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[Albedo]

"Urist likes... short swords...".

With a preference for short swords, it's known that Urist then will, on average, craft better shortswords (metal ones via Weaponsmith, wooden "training" ones via Carpenter, and obsidian ones via Stonecrafter).

But does that make Urist a better swordsdwarf? And (altho' I'm guessing "no") ~if~ so, then would a preference for crossbows make a dwarf a better marksdwarf, and/or a better "hammerdwarf" when using a crossbow to beat on someone, and what would a preference for bolts do for a marksdwarf?


Note - Nothing in the wiki implies so; the ~only~ reason I'm asking is that I have an immigant hammerdwarf who "likes short swords", and Dwarf Therapist, under its "Roles" grid, thinks that weapon preferences do have a distinct influence, and I then wondered where that came from, and if there is any evidence that it in fact helps or whether that's just pure 3rd-party confusion.

(Edit - I guess a dwarf holding a high quality weapon would get better thoughts if they preferred that weapon... not sure if that's worth retraining...)

[Goatmaan]

I'm confused by this as well.
That said, I play high population forts, so if a dwarf
Has a "likes short swords" thought, he goes into
A sworddwarf squad!
Anyone with a like for a weapon goes first, then shields, then armor
No idea if it helps or not just how I play!

  Goatmaan

[NW_Kohaku]

Dwarves who like short swords will get happy thoughts from their short swords, and possibly are much more likely to grow attached to a weapon. 

At the very least, I have never heard of weapon preferences affecting anything else.

Since all other factors in melee dwarves are equal, you might as well let the guy (or girl) that likes short swords have one, and enjoy some extra happy thoughts mellowing out any negative ones. 

[Salmeuk]

No one has done any in-depth dwarf science about this but considering all I've heard from Toady it doesn't seem like preferences will affect a Dwarfs ability in combat. Kind of like how a mason with a preference for a certain stone won't get bonuses to quality or speed when they carve a statue out of it.

I tend to make dwarfs with particular weapon preferences weaponsmiths, so when they are struck by the inevitable strange mood they're inclined to produce something useful.

[Albedo]

Kind of like how a mason with a preference for a certain stone won't get bonuses to quality or speed when they carve a statue out of it.

Um... except that a mason with a preference for a stone WILL tend to produce better quality items out of that material.

Can't speak to speed, but the increase in quality is easily demonstrated. With unskilled crafters, no preference tends to produce no-quality mixed with a few -well-crafted-, while a similar-attribute unskilled crafter with a preference rarely produces anything worse than +finely-crafted+ and many better than that.

[Quietust]

"Urist likes... short swords...".

With a preference for short swords, it's known that Urist then will, on average, craft better shortswords (metal ones via Weaponsmith, wooden "training" ones via Carpenter, and obsidian ones via Stonecrafter).

Training swords are not short swords - they are a distinct weapon which would have distinct preferences. Obsidian swords, however, definitely do count.

[Albedo]

Oh - never knew that fine distinction existed. Good to know.

Same w/ training axes/spears, or no?

[Calidovi]

Oh - never knew that fine distinction existed. Good to know.

Same w/ training axes/spears, or no?

I haven't been playing for too long, but I think that axes are axes considering that they all can chop down wood. Damage is heavily affected as it should be, though.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong (which I probably am).

[Eldin00]

The same applies to all training weapons. Axes for example are divided into 3 types (in vanilla), those being Battle Axe, Training Axe, and Great Axe. Only the 1st two are available to dwarves.

[Albedo]

Thanks. Disappointing, but good to know.

[Quietust]

The reason they are different is because they are literally different weapon types - training swords (ITEM_WEAPON_SWORD_TRAINING), training axes (ITEM_WEAPON_AXE_TRAINING), and training spears (ITEM_WEAPON_SPEAR_TRAINING) have no edged attacks (they're changed to blunt attacks with larger areas to reduce their damage), and they are also flagged as [TRAINING].

You should also take good care to know that a wooden training sword is very much NOT the same thing as a wooden sword - the Elves use the latter, and while they aren't very sharp (due to wood not being very good at holding an edge), they are absolutely capable of inflicting serious damage in the hands of a skilled fighter. Similarly, menacing wooden spikes are very different from wooden training spears and should not be used in danger rooms unless you want to kill your dwarves.