Why leather handles/hilts?

[Pirog]

I don't see the need for handles being made of leather.
Since leather is almost harder to come by than iron in some part it feels ridiculous that a whole project can fall on something so simple as a handle...

Hide, cotton, wood and a lot of other things would be just as good for making handles.

If it is to limit production and make it harder I would prefer other methods...

[The Industriallist]

Howled about this way back. No one listened.

Maybe they will now?

[Pirog]

I hope so...otherwise we will have to howl some more.

[Spider]

Handles? Like for a bike?

[Pirog]

I really meant hilt, but I got the handle part from the new weapon "Atlatl".
The complaint goes for both handles and hilts though.

[The Industriallist]

I didn't look...are you saying that atlatl require leather? That's just dumb.

[Pirog]

Yes, very...but it is dumb when required for weapon hilts, bike handles (if that exists) or whatever else too.

[Spider]

Well, i thought it was handles, i didn't check... i don't think they should change it since its always made of rubber.

Thanks for the title change

[Nick]

I have never seen a sabre with leather on the handle, in real life. They generally dont in my experience, so I dont see why you would need leather for it to function.

[rklenseth]

First of all, leather isn't that hard to get guys.

Hide, cotton, wood and a lot of other things would be just as good for making handles.

Because we can only have one type. Leather is universal in Cantr and can be gotten anywhere and made anywhere. Cotton is not. People don't make hilts out of wood for swords and a bare piece of wood would still not absorbed the shock so something would still need to be done such as adding leather. Hide wouldn't have the effect that leather would have at absorbing the shock of a blow in combat.

If it is to limit production and make it harder I would prefer other methods...

No, it is not to limit production. Most hilts had leather put on them to absorb the shock of blows during combat or whatever the person was using the sword for. For example, get two metal or wooden baseball bats and a friend. Strip the rubber or cloth off the handle of the bat and then have your friend and yourself smash them together as hard as you can. It won't be a pleasant experience. The reason why leather is used is because it is universal in Cantr meaning that in can be manufactured on every island in the game and leather isn't that hard to make.

Well you say;

There aren't any animals that have hide.... Well why did you kill them off or didn't make strict enough laws to keep them from becoming extinct? I think Jos made it very clear when animals were introduced that because an area killed them off he won't replace them and people will have to go elsewhere to find animals or hope that animals travel from other lands to your area because the people in the next area were conservation-minded.

Salt is too hard to find.... Salt is out there and it may be rare but it is there. This might give you an incentive to create a trade route. I do agree though that there should be other ways of gathering salt rather than from mining such as extracting salt from saltwater but seeing as saltwater doesn't really exist yet in the game then your best bet is to find an area of land that is rich in salt deposits and hope that the locals are willing to trade or are vastly outarmed.

I hope that explains my reasoning as to why leather is part of the requirements of making the hilt of a sword.

[Agar]

Leather handles on knives:

http://www.randallknives.com/outdoorsmen.asp

Wooden sword hilts:

http://user.netonecom.net/~swordman/Photos/grips01.jpg

Bone hilts:

http://therionarms.com/antiques/therionarms_c445.html

Steel Hilts:

http://www.deltin.it/swords6.htm

Horn Hilts:

http://therionarms.com/sold/ttoy376.html

Anyhow, You get the idea. Hilts can be made from a variety of materials; leather, bone, wood, steel; all things that can be found in cantr. So ... why not a variety of hilts?

THEY WANT TO PROMOTE TRADE!

As long as there's a balance in how hard a weapon is to make to how good a weapon it is in weight and damage, then it balanced in the gaming system, and you can suck it up. If you're that bent out of shape about it, take your bone knives and go supress some salt region untill you have soem tanned hide.

[rklenseth]

Anyhow, You get the idea. Hilts can be made from a variety of materials; leather, bone, wood, steel; all things that can be found in cantr. So ... why not a variety of hilts?

A variety of hilts is not possible with the current programing. Plus, you would still need to find a way to have something absorb the shock of a blow or a new combat system that would have your character get a system shock everytime they happen to hit their sword against something hard which could possible make them drop the sword or knock them out of combat for a little bit until they get their wits about them.

Another way to absorb shock would be too wear gloves, most preferably leather gloves, but once again that would mean revamping the system.

I will bring up the creation of saltwater and a way to extract salt from it in Resources.

[The Industriallist]

Sooo....are you saying that the small bone hilt isn't a substitute for the regular small hilt, for example? I assumed that was it's purpose...

The whole salt thing is evil and somewhat unsound I think, but...eh.
Of course, you don't really encourage trade with something like that, for a number of reasons.

[Agar]

I know this is a code ignorant question but ...

We have a variety of bowstrings. Hemp, silk and cotton. All work (as far as I know)

How is the component breakdown of swords different from the component breakdown of bows?

In other words: Why can't we have a variety of hilts?

I still want to promote trade, but why not a variety of trade?

[Pirog]

rklenseth>

The reason that leather is often used as a shock absorber IRL is that it is much easier to get compared to Cantr, and cheap compared to other materials. If you live in Tircqi and doesn't own a vehicle it will take you perhaps 5-6 years just to gather salt...a logical person would the chose another material for the hilt.

Agar has a good point about the bow strings...and if that can't be implemented perhaps we should just avoid discussions about the need for a shock absorbing material on the hilt in a combat system that let's you swing once a day and therefore is very, very basic.

Different hilts and parts would be cool for RP purposes too. There could be hilts and other parts of weapons that are adorned with diamonds, gold or other precious materials...making them stand out from the general weapons. A well known fighter or an emperor would probably want a nice weapon to show off