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Author Topic: How do you hack off a neck without removing the head?  (Read 4120 times)

utunnels

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How do you hack off a neck without removing the head?
« on: November 09, 2014, 10:31:21 am »

Lots of heads rolled in this battle.

The Goblin Spearman stabs The Stray Cat in the head with her ({silver spear}) and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Swordsdwarf stabs The Goblin Pikeman in the head with her ­adamantine short sword­ and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Axe Lord hacks The Goblin Maceman in the neck with his ­adamantine battle axe­ and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Axe Lord hacks The Goblin Spearman in the head with his ­adamantine battle axe­ and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Swordsdwarf stabs The Goblin Bowman in the head with her ­adamantine short sword­ and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Swordsdwarf stabs The Goblin Axeman in the head with her ­adamantine short sword­ and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Swordsdwarf stabs The Goblin Lasher in the head with her ­adamantine short sword­ and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Swordsdwarf slashes The Goblin Hammerman in the head with her ­adamantine short sword­ and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Swordsdwarf stabs The Goblin Hammerman in the neck with her ­adamantine short sword­ and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Swordsdwarf stabs The Goblin Swordsman in the head with her ­adamantine short sword­ and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Swordsdwarf stabs The Goblin Crossbowman in the head with her ­adamantine short sword­ and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Swordsdwarf slashes The Goblin Lasher in the head with her ­adamantine short sword­ and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Axe Lord hacks The Goblin Crossbowman in the neck with his ­adamantine battle axe­ and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Axe Lord hacks The Goblin Bowman in the head with his ­adamantine battle axe­ and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Axe Lord hacks The Goblin Lasher in the head with his ­adamantine battle axe­ and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Swordsdwarf slashes The Goblin Crossbowman in the head with her ­adamantine short sword­ and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Swordsdwarf stabs The Goblin Maceman in the head with her ­adamantine short sword­ and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Swordsdwarf slashes The Goblin Crossbowman in the head with her ­adamantine short sword­ and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Swordsdwarf stabs The Goblin Hammerman in the head with her ­adamantine short sword­ and the severed part sails off in an arc!
The Swordsdwarf stabs The Goblin Maceman in the head with her ­adamantine short sword­ and the severed part sails off in an arc!
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The troglodyte head shakes The Troglodyte around by the head, tearing apart the head's muscle!

Risen Asteshdakas, Ghostly Recruit has risen and is haunting the fortress!

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Urist Da Vinci

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Re: How do you hack off a neck without removing the head?
« Reply #2 on: November 09, 2014, 11:53:02 am »

The upper body is the root body part.

Severed at the thigh, the game will call the severed part a "leg" rather than a "foot". The head is really no different from a hand or foot, the way it is implemented. :P

Broseph Stalin

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Re: How do you hack off a neck without removing the head?
« Reply #3 on: November 09, 2014, 02:04:32 pm »

Necks are the new eye teeth

Loud Whispers

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Re: How do you hack off a neck without removing the head?
« Reply #4 on: November 09, 2014, 02:19:29 pm »

Quote
How do you hack off a neck without removing the head?
Fight a head zombie, that works fine. They've got necks on heads that can be chopped off with mostly no problem.

utunnels

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Re: How do you hack off a neck without removing the head?
« Reply #5 on: November 09, 2014, 07:08:05 pm »

The upper body is the root body part.

Severed at the thigh, the game will call the severed part a "leg" rather than a "foot". The head is really no different from a hand or foot, the way it is implemented. :P

Yeah, that makes sense.
I thought hacking in the neck should make the ehad fly and hacking in the head should ... well, not sure.
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The troglodyte head shakes The Troglodyte around by the head, tearing apart the head's muscle!

Risen Asteshdakas, Ghostly Recruit has risen and is haunting the fortress!

wierd

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Re: How do you hack off a neck without removing the head?
« Reply #6 on: November 09, 2014, 08:10:00 pm »

You aren't thinking of this properly.  The explanation is in the combat log, where the "sails off in an arc" happens many times.

Instead of thinking "severing", thing "hacked a chunk off".

A neck is basically a cylinder made of meat, with a body on one end, and a head on the other.  Now, imagine cutting a chunk out of the middle of that cylinder.  The head and the body are still attached.

A good analogy:  Using an axe to cut down a tree.  Bits will fly off the tree trunk long before the tree gets cut in half.
Same thing here. Bits of neck are flying off.
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utunnels

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Re: How do you hack off a neck without removing the head?
« Reply #7 on: November 09, 2014, 08:20:14 pm »

Bits of neck are flying off.
Unless you actually find a "neck" on the ground later.

As it was metioned above by Urist Da Vinci, it was just bad naming.
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Risen Asteshdakas, Ghostly Recruit has risen and is haunting the fortress!

wierd

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Re: How do you hack off a neck without removing the head?
« Reply #8 on: November 09, 2014, 09:04:27 pm »

game mechanics be damned! It's just a result of the game's large quanta being involved!

(lol! I kid-- yeah, it probably is just a naming convention issue, but it also isnt far fetched to have bits of neck flying from somebody chopping on it. Even when employed in medieval executions, it took several hits for an axe to remove a head.)
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Vilkku92

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Re: How do you hack off a neck without removing the head?
« Reply #9 on: November 09, 2014, 10:31:41 pm »

game mechanics be damned! It's just a result of the game's large quanta being involved!

(lol! I kid-- yeah, it probably is just a naming convention issue, but it also isnt far fetched to have bits of neck flying from somebody chopping on it. Even when employed in medieval executions, it took several hits for an axe to remove a head.)

That was just because headmen weren't that good with axes and tended to miss the neck quite often, hitting instead shoulders and such. In a combat situation one would probably need several strikes for beheading (moving targets, so harder to land a good blow) but I still wouldn't see any sizable chunks of neck flying off before the head followed them. Very small bits, sure, but nothing really noticeable.
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wierd

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Re: How do you hack off a neck without removing the head?
« Reply #10 on: November 09, 2014, 10:40:20 pm »

The description of the event does not say how large the severed part is. :P

Only that it flies off in an arc. Big or small, does not matter!

(Besides, it's more funny to imagine it happening in a monty python's black knight scene type way!)
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GavJ

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Re: How do you hack off a neck without removing the head?
« Reply #11 on: November 10, 2014, 12:33:51 am »

It is quite possible to sever a head in an execution with a single blow (axe or sword), and skilled headsmen were expected to be able to do this, in fact.

When you hear accounts of it requiring several blows, it's often because it was an execution reserved for nobles of high birth or whatever small subsection of people, often specifically for treason only. Depending on recent history at the time, there might not be anybody nearby who had any experience in it, being a relatively rare event. People with no experience have no idea what they're doing and they eff it up and have to take several swings.

Anne Boleyn somewhat famously had her headsman imported from France, due to a lack of sufficiently skilled ones in England to ensure a clean single swing (combined with likely a guilty conscience on Henry VIII's part). Incidentally, the executioner succeeded in performing the job with one blow, and earned his all-expenses paid trip.



In battle it would be pretty much unheard of, unless you have some sort of gregor Clegane type freak combined with a lot of dumb luck.
(in other words, since this is a fantasy world simulator, every other time anybody has a fight =P)
« Last Edit: November 10, 2014, 12:42:05 am by GavJ »
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Lemunde

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Re: How do you hack off a neck without removing the head?
« Reply #12 on: November 10, 2014, 12:40:06 am »

I figure if it says head it is probably a case where the head itself is sliced in half. If its the neck then the whole head is severed.
« Last Edit: November 10, 2014, 08:03:38 am by Lemunde »
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utunnels

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Re: How do you hack off a neck without removing the head?
« Reply #13 on: November 10, 2014, 02:00:30 am »

It is quite possible to sever a head in an execution with a single blow (axe or sword)...

In DF, you can even stab their head off with a sword or spear. :P
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The troglodyte head shakes The Troglodyte around by the head, tearing apart the head's muscle!

Risen Asteshdakas, Ghostly Recruit has risen and is haunting the fortress!

TheHossofMoss

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Re: How do you hack off a neck without removing the head?
« Reply #14 on: November 15, 2014, 06:49:20 pm »

It is quite possible to sever a head in an execution with a single blow (axe or sword)...

In DF, you can even stab their head off with a sword or spear. :P

Yeah I found that to be interesting.

I've often done that in adventure mode!
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