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[Mort Stroodle]

I've always heard that the higher density of silver warhammers makes them better choices than lighter metals. This makes sense, but I didn't see any testing on it, except for one forum post from seven years ago. So I did a little test. Two dwarves face off, one with a steel warhammer, one with a silver warhammer. 100 trials armored, 100 trails unarmored.

Unarmored test: Silver wins in 65% of matchups
Armored test: Silver wins in 68% of matchups

Those are very similar results, which both suggest that silver is meaningfully more effective (silver wins almost twice as often as steel!), and that armor doesn't seem to really change this result. This is nice to hear, as it means silver has a relevant niche in combat.

I'm interested in trying more weapons testing in the future, with much bigger sample sizes. What tests would you like to see?

[Shonai_Dweller]

Very interesting.
Will the heaviness of silver tire out Dorfs faster?

How about:
Steel Warhammer Vs 100 zombies
Vs
Silver Warhammer Vs 100 zombies

Since zombies are mainly what we'll be putting our hammer dwarf squads against. And they don't tend to be one on one fights.

[FourierSeries]

I'm interested in trying more weapons testing in the future, with much bigger sample sizes. What tests would you like to see?

May as well revisit a summing up of the traditional mainstays. Requesting whatever suitable tests you can cook up involving a:

1. Silver whip.
2. Cave spider silk sock.

[Scruiser]

Does arena allow item wear?  Can you see how long it takes the silver to become worn out vs the steel?  I suppose wear doesn't matter as much for metal items, since they can be melted down to reuse the material...

[Shonai_Dweller]

Does arena allow item wear?  Can you see how long it takes the silver to become worn out vs the steel?  I suppose wear doesn't matter as much for metal items, since they can be melted down to reuse the material...

Matters if you're an Adventurer...

[anewaname]

Two versions of the test...

Silver maces verse steel maces, to see if the results are close to the hammer results,

Silver maces verse steel hammers, to see how the results differ verse the others.

[Deus Machina]

My understanding of weapon materials:
For edged weapons, hardness matters more than density.
For blunt weapons, density matters more than hardness.

Seems to hold up here, which is at least good to know updates haven't changed.

The differences are when a creature is made of a harder material, IIRC. I'd suggest tests against bronze titans and whatever other hard-material beasties are available.

[Mort Stroodle]

Two versions of the test...

Silver maces verse steel maces, to see if the results are close to the hammer results,

Silver maces verse steel hammers, to see how the results differ verse the others.

I did some more testing last night, with about 315 trials (figured out how to automate better), which suggested silver hammers vs silver maces weren't meaningfully different in terms of success against armored dwarf opponents. I'll post results here later.

[âbirtobul]

How about gold hammers? And can you make rock hammers from the heaviest rocks? I remember seeing I could make rock weapons at some point.

Edit: I tested silver vs platinum and platinum won the 2 fights I did seemingly handily.

[PatrikLundell]

You can only make artifact weapons out of gold or platinum, so neither is available for squads in practice in a fortress. There is the "rock" sword which consists of a wooden piece with obsidian shards sticking out of it, but only obsidian is eligible for those weapons.

[sambojin]

Bronze pickaxe vs iron pickaxe wouldn't be a bad test. Just for those really early fights, so you know which one is better to bring along for your initial tools.

[vjmdhzgr]

Very interesting.
Will the heaviness of silver tire out Dorfs faster?

How about:
Steel Warhammer Vs 100 zombies
Vs
Silver Warhammer Vs 100 zombies

Since zombies are mainly what we'll be putting our hammer dwarf squads against. And they don't tend to be one on one fights.

I'm pretty sure that tiredness is only increased if they start going above their strength limit. Which early on if you're giving your new recruits heavier armor than they can handle, will be an issue, but once they're trained or if they're kept lightly equipped it shouldn't matter.

[Talvieno]

I recall reading previously that a silver warhammer could outdo steel axes, but don't recall seeing actual science behind it. This thread has gotten me interested in testing that out again. I also vaguely recall seeing a test where someone tested axes vs swords and came to the conclusion that battle axes were better.

[seht]

stuff

I would just like to say: tyvm for this science.

I would request tests on the relevance of body size in contests between armed, highly-skilled sentient opponents.

[âbirtobul]

I recall reading previously that a silver warhammer could outdo steel axes, but don't recall seeing actual science behind it. This thread has gotten me interested in testing that out again. I also vaguely recall seeing a test where someone tested axes vs swords and came to the conclusion that battle axes were better.

Silver hammers do great vs armor.
Steel axes can quickly end lightly armored combatants

I think axes penetrate better than swords on slashes, but long edges of swords do well vs big creatures with limbs.

Is what I've seen and read. I swear by silver hammers myself, because they're good and plentiful.