v0.34:Weapon

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This page deals entirely with manufactured weapons. For natural weapons, see Natural weapon.

A weapon in the sense described on this page is any object specifically designed to be wielded in the pursuit of bodily harm to others. In fortress mode, weapons can be made at a metalsmith's forge (all metal weapons) using a single bar of metal, a bowyer's workshop (wooden and bone crossbows), or a craftsdwarf's workshop (obsidian short swords).

Basics

Native vs. foreign

Weapons fall into two categories: those that you can produce, and those that you can't. Weaponsmiths can produce seven types of native weapons at a metalsmith's forge, but there are also fourteen foreign weapons that can be found in the hands of enemy combatants, or bought from trading caravans. These cannot be reliably produced by your dwarves, and may use skills they are unfamiliar with. It is also impossible to buy them in bulk, and considering they are of variable quality and material and usually quite expensive, they are rarely worth it, except when they are products of strange moods (see strange moods, below). Since they are bread-and-butter for other nations, it is important to understand their properties when you have to fight enemies wielding them.

Types of weapons

One can divide weapons in dwarf fortress into three categories. The first is slashing weapons, like the shortsword and battle axe. These weapons work by concentrating their force along a blade, allowing them to make gashes in or completely sever body parts, and given the opportunity, make the quickest work of their foes. They are far less effective against armored targets, however, as armor will block most hits and convert them into weaker blunt damage.

The second is piercing weapons, like the spear and foreign pike. These weapons work by concentrating their force at a point, allowing them to punch through armor and damage internal organs, often getting stuck and giving their wielder further leverage on the target. Note that ranged weapons - crossbows, bows, and blowguns, (blowguns cannot be used as a ranged weapon currently), - are effectively piercing weapons with range to them. When used in melee, these weapons function like weaker war hammers.

The third is crushing weapons, like the war hammer and mace. These weapons work by concentrating their force behind a large, blunt mass, putting dents in armor and breaking bones beneath their blows. These weapons are slow to kill their targets - dwarves have a habit of breaking every bone in their opponent's body before moving on to the next target - but are the most effective weapons against heavy and heavily armored foes which shrug off damage more easily.

There's also training weapons. Training weapons are all wooden, and all made at the carpenter's workshop. Training axes, spears, and short swords can be constructed in dwarf fortress mode. They used to be useful for avoiding sparring injuries, but since dwarves sparring generally do not carry that risk, they are mostly useless, except in danger rooms.

Types of targets

One can divide the types of foes you will meet into three categories. The first is organic and unarmored (or poorly armored) enemies, like thieves, non-sentient creatures (be it local wildlife or siege mounts), semi-megabeasts and megabeasts besides the bronze colossus. Weapons that deal slashing damage work best and quickest against these types of enemies, severing whole body parts and leaving them severely incapacitated.

The second is organic and armored enemies, like ambushers and siegers. The way armor works, slashing blows that are countered by a piece of armor are converted into generally less effective blunt damage; the best damage against these kinds of enemies are piercing weapons, which punch through armor and damage their internal organs, incapacitating them and allowing the wielder to finish them off. Crushing weapons work as well, although they are slower.

The third and most dangerous types of enemies are inorganic enemies (or ones that don't feel pain), which are titans, forgotten beasts, bronze colossuses, and hidden fun stuff. These enemies have no internal organs, and depending on the material they are made of, may be very difficult to slash at (although a forgotten beast made of, for instance, mud is laughably easy to kill). Against these enemies, crushing weapons are the best, because they can chip at their foes until they collapse from cumulative damage.

Weapon skill

Every type of weapon has its own associated military skill. The higher a dwarf is in his skill with a weapon, the better he will be able to use it in combat, connecting hammer blows to more advantageous sweet spots and sending spears right through enemy hearts and lungs with greater accuracy. The higher the weapon skill, the better at fighting the dwarf will be.

Once a dwarf has reached "Great" skill in a certain weapon, they become weapon lords for that specific weapon. They are listed as such on the status screen, will love fighting, and will no longer complain about long patrol duties. Weapon skill is trained in fighting enemies in combat, demonstrations, and combat drills, but if you leave your dwarves shieldless, a danger room will train their skill very, very quickly. Note that this does not quite work for marksdwarves - danger rooming ranged weapons increases their melee skill, increasing their hammerdwarf skill, although this may be the point.

Attachment

A dwarf that has used a particular weapon for a long time will grow attached to it, equipping it whenever their uniform allows them to. This is fine if they are wielding a ☼Steel Mace☼, but a major problem if they are wielding what is meant to be a training weapon (be it a wooden axe or a copper spear). You can avoid this pitfall by not using training weapons and not forging weapons until you have real weaponsmithing underway. These events generate announcements.

In addition, dwarves that reach a certain number or level of kills with a weapon will name it. This prompts a major announcement, and usually happens after a dwarf manages to put down something significant — a forgotten beast for instance. Only the last shot counts for the kill. Once named, the weapon will appear in the artifact list, albeit in blue.

Dwarves may also become attached to shields and name them in the same way.

Quality and strange moods

The quality of a weapon has a significant (and currently poorly understood) impact on its combat performance, as well as being significantly more valuable.

Designation	Description	Value Modifier	Weapon To-Hit / Armor Deflect Modifier
Item Name	—	1x	1x
-Item Name-	Well-crafted	2x	unknown
+Item Name+	Finely-crafted	3x	unknown
*Item Name*	Superior quality	4x	unknown
≡Item Name≡	Exceptional	5x	unknown
☼Item Name☼	Masterful	12x	2x
Unique name	Artifact	120x	3x
«Item Name»	Decorated object	Varies	unknown

Weaponsmithing is a moodable profession, which means that you can get artifact weapons. This is a bit of a mixed bag: although a legendary armorsmith, engraver, or stone crafter would be more useful, it's certainly better then a legendary mechanic. Artifact weapons have a 3x combat bonus, but do not have to be made of logical materials; ordinarily a rainbow trout bone spear is impossible, but a moody dwarf can create one with a single bone. Thus artifact weapons made of totally inappropriate materials are inferior to regular ones made of weapons-grade metal, although the exact balance is still under discussion.

Dwarves in strange moods are not held to producing native weapons, and in fact often don't, as the number of foreign weapons outnumbers the natives. In the case where they create a valuable and battle-worthy foreign weapon (like a steel two-handed sword), it's worth it to manually go through your dwarves to find someone who can best utilize it, and assign it to him. See the caveats of foreign weapons however, discussed below.

Weapons as tools

Hunters use crossbows, Wood cutters use battle axes, and miners use picks. They must be in possession of these items to do their jobs, and it's as simple as that.

Using a weapon as a tool does not increase skill with that weapon.^[Verify] A dwarf using a weapon as a tool may not also use the same tool as a military weapon.^[Verify] Dwarves may carry only one weapon as a tool at a time; for example, a woodcutter/hunter will drop his/her axe then go and pick up a crossbow every time they switch between the two tasks.

Ammunition

Main article: Ammunition

Crossbows and other ranged weapons require ammunition (in the case of the crossbow, bolts). This ammunition is carried in a quiver in packs of about 25, and when they run out they will switch to using their ranged weapons as crude hammers. It's often a good idea to get them to retreat once they run out of ammo — crossbows are for shooting, not bashing.

Secondary weapons

Although it sounds like a cool idea, equipping a marksdwarf with a backup shortsword just in case doesn't often work, as dwarves are just as quick to run up their foes and start bashing them with a crossbow as they are to draw their swords and do it properly.

See this forum post for details.

Weapons

Native weapons

Type	Size	Attack	Attack type	Contact Area	Penetration	Velocity	Skill Used	Hands Used	Metal	Wood	Bone	Obsidian
Battle Axe	800	Hack	Edge	40000	6000	1.25x	Axe	Multigrasp?	Yes	No	No	No
		Flat slap	Blunt	40000	(6000)	1.25x
		Pommel strike	Blunt	100	(1000)	1.0x
Crossbow (Melee)	400	Bash	Blunt	10000	(4000)	1.25x	Hammer	Singlegrasp?	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Mace	800	Bash	Blunt	20	(200)	2.0x	Mace	Singlegrasp	Yes	No	No	No
Pick (foreign)	500	Strike	Edge	100	4000	2.0x	Mining	Singlegrasp	Yes	No	No	No
Short Sword	300	Slash	Edge	20000	4000	1.25x	Sword	Singlegrasp	Yes	No	No	Yes
		Stab	Edge	50	2000	1.0x
		Flat slap	Blunt	20000	(4000)	1.25x
		Pommel strike	Blunt	100	(1000)	1.0x
Spear	400	Stab	Edge	20	10000	1.0x	Spear	Singlegrasp	Yes	No	No	No
		Shaft bash	Blunt	10000	(6000)	1.25x
War Hammer	400	Bash	Blunt	10	(200)	2.0x	Hammer	Singlegrasp	Yes	No	No	No

Note that although the pick is a foreign weapon, it can be produced by dwarves and is therefore considered native.

Details

• If you find your dwarves wearing more than one weapon -- or any unwanted armor, for that matter -- one way to get rid of them is to dump the weapon from their v-i inventory screen. This does not always work, as they might re-equip the item. Another option is to remove any weapons and/or shields listed on their military equip screen. This too does not always work. At least "left-handedness" seems to not pose a problem. If you cancel the work by v-p and selecting a job that needs a tool they will sometimes put it back in the pile. Example: Miners use picks, cancel their mining job and they will put the pick away AFTER you ordered it to be dumped.
• Using weapons is much more effective than unarmed combat -- an untrained swordsdwarf with an iron weapon can defeat a grand master wrestler, provided neither is wearing armor.
  • Larger weapons with more heft tend to do more damage. How damage is calculated is currently not fully understood, and this is an area requiring more research.
• The size for a weapon is its volume in cm³.
• Attacks of type EDGE will either slice or pierce their target, depending on the contact area and penetration depth, while BLUNT attacks tend to damage internal organs without necessarily causing significant damage to outer layers.
• The contact area represents the area of contact of the weapon, and the penetration determines how deep the attack goes (and is apparently ignored entirely for BLUNT attacks -- indicated by numbers in parentheses). Large contact areas combined with low penetration represent slashing attacks, while small contact areas with high penetration behave as piercing attacks.
• The velocity seems to adjust the amount of actual force used during the attack (otherwise based on the size of the weapon, the material from which the weapon is made, and the strength of the wielder) - for example, war hammers have a 2x velocity multiplier, presumably to model the fact that the hammer's mass is concentrated at the tip which, when combined with a long handle, permits swinging it harder than a weapon whose mass is evenly distributed (such as a sword).
• Crossbows can be made of metal, wood, and bone. Metal crossbows are made by a weaponsmith at a forge, while wood and bone crossbows are made by a bowyer at a bowyer's workshop. The material of a crossbow does not affect its firing ability, only its melee damage. A dwarf's marksmanship skill is only affected by the core quality of the bow. This may be a consideration when deciding which dwarf you want outfitting your marksdwarves: a legendary bowyer is a better choice than a proficient weaponsmith.

Training weapons

All training weapons must be made of wood at the carpenter's workshop.

Type	Size	Attack	Attack type	Contact Area	Penetration	Velocity	Skill Used
Training Axe	800	Hack	Blunt	30000	(6000)	1.25x	Axe
		Flat slap	Blunt	30000	(6000)	1.25x
		Pommel strike	Blunt	100	(1000)	1.0x
Training Sword	300	Slash	Blunt	20000	(4000)	1.25x	Sword
		Stab	Blunt	50	(2000)	1.0x
		Flat slap	Blunt	20000	(4000)	1.25x
		Pommel strike	Blunt	100	(1000)	1.0x
Training Spear	400	Stab	Blunt	200	(10000)	1.0x	Spear
		Shaft bash	Blunt	10000	(6000)	1.25x

Foreign weapons

Using any multigrasp weapon in a single hand (ie. with a shield in the other hand) gives you a disability to hit. Do not equip two-handed swords with a shield, for instance.

Type	Size	Attack	Attack type	Contact Area	Penetration	Velocity	Skill Used	Used by	Hands Used
2H Sword	900	Slash	Edge	100000	8000	1.25x	Sword	Goblin, Human	Multigrasp
		Stab	Edge	50	4000	1.0x
		Flat slap	Blunt	100000	(8000)	1.25x
		Pommel strike	Blunt	100	(1000)	1.0x
Blowgun (Melee)	150	Bash	Blunt	10000	(4000)	1.25x	Sword	Subterranean animal peoples	Singlegrasp?
Bow (Melee)	300	Bash	Blunt	10000	(4000)	1.25x	Sword	Elf, Goblin, Human, Kobold	Singlegrasp?
Flail	500	Bash	Blunt	200	(4000)	2.5x	Mace	Goblin, Human	Singlegrasp
Great Axe	1300	Hack	Edge	60000	8000	1.25x	Axe	Goblin, Human	Multigrasp
		Flat slap	Blunt	60000	(8000)	1.25x
		Pommel strike	Blunt	100	(1000)	1.0x
Halberd	1200	Slash	Edge	20000	8000	1.25x	Axe	Goblin, Human	Multigrasp
		Stab	Edge	50	2000	1.0x
		Shaft bash	Blunt	20000	(6000)	1.25x
Dagger (Large)	200	Slash	Edge	1000	800	1.25x	Dagger	Goblin, Kobold	Singlegrasp
		Stab	Edge	5	1000	1.0x
		Pommel strike	Blunt	20	(600)	1.0x
Long Sword	700	Slash	Edge	60000	6000	1.25x	Sword	Elf, Goblin, Human	Singlegrasp
		Stab	Edge	50	3000	1.0x
		Flat slap	Blunt	60000	(6000)	1.25x
		Pommel strike	Blunt	100	(1000)	1.0x
Maul	1300	Bash	Blunt	100	(6000)	2.0x	Hammer	Goblin, Human	Multigrasp
Morningstar	500	Bash	Edge	10	500	2.0x	Mace	Goblin, Human	Singlegrasp
		Pommel strike	Blunt	50	(1000)	1.0x
Pike	800	Stab	Edge	20	12000	1.0x	Pike	Goblin, Human	Multigrasp
		Shaft bash	Blunt	10000	(6000)	1.25x
Scimitar	300	Slash	Edge	20000	4000	1.25x	Sword	Goblin, Human	Singlegrasp
		Stab	Edge	50	2000	1.0x
		Flat slap	Blunt	20000	(4000)	1.25x
		Pommel strike	Blunt	50	(1000)	1.0x
Scourge	300	Lash	Edge	10	50	2.0x	Whip	Goblin	Singlegrasp
Whip	100	Lash	Blunt	1	(10)	5.0x	Whip	Goblin, Human	Singlegrasp

Size

Weapons have a minimum size to use at all, and a minimum size to use one-handed. Adult dwarves vary in size between 33750 and 93750 (average 60000) based on their height and broadness, so not all dwarves can use all weapons. The following table shows approximately how many dwarves should be able to use each weapon one or two handed.

Type	Min Size (Two-Handed)	Min Size (One-Handed)	Dwarves Can't Wield	Dwarves Wield Two-Handed	Dwarves Wield One-Handed
Battle Axe	42500	47500	1/49	10/49	38/49
Crossbow (Melee)	15000	0	-	-	49/49
Mace	32500	37500	-	1/49	48/49
Pick	42500	47500	1/49	10/49	38/49
Short Sword	32500	37500	-	1/49	48/49
Spear	5000	47500	-	11/49	38/49
War Hammer	32500	37500	-	1/49	48/49
Training Axe	42500	47500	1/49	10/49	38/49
Training Sword	32500	37500	-	1/49	48/49
Training Spear	42500	47500	1/49	10/49	38/49
2H Sword	62500	77500	32/49	14/49	3/49
Blowgun (Melee)	15000	0	-	-	49/49
Bow (Melee)	15000	0	-	-	49/49
Flail	42500	47500	1/49	10/49	38/49
Great Axe	62500	77500	32/49	14/49	3/49
Halberd	62500	77500	32/49	14/49	3/49
Dagger (Large)	5000	27500	-	-	49/49
Long Sword	52500	57500	11/49	7/49	31/49
Maul	62500	77500	32/49	14/49	3/49
Morningstar	32500	37500	-	1/49	48/49
Pike	62500	77500	32/49	14/49	3/49
Scimitar	32500	37500	-	1/49	48/49
Scourge	22500	27500	-	-	49/49
Whip	22500	27500	-	-	49/49

See this forum post for details.

Unfortunately this is currently bugged in Fortress mode.^Bug:0005812 One-handed vs. two-handed checks are performed correctly, but can wield vs. can't wield ignores height and broadness modifiers. So Dwarves in Fortress mode will never equip two handed swords, great axes, halberds, mauls, or pikes. (But presumably they'll all be able to equip long swords, most with one hand?) See this forum post.

Material

Metal	Value	Density	Impact yield	Impact fracture	Impact elasticity	Shear yield	Shear fracture	Shear elasticity	Notes
Adamantine	300	0.200	5000	5000	0	5000	5000	0
Steel	30	7.85	1505	2520	940	430	720	215
Bismuth bronze	6	8.25	602	843	547	172	241	156
Bronze	5	8.25	602	843	547	172	241	156
Iron	10	7.85	542	1080	319	155	310	189
Copper	2	8.93	245	770	175	70	220	145
Silver	10	10.49	350	595	350	100	170	333
Platinum	40	21.4	350	700	152	100	200	164	Only available as Artifact Weapons.
Bone	1	0.50	200	200	100	115	130	100
Wood	1	0.50	10	10	1000	40	40	1000
Shell	1	0.50	200	200	100	115	130	100	Only available as Artifact Weapons.
Leather	1	0.50	10	10	50000	25	25	50000	Material data added for comparison.
Obsidian	3	2.67	120	120	100	15	15	100	Only available for Short Swords.
Crystal glass	10	2.6	1000	1000	2222	33	33	113	Only available as Trap Components.
Clear glass	5	2.6	1000	1000	2222	33	33	113	Only available as Trap Components.
Green glass	2	2.6	1000	1000	2222	33	33	113	Only available as Trap Components.

• Combat information is used internally by the game to determine the combat properties of weapons and armor made from this metal:
  • Density: Used in conjunction with other factors - heavier weapons (higher numbers) hit with more force, light weapons tend to have less penetration. Value shown here is g/cm³, which is the raw value divided by 10³
  • Impact yield: Used for blunt-force combat; higher is better. This is the raw value divided by 10³ (i.e., kPa).
  • Impact fracture: Used for blunt-force combat; higher is better. This is the raw value divided by 10³ (i.e., kPa).
  • Impact elasticity (or strain at yield): Used for blunt-force combat; lower is better. This is the raw value.
  • Shear yield: Used for cutting calculations in combat; higher is better. This is the raw value divided by 10³ (i.e., kPa).
  • Shear fracture: Used for cutting calculations in combat; higher is better. This is the raw value divided by 10³ (i.e., kPa).
  • Shear elasticity (or strain at yield): Used for cutting calculations in combat; lower is better. This is the raw value.

• General Term Explanations (From Wikipedia)
  • Yield Strength - The stress at which material strain changes from elastic deformation to plastic deformation, causing it to deform permanently.
  • Fracture Strength - The stress coordinate on the stress-strain curve at the point of rupture.
  • Stress - Force per area = F/A
  • Strain - Deformation of a solid due to stress = Stress/Young's Modulus

Explanation

• Yield Strength is the amount of stress required to permanently deform (bend) a material (plastic deformation).
• Fracture Strength is the amount of stress required to permanently break (rupture) a material.
• Elasticity or Strain at yield is the amount of deformation (bending) that occurs at the yield point.

Implications

Yield strength combined with strain at yield can tell what a material will do under stress (be it from a hammer, axe, or arrow); higher yield means that it takes more stress to deform, while lower strain at yield means that it will deform less when stress is applied.

Combat testing

Adamantine and steel take first and second place respectively, with iron the third best material in the game, matched by the bronzes. Beyond that is copper, the second worst material, and silver is the worst weapon material available (and due to the existence of training weapons, not even useful in that regard) in regards to edged weaponry.

Additionally, with regards to blunt weapons almost all of the non-adamantine materials perform equally well, with a very slight edge towards steel and silver. Here is the thread with the details: [1].

Keep in mind with how unbelievably complicated this system is nothing should be taken as word of law yet.

	Best	Better	Good	Fair	Poor	Terrible	Notes
Armor	Adamantine	Steel	Iron	Bronze, Bismuth Bronze	Copper
Edged Weapons	Adamantine	Steel	Iron	Bronze, Bismuth Bronze	Copper	Silver	For piercing iron armor, copper is better than bronze. For piercing copper or bronze armor, bronze is better than copper.
Ammunition	Steel, Iron, Bronze, Bismuth Bronze, Copper, Silver		Adamantine				Adamantine bolts deflect off of adamantine armor, but otherwise their performance is on par with bolts made out of other metals.
Blunt Weapons	Platinum	Steel, Silver	Copper, Bismuth Bronze, Bronze, Iron			Adamantine	All six standard weapon metals perform nearly identically. Steel has a slightly higher rate of critical wounds, while silver is slightly more likely to penetrate armor. Platinum (only available as artifact weapons) has twice the density of silver and several other improved properties, making it the best metal for impact weapons, though very limited in production.

Cross referencing this table with the table at the top of this section seems to indicate that low densities, high impact fractures, and high shear fractures contribute to the killing power of edged weapons.

Analysis

Testing of weapons (15 dwarves vs. 15 dwarves combats) in the object testing arena shows that the best dwarven-made weapon against humanoids is the silver war hammer ^v0.31.12.

Even in 15×(steel armor+silver war hammer) versus 15×(adamantine armor+adamantine battle axe) matches, hammerdwarves won with less than 50% casualties (mostly one-strike kills). However, when the dwarves in question were without armor or only wearing leather/cloth, the result was inverted — axedwarves won with less than 50% casualties. In battles against megabeasts, 6 silver hammerdwarves were barely able to scratch a bronze colossus (attacks were glancing away) due to bronze being a better "weapon" material.

This is because silver has the highest solid density of all materials that can regularly be made into weapons by dwarves. Tests show that indeed gold and platinum (increasingly dense) do increasing amounts of damage, and that war hammers remain the tool of choice, however they can only be produced by a moody dwarf (and a very lucky one at that).

For more on ranged ammunition see the forum thread Dwarven Research: A Comparison Study on the Effectiveness of Bolts vs Armors.

More arena tests are available in the Military testing article.

Bugs

• Equipping weapons/armor on military is erratic^Bug:535

See also

• Outstanding research on weapons and armor by Shinziril

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