Suggestions for Weapons and Protection

[Snake_byte]

Hmmm okay. You said go!

--The Quarterstaff:

The quarterstaff may be made from many kinds of wood, It may have metal spikes or caps (additions) at one or both ends; The length of the staff varies, typically ranging from 1.8 m to 2.7 m (6 to 9 feet); long staves range from 3.6 to as much as 5.4 metres (12 to as much as 18 feet). 3-meter staves were employed in Victorian England.
So maybe 2.5 m long made of of wood (900g?+4days?). To be a little stronger than the waster. (being a better training tool) With iron or steel additions adding a little more power.

--Woomera: Could actually be classified as a tool (<--Hey I know people like that *bk to Topic*) - or an addition any spear.

A woomera spear-throwing device usually used for larger prey or when there is a greater distance to be overcome. It has been described as "the most efficient spear-throwing device ever".
Some woomeras, were multi-purpose tools. Often shaped like long narrow bowls, they could be used for carrying water-soaked vegetable matter ss well as small food items such as little lizards or seeds. Many woomeras had a sharp stone cutting edge attached to the end of the handle with black gum from the spinifex plant. (we can substitue this with resin) This sharp tool had many uses – and was commonly used for cutting up game or other food, cutting wood, and so on.

The woomera could be used as a shield for protection against spears and boomerangs. Some boomerangs were deliberately made with a hook at one end designed to catch onto the edge of a woomera or shield, which then caused the boomerang to swivel around and hit the enemy.

The woomera was traditionally decorated with incised or painted designs which gave a good indication of the owner's tribal or clan group, giving one their sense of identity or "being".

--Bolas

boleadoras to capture running cattle or game. Depending on the exact design, the thrower grasps the bolas either by one of the weights or by the nexus of the cords. He gives the balls momentum by swinging them and then releases the bolas. The weapon is usually used to entangle the animal's legs, but when thrown with enough force might even inflict damage (e.g. breaking a bone).
There is no uniform design; most bolas have two or three balls, but there are versions of up to 8 or 9 balls. Some bolas have balls of equal weight, others vary the knot and cord. Gauchos use bolas made of braided leather cords with wooden balls or small leather sacks full of stones in the ends of the cords.

Don't want to give too much reading material... All info taken from wikipedia.

[Ice-Man]

We allready have sticks, blow dart and atlatl, javelin thrower

[Piscator]

This is short, but true. Atlatl and blowdart pipe have been in the game for ages. A good substitute for a quarterstaff would be the large wooden shaft. Bolas might be a bit problematic since you wouldn't be able to incapacitate someone.

The low tech weapons need an overhaul too, by the way.

[Snake_byte]

We already have sticks, blow dart and atlatl, javelin thrower

I've edited out the blow dart. I thought it was in there but couldn't find it, thank you.
A staff should be much larger and stronger than some simple stick.
Woomera is different than the Atlatl in that it's used for spears... Which would be the thrower but I can't find that in the wiki or in the game...

As for the bolas, they don't HAVE to incapacitate as it's not possible IG to restrain someone yet.

So, what we're looking for is medium tech non metallic (at least not iron and steel) weapons? and protection...

[Piscator]

A stick would be too weak to serve as a quarterstaff, but the large wooden shaft would not. It even has an attack value.

I don't know what mental image you have of the atlatl, but it's a spear thrower as well. A woomera would only be a different design.

Bolas indeed don't have to incapacitate the target, but people would expect them to do.

As for the last question, we're not exactly looking for new items, but if you know something nice made e.g. from copper, don't be shy to mention it. (Don't bother with obsidian weapons by the way, there are already plans for them.)

[Kaishin]

Basically, this is a blade hidden inside of a parasol. This would make an interesting weapon. Perhaps it could be viewed as a normal parasol by other people until the blade is drawn.

[Piscator]

Since we don't have parasols, it would be quite obvious. And a dagger would still be better since others wouldn't be able to see it at all.

[MrDudeBroMan]

Nunchucks? Some wood and iron, and there ya go.
A mid-damage weapon, possibly concealable, though that isn't too important.

[Kaizerwolf]

Improved throwing stars. Have wooden, iron and steel ones. The steel and iron ones should require the use of more tools, such as an anvil or a peen hammer or something. Having only one type of weak throwing star doesn't really seem smart to me. :\

[GPark]

Improved throwing stars. Have wooden, iron and steel ones.

I really like this idea. I think it makes a lot of sense to expand throwing stars in the same way that other weapon classes have been expanded. Right now throwing stars are basically just a novelty but adding more sophisticated versions, with a higher attack value, would make them a more serious weapon choice. An alternative to creating entirely new metal stars would be the ability to enhance them with the addition of iron or steel, much the same way that a billy club can be upgraded to an iron shod billy club, a process which doubles the attack value.

As a separate suggestion, I would also raise the point that the visibility setting on throwing stars could be changed because concealing them would seem a relatively simple matter.

[EchoMan]

I would like to see obsidian tipped spears and obsidian knives. Or at least something that obsidian can be used for.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsidian

"Obsidian has been used in cardiac surgery, as well-crafted obsidian blades have a cutting edge many times sharper than high-quality steel surgical scalpels, with the edge of the blade being only about 3 nanometers wide.[10] Even the sharpest metal knife has a jagged, irregular blade when viewed under a strong enough microscope. When examined under an electron microscope an obsidian blade is still smooth and even. One study found that obsidian produced narrower scars, fewer inflammatory cells, and less granulation tissue in a group of rats.[11]

Obsidian is also used for ornamental purposes and as a gemstone. It possesses the property of presenting a different appearance according to the manner in which it is cut. When cut in one direction it is a beautiful jet black; when cut across another direction it is glistening gray. "Apache tears" are small rounded obsidian nuggets embedded within a grayish-white perlite matrix."

[Piscator]

There are plans for Aztek style obsidian weapons for some time now, but we never got around to implementing them because a few balancing problems hadn't been solved. The main problem was, if I remember correctly, that obsidian is one of the rarest materials in the game and implementing too many items that would hardly ever be built didn't seem wise. I can look into it again.

The wooden throwing star began its life as Apache throwing star, which is a makeshift hunting weapon mainly consisting of two crossed, pointed sticks. It was supposed to be a survival item and has little in common with its metal relatives. We could have bronze and steel throwing stars of course, but until we have the option to diversify weapons a little more, adding yet another steel weapon seems not very sensible.

[randognsac]

One of my Chars. killed a moose with a throwing star! It was awesome!

[guilletierno]

nunchaku



Object type
-weapon
Skill used
-Manufacturing weapons
Time
-undeterminated
Objects
-2 Small wooden shaft
-small chain
Tools
-pen hammer
-carving knife

need a high skillweight factor

[SekoETC]

Parasols - basically vanity items, they would only do 1 damage like wasters but be more of a strength-based "weapon", maybe 50 skill rating. On top of this they would have very high usage based deterioration. There's one problem though, for some silly reason, hit-based deterioration is only 1/8 of usage based deterioration, maybe because usage based deterioration is per day of use, so it divides it by 8 to get an hour's use, but it's still silly.

But anyway, there could be several types of parasols. At least a silk one, using wood for the support structure. Cotton would be another option. I was pondering about the possibility of reed umbrellas but apparently they tend to be too heavy to carry. It's a shame we don't have rice paper and stuff.