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Author Topic: Dual Wielding Military?  (Read 6467 times)

Mrhappyface

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Dual Wielding Military?
« on: August 29, 2011, 07:08:41 pm »

I want to give my miltary dual weapons, since thankfully, I was able to give them all *Adamantine Breastplate* along with *Steel Mail Shirts*. Now I want to know if this is practical, because I will have to rev up my candy mining and weapons industry again. So, should I just stick to making steel shields, or should I go out to making Akimbo dwarf weapons?
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Eddren

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Re: Dual Wielding Military?
« Reply #1 on: August 29, 2011, 07:27:00 pm »

You started making Adamantine ANYTHING before having legendary weapon/armor crafters?
What a waste
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Alestom

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Re: Dual Wielding Military?
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2011, 07:49:55 pm »

I don't think it is worth it, because the dwarfs use the weapon they are more used to most of the time

Example: Legendary Swordsdwarf Equiped with Steel Mace and Steel Sword, He will always use the sword if he can
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Mrhappyface

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Re: Dual Wielding Military?
« Reply #3 on: August 29, 2011, 08:02:30 pm »

You started making Adamantine ANYTHING before having legendary weapon/armor crafters?
What a waste
Actually, I do. Thanks to them, I have a giant iron ball artifact and a steel gauntlet  artifact.
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SirAaronIII

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Re: Dual Wielding Military?
« Reply #4 on: August 29, 2011, 08:08:16 pm »

Maybe he just used a * to replace the dorfbuck sign.
Anyway, even though it's candy, there will still be lucky shots that will eventually cause the demise of your fighters. So I'd say it's impractical and to go with a shield instead.
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Valdrax

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Re: Dual Wielding Military?
« Reply #5 on: August 29, 2011, 08:36:08 pm »

I'm not sure.  I've seen fortress mode dwarves used both their regular weapon and a training weapon in combat before.

However, when I went to test this in arena mode, I've never seen a dwarf use the weapon in their off-hand.  Axe/hammer dorfs all fell en masse to axe/shield or hammer/shield dwarves.  Double axes and double hammers didn't fare any better, unless both sides had literally no skills.  At that point the shield became an actual liability, surprisingly.

I haven't tested yet no-shields, one-axes v. two axes.  I should probably go do that.
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arzzult

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Re: Dual Wielding Military?
« Reply #6 on: August 29, 2011, 08:55:48 pm »

Well the problem with two weapons is that it doesn't give you more attack chances as far as I'm aware, just options if you use different weapons. I'd say go with shield for greater survivability. And I'd suggest masterwork copper shields since material quality doesn't improve block chance but will affect any attacks made with it. And since shield bashes are blunt and copper is heavier than steel it's a better material in this case.
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Valdrax

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Re: Dual Wielding Military?
« Reply #7 on: August 30, 2011, 02:51:12 am »

Well the problem with two weapons is that it doesn't give you more attack chances as far as I'm aware, just options if you use different weapons.
Yeah, that was my experience.  The axe/hammer dwarves exclusively used the first weapon in the list unless the arm holding it was disabled.  Speaking of which, arena testing confirmed that a dwarf with two axes is better than one with only one axe and no shield.  Many of the survivors were missing a limb, though. 

So...
Weapon + Shield > Two Weapons > One Weapon, no Shield.

(For identical weapons and armor setups.)
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Girlinhat

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Re: Dual Wielding Military?
« Reply #8 on: August 30, 2011, 03:00:11 am »

Using two shields gives you double the block chance.  I think this works by rolls.  The attacker rolls a dice, and if it's dodged then it's dodged.  Another roll determines if it's deflected by your shield.  If you have 2 shields, then yet another roll determines if the second shield blocks.  There's parries and deflects in there too, but you get the idea.

Have two weapons gives no such advantage.  You cannot strike with both weapons at the same time, and your attack speed will still be the same as your movement speed, gaining no bonus.  Dual axes will just mean that if you get your arm cut off, you still have another axe.  That in itself is rather dwarfy, but ultimately not dwarfy enough to rationalize the loss of arm.  Use a shield instead.

rhesusmacabre

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Re: Dual Wielding Military?
« Reply #9 on: August 30, 2011, 03:23:07 am »

I did a dual-wielding fort a while back (sword and hammer). Most of them favoured either one or the other though, and the lack of shields seemed to create problems against archers. And then a dragon showed up...
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Valdrax

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Re: Dual Wielding Military?
« Reply #10 on: August 30, 2011, 06:02:45 am »

OTOH, two-shield dwarves die in droves in arena matches against dwarves wielding one shield and any better weapon.
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peri609667

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Re: Dual Wielding Military?
« Reply #11 on: August 30, 2011, 06:29:08 pm »

since shield bashes are blunt and copper is heavier than steel it's a better material in this case.

Wait a sec... Does that mean that COPPER warhammers are better than STEEL ones? If so, that'll be incredibly helpful since i need the steel for armour and sharp weapons, and i'm very short on silver.
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acetech09

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Re: Dual Wielding Military?
« Reply #12 on: August 30, 2011, 06:32:28 pm »

since shield bashes are blunt and copper is heavier than steel it's a better material in this case.

Wait a sec... Does that mean that COPPER warhammers are better than STEEL ones? If so, that'll be incredibly helpful since i need the steel for armour and sharp weapons, and i'm very short on silver.

Not trying to mock you, but that'd be a good post in the facepalm thread.
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Girlinhat

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Re: Dual Wielding Military?
« Reply #13 on: August 30, 2011, 06:38:07 pm »

A dwarf with 1 shield will survive shorter than a dwarf with 2 shields.  A dwarf with a shield and a weapon seems to survive at different frequencies.

Copper warhammers are better than steel warhammers.  Silver preferred, but refer to the page of "metal" on the wiki to sort metals by density.

IronValley

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Re: Dual Wielding Military?
« Reply #14 on: August 30, 2011, 07:12:22 pm »

If you want to do it for the (historically disproved) "awesome factor" (bloody Japanese culture fanbois), go ahead. It will be just as effective as in real life.



Lots of dead pincushions.





(If however, you've modded your game to add small daggers, and want to dual wield those disregard my previous subtle (not suble) mocking. They'll still die a lot though....)
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