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[The Architect]

Is it possible to let your dwarves go nuts with whips? I can't see a way to assign them, but the wiki says they're playable.

[kefkakrazy]

I don't believe so, because they're not assignable. I may be wrong.

You CAN set them in traps; it's not necessarily as effective as a trap component, but whips deal Gore damage, which is really hardcore stuff.

[The Architect]

No shortage of military power here, and no lack of the ability to create masterful obsidian shortswords and abuse weapon traps if that were what I wanted. However, I don't have any problem massacring the orcs and such that are foolish enough to come. I just want to goof off with whips.

No way to force them to use it? That doesn't make much sense when the wiki says they can be wielded.

[smjjames]

I don't think you can use them now, but whips should be useable by dwarves in the next release.

[Derakon]

Whips are unusable by dwarves in fortress mode, except in traps (where they apparently do a good job of dealing disabling-but-not-killing blows). The wiki might have meant that you can use them in adventurer mode, though.

[Fien]

Whips are unusable by dwarves in fortress mode, except in traps (where they apparently do a good job of dealing disabling-but-not-killing blows). The wiki might have meant that you can use them in adventurer mode, though.

My first thought was "who the hell would even want to do something that cruel?" but then I remembered I'm talking about Dwarf Fort.

Also the dungeon master should come with one (and how about some pants while we're at it?)

[Albedo]

... but the wiki says they're playable.

No it doesn't...

Whip†    

...

* Can be used by dwarves in fortress mode

A "dagger" ( † ) is not an asterisk.  Only playable in Adventure mode. 

[The Architect]

Bah, humbug. You're right though. Thanks for the heads up.

Well, time to let this topic die. Question answered.

[Jim Groovester]

You're not missing out. I've tried training a few whip users on a previous goblin fort of mine by changing the weapon skill required to wield them, and they suck. I sent four lashers I had trained to legendary in wrestling and a decent amount of skill in whips against a single human squad in a siege, and the humans won.

Sometimes whips strike limbs off, but they basically need to be legendary whip users for that to happen.

You can use them in adventure mode, where they are equally useless against the first group of wolves that ambushes you.

[G-Flex]

You're not mixing your unit types. That's probably a big problem there.

Lashers are good at causing pain (and possibly bleeding), but not at causing serious injury. A lasher or two mixed in with a squad of other units might be a better idea.

Then again, a hammer to the elbow probably tends to cause enough pain on its own.

[Jim Groovester]

I did mix unit types in that fortress, but I wanted to see if whips (scourges actually; they deal slightly more damage) were capable enough on their own at killing things like every other weapon is. They are not.

One lasher actually got to legendary, and she would pretty regularly whack off limbs, but she'd get mobbed by wrestlers or get bogged down injuring horses before she could really kill anyone.

[The Architect]

Some weapons are good against crowds, some aren't. Notably a trained swordmaster will obliterate an enemy squad almost every time. I assume Toady's rebalancing of the combat systems will make weapons more equal; as it is the sword's quick attack speed and severing criticals make your dwarves into veritable indestructible anime samurai. Hammers, axes and maces are good too, but all pale in comparison with the sword. And spears of course just get stuck all the time, basically making all spearmasters glorified wrestlers and leading to the problem you mentioned with whips: once a dwarf or squad is reduced to wrestling, sheer numbers are likely to overwhelm them.

In my opinion what would be needed to rebalance weapons would first be a separate combat modifier for short swords, long swords, and two-handed, with the ratio of severing/cutting criticals increasing toward the largest swords. Maybe at that point one competent dwarf with a short sword won't slice an entire goblin ambush to pieces, just cut them. Of course Toady is going to go way above expectations as always with his combat updates; you can be sure of that.

[Rowanas]

Was I the only one who thought of the party Whips in government to control MP voting and decided that it would be a great idea for influencing the Mayor votes?

[Strant]

Was I the only one who thought of the party Whips in government to control MP voting and decided that it would be a great idea for influencing the Mayor votes?

I was think something more along the lines of letting the Mayor use a whip to discourage slacking.

On a different note,  I think Lasher, Knife-User, and Thrower are only skills that you can use in Adventure Mode but can't in Fortress Mode.

[G-Flex]

Don't forget whatever skills bows use!

Also, dwarves technically DO use Thrower skill, but only when tantruming.