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[Rask]

So I wanted to know whether battle axes were still the most effective weapon and fired up arena mode.

A few dozen dead and mangled dwarfs later, it seems that warhammers reign supreme in this version. Whether iron, steel, or silver, they just whack straight through armour. Adamantine hammers still suck, though. In my tests, even full adamantine armour (helm, shield, mail shirt, breastplate, greaves, gauntlets, high boots, shield) were penetrated easily by iron warhammers. Even dwarfs with full adamantine gear and an adamantine weapon fell to the hammerdwarves if those got the first hit in. The best and (and only) defence against them seems to be a high shield skill.

There is one caveat, however: warhammers don't seem to hurt bronze colossi at all. They are killable now if swarmed by enough dwarfs with steel weapons though. Short swords worked best, followed by axes which took much longer, followed by spears which took even longer, and hammers were useless.

I wasn't able to figure out how to set up crossbows for testing in the arena, unfortunately.

[Shrugging Khan]

Hammers! Excellent!
So now I will at least be able to convert my marksdwarves to something useful if they turn out to be partially non-violent semi-pacifists, again!

Have you tried *unarmoured* hammers VS other weapons?

[Rask]

Only against axes. With no shields or armour, the hammers lose badly.

[darkrider2]

Should I do it... should I? I shouldn't your right.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Hammer-time!

[LordZorintrhox]

Makes sense; a historical war hammer actually has a relatively small head, and usually a spike on the side opposite the striking face.  Heavy steel + small surface area + velocity + leverage = severe penetrating power.  I would think it would have a higher stick-in chance because of that, but I don't know.  I assume the downside would be it is rather difficult to block effectively with a war hammer, but I don't think DF has blocking per se...just dodging, right?

[Miko19]

Makes sense; a historical war hammer actually has a relatively small head, and usually a spike on the side opposite the striking face.  Heavy steel + small surface area + velocity + leverage = severe penetrating power.  I would think it would have a higher stick-in chance because of that, but I don't know.  I assume the downside would be it is rather difficult to block effectively with a war hammer, but I don't think DF has blocking per se...just dodging, right?

The Swordmaster parries the attack!
There is also parrying.

[Terisuke]

I've been running some games.  In full steel kit, Axes < Swords < Maces < Hammers. 

However, when running goblin simulations (Steel weapons, iron armor) I come up with a bit of a different scenario.  Swords won out over hammers, but it was a pretty even fight.  With the steel-only games, the winning side would have 9 or 10 dwarves intact, minus a few hands or teeth.  Iron armor and steel weapons left four swordsdwarves alive, and one looked pretty pulped. 

With blunt impact, copper hammers still did a fine job of killing full steel or adamantine armor dwarves.  Blunt basically ignores armor in this version. 

The takeaway I'm getting is that blunt is the way to go against equal-or-better-metal armor, but if you can slice through the armor blades still have the edge.  Ha ha.  This seems a pretty realistic way to operate.  In dwarf mode, you might be best sticking with blades, since you're likely going to be able to chop up your poorly armored foes - but those mace and hammer gobs will ruin your day. 

ADDITION:

Playing more, I really wish I could get crossbows to work.  With the increased mayhem of bluntness, it means I can't send out my adamantine terror squad like so many invulnerable tanks.  To avoid messy dorf death by some no-quality copper mace, I would really prefer some long distance death - alas, the only use my dorfs have for ranged is to take the bolts and try to manually insert them into targets.

ADDITION ADDITION:

HOLY SHIT, FEAR THE LASHERS.  Whips in the new version are AMAZINGLY DEADLY.  Fights with whips lasted only until the first headshot, at which point the head EXPLODED LIKE A RIPE MELON.  Adamantine helms, caps, etc, and iron whips, this is. 

[Rask]

I've been running some games.  In full steel kit, Axes < Swords < Maces < Hammers. 

This contradicts my findings.

I did another series of tests, all-steel warhammers vs all-steel battle axes.

8 hammers vs 8 axes:   8 hammers remained
8 hammers vs 16 axes:  7 hammers remained

The only explanation I can think of for your results is that you are either using the old version, or you didn't armour your dwarves completely. A full set of armour consists of:
1 helm
1 breastplate
1 mail shirt (protects upper arms, which breastplate doesn't)
1 greaves (protects legs)
1 shield
2 gauntlets (must explicitly be put there twice)
2 high boots (must explicitly be put there twice)
1 weapon of choice

If the dwarfs weren't fully armoured, that should also explain the lash deadliness.

[Terisuke]

I think you're misinterpreting my < symbol.  I'm saying axes lose to swords, maces lose to hammers. 

I'm fully aware of what a full set of armor entails.  I even tried adding in caps and masks and shit in order to combat the menace of the lashers - nothing helped. 

[Rask]

Doh! Yeah, I read it the wrong way around.

Edit: tested the whips in group combat. The warhammer groups tended to win, but lost at least half of their number in the battle, with the survivors being horribly mangled. I suppose having a good medic and outnumbering the opponent will be important. Though individual dwarf skill is also a large factor. I had a grandmaster shield user/hammerdwarf in iron gear kill ten or so merely competent dwarfs with various weapons (one after the other), despite those competent dwarfs having all adamantine gear.

[Shrugging Khan]

Don't tell me crossbows STILL don't work 

[moosecow]

Don't tell me crossbows STILL don't work 

They are working for me. Stationed dwarfs in my pillbox successfully fired around 10 rounds at the incoming siege.... before being headshot by enemy gobbos

[Shrugging Khan]

Can I theoretically tell my marksdwarves to carry war hammers along with their crossbows so they switch to those in melee? Same skill, more effective weapon, methinks.

Technically! Is it possible?

[AtomicPaperclip]

Can I theoretically tell my marksdwarves to carry war hammers along with their crossbows so they switch to those in melee? Same skill, more effective weapon, methinks.

Technically! Is it possible?

I think they might carry both of them but not be smart enough to use the correct weapons at the correct times.

[Shrugging Khan]

Meh. That's actually a fair bit disappointing