Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Alastar]

Pickaxes are possibly the best weapons in the game, in my opinion the only challengers are morningstar and whip.

It's good in all categories that are strictly desirable: It's tied for highest velocity of edged weapons. It puts a decent amount of weight behind a blow. It has a decent penetration depth.
Contact area is always a trade-off, and I like picks just fine here - large enough to sever limbs of humanoid creatures, small enough to dig through any armour you're likely to face. There are better can openers, there are better butchering implements against naked opponents... but no better general purpose weapons.

[Lagslayer]

I think I've found a new go-to weapon.

[Urist Imiknorris]

I think I've found a new go-to weapon.

As have I.

Also, mining is really easy to train.

[ThrowerOfStones]

I vaguely remember someone doing some science with picks and found they beat out the vast majority of other weapons, although it varied depending on armor, etc.

[Erkki]

Would this work?

Make picks, assign skills, mine. When done, disable skills of ALL miners, form squad of only those you want to draft. Assign specific weapons individually. Wait and make sure they go get the weapons. Activate again the civilian miners' skill. Right?

[slothen]

Would this work?

Make picks, assign skills, mine. When done, disable skills of ALL miners, form squad of only those you want to draft. Assign specific weapons individually. Wait and make sure they go get the weapons. Activate again the civilian miners' skill. Right?

no, I'd expect they'd grab a different pick for mining, and even if they didn't, they'd still drop all their armor, food, and waterskin every time they got a mining job.

Now, you can use mining to train them, and assign picks individually, but then you just have an active squad that can't shouldn't go back to mining without first being disbanded.

[Erkki]

I was thinking about creating a full-time pickaxe squad, training it some first by mining clay and sand, and making sure they dont try to get the picks already in use by active miners.

[Hans Lemurson]

I just trained up a batch of new miners in a danger-room, and so I actually do have a small pick-axe squad available for testing.  They're clad in full bronze plate and wielding masterwork steel pickaxes.  The only problem is that they will always be considered "recruits" due to picks not having an associated weapon-skill, which results in a frowny-thought when they get activated to military duty.

Oh well, it's all for science, and in any case I was able to get some new master-miners without too badly messing up my fortress' aesthetics with pointless large rooms.

[Erkki]

I think I'll mod the pickaxe use the pike skill. Graphics almost fit (Phoebus), and I never get pikedwarves anyways.

Will the mod take effect without a new world gen?

[NecroRebel]

I think I'll mod the pickaxe use the pike skill. Graphics almost fit (Phoebus), and I never get pikedwarves anyways.

Will the mod take effect without a new world gen?

Maybe, but if you do this thing you'll no longer be able to dig. Picks can only be used for digging because their associated weapon skill is mining. Change that, and they won't be usable for digging anymore.

[Erkki]

Just noticed... Can there be 2 related skills?

[NecroRebel]

Just noticed... Can there be 2 related skills?

I don't think so, though I guess you could try it. I'm pretty sure it just takes the last one in the entry, though.

If you can have 2 skills on a weapon, and using the weapon increases both, I might be forced to develop a "system of levers and pulleys" weapon that uses, like, all of the combat skills simultaneously to imitate powered armor 

[Lagslayer]

I just trained up a batch of new miners in a danger-room, and so I actually do have a small pick-axe squad available for testing.  They're clad in full bronze plate and wielding masterwork steel pickaxes.  The only problem is that they will always be considered "recruits" due to picks not having an associated weapon-skill, which results in a frowny-thought when they get activated to military duty.

Oh well, it's all for science, and in any case I was able to get some new master-miners without too badly messing up my fortress' aesthetics with pointless large rooms.

Have you considered training them up in an additional weapon? If they get a high enough skill in one weapon, they will ignore even their legendary civilian jobs and be considered an ax/spear/swordlord, etc.. Then you can switch back to the mining pick. The only problems would be that it takes a little more time to build up the second weapon skill and that he might become attached to it.

[Karakzon]

I just trained up a batch of new miners in a danger-room, and so I actually do have a small pick-axe squad available for testing.  They're clad in full bronze plate and wielding masterwork steel pickaxes.  The only problem is that they will always be considered "recruits" due to picks not having an associated weapon-skill, which results in a frowny-thought when they get activated to military duty.

Oh well, it's all for science, and in any case I was able to get some new master-miners without too badly messing up my fortress' aesthetics with pointless large rooms.

Have you considered training them up in an additional weapon? If they get a high enough skill in one weapon, they will ignore even their legendary civilian jobs and be considered an ax/spear/swordlord, etc.. Then you can switch back to the mining pick. The only problems would be that it takes a little more time to build up the second weapon skill and that he might become attached to it.

interesting point here:

i have found my dorf has grown attatched toa pick or so when he makes kills but he dosent get the announcement for it. i dont know if picks can gain names eather, if they cant then thats a shame and something ide put forward in suggestions to Toadyone (long may he live).

[Beanchubbs]

A way to avoid becoming attached to weapons, while also having them be considered soldiers so there is no negative thought is to train the soldiers in wrestling before you give them picks. It would be a bit longer process because the inability to use danger rooms for training, but setting up a bunch of weaponless gobbos in a room with the dwarfs for a while should do it. That way they also have good fighter, dodger, shield user, what have you before you start them on the picks. Similar to the common training set-ups in the 40d versions.