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[Halo]

I'm planning on setting up the squad leaders with some exotic weapons, to mix things up a little, but there are a few things that I'm not clear on.

Based on what I can find on the wiki, weapon quality only matters for masterwork (and artifact) weapons, is that really correct? (IE Exceptional weapons are no better than Standard?)

Which weapons are considered 2 handed and cannot be used with a shield? Any?

Why can a halberd use the axe skill, and a flail use the mace skill, but pikes and spears are separate? *boggle* This isn't really a question, more of a facepalm.


Edit: Another military question: I generally prefer mixed squads, but do uniform squads train faster? I don't really see how the spear and hammer dwarves benefit from attending the high master axelord's axe demonstrations. Are there any cross-squad demonstrations if I have two squads training at the same time in the same barracks?

[Montague]

Yes, the wiki says quality doesn't matter for exceptional or less, not sure if I want to believe it or not.

Longswords, two-handed swords, pikes, halberds, flails, (but not morning stars) mauls, great axes, are two-handed for dorfs, as far as I know. Basically any melee weapon dwarves don't make that isn't a scimitar, morning star, dagger or whip/scourge. I think this is how its *supposed to work* but I've never bothered arming dorfs with foreign weapons and multigrasp weapons have been broken and I'd bet that you can equip shields with a two-handed-sword anyways. I am probably wrong, so feel free to yell at be about this point.

Yeah, the pike/spear distinction is silly. IRL they were used quite differently on a tactical level and a pike is so long, it doesn't make sense for a one-one weapon like in DF, but at the end of the day, they are a stick with a pointy end on them. You can mod this out of the game easily enough, though. I'd probably mod out the mace/hammer distinction as well, since they are basically used in exactly the same way.

[_DivideByZero_]

Pikes vs Spears are completely different. Spears are shorter and more suited for one-on-one combat, but pikes are too long to be used the same way. Pikes were used in phalanxes, for example, in a completely different way that spears were. Pikes keep the enemy away, spears kind of don't. The distinction isn't silly at all.

Maces vs Hammers are pretty similar, but admittedly, with a mace you simply bash the enemy, with a hammer you have to hit them with the tip. A maul is also used differently, as you need to time your hits differently since you have no shield, it being a two handed weapon.

Halberds vs Axes do deserve different skills, though, as a halberd is more of an axe on a long stick with a spear on the end.
I like what deon did in genesis, which is make halberds use the lasher skill and rename dwarven/human lashers to halberdiers. People will never notice a thing!

[dwarfhoplite]

Please somebody tell me best material for: whip, flail and morningstar

[Kay12]

Please somebody tell me best material for: whip, flail and morningstar

They're all considered blunt weapons, so I think heavy metals like silver are the best. However, whips are currently overpowered (they strike extremely fast and hit a very small area - like a bloody firearm!) and in Adventure mode I knocked out a troll with a single copper whip headshot, so they work quite well even with slightly inferior materials.

[Alastar]

Pike and spear using separate skills make some sense, the questionable bit is that spear are modeled as (almost) exclusively stabbing weapons.

Some large dwarves may be able to use long swords as one-handed weapons.

Whips, flails and morningstars should work about equally well with all materials. There is no clear material hierarchy for blunt weapons - dense materials like silver tend to make good can openers but to be even less impressive against (almost) naked flesh because they're softer. Very pointy weapons (morningstars as modeled - high-velocity edged hits with half he contact area of spears) also seem to depend as much on density as toughness - steel would be great if you could get it, no clear hierarchy between the others (including adamantine).

Also: Flails don't seem very desirable, and daggers are very useful against armoured foes without sucking too badly against everything else.

[Putnam]

Please somebody tell me best material for: whip, flail and morningstar

They're all considered blunt weapons, so I think heavy metals like silver are the best. However, whips are currently overpowered (they strike extremely fast and hit a very small area - like a bloody firearm!) and in Adventure mode I knocked out a troll with a single copper whip headshot, so they work quite well even with slightly inferior materials.

I'm pretty sure that, when it comes to blunt weapons, copper is second best available.

[Kay12]

Copper isn't exactly among the densest materials, is it? Care to elaborate on its strengths?

[Gyvon]

Copper isn't exactly among the densest materials, is it? Care to elaborate on its strengths?

Dwarf Fortress treats copper as a very dense materiel, which is why copper shields are the best.

[Number4]

Low quality of foreign weapons is annoying...