[Preamble]
A couple of years ago I became rather obsessed with understanding the Dwarf Fortress combat system. I was often annoyed by how armour didn't have as much of an impact in battle as it should. Swords and axes were prone to severing limbs straight through and spears easily pierced the entirety of legs, even when made of the same material as the armour they were seemingly ignoring. I was further bothered by ranged being the end-all of combat more often than not.
This led me to many a night of searches and inspections of raws from several different mods, trying to figure out how they attempted to solved this perennial problem of mine. I ultimately stumbled across Lucelle's mod (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=118653.0). After playing around with Lucelle's mod, I was inspired to try and fix the problem myself.
This small project is the result of almost 2 years of tweaking and too many hours spent testing in the Arena. I think it's finally come to a point where it is as balanced and sensical as it's going to be with only myself to scrutinise (One of my primary goals was to have weapons behave as they would in real life, but this is Dwarf Fortress and there will be anomalies). Of course, my idea of balance is only my own, and this is what has brought me to release this project to the public. I invite you to either help me improve this mod with critique and suggestions or simply enjoy it any other way you see fit.
[Notes]
[Armour and Clothing Layers]
Currently, most armour and clothing layers on pieces are tailoured to only allow one article of equipment in each slot. For the most part, you can no longer wear multiple chain layers and a hundred cloaks. On the bright side, you won't need to.
Then what all can I wear?
My packs can make Dwarf Fortress rather picky as to what you can put on. You may have to juggle your equipment around when changing outfits in Adventure mode. However, this problem should be minimal in Fortress mode.
To simplify the process I recommend you view it like stacking cups; armour is the largest cup, and underclothes such as hand/leg wraps and shirts/tunics are the smallest cup.
[Packs]
[Armoury Pack]
This pack includes about 85 weapons and about 65 articles of armour and clothing. Below is the list of them in their entirety.
Diggers
Pickaxe (A dwarf's best companion.)
Mattock
Daggers (Civilian)
Seax
Rondel Dagger
Fighting Knife
Light Seax
Heavy Seax
One-handed Swords
Long Seax
Short Arming Sword
Arming Sword
Long Arming Sword
Sea-Raider Sword
Saber
Scimitar
Falchion
Two-handed Swords
Longsword
Great Sword
Two-Handed Sword
One-handed Axes
Hatchet (Designed for woodworking rather than combat. Cheap and versatile, your woodcutter won't know the difference!)
Adze
Battle Axe
Sea-Raider Axe
Axe Hammer (The fearsome result of dwarf ingenuity.)
Two-handed Axes
Hafted Sea-Raider Axe
Bardiche
One-handed Maces
Round Mace
Knobbed Mace
Flanged Mace
Pernach
Morningstar
Flail
Spiked Flail
Two-handed Maces
Hafted Flail
Goedendag
One-handed Hammers
War Hammer
War Pick
Two-handed Hammers
Hafted War Hammer
Maul
Lashes
Whip
Hooked Whip
Knotted Whip
Scourge
Spears
Spear
Boar Spear
Partisan
Hewing Spear
Pikes
Awlpike
Pike
Guisarme
Glaive
Sword Staff
Halberd
Voulge
Ranged
Crossbow
Bayoneted Crossbow (Trade some of that shooting power and a bit of extra material for the equivalent of a dagger stuck on the end.)
Siege Crossbow (For when that goblin really, really needs to die. Shoots Quarrels instead of Bolts.)
Bow
Recurve Bow
Longbow
Blowgun
Atlatl (A tool made for throwing lightweight spears and darts, uses the throwing skill!)
Sling (A cloth or string tool made for throwing small rocks and bullets to great effects. Not recommended since creatures will make them out of metal.)
Amentum (A leather cousin of the sling designed for launching javelins instead. See above.)
Sling Staff (A sling on a stick! GENIUS! Dwarves can make these!)
Body
Breastplate (All but impervious to bladed attacks and most projectiles, but as it says on the tin, you're going to want to wear some chain under this.)
Scale Armor
Lamellar Armor
Brigandine
Chain Mail Hauberk
Chain Mail Byrnie
Chain Mail Haubergeon
Leather Jerkin
Gambeson
Aketon
Head
Great Helm
Bascinet
Sea-Raider Helmet
Sallet
Barbute
Kettle Helmet
Nasal Helmet
Skull Cap
Chain Mail Coif
Arming Coif
Hand
Gauntlets
Chain Mail Gloves
Chain Mail Mittens
Legs
Upper Greaves
Chain Mail Upper Chausses
Feet
Lower Greaves
Chain Mail Lower Chausses
Leather Boots
Body
Cloak
Surcoat
Tabard
Cape
Coat
Robe
Kaftan
Vest
Shirt
Tunic
Head
Cowl
Coif
Cap
Headscarf
Kerchief
Head Wrap
Hands
Mittens
Gloves
Hand Wraps
Legs
Hose
Trousers
Braccae
Short Skirt
Skirt
Long Skirt
Braies
Loincloth
Feet
Turnshoes
Carbatinae
Ankle Boots
Caligae
Leg Wraps
Buckler
Round Shield
Heater Shield
Kite Shield
Tower Shield
[Adventure Mode]
Adventure mode changes have been suspended/removed until I know what I'm doing again.
[Updates]
v1.9:
- Updated to 43.05
- STRUCTURAL_ELASTICITY_CHAIN_ALL in various files changed to STRUCTURAL_ELASTICITY_CHAIN_METAL where appropriate (oversight)
item_weapon.txt
- Added 'medium' bow weapon
- MINIMUM_SIZE value adjustments for several weapons
- Weapon name localisation adjustments
- Removed daggers
item_ammo.txt
- Minour adjustments to some ammunition types
- Sling bullets changed from EDGED to BLUNT
item_armor.txt
- Aketon coverage increased to 150% from 100%
item_body.txt
- 'Dress' renamed to 'kaftan' (gender-neutral garment name)
item_gloves.txt
- Redundant MATERIAL_SIZE for mittens removed
item_helm.txt
- MATERIAL_SIZE for bascinet increased to 6 from 3
- Both metal and cloth coifs improved; padded coif renamed to 'arming coif'
- Civilian coif added, replacing arming cap
- Hood renamed to cowl
item_shoes.txt
- Leather military boot coverage increased to 250% from 200%
- Clogs added
item_tool.txt
- Added daggers as civilian weapons; only affects adventure mode
v1.8:
- Fixed some typos.
- Some weapons with only one attack option no longer specify with which part of the weapon the attack is executed.
- Added [CHAIN_METAL_TEXT] to some items of armour that were lacking it.
- Renamed civilian "chausses" to "hose" for better distinction between the cloth and armour variants.
- Renamed and tweaked both shoe-type chausses and pants-type chausses to fit in the same manner as greaves.
v1.7:
- Corrected an oversight that prevented civilians from wearing most boots and gloves.
- Made the gambeson a civilian garment as it should have been.
- Lamellar and scale armour now only absorb edged damage when made of metal.
- Buckler material requirement lowered from 3 to 1.
v1.6:
- Tweaked ranged weapons to shoot at proper intervals (default). A better ranged system is still under construction.
- Made Lamellar and Scale armour absorb edged damage like Chain.
- Fixed and removed some unintentional changes and additions in item_tools.txt
- Increased the UBSTEP of the haubergeon from 1 to 2.
v1.5a simply updates to 40.14.
v1.5:
- Attempted to fix embark point costs, and the value of certain weapons that were errant. Armour still appears to be deviant, but without a proper VALUE token applicable to weapons and armour, I'm not sure what else I can do to fix it. Needs feedback.
- Material size of weapons changed dramatically to reflect projected cost change.
- Fixed a duplicate reaction error.
v1.4:
- Extended the length of a few armours slightly.
v1.3:
- Civilian utensils (carving knives, boning knives, etc) re-balanced in line with the rest of the weapons.
- Optional creature_standard file included that removes bite and scratch attacks from dwarfs, humans and elves. Bites and scratches have proven to be more lethal than the weaponry in multiple instances, especially between armoured opponents (Latched bites bruising bone and shredding muscle through mail? Fingernails on a human cutting deep enough to sever tendons?), and I feel it takes away from the satisfaction of a good fight.
- Leather body armour added. No leather leg armour for now.
v1.2:
- Hammer-class weapons buffed, previously outclassed by Mace-class weapons in v1.1.
- More unnecessary secondary and tertiary (and in some cases, quaternary!) attacks removed from some weapons as they take away from the focus of those weapons.
- Further re-balancing to accommodate deadlier hammers.
v1.1:
- Maces and Hammers no longer have pommel strikes. The extra attack was proving to be detrimental to the weapon function.
[Download]
Download Link (http://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=9539)
The zip file contains an optional pre-configured entity_default with the weapons divided among the creatures in a loose theme. Otherwise I have compiled the relevant tokens in the readme file for custom modification.
The zip file also contains an optional custom creature_standard with bite and scratch attacks removed from dwarves, humans and elves.
[Bugs]
I am by no means a master at modding Dwarf Fortress. There may be oddities, there may be bugs. You may express your displeasure with them in this thread.
Can weapons and armour be damaged? Could they? And how's ranged combat?
If I'm not mistaken, armour can only be damaged if left on a refuse pile. I don't think I've ever seen a worn weapon though. This is all part of vanilla functionality of course. I did nothing to change this. I don't know if it's possible to make it so items take damage with use regardless.
Ranged combat is almost as effective as it is in vanilla against anything but plate armour. Plate armour, and to an extent chain armour, will stop a good portion of projectiles. Note that they may still cause internal wounds such as bruising. Crossbows are the only ranged weapon that can consistently damage through plate, as they were intended to upon invention, however, even crossbows have trouble actually killing through plate.
The flying {iron barbed bolt} misses Dwarf 2!
The flying {iron barbed bolt} strikes Dwarf 2 in the right upper arm, chipping the bone and fracturing the right shoulder's bone through the small iron hauberk!
The Dwarf 2 gives in to pain.
The Dwarf 2 falls over.
The flying {iron barbed bolt} strikes Dwarf 2 in the upper body, bruising the muscle and bruising the heart through the small iron breastplate!
The flying {iron barbed bolt} strikes Dwarf 2 in the upper body, bruising the muscle and bruising the liver through the small iron breastplate!
The Dwarf 2 regains consciousness.
The Dwarf 2 gives in to pain.
The flying {iron barbed bolt} strikes Dwarf 2 in the right upper leg, chipping the bone through the small iron upper greaves!
The flying {iron barbed bolt} strikes Dwarf 2 in the lower body, bruising the muscle and bruising the guts through the small iron upper greaves!
The flying {iron barbed bolt} strikes Dwarf 2 in the upper body, bruising the muscle and bruising the right lung through the small iron breastplate!
The flying {iron barbed bolt} strikes Dwarf 2 in the right upper arm, chipping the bone and fracturing the right shoulder's bone through the small iron hauberk!
The flying {iron barbed bolt} strikes Dwarf 2 in the left lower arm, chipping the bone through the small iron left gauntlet!
A ligament has been torn and a tendon has been torn!
The flying {iron barbed bolt} strikes Dwarf 2 in the left hand, fracturing the bone through the small iron left gauntlet!
A ligament has been torn and a tendon has been torn!
The {iron barbed bolt} has lodged firmly in the wound!
The flying {iron barbed bolt} strikes Dwarf 2 in the right lower arm, chipping the bone through the small iron right gauntlet!
A ligament has been torn and a tendon has been torn!
The {iron barbed bolt} has lodged firmly in the wound!
The Dwarf 2 regains consciousness.
The Dwarf 2 gives in to pain.
Here would be a bow test with 25 arrows, however, I was unable to run a test where the target didn't arrive at the bow user and kick his butt. For the most part, the target was completely safe from the bow user, save for one test (out of 6) where the bow user managed to headshot the target straight through a bascinet.
It's odd (to me) to have such a huge hole there when the rest of the rigid armor family is present though. At least an optional piece of the "it's here if you want it but you'll have to add it to the races you want to have it yourself" variety would be nice. After all, the point of such heavily armored soldiers is because they're extremely difficult to kill - which they had better be for the cost in metals and possibly fuel that go into making thier armor. And with this mod (which I might add is awesome in spite of the arbitrary gap in armor when there's such things as spaulders and ailettes to protect the upper arms, which is fairly obvious you already know,) layering isn't exactly a means to compensate.
It's why many weapons were what they were: As a response to the metal-skinned man-shaped manifestation of your nightmares; not to hit those big freaking gaps any idiot with a hatchet could hit if the enemy in question was distracted or an idiot himself, but to put a hole through that fancy metal suit Mr. Walking Tank was wearing or bash it apart. Granted right now DF can't implement that yet meaning such weapons need to break bones through the protection but still.
Though I will admit, right now I'm trying to test the weapons on a very resilient creature that doesn't respond to pain, doesn't bleed, and can occasionally tear of an armored dwarf's hand or claw his head in through an iron helmet, coif, and a pig tail hood + thier tissues and skull. I decided to ask about it because it's difficult to test a weapon's effectiveness when the testers insist on dying of silly things like having both thier upper arms clawed/chewed to pieces.
If I had any idea what anything in the files meant, I'd be happy to take care of it myself. I will also state again this mod is great, especially since it fits with my habit of only issuing one layer of armor and a uniform to a soldier.
Unrelated question, what's the difference between the haubergeon and hauberk? Last time I tried to give soldiers with haubergeons breastplates they threw them on the floor, but I can give them to soldiers with hauberks just fine. I ask this because I just tested it and the habergeon-equipped unit ditched thier breastplate and at a glance I can't see any difference.