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[Sjotrik]

So, i just started ut iron-production, and soon my military. but one thing i havn`t cleared out yet:

What weapons should they have? Currently, i have mad 2 iron crossbows, 3 battle-axes and 2 hammers. all of iron. soon im making some iron plate-armor and all that. xD

so, what`s the best? Hammers, axes, swords, bows? or all of them? and if so, how many dwarves should have the different kinds of weapons?

[Brent Not Broken]

Opinions vary. I personally like axes because I like the aesthetic (and because axedwarves are a fun shade of blue), but I don't actually think they're any more effective than your other melee options.

Iron crossbows are kind of unnecessary, though, since unless the marksdwarves have run out of ammo and are hitting the enemy with the crossbows, their material doesn't matter. If you have limited iron, you could save some by making crossbows out of wood or bone. (But then again, if you have plenty of iron, iron crossbows are kind of awesome.)

[Dutchling]

Crossbows: Make them of silver or wood, why? Their quality matters for ranged combat but not the material so wood will do fine, but making them of silver will help them when caught in a melee (silver>iron for blunt weapons)
Hammers & maces: Hammers are better than maces, also: if you have native silver or galena (tetahedrite too?) you might want to make them out of silver.
Swords, Axes & spears: AFAI Swords are the best becasue they both stab, crush and slash. Spears are the best versus large creatures with organs. Axes are good too.

 ninjaaaa

[Orkel]

Vanilla DF, silver warhammers are the deadliest against humanoids as proven by testing (says on the DF wiki).

Generally though, battle axes or short swords are the best choices in my opinion. Hammers don't work as well against stuff like bronze colossi or any blob creatures.

[Urist McGyver]

Vanilla DF, silver warhammers are the deadliest against humanoids as proven by testing (says on the DF wiki).

That, of course, if they're unnarmored.

[Sjotrik]

great! thanks for your help.

I have no silver, so i guess bows are not needed. Then i will go for Swords, hammers and axes.

[Minnakht]

Vanilla DF, silver warhammers are the deadliest against humanoids as proven by testing (says on the DF wiki).

That, of course, if they're unnarmored.

No, that's when they're armored.

Basically:
Hammers are good as can openers, bashing through enemy helmets and the like with ease, but don't bleed the enemy out and keep the enemy in one piece... basically, it's only either smashing a head in to kill something, or breaking its bones to incapacitate it.
Axes can lop off limbs, what is one of two ways of dealing with a Bronze Colossus and generally is lethal, but aren't very effective against armour
Spears and shooting can pierce organs, what tends to kill and/or incapacitate anything that has said organs quickly, but again, armour stops those
Swows are like axe+spear, but less powerful
Crossbows can't be made of silver, use bronze instead. Shooting works from afar.

[morikal]

Several things:


1)

Vanilla DF, silver warhammers are the deadliest against humanoids as proven by testing (says on the DF wiki).

That, of course, if they're unnarmored.

No, that was if they ARE armored. Unarmored the axes were better.

2) I haven't done any testing myself, but, from reading the weapon testing thread, and the wiki pages regarding weapons & armor, it appears to me that the test was biased. Adamantium armor is pretty terrible at stopping blunt force:

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=53571.0

My conclusions from that data (which may be outdated... I think it says its from at least 31.12), as well as from various posts about how quickly things kill:

 - Vs foes wearing armor of a material which is lower in the chain than your weapon (e.g., bronze armor vs iron weapon, iron armor vs steel weapon), any of the weapons are reasonable. For quick kills vs unarmored foes, swords or axes are best.

 - If you have steel weaponry, I'd suggest steel axes and silver warhammers (or steel if no silver available). Depending on what you face, send the axes against less armored foes, hammers against more armored foes. I'd probably toss in some spearmen or marksdwarves for fun. Probably spearmen, as I've heard of lots of problems with marksdwarves right now.

 - With less than steel, it appears that spears & hammers are probably the way to go. (From the above post, it appears spears of less than steel quality hit far more often than other slash/pierce weapons of less than steel quality). Spears vs the less armored foes, hammers against the more armored foes.



EDIT: and looking at that post again, it looks like steel swords are better than steel axes... hmm. I'll have to run some tests at some point.

[Sjotrik]

spears and hammers it is, then. I have no flux stones at the moment, so i can`t make steel. i have to wait until next caravan.

Again, many thanks. it comes to good help.

[Hyndis]

I prefer to allow them to pick weapons on their own, so I have a mix of weapons.

I'll make a bunch of each type of weapon. Masterwork only. All non-masterworks are sent back to the smelters for melting.

[Naryar]

*steel picks*

No seriously. Picks are roughly as deadly as axes, and the skill they use in combat (Mining) is actually useful for your fortress and is easily trained. Armor your miners like a good military (iron/bronze/steel), put them a month into a danger room, and you'll be fine. War miners not only dig, but own in melee as well.

However, you will have to disable their Miner job when they are in the military. If not, they will not use picks and be much less efficient.

[Flying Dice]

Axes are the best overall, as they tend to get the most severed limbs and lethal hits, although swords are pretty close in terms of taking off limbs. Spears are relatively weak in terms of lethality, but if you've fixed penetration on them, they tend to be very useful on megabeasts, titans, etc. because they can reach fairly deep. I've had a dragon lose its spine in one hit from a speardwarf. Depending on your version, crossbows may or may not be broken, but either way, don't bother with them until you have a few melee squads. If you want to use hammers, make them out of silver, as it is the densest weapons-grade material without modding, and will thus deliver the heaviest blunt hits, but hammers still aren't very lethal, barring a direct hit to the head. Don't bother with maces.

[Hyndis]

Crossbows are absolutely devastating in large numbers. A few marksdwarves can be easily overwhelmed, but 50+ marksdwarves all grouped together? Nothing touches them. Station them above an ammo bunker and the hail of bolts will destroy everything trying to attack them.

[Urist McGyver]

Wanna see a real stupidly powerful hammer? Mod Platinum to be able to be forged into weapons.

Its so awesome that dwarves are slower while equipped with platinum warhammers.

[Urist Imiknorris]

Try that slade stuff.