# Armor and weapon damage types

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/armor-and-weapon-damage-types/5580>\
**Category:** The Bunker\
**Created:** [March 24, 2014, 4:34pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/armor-and-weapon-damage-types/5580 "2014-03-24T16:34:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![WCG](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/wcg/32/38_2.png) [@WCG](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/WCG)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 4:34pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/armor-and-weapon-damage-types/5580/1 "2014-03-24T16:34:30Z")

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Let me first note that this is a great game! I come back to it every year or so and play the hell out of it for awhile, and it just gets better and better. My thanks to everyone who’s made this possible!

OK, now to my question: Weapons have three damage types - bashing, cutting, and/or piercing - but armor only seems to provide (only shows, at least) bashing and cutting protection. So does piercing damage bypass armor then? Is that how it works?

It might not be the most efficient way to do things, but I like to use all three different kinds of weapons, normally using the best I’ve got (which is a machete right now), but choosing the others depending on what seems to make sense for a given enemy (a Halligan bar for skeletal creatures, for example, and a steel spear for fat zombies or boomers - although I try to take the latter creatures out at a distance).

Of course, I’m just guessing at creature types and making assumptions about what might work best. But I can look at the armor soldier zombies drop and see what the bashing and cutting protection is. However, piercing isn’t mentioned at all when it comes to armor, so I’m mostly wondering about that. And I can’t seem to find anything about this on the wiki.

In general terms, how does this work?

Thanks!

Bill

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**Author:** ![jimboblordofeskimos](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/jimboblordofeskimos/32/2_2.png) [@jimboblordofeskimos](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/jimboblordofeskimos)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 4:55pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/armor-and-weapon-damage-types/5580/2 "2014-03-24T16:55:21Z")

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Well, according to my fairly poor recollections, there isnt actually a piercing damage type, I believe that piercing weps actually do cutting damage, they just have some differnt attacks, its a holdover that has been with us for a very long time that nobody has gotten around to fixing. Generally, when you get some skill under your belt, the best weapon you have is the best weapon for pretty much anything. Cutting is generally better damage against armor, but blunt will still hit nice and hard with the right wep but also have a decent chance to stun that is fairly handy.

Happy for someone who knows more to correct me.

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**Author:** ![i2amroy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/i2amroy/32/909_2.png) [@i2amroy](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/i2amroy)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 5:03pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/armor-and-weapon-damage-types/5580/3 "2014-03-24T17:03:03Z")

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> [@jimboblordofeskimos](#):
>
> Well, according to my fairly poor recollections, there isnt actually a piercing damage type, I believe that piercing weps actually do cutting damage, they just have some differnt attacks, its a holdover that has been with us for a very long time that nobody has gotten around to fixing. Generally, when you get some skill under your belt, the best weapon you have is the best weapon for pretty much anything. Cutting is generally better damage against armor, but blunt will still hit nice and hard with the right wep but also have a decent chance to stun that is fairly handy.

Basically this.

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**Author:** ![EditorRUS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9fc29f/32.png) [@EditorRUS](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/EditorRUS)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 9:04pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/armor-and-weapon-damage-types/5580/4 "2014-03-24T21:04:00Z")

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According to source code there’re 8 types of damage:  
DT\_TRUE, // typeless damage, should always go through  
DT\_BIOLOGICAL, // internal damage, like from smoke or poison  
DT\_BASH, // bash damage  
DT\_CUT, // cut damage  
DT\_ACID, // corrosive damage, e.g. acid  
DT\_STAB, // stabbing/piercing damage  
DT\_HEAT, // e.g. fire, plasma  
DT\_COLD, // e.g. heatdrain, cryogrenades  
DT\_ELECTRIC, // e.g. electrical discharge

Our guy is DT\_STAB.  
By armor:  
set\_resist(DT\_BASH, armor.bash\_resist());  
set\_resist(DT\_CUT, armor.cut\_resist());  
set\_resist(DT\_STAB, 0.8 \* armor.cut\_resist()); // stab dam cares less bout armor

So, basically, stab-pierce-resist is 80% from CUT resist.

```
case DT_STAB: // stab differs from cut in that it ignores some armor

```

Stab and pierce ALWAYS slows you down for random amount of moves.

```
int stab_moves = rng(d.type_damage(DT_STAB) / 2, d.type_damage(DT_STAB) * 1.5);

```

While CUT damage don’t.  
Bash stuns only when it’s critical hit and it can stun upto 6 turns.

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**Author:** ![WCG](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/wcg/32/38_2.png) [@WCG](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/WCG)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2014, 1:24pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/armor-and-weapon-damage-types/5580/5 "2014-03-25T13:24:29Z")

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OK, guys, thanks for the info. I think I’ve got the hang of it now. Piercing attacks do cutting damage, but armor resistance (to cutting damage) is reduced a bit. There are still a couple of things I’m not too sure about, though:

> Cutting is generally better damage against armor

Really? This surprises me, because all the armor I’ve looked at seems to have a higher cutting defense (when there’s a difference between bashing and cutting defenses at all). Of course, I don’t have a clue about natural armor. I’ve just looked at the armor I take from soldier zombies.

> Stab and pierce ALWAYS slows you down for random amount of moves.

This surprises me, too, because I used spears (the best weapons I could craft) for a long time in my current game. (Before that, I was using a makeshift crowbar.) I didn’t notice any slow-down, but what period of time are we talking about? You say “random,” but I can’t follow the calculation. It really can’t be a significant amount of time, can it?

> Generally, when you get some skill under your belt, the best weapon you have is the best weapon for pretty much anything.

Thanks. Yes, that’s about what I’d been thinking. It hasn’t seemed to me that defenses made much difference. As I mentioned previously, I would expect bashing weapons to be more effective against skeletons, for example, but… I’m not sure I’ve noticed any real difference. I still like to use different kinds of weapons - for role-playing purposes - but I haven’t found any of them to be ineffective.

I guess maybe it would make sense to use piercing weapons against highly armored enemies. But then, as I said, the armor I’ve examined seems to give less protection to bashing weapons, anyway. I don’t know. I guess it just doesn’t seem reasonable to use a sword against a metal robot, for example, so I’d probably switch to something else just for that reason.

Thanks again for the replies!

Bill

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**Author:** ![ChristopherWalken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecccb3/32.png) [@ChristopherWalken](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/ChristopherWalken)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/armor-and-weapon-damage-types/5580/6 "2014-03-25T14:30:42Z")

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> I guess maybe it would make sense to use piercing weapons against highly armored enemies. But then, as I said, the armor I've examined seems to give less protection to bashing weapons, anyway. I don't know. I guess it just doesn't seem reasonable to use a sword against a metal robot, for example, so I'd probably switch to something else just for that reason.

I always assumed sword bashing damage was the result of pommel strikes.

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**Author:** ![Nubsawce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/47e85d/32.png) [@Nubsawce](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Nubsawce)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2014, 4:55pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/armor-and-weapon-damage-types/5580/7 "2014-03-25T16:55:34Z")

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If a sword is heavier, like a broadsword, one does bludgeon the person when striking them with the sword as well, assuming you don’t slice right through them like butter (the body resisting the force of this heavy object is what causes the bludgeoning damage to the body). Bludgeoning is just insignificant with light blades or rapiers. To specifically ONLY bludgeon (and I’d say at a significant damage penalty to swinging the blade normally) one could strike with the pommel, sure.

Edit: I should probably note I am not a physicist (only a math major), so it’s possible I have it slightly off. Thought it would be wise to add this.