I'm currently running a large series of experiments to see which of these four weapons is best: iron short sword, iron spear, silver war hammer, or iron battle axe. My setup is to have 460 5x6 rooms, with two combatants in each. Each dwarf is a grand master at everything, and has a weapon, an iron shield, and (in some trials) armor.
I have three sets: no armor, partial armor, and full armor. Partial armor means (iron) helm and breastplate, and full armor is helm, breastplate, greaves, mail shirt, high boot x2, and gauntlet x2. I'm open to suggestions for the partial armor set, since I haven't done that trial yet.
Screenshots of my first trial:
Before AfterMy results: (I'll add more as I go along) (format: weapon vs weapon: [survivor number] weapon1, [survivor number] weapon2)
No armor:
swords vs spears: 249 swords, 211 spears
swords vs hammers: 250 swords, 210 hammers
swords vs axes: 254 swords, 205 axes (apparently, there was one pair that both died)
spears vs hammers: 221 spears, 238 hammers
spears vs axes: 232 spears, 223 axes (5 pairs that both died)
hammers vs axes: 243 hammers, 215 axes
Comments: My expectation was axes>swords>spears>hammers. Instead, it appears that the order is swords>hammers>spears>axes. It seems strange that axes aren't very effective against unarmored enemies.
Partial armor:
swords vs spears:
swords vs hammers:
swords vs axes:
spears vs hammers:
spears vs axes:
hammers vs axes:
Full armor:
swords vs spears: 101 swords, 359 spears
swords vs hammers: 43 swords, 417 hammers (Most of the swordsdwarves killed with blunt trauma. Most of the sword victories took a very long time, long enough that in a full battle, the hammerdwarf's allies would have come to help out.)
swords vs axes: 291 swords, 168 axes (this took a while, neither could easily get through armor)
spears vs hammers: 124 spears, 336 hammers
spears vs axes: 391 spears, 69 axes
hammers vs axes:
Comments: I'm expecting hammers>spears>axes>swords for this one. I'm expecting slashing weapons to be ineffective, since the AI ignores armor when it chooses where to attack, and almost always tries to use its weapon. I'll probably get pages of weapons glancing off helms before I get kills.
Conclusion: axes suck. Don't use axes. Swords are best against unarmored opponents, but suck against armored opponents. Hammers can kill anything. Spears are OK at killing everything, and can kill large enemies much more easily than hammers can.