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[DrCyano]

I’ve just started harvesting the divine metal of the deep, that weightless indestructible material which some dwarfs believe are the very beard hairs of Armok itself, and I want to make it into slashing weapons for maximum carnage in battle. Would it be better to make axes or swords?

So far, I’ve only made a couple short swords, which seem pretty effective against large monsters but seen to frequently get stuck in the beasts they are stabbing and I’ve not seen any limbs get severed. Would axes also get stuck? Are they any better than swords?

[anewaname]

Each have their advantage and what you fight can modify how effective the weapon is.

This section of the wiki on weapons discusses this topic.

With the uncommon metal, I tend to use both axes and swords equally because I don't know how big or thick-skinned the opponent will be.

[Bumber]

I don't think I'd recommend swords at all. Axe is by far the better slashing weapon.

Sword can get stuck in wounds when its stab attack is used. If you need piercing attacks, stick with spears or picks. (Pick has the added benefit of having no worthless blunt attack for your dwarves to use.)

[DrCyano]

Thanks, I’ll make axes from now on.

[CyberianK]

Pick has the added benefit of having no worthless blunt attack for your dwarves to use.

Never thought about Pick military Squads. When you let them train with Picks will they actually train their Miner skill?
I guess it would be important to give them Steel Masterwork quickly else they might get stuck with some copper pick due to growing attached to the weapon in regular mining uniform?

[anewaname]

The uniforms (military and civilian) are separate, so when a dwarf switches from being a miner, they will drop that copper pick (which belonged to the "civilian uniform") and pick up the best pick available for their military uniform. If that "best pick available" happens to be a copper pick and the dwarf trains with it for a long time, they might grow attached to it.

Yeah, Miner skill is what they train when they fight/train with a pick.

[Bumber]

and pick up the best pick available for their military uniform.

IIRC, you can only assign specific picks. I don't think they show up as a weapon type.

[Alastar]

Picks are probably the best overall weapon: middling contact area that's small enough to dig through tough things and large enough to take off humanoid limbs, lots of brute force. Picks and morningstars stand out in that they still deliver perfectly good bludgeons on nonpenetrating hits, other edged weapons don't hit with competitive force. As such, even a copper pick is a fine weapon, and a steel pick the best of both worlds.

That said, with a vastly superior weapon material you probably want an edged weapon with a large contact area. Armour penetration is a given, you want to sever body parts rather than poking neat holes. So, axes.

[Cathar]

So, here is my two cents, they worth what they worth (two cents) and I've been wrong in the past. But for dwarves, axes will beat swords, because your battle axe is the full version of the weapon, and your sword is the discount version of the human weapon.
Playing as human and making most of my gear out of bronze and iron, I find axes and swords about equals fighting most of the enemies. But we have long swords, and dwarves don't.

Weapons getting stuck in wounds are not so bad. It's a boon and a bane. It's good when you have numerical superiority, so it helps fighting big beasts, it's bad when you are outnummered, so it's typically bad against goblins.

If you are working with bad materials, axes go through armor more easily than swords in my experience, but once they hit the flesh, the damages is not as gruesome. Swords lop limbs, axes break mails.

If you are looking for only one type of weapon and are arming dwarves, I'd say go for axes. It can't really go wrong, even a copper axe will do decently in most scenarios, whereas a copper sword may plink against an armor.

Edit : If you are making weapons out of candy... Maybe swords are not a bad idea actually. Candy weapons are lightsabers. It just goes through armor, which is the main sword weakness.

[Hero]

Personally I like swords in this case because it's likely that if you're already working with this material, you're planning to fight very big things and the increased penetration matters. And while battle axes may be slightly better at lopping off limbs, I don't think there's too much of a difference after your soldier dwarves have built up a reasonable skill level.

Besides, and this is just a personal thing, axes just don't seem right as the ultimate form for a weapons-grade material of extremely high value and scarcity. After all, an axe is a banal item used by tradesmen more often than warriors. A sword, on the other hand, or even a spear for that matter, only has one purpose, and therefore seems a better choice for such an object of prestige.

[Salsa Gal]

Well if you want just slashing and you don't want them to stab at all, then probably go with axes because then they physically can't stab

[Putnam]

So, here is my two cents, they worth what they worth (two cents) and I've been wrong in the past. But for dwarves, axes will beat swords, because your battle axe is the full version of the weapon, and your sword is the discount version of the human weapon.

war axes are bigger than battle axes, so no

Axes are actually kinda bad. I'm not sure if an adamantine axe can get through iron armor? Stabbing getting stuck doesn't matter terribly much, also happens with spears, and sword stabs are like slightly worse mace strikes blunt-wise while axe strikes are basically just useless if they're converted to blunt, which they often are due to their massive area.

Swords are the most versatile option available and are capable of both piercing armor and lopping off limbs. Axes cannot pierce armor, spears can't lop off limbs, blunt weapons can pulp more easily in general but don't cause bleeding and thus aren't very good on larger creatures. Unless you want to do some hell micromanagement, you want swords.

If you are working with bad materials, axes go through armor more easily than swords in my experience, but once they hit the flesh, the damages is not as gruesome. Swords lop limbs, axes break mails.

Yeah, based on the actual numbers and simulations using them, this is the opposite of correct: axes are the worst weapon available for getting through armor, but once they get to flesh, they do the most damage of any weapon.

[Bumber]

...sword stabs are like slightly worse mace strikes blunt-wise while axe strikes are basically just useless if they're converted to blunt, which they often are due to their massive area.

Blunt force from candy, though.

Axes are known to sever bronze colossus limbs. Spears and pickaxes can sever limbs of normal-sized targets on occasion.

[Putnam]

Adamantine axes are best, yeah, no doubt. The area doesn't matter; adamantine is 116x as good as any other material when it comes to edged offense/defense. There's no contest, adamantine wins against everything, even at low momenta (assuming it's edged). So, yeah, if you've got adamantine, go for axes. But for steel, bronze and so on, swords simply cannot be hard countered, which is the main thing you're worried about.

[Cathar]

Putnam I think you have it wrong. Axes usually go well against armor, better than sword. Think of it like this : a copper axe will cause damage through a copper armor, a copper sword will bounce off. When you are fighting armored opponent with a copper sword, you want to use stabs, slashes will simply plink off the armor of the enemy, and even tho you are up for a bad time.

At high material level, swords may be better, as I saw very recently, a steel sword can destroy three layers of copper armor in one strike (wish I kept the logs). Adamantine weapons are lightsabers in general, they will go through anything, so at high material level, swords may be a good options because you always have 100% lethality and 100% armor piercing anyway.

(note this is based on my experience, your mileage may vary. I get very good results with good material swords, but for bad materials, the gap in efficacity seems narrower with axes. Fighting with copper swords against armored opponents is an experience I do not recommend if you have any other alternative)