[Disclaimer:Forgive my bad writing prowess, I'm not good at sentencing my words.]
^For those who want a concrete reason:
[ITEM_WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_PICK]
[NAME:pick:picks]
[SIZE:500]
[SKILL:MINING]
[TWO_HANDED:47500]
[MINIMUM_SIZE:42500]
[MATERIAL_SIZE:4]
[ATTACK:EDGE:100:4000:strike:strikes:NO_SUB:2000]
That is the information of the pickax from the Vanilla raws, as you can see, the bottommost line is the one you should look at generally. The contact area [1st value from EDGE] is small, like a pommel strike from a battle axe but edged. The difference between edged and blunt weapons [showing later on] is that in general, edged weapons will lop off appendages and cause bleeding and pain while denying the use of that appendage, blunt weapons cause cracked bones, nerve damage, brains through skull through helmets and bruising.
That represents the penetration size [4000]. Now I don't understand modding so I don't know how big it is but the value is exactly the same as swinging a short sword [the sword dwarves use]. The last number is the velocity multiplier, or how fast the attack is, may dictate how powerful a strike can be [need help here, using own flawed references...] which means that picks are a good weapon.
But now, compare that to this:
[ITEM_WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_WHIP]
[NAME:whipLIGHTSABER!:whipsLIGHTSABERS!]
[SIZE:100]
[SKILL:WHIP]
[TWO_HANDED:27500]
[MINIMUM_SIZE:22500]
[MATERIAL_SIZE:1]
[ATTACK:BLUNT:1:10:lash:lashes:NO_SUB:5000]
Now, ignore the name I put instead, the one in strikethrough is the real name. Just that we call them that for this weapon is one of
the most powerful things out there.
The ultra-mini contact area and penetration size is like getting an injection, but with the doctor jamming a vaccine through your arm, muscle and bone and all. You will have time to scream though. This is because of the mind-numbingly fast speed attached to it, a partial bug maybe as the game has not yet established the parts of a weapon but treats it as the whole thing so you are really holding a syring filled with [pain]. Dwarves cannot make them, you will have to get them as gifts from the Goblins every winter [If you've been good].