[quote=“Llamageddon, post:25, topic:8382”]I feel like a fundamental problem is that people want archaic meelee weapons to beat guns the way they do in action movies or anime. There’s a very, very good reason as to why we don’t use swords anymore.
Besides, there’s only a handful of viable weapon archetypes. Polearms, swords, maces, axes, roughly in that order of “all around” usefulness. Besides that you might find an odd flail, or a hammer, but whips, nunchukus, etc. simply don’t work as realistic weapons. If you want fancy weapons, the naginata is an extremely strong weapon, and so are bardiches and other polearm-style weapons.
In fact, thinking about this makes me realize that melee weapon skills should most likely be a set of polearms/maces+flails/swords+axes, rather than piercing/cutting/blunt.[/quote]
As far as the archaic melee weapons go, I think that’s true up to a point. A zombie can’t exactly parry or ripost, nor carry a gun, so why would you waste valuable ammo on them when you could just behead them?
But I do agree that the weapon skills WOULD make more sense in the way you outlined. I believe that knives would have their place as well in that list. Lightweight, totally silent since there’s no impact noise, easy to handle, fast attack speed and if you could target different limbs, go straight for the head
I would be more likely to use a polearm or waraxe of some kind if they had increased functionality. say, the polearm can also spear fish at the same efficiency as a basic rod, or the war axe could chop wood and have basic hammer skills.
Speaking of functionality, I don’t think opening a new thread is worth it for this, but I’m surprised I haven’t seen one of these multi-tools in DDA http://www.wilderness-survival-gear.com/crowbar-hatchet-hammer-combination-tool.html.
I have one that’s hand forged with a wooden handle that’s over 30 years old, so it’s not exactly a new concept. In RL, if SHTF, and weight was more of a concern than it is in the game, I would certainly have one of these in my belt
