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[Girlinhat]

Most dwarves who are given artifacts are already legendary.  No one gives their golden artifact axe to a recruit, they give it to their 150+ kill militia commander.  At that skill level, the skills alone are enough to make a bad weapon into a powerhouse.  Someone even has screenshots of his captain of the guard killing people and shattering legs with an adamantine warhammer, because the particular soldier was a legendary hammerlord and he could make it happen.  But, if that legendary hammerlord were given a platinum hammer, then you'd see a LOT faster death.

Other things influence edged attacks.  If it was purely the MAX_EDGE then you should see copper and steel cutting the same, right?  There's clearly more tokens dealing with cutting power than purely edge.  The shearing yield, and shearing fracture, which the wiki claims are used in cutting calculations.  It doesn't specify if it's the cutting tool or the cut item that's calculated, so I have no idea how important it is for a weapon.  Either way, I believe we can agree that steel and copper have the same max edge, but that steel cuts much better than copper, right?  We can therefore figure that platinum and steel don't cut the same, right?

[assimilateur]

We can therefore figure that platinum and steel don't cut the same, right?

We can, but what we cannot is arrive at conclusions as far reaching as platinum being nearly useless. This is doubly true due to factors you admit yourself, and that had been stated repeatedly in this very thread, that well trained dwarves will make good use even out of suboptimal weapon materials. Giving artifact platinum swords to raw recruits is a moot consideration as well, unless the requirement for a dwarf to be legendary to even dare pick up an artifact has been changed.

[acetech09]

In a nutshell, that sword won't cut as well as steel, but it being wielded as a cricket bat by a legendary swordsdwarf will do just dandy in most situations.

Now...

We need an artifact adamantine battle-axe, with mennacing spikes of platinum, hanging rings of gold. Encrusted with raw aluminum, Even more spikes of bronze. A picture of itself in silver andobviously MORE SPIKES of obsidian.

You ask,

Spoiler: I deliver (click to show/hide)

[Girlinhat]

You can give any weapon to any dwarf, of course, but no one does.  I didn't say it was totally useless (or maybe I did) but it's useless compared to a regular steel sword.  Artifacts only give a to-hit bonus, no additional striking or cutting force is applied, they're simply more accurate.  The fact that a skilled soldier can kill with a weak weapon doesn't prove that it's a good weapon, it just proves that the soldier is skilled.

What I'm ultimately trying to say about the weapon is: It will cause damage, but it will act like a mace.  It will not be a good sword or a good mace.  A normal mace would perform better as a mace.

NINJA: Fantastic picture there, I love it, but I must nitpick that you've made it "encircled with bands of gold" instead of "adorned with hanging rings of gold".  Although I absolutely adore the way that you made the gold bands into a handle, that's well played.  The fact that it looks like an actual, usable weapon is fantastic too.  I salute your dwarven 3D editor~

[Urist Da Vinci]

Platinum has [SHEAR_YIELD:100000], which is the same as silver. I'd put it on the same level of effectiveness as silver bladed weapons.

Density information.  Not used for very much, but it comes up in inventory weight and fighting.
   [SOLID_DENSITY:2670]
   [LIQUID_DENSITY:3300]

Used for blunt-force combat, measured in KPa.  Data scattered around the net (used compressive strength).  All very spotty.
   [IMPACT_YIELD:120000] used marble
   [IMPACT_FRACTURE:120000]
   [IMPACT_ELASTICITY:0]

Used for cutting calculations in combat, measured in KPa.  Data scattered around the net (used tensile strength).  All very spotty.
   [SHEAR_YIELD:15000] used marble
   [SHEAR_FRACTURE:15000]
   [SHEAR_ELASTICITY:0]

A unitless measure for how sharp the edge is for combat purposes.
   [MAX_EDGE:1000]

[Masked_Hunter1825]

Well done. Now if it ever actually happens in-game, I can know what it will look like. The jagged spikes look like they would hurt alot.


Also, I name the artifact.. Bonewinds, the Black Sands of Revenge. Or something better. I don't know, but its random enough.

[BeforeLifer]

(Didn't read the whole thread)
A platinum sword will have a pathetic edge, and do a terrible job of cutting through anything.  And because of that, almost all attacks (especially against solid armor) will be converted to blunt attacks when they fail to penetrate.  Being the heaviest available material, this is a good thing, as you'll end up with a lot of blunt bashings from your sword.  With that in mind, though, every single attack from the sword has relatively MASSIVE contact area.  Maces and warhammers get 20 and 10 respectively, while a sword stab gets 50 and a slash gets 20,000.  It also gets a very poor velocity multiplier.

You'll probably get cuts against unarmored, small opponents (dwarf sized) but it's useless against armored or large opponents (moose and larger).

I'd capture goblins, make a squad on one soldier wearing midnight blue robe and hood, and ceremoniously kill your captured prisoners at an altar.

(dident read past that post)
Accully Platinum is as good if not better than iron.

[Putnam]

Ok, then do please explain how it's wrong.

Didn't he say something about [MAX_EDGE] being the same for every metal besides the blue one? Assuming that tag means something somewhat close to what the words mean in English (a safe assumption), that throws your little musings about platinum having a "pathetic edge" out of the window. It's also grossly inconsistent with reports of dwarves performing perfectly well when using non-weapon-grade metal artifacts.

No, MAX_EDGE is entirely arbitrary. What you really need is SHEAR_STRAIN_AT_YIELD, as I stated earlier. I think TENSILE_STRAIN_AT_YIELD accounts for it too.

[assimilateur]

I didn't say it was totally useless (or maybe I did)

Perhaps you didn't, but that's sort of the vibe people get when you start a post by calling a weapon's edge pathetic.

The fact that a skilled soldier can kill with a weak weapon doesn't prove that it's a good weapon, it just proves that the soldier is skilled.

It has already been acknowledged that platinum is a suboptimal weapon material. We are fundamentally in agreement about it being useful (when placed in skilled hands and used against lightly armored targets, as in, in usual conditions), but your earlier post essentially boiled down to saying "don't use it, it's shit". That is the sort of notion someone would get if they spent more time on the wiki than playing the game, so you can probably appreciate that it sparks a controversy.

[Girlinhat]

I wouldn't use it if I were concerned for my safety.  If I've got 7 soldiers holding back a siege, they go in steel and candy.  If I've got 10 soldiers in front of a row of traps and a drowning chamber, then I've got enough wiggle room to use fancy weapons and will kill in style.  So for me, I'll use if "if it's not important."  How about that?

[Masked_Hunter1825]

In short. Platinum is alright. But not as awesome as that axe.

[Wannazzaki]

Frankly the idea of a very upper class english dwarf weilding a platinum cricket bat, smoking a pipe and laying waste to sieges makes me squeal with glee.

[assimilateur]

So for me, I'll use if "if it's not important."  How about that?

I guess it makes sense but it's still pretty damn anal. Not to mention moot since an artifact weapon is only going to be equipped by a legendary weapon user (or has this been changed in recent versions?) who is going to wreck everyone's shit no matter what you give him.

[Girlinhat]

I've not observed any limitations in giving weapons, and (I think) you've admitted to not starting a fort in recent versions.  I also know that people give their captain of the guard an artifact candy mace, and that usually implies no skill for that justice dealer.  I haven't purposefully tried to assign an artifact to a recruit, but I've not seen or heard any evidence of restrictions in recent versions (.18+).

[acetech09]

Thanks for the comments - yeah I guess I did sorta misinterpret the hanging rings of gold thing - but it was too pretty. BTW: Odatot (The name of the weapon) is Limbchop in dwarven.

Answering a question with a quote:

Not to mention moot since an artifact weapon is only going to be equipped by a legendary weapon user (or has this been changed in recent versions?)

You can give any weapon to any dwarf, of course

Damnit - GiH just ninja'd me while I was quoting her. Posting ASAP

EDIT: P.S.: If anybody has any other cool artifact weapons, I might be interested in doing a 3D model of them for the heck of it