shield.

[miauw62]

I don't think a spear would be any good anyway. Against one zombie? Sure. But you're generally fighting multiple zombies/other things at the same time.

[GlyphGryph]

Actually, they can - they can grab it. Which is a pretty effective way to take out a shield user if you have a buddy and don't care about getting stabbed yourself.

Not to say it wouldn't /help/ - I'd just suggest you go with a classic handheld shield rather than an armstrap one.

A battleaxe would probably work particularly well against zombies though, probably even better than swords. Lighter, often more damaging, and with a spiked back for dealing with the occasional spider or robot.

Unfortunately, good quality battleaxe replicas are pretty uncommon compared to sword replicas, so good luck finding one...

Also, good call on the Boar Spear - a good set of lugs really does counteract most of the drawback of using them, along with a side weapon, and the ability to kill and keep at range makes them the superior choice for dealing with a single zombie.

[miauw62]

Maybe we should make spears able to attack 2 tiles away, like Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup does. Just an idea, I have no idea how OP/UP it would actually be.

[LordSlowpoke]

Maybe we should make spears able to attack 2 tiles away, like Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup does. Just an idea, I have no idea how OP/UP it would actually be.

It'd be... an addition of another playstyle, really. You could semi-safely deal with zombies using spears exclusively, and I think it'd warrant the addition of a polearm skill (correct me if it already exists - I don't remember that off the top of my head really). I'd support that, though.

[Tilla]

Polearms are dope. They're not just piercing weapons like spears, but slashing weapons like voulge or scythes, or even a bow staff to bludgeon things.

[Graknorke]

scythes

Fuck to the yes. Mass beheadings here we come.

[Mrnocamera]

Polearms are dope. They're not just piercing weapons like spears, but slashing weapons like voulge or scythes, or even abow staff to bludgeon things.

IT'S BO STAFF ASHAGADGHASJK!

[Mephansteras]

Reach is really important, especially against an unarmed opponent. A sword lets you get an attack off before they can realistically hit you and a spear could let you fend off a single zombie pretty well for quite a while. Be hard to kill one with it by stabbing, but spears are actually ok for slashing and you could always use it as a quarter-staff to bash one to death.

And a spear is really good for fending off wild animals. There is a reason Spears and Bows were the hunting weapons of choice for thousands of years. And, of course, in Cataclysm you have to worry about a lot more than just zombies.

[Akhier the Dragon hearted]

Glaives are the way to go.

[GlyphGryph]

There have been several proposed mechanical changes for melee fighting. The reach changes are honestly the least exciting of the bunch, but they are planned nonetheless.

These are the changes I'm most excited about:
https://github.com/CleverRaven/Cataclysm-DDA/issues/1565

[Twiggie]

man. :<.

was trying to take my semi over a bridge, but there were like 5 cars in a row blocking the way. i cut my way through 3 of them but when i started on the next one i got swarmed by giant insects, and i lost my broadsword somewhere.

[Jehdin]

I had a semi truck with a steel-plated front bumper so I just pushed cars off of bridges, if you go 10mph or so it's pretty controllable. I imagine it's possible with smaller vehicles so long as you've got a powerful engine.

[Twiggie]

yeah i just finished plating it, but when i tried to get in the swarm arrived.