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Wait for the next release. I want usable mugs damn it!

55 (71.4%)

We can use the current one. I like the big trees and slightly smarter dorfs.

17 (22.1%)

I'll take .34.11 thanks. I want to know I'll get to kill things for sure.

5 (6.5%)

Total Members Voted: 77

[Splint]

=STANDARD FOR ALL TESTS=
-Steel/Pig Tail Fabric-
x1 Breastplate
x1 Mail Coif
x1 Hauberk
x1 Barbute
x1 Greaves
x2 Gauntlets/boots
x1 Cloak
x1 Shirt
x1 Trousers

Morale is active in the arena.

TEST 1: 1v1

DWARF
x1 Glaive (two handed weapon, uses pike skill)
4 Fighter, Discipline, Pike
6 Dodge and Armor User

SPAWN
7 Bite and Striker (natural skills only)

RESULT:
The Dwarf eventually bleeds out, but stood his ground with 4 discipline.

Spawn survives through sheer durability and lucky hit to left arm.

The Spawn however is in extremely rough shape, with severe damage to it's torso and most of its limbs chopped off. Everything is missing, broken, or punctured except the left upper arm. It's only saving grace was the dwarf failing to hit the heart and the brain not being vulnerable, other wise the fight would have ended with the dwarf being victorious in very short order with a full set-up of Stal's Armor.

However if they managed to get a bite in and stay latched, the dwarf is basically done for, doomed to bleed out or pass out from pain.

TEST 2: 5v5

Dwarves are armed and skilled the same as before.
Spawn are Skilled same as before.

RESULT: Dwarves Are Victorious due solely to their armor tanking majority of the blows. Once again however, lucky shots prove to be debilitating. One dwarf was put out of the fight by a claw or more likely bite to the neck, and one was put out of the fight due to having his teeth clawed out and nose bitten off. Only the other three dwarves and two spawn already being down saved them from a likely pulp-induced death.

Spawn are viciously put down, with pulping a factor in one kill.

x1 Pulped (Punch)
x2 Heart Shot
x2 Bisection

TEST 3: All factors mirrored with Test 2. Starting positions altered.

Dwarves win due to early trances, and again Armor tanking the hits. Four out of five have some heavy bruising from bites and claws.
The Spawn make the mistake of targeting the same two dwarves which lead to them trancing and gaining a huge edge over them.

x4 Pulped (edge damage)
x1 Heart Shot

It should be noted all three of these tests assume trained and fully equipped soldiers using two-handed edged weapons. They have a minimum of skill required to fight well in their heavy armor and not break and flee at the first sign of trouble. On top of this, 4 points that would have been allocated to shield user were redistributed to Dodge and Armor use.

The spawn are given no skill aid due to their immense physical stats: Considerably greater strength (they can cause heavy bruising through armor intended to stop most edged weapons and inferior quality blunt weapons as well,) agility, and extreme durability to the point it took flat out wailing on them enough for them to be pulped even be put down at all.

The dwarves in all three tests also by AI fluke or brilliance targeted the spawns' legs first more often than not, removing their speed advantage altogether.

TEST 4: 5v5, Spawn given minor skill aid.

Dwarves: Mirror kit and skills from prior tests
Spawn: 4 wrestling, dodge, fighter, and kick

RESULT: Spawn Victory but just barely, with two very heavily injured spawn. However, this result is skewed as the dwarves abandoned their breastplates due to misordering their gear on my part. The injured units were left basically lamed and unsuitable to continue fighting more dwarves (one was basically a torso and head with a mangled left thigh attached and the other was missing a leg and arm as well as disembowelled, unable to use its remaining arm and leg, and missing its teeth.)

SPAWN CASUALTIES
x2 Pulped (edge Damage)
x1 Bisection

DWARVEN CASUALTIES
x4 Bled out
x1 Pulped (Claw)


TEST 5: Replicated Test 4. Equipment sorted.

RESULT: Two dwarves are taken out of the fight very quickly, being wounded enough for one to run for his life and jump into the arena's water to escape, and with the added dodge skill and no armor the spawn turn into lightning bruisers, taking the dwarves out in short order mainly by targeting the neck and less well protected upper arms.

The Spawn are all injured to some degree, most missing their arms and legs. They also had great difficulty against the dwarve's more sturdy armor pieces, to the extent they had to target the upper arms and neck to cause any damage since they were less well armored.

SPAWN CASUALTIES
x1 Pulped (edge damage)

DWARVEN CASUALTIES
x3 Bled Out
x1 Suffocated (strangled)
x1 Fled the Field (injured)

TEST 6: 11v11

Dwarves: 6 Glaivedwarves,
5 Marksdwarves
 x1 Mahogany Siege Crossbow
 x15 Iron Quarrels
 7 Armor use and Archer

Spawn: 11 Warriors

RESULT: Over all, the battle went to the spawn, however the survivors were too badly mangled to be useful for fighting and were unable to finish off the incaped dwarves thanks to their armor. The marksdwarves may have been a deciding factor, but note they were using high power crossbows lacking a bayonet option. With bayonets the fight would have probably ended in favor of the dwarves

SPAWN CASUALTIES
x3 Bisection
x2 Heart Shot
x2 Pulped (edge damage)
x4 Too crippled to be viable combatants.

DWARVEN CASUALTIES
x4 Bled out
x5 Incapacitated

All of these tests are by no means conclusive but do give an idea of their performance against a decently trained and equipped force; the spawn are beaten or suffer what amount to pyrrhic victories, generally being too banged up for the most part (some may still be credible threats but depleted numbers work against them,) to be a real threat to reinforcements. Marksdwarves armed with more powerful weaponry also prove able to inflict some serious harm on spawn, and may end up instrumental compared to SBI where they weren't nearly as important except under certain conditions.

HOWEVER

This also has the dwarven opposition armed to and trained to a certain standard. With these (shoddy) tests, dwarves using anything less than steel for their armor (and anyone without a breastplate,) may not fare anywhere near as well, and they'll require absolutely tremendous discipline, emotional hardening, or a numeric advantage to cope with casualties. This also doesn't take into account soldiers using one-handed weapons and shields (at the expense of some mobility.) They may fare better with shields, or the lower dodge and armor use may kill them.

And last of all, this doesn't take into account heavily regimented weapon masters. Since most spawn like the ones here won't really be exceptionally skilled enemies, soldiers with a very high level of skill and a minimum of bronze or iron armor and weapons will likely mop the floor with most spawn provided they aren't coming in overwhelming numbers.

Overall they're actually not too bad. So long as we can out skill them and provide enough armor for everyone we can take them on, though there may be some casualties.

[Lolfail0009]

These results are delicious~

[Orange Wizard]

Hey guys. I'm posting here to ask if someone would be so kind as to provide a link to the raws for 40.x compatible spawn? This seems like a fairly reasonable place to ask, I guess.
I've done some searching, but I can only bring up incidental discussion or the 34.11 version.

[Splint]

Hey guys. I'm posting here to ask if someone would be so kind as to provide a link to the raws for 40.x compatible spawn? This seems like a fairly reasonable place to ask, I guess.
I've done some searching, but I can only bring up incidental discussion or the 34.11 version.

Have some updated spawn, courtesy of Mr Frog

[Orange Wizard]

Glorious, thank you.

[Starweaver396]

I actually love the idea of glaivedwarves, it seems to be a natural progression from pikes/spears. Have you looked into mughammers though?

[Splint]

=STANDARD FOR ALL TESTS=
-Iron/Pig Tail Fabric-
x1 Breastplate
x1 Mail Coif
x1 Hauberk
x1 Barbute
x1 Greaves
x2 Gauntlets/boots
x1 Cloak
x1 Shirt
x1 Trousers
x2 Leg Wraps (in place of socks)
x1 Wooden Tower Shield

4 Fighter, Dodge, Armor, Shield, and Weapon

Spawn will only receive minimal aid: 2 Wrestling and Dodge

Morale is active in the arena.


TEST 1: 5v5; Macedwarves using Iron Flanged Maces vs Spawn Warriors

RESULT: Macedwarves prove able to inflict a hell of a lot of harm on the spawn, crippling two and severely impairing the ability of the other two survivors' ability to fight, though not to the extent as the cripples. However the dwarves were killed to the last. Iron Armor is less effective, letting in more bruising shots, but still does the job of (mostly) stopping claws and bites from killing the soldier.

Spawn
x1 Pulped Torso
x2 Crippled (ineffective combatants)
x2 Impaired (still credible threats)

Dwarves
x1 Struck Down (claw)
x4 Bled Out


TEST 2: 5v5; Hammerdwarves using Silver Warhammers vs Spawn Warriors

RESULT: Again, the spawn clean house but do take a beating in the process. The spawn are largely crippled to some extant (can't walk or disabled claws,) while the dwarves are basically slaughtered wholesale. If a dwarf gets disarmed, it's basically over.

Spawn
x1 Heart Shot
x3 Impaired (still credible threats)
x1 Unimpaired (severe to minor bruising.)

Dwarves
x5 Bled Out


TEST 3: 5v5; Axedwarves using Iron Battle Axes vs Spawn Warriors

RESULT: The Axedwarves prove far harder opponents against the spawn, with a spawn being killed in the opening moves. The Spawn's durability and the weak spot on the arms of the dwarves' armor is the only thing that gave them a chance here; one dwarf is crippled entirely while the other two are in rough shape but can still fight, but only if they absolutely had to.

Spawn
x5 Pulped (edge Damage)

Dwarves
x2 Bled Out


TEST 4: 5v5; Swordsdwarves using Iron Short Arming Swords vs Spawn Warriors

RESULT: Again, dwarves armed with edge weapons seem to far significantly better. One dwarf even tranced after being disarmed and took down three spawn alone without a weapon (kicked two to death and threw one resulting in a caved in upper body.) There is however an error present in all 4 melee tests indicated below.

Spawn
x2 Pulped (kick)
x1 Pulped (thrown)
x1 Crippled (no longer credible threat)
x1 Impaired (still credible threat, but barely.)

Dwarves
x5 Bled Out


TEST 5: 5v5; Marksdwarves using Iron Bayonet Crossbows + 25 Iron barbed Bolts vs Spawn Warriors. Out of necessity, They are granted an additional 4 points for spear skill. Shield points allocated to Archer instead.

RESULT: The Spawn dominated the marksdwarves, who prioritized shooting over melee even when the spawn got in thier face. They did last considerably longer since they were fully armored however. On top of this, the marksdwarves left the spawn in such dire straights that a rush of melee dwarves would probably wipe them out in short order (if with one or two casualties to the few still able to use their claws.)

Spawn
x5 Crippled (no longer credible or only negligible threats)

Dwarves
x1 Struck Down (claw)
x3 Bled Out
x1 Suffocated (strangled)


TEST 6: 6v6; Speardwarves using basic Iron Spears vs Spawn Warriors.

RESULT: The Dwarves manage to kick spawn ass, but only just barely. Two dwarves require medical attention and one is crippled (having lost his right hand and lower arm.) The other three suffer minor to moderate bruising and are tired, but otherwise ready and able to face another threat. The basic spear's deep piercing damage proves to be the vital component to the dwarves' victories here.

Spawn
x3 Heart Shot
x2 Pulped (edge damage)
x1 Bisected
 
Dwarves
x3 Severely Injured/Crippled
x3 Battle Ready


TEST 7: 6v6; Speardwarves using Iron Boar Spears vs Spawn Warriors.

RESULT: The dwarves clean house and totally obliterate the spawn. The Boar Spear's added slashing ability proves to be very lethal even in the hands of a soldier with only basic training. The Boar Spear Armed dwarves suffer moderate bruising in places (again indicating Iron Armor is noticeably but not fatally less effective,) but are otherwise no worse for wear and would easily be able to take on another similarly sized group of spawn or an elf ambush.

Spawn
x2 Bisected
x3 Pulped (edge damage)
x1 Heart Shot

Dwarves
x6 Battle Ready


ERROR: I goofed and the initial four melee tests neglected gauntlets. However this does show how well dwarves with gaps in their armor fare: They'll put up one hell of a fight but ultimately lose out to the spawn's sheer durability. Findings show the following.

• Blunt weapons are painfully ineffective against them. This means that anyone using maces or hammers will have to stay out of the fight against spawn unless we have no choice but to send them in.
• Marksdwarves, even ones armed and trained for melee, cannot be allowed to face the spawn on open ground; they'll make a hell of a dent in thier fighting ability but will likely be killed to a man if any pass the melee screen.
• 4 Discipline seems to be enough to keep dwarves from breaking and fleeing the field for the most part, even with casualties.
• Edged weapons are the way to go from the looks of things, as slash and pierce attacks take the spawn down in a frightfully efficient manner, provided the dwarf is able to take out their legs. Weapons that excel in this role are glaives and boar spears.
• Iron Armor is noticeably less effective, but not to an extreme. Steel would be preferable. Bronze would probably fare similarly to iron, and Copper would likely be fatally insufficient. Soldiers using light armor cannot face the spawn and hope to win.
• Armor and training will be key to victory.

Once more this doesn't take into account, poorly equipped, well disciplined/trained, or untrained soldiers, merely a set standard. Elite Spawn Wrestlers would likely tear these test dwarves apart and on the inverse well trained soldiers would likely cause the test spawn to suffer critical existence failure without doing any appreciable harm.

[Starweaver396]

Oh... I had been under the impression blunt was better against the spawn than edged... I'd been using macedwarves in my forts... ^.^'

[Splint]

Oh... I had been under the impression blunt was better against the spawn than edged... I'd been using macedwarves in my forts... ^.^'

Pre-pulping yes, because they'd often shatter ribs which would damage thier hearts. With pulping they can simply outlast the dwarves, knocking them out with pain before they can land that fatal strike that makes thier bodies go all mushy.

MOAR TESTS

=STANDARD FOR ALL TESTS=
-Iron/Pig Tail Fabric-
x1 Breastplate
x1 Mail Coif
x1 Hauberk
x1 Barbute
x1 Greaves
x2 Gauntlets/boots
x1 Cloak
x1 Shirt
x1 Trousers
x2 Leg Wraps (in place of socks)
x1 Wooden Tower Shield

4 Fighter, Dodge, Armor, Shield, and Weapon

Spawn will only receive minimal aid: 2 Wrestling and Dodge

Morale is active in the arena.

This time around I remembered to get everyone fully armored.


TEST 1: 5v5; Macedwarves using Iron Flanged Maces vs Spawn Warriors

RESULT: The Macedwarves again put up one hell of a fight, severely handicapping most of the spawn for future conflict, but ultimately fail to take down any Spawn this time around.

Spawn
x4 Injured but still Credible Threats
x1 Superficial Injuries

Dwarves
x4 Struck Down
x1 Bled Out


TEST 2: 5v5; Hammerdwarves using Silver Warhammers vs Spawn Warriors

RESULT: They performed better than the macedwarves, but honestly not by enough to say it mattered. The only real difference was that they managed to make sure none of them could walk rather than only 4 of them and failed to inflict any fatalities on the spawn.

Spawn
x5 Crippled But still Credible Threats

Dwarves
x4 Struck Down
x1 Bled Out


TEST 3: 5v5; Axedwarves using Iron Battle Axes vs Spawn Warriors

RESULT: They take out the spawn handily, mainly by flat out wailing on the spawn until they fall apart. One dwarf needs medical attention and another is dead, but on the whole for the rest? They're good to go another battle, provided it's against not-horrible-dwarf-spawned-monsters.

Spawn
x4 pulped
x1 Heart Shot

Dwarves
x1 Bled Out
x1 Requiring Medical attention
x3 Superficial Injury


TEST 4: 5v5; Swordsdwarves using Iron Short Arming Swords vs Spawn Warriors

RESULT: Swordsdwarves prove hard foes, however two require medical attention and one is killed. This further supports versatility and armor as our best hope. The short arming sword is a solid enough contender that it seems consistently able to hit the spawn's obsidian hearts.

Spawn
x4 Heart Shot
x1 Bisected

Dwarves
x1 Bled Out
x2 Requiring Medical Attention
x2 Superficial Injuries


TEST 5: 5v5; pikedwarves using Iron Pikes vs Spawn Warriors. Out of necessity, They are granted an additional Shield Skill points redistributed to Dodge and Armor use.

RESULT: Using full-sized pikes (no shields) and iron armor, these pikedwarves prove mighty foes in this battle, just as the shortpikes and their users in Spearbreakers were. The Spawn once again are only able to inflict casualties by targeting the less solidly protected parts of the dwarves, leading two to require medical attention, but only one of them knocked out.

Spawn
x3 Heart Shot
x1 Pulped (edge damage)
x1 Bisected

Dwarves
x1 Incapacitated (claw to neck did some serious damage)
x1 Requiring Medical attention
x3 Superficial Injury


TEST 6: Glaivedwarves using Iron Glaives vs Spawn Warriors

RESULT: As before, Glaive-armed dwarves prove solid foes. While one dwarf is killed by sheer bad luck, the rest demolish the spawn without much trouble.

Spawn
x4 pulped (edge damage)
x1 Heart Shot

Dwarves
x1 Bled Out
x1 Superficial Injuries
x3 Battle Ready


TEST 7: Mirror of Test 6.

RESULT: Proof that luck is always an element in battle, the spawn claim a victory but only barely. The dwarves start strong, taking out a spawn in the opening act, but the fight quickly becomes a matter of luck and willpower. Both sides start taking eachother out unit for unit until there's only one dwarf and two spawn left. The spawn snatched victory from the maw of defeat through durability alone.

Spawn
x2 Heart Shot
x1 Bisected
x1 Crippled
x1 Injured but Credible Threat

Dwarves
x2 Bled Out
x3 Struck Down


TEST 7: Mirror of Test 5.

RESULT: The battle is slightly skewed due to using an unsafe test area (A roof top,) but again shows that the spawn's durability and luck are major factors. One dwarf was ejected from the battle halfway through by a dodge and only the fact he had got lucky and managed to grab a wall saved him from an impact injury, while another dwarf actually fought far harder than expected and even when disarmed, refused to flee the field (resulting in two fatal spawn casualties.) The spawn however, are no longer fit to fight and the survivors leave this battle as basically little more than torsos with heads and mangled stumps where arms and legs used to be attached.

Spawn
x2 Pulped (kick)
x3 Crippled

Dwarves
x2 Struck Down
x2 Bled Out
x1 Accidentally ejected from battle


So what did this round of findings show?

• Mace and hammerdwarves really are spawn-combat invalids. Lack of pain means they have to rely on pulping and their weapons, while able to severely damage the spawn's abilities, can't quite take them down barring luck. Keep them against normal biologicals. Spawn can and will tear them apart.
  
• Versatility is key. Polearms and Swords seem to perform best this time around. Glaives and pikes prove able to take down spawn consistently for the most part and only their lack of blood saves them against either one. Swords need to work a little  harder since they have less cutting space to work with but compensate by allowing the use of a shield and having a handy stab, which may make them superior for spawn slaying over axes.
• That we need some way to protect the upper arms; chain armor will not stop spawn claws under any circumstances (it didn't work for the steel dwarves, didn't work for the irons.)

Next two tests will have mismatched dwarves (varied skills and equipment) vs spawn in two 10v10 clashes with a weaponmaster leading the dwarven teams and elite wrestlers leading the spawn.

[Mr Frog]

@Splint:

Those writeups tho. I am in awe.

[Splint]

@Splint:

Those writeups tho. I am in awe.

Why thank you. THe next two rounds may be a bit of an eyesore though. Two rounds, 10v10. Equipment and training was "randomized" (selected arbitrarily random values to assign to skills; armor is a hodge podge of materials picked at random.)


All dwarves will receive a basic pig tail fabric uniform from previous testing.
Shields will be made of wood.
Spawn save leaders will only receive minor skill aid: 2 wrestler/dodge

ROUND ONE

Leader: Axe Lord with Steel Hatchet
x3 Speardwarves
x2 Axedwarves
x2 Glaivedwarves
x1 Swordsdwarf
x1 Macedwarf

STATS

Leader: Axe Lord
15 Axe, fighter, dodge, armor, shield, discipline

Steel hatchet
Steel Breastplate
Steel Greathelm
Round Shield
Iron Hauberk, Coif, Gauntlets/Boots, Greaves

Axedwarf 1
3 Axe, fighter, shield,
4 Armor
2 Discipline, dodge

Bronze Hatchet
Bronze Breastplate
Iron Barbute
Copper Hauberk, gauntlets, greaves
Iron Coif, boots
heater heater shield

Axedwarf 2
1 fighter, axe, shield
3 armor, discipline
5 dodge

Copper battleaxe
Steel Coif
Copper Hauberk, boots, gauntlets
Iron Barbute, greaves
buckler

Glaivedwarf 1
Untrained

Steel Glaive
Iron Breastplate
Steel Barbute
Copper Hauberk, Coif, Greaves
Bronze Gauntlets, Boots

Glaivedwarf 2
5 pike, dodge
3 discipline, armor, fighter

Bronze Glaive
Leather Armor
Bronze Kettle helm
Steel Hauberk, coif
Iron Boots, gauntlets
Copper greaves

Swordsdwarf
3 sword
4 armor, shield
1 dodge, discipline
2 fighter

Iron Short Arming Sword
Bronze hauberk, coif, greaves
Copper scale armor
Copper kettle helm
Iron gauntlets/boots
heater shield

Speardwarf 1&2
2 fighter, shield, discipline
4 spear
1 armor, dodge

Bronze boar spear
Bronze hauberk, coif
copper greaves, gauntlets, scale armor
Iron barbute, boots
tower shield

Speardwarf 3
untrained

copper spear
bronze gauntlet/boots, kettle helm
copper coif, hauberk
Iron greaves, breastplate
round shield

Macedwarf
3 Mace, armor, dodge
1 discipline, fighter
2 shield

Steel flanged mace
Steel coif, hauberk
copper gauntlets, great helm
Iron boots, greaves, scale armor
heater shield

ROUND 1 RESULT: Half of the dwarven squad is killed and three of those require medical attention. The spawn however, even their badass elite wrestler, are taken out to a man... Demon... Thing. The speardwarves and one of the glaivedwarves compose the survivors along with a wounded leader who may or may not have been fatally wounded. Polearms again stand tall as most effective anti-spawn weaponry.

The leader was last to receive any serious injury and the glaive and boar spear armed dwarves carried the fight.


ROUND 2: Themed as including basic workers. As such, the miner and two of three axedwarves are untrained except for their weapon skill

x1 Pikemaster
x1 Miner
x2 Swordsdwarves
x3 Axedwarves
x2 Speardwarves
x1 Hammerdwarf

Leader: Pikemaster
steel pike
iron barbute
copper gauntlets/boots
steel scale armor, coif, hauberk, greaves

Legendary Miner (legendary fighter subbed for mining)
bronze pick


Swordsdwarf 1
3 accross board

iron short arming sword
heater shield
full randomized copper armor

Swordsdwarf 2
2 fighter, discipline, armor
3 dodge, shield, sword

copper short arming sword
round shield
iron hauberk, coif, barbute
bronze gauntlet/boots
copper greaves

Axedwarves 1&2
2 axe

copper hatchet

Axedwarf 3
2 axe, fighter, shield
1 discipline, armor
4 dodge

iron battle axe
bronze greaves, gauntlets/boots
steel scale armor, barbute
copper hauberk, coif

Speardwarf 1
mirror armor kit to Swordsdwarf 2
iron spear
buckler

4 spear, discipline
2 dodge, armor
1 shield, fighter

Speardwarf 2
2 across board

full randomized bronze armor
tower shield
steel boar spear

Hammerdwarf
5 hammer
2 discipline, fighter, shield
3 dodge, armor

iron hammer
heater shield
iron hauberk, coif, greaves
copper gauntlets/boots
bronze kettle helm, breastplate


ROUND 2 RESULTS: The spawn massacred the dwarves wholesale, but despite facing a partially untrained force, are severely crippled. Only two can still walk and the rest are short multiple limbs. One spawn was killed early on by the dwarf with the boar spear (this weapon above all others seems to work the best out of every single test they've appeared in for some reason.) The difference is pretty stark from round one. Even only a bare bones type of training and full armor (even made from mismatched or poor materials,) can make all the difference from everyone being killed and some people making it out more or less unharmed and victorious. Woodcutters predictably won't have a chance of spawn jump them and miners are a wildcard since that skill isn't applicable in the arena. They may do well, they may fail absolutely miserably.

The Sergeant was last to fall predictably, and did a fair bit of the real damage. Copper armor appears to be painfully insufficient but better than nothing, while bronze worked well enough, meaning we'll need a minimum of bronze armor.


So, I will put forward that if we make degenerate spawn a thing (and why shouldn't we?) the spawn as a whole should probably be taken back towards their roots. They're already obscenely durable, feel no pain, fear, don't need to breath, and don't bleed rendering many weapon either useless (maces and hammers,) or neutered (just about everything else that wasn't a pike-skill weapon or boar spear.) Traps might work, but with the nerf they got (you need a lot more weapon traps to get the same results from versions past from what I hear,) soldiers are still preferable to remove them as a threat quickly.

Allowing them to be susceptible to stunning and nausea like their forebears would probably make the fights much more enjoyable, less likely to scare away replacement soldiers, and less likely to always result in tantrums and rioting since the majority of tests have resulted in two or more dwarves being killed. To balance this of course there's the option to allow spawn to have trances and potentially include degenerates as a meat shield caste - that is, even the momentary distraction these mutants provide may be all a spawn warrior needs to kill a soldier.

And on the note of degenerate and ubiquitous spawn, Degenerates should be inherently messed up and weak but still very credible threats to an early fort: While they share the durability and no need to breath and lack of blood, proof as something is seriously wrong with these decrepit excuses of spawn is they are susceptible to stunning, nausea, and brain damage along with whatever other weaknesses they may have, along with much higher striker skill to make use of thier claws (low bite skill/unable to transfer spawn fever, poor agility compared to warriors, and of course the fact they look like genetic rejects.)

[Mr Frog]

Hmm. Everything seems to be working out fine. My one complaint is that you seemed to be only doing 1-2 tests with each weapon type, which doesn't seem enough of a sample size to me.

I personally think that the Spawn should be left as they are... I always kind of liked that they were practically guaranteed to rip a chunk out of your army no matter what, as I'm not a fan of forts that eventually hit a stable state and go on and on and on without dying (there's a reason that Headshoots eventually an-hero'd after a bit), and what you're getting in the tests is roughly the results I was going for (although the skill levels of the soldiers seemed a bit low... isn't training soldiers easier in this version?). I'd still encourage you to do some practical tests in fort mode, as there's a lot of factors that may not be taken into arena (Spawn potentially showing up in numbers you aren't prepared to handle, etc.).

[Splint]

I was mainly doing a test of what works best in general and much more importantly, how well the armor performs. Slashing and piercing capable weapons - Boar Spears, Pikes,  Glaives, and to a lesser extent basic Spears and Swords, do best (especially the boar spears; those stood head and shoulders above every other weapon,) while pure slashing (axe) work, but not as well, and blunt weapons are flat out useless. Using Stal's Armory multiple layers for the most part aren't needed (though chain under the breastplate and a standard uniform under the armor doesn't hurt,) and it's by either lucky latches or attacking less well armored sections that the spawn do thier hurting.

As to skill levels barring the randomized skills tests (which operates as a "freshly raised" unit under a recently promoted weaponmaster and as such is lacking in training,) they're actually spot on for the dwarves: Average competency of world gen soldiers is between 2 (adequate) and 4 (skilled) of thier chosen weapon with other skills in the same area (dodge, armor use, etc.) With wanderers and the like generally having much higher skills that go with thier rather large animal kill lists. Leaders typically hovered around 7 (talented) and up. As such I used 4 in various skills to represent what would be considered the bog-standard footman's capabilities with basic training. Of course in worldgen getting migrants/attackers with lesser or greater skills is a thing.

The main reasoning that I haven't done a practical test is that for me the spawn's initial site keeps getting wrecked by forgotten beasts, knocking them out of play early on. Happens to dwarves from time to time as well, necessitating regen after regen. The remainder as to why I haven't is I've been having fun having dorfs and spawn kill eachother with no repercussions. As it stands these spawn have "Tantrum Spiral" written all over them which isn't really any fun if the spiral happens early rather than late-game where there's plenty of dwarves to see punch eachother to death, hence the suggestions to make them a little more survivable in a fight.

[CaptainMcClellan]

Splint, can I borrow from your editing skills and ask how to add meat butchering to a specific species? What happened was, I settled in the far north and brought along a bunch of rabbits for food. I later discovered while reading the wiki that rabbits are not butcherable and don't yield meat. This is very bad as there is very little food in this region. So I decided to sort-of cheat and add a small yield of meat based on the size of the rabbit compared to the size of a hare. ( Hares are about 7 times the size of rabbits and drop 6 meat, ergo rabbits will drop one. ) I read over some knowledge base on raw editing but it didn't give me what I needed to know quickly enough, so could you point me to a better, more specific guide or just tell me how to do this?

[Splint]

Far as I know it's based on thier size, which is why most snakes, ravens, keas, and whatnot generally can't be butchered or only yield skulls. So just modify thier adult size to 1/7 of a hare and that should have you good to go based on that choice of wording. Then again my own isn't too clear but still.