This site has a page for all the items in DM. I'm wanting to start out a new game & try to use the best weapons and armor but am confused by the chart.
For weapons, it has a column for actions with different damage number associated with the action. Ie. Swing - 16, Parry - 8 etc. The next column is just states Damage which states is the base damage. Would I add the base damage to the action damage, or would I multiply them? Or what do I do in order to compare weapons. Then, how does one compare the damage done by a sword to a thrown object (dagger or star) or shot weapon (bow & arrow). - Shoot damage & distance.
Also, for weapons - what is Strength / Sharp Resistance?
Any help on how to use all these numbers is appreciated.
Weapons & Armor
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Tom Hatfield
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They're probably multiplied. The problem is that DM has some very complicated internal mechanisms, particularly for combat, and only the developer or one who's dabbled in the source could be of any help to you. Another thing about arrows and ranged attacks: they use their own internal mechanism for calculating damage that doesn't seem to have anything to do with those numbers on the chart. DM is really all about experimentation; find which weapons work best for you, and use them.
As for armor, strength is the base armor rating (whatever that means), and sharp resistance is the protection is provides against sharp weapons (swords, claws, arrows — i.e., anything that isn't blunt or magical). As a general rule, weapons and armor found later in the game are better than the stuff you find early, but some items have special abilities that make them decidedly useful (e.g., power towers raise strength, mithril hosen provide acceleration).
Edit: oops. I was thinking DM2.
As for armor, strength is the base armor rating (whatever that means), and sharp resistance is the protection is provides against sharp weapons (swords, claws, arrows — i.e., anything that isn't blunt or magical). As a general rule, weapons and armor found later in the game are better than the stuff you find early, but some items have special abilities that make them decidedly useful (e.g., power towers raise strength, mithril hosen provide acceleration).
Edit: oops. I was thinking DM2.
Damage numbers associated with actions are most definately, 100% positively, multiplied with that of the weapon's damage. If you have Swing being 16 damage, on a sword with base 10, you have essentially 160 base damage. Note, there are multitudes of other factors in the equation such as strength, fighter-levels, monsters defense values, etc, that equate the actual final damage, thus why you don't swing for 160 vs screamers in level 2.
Arrows/thrown objects, that is a whole 'nother story. I've dabled in the code quite a bit, and that equation still is a very hefty mystery to be solved. Generally, the farther an object goes in an infinit hallway, the more damage it is CAPABLE of doing to a monster. But the farther it travels, the less damage it will do (This is known fact, I've done alot of dabbling in the source to realize this). The main factors are the weapons that fire projectiles, such as speedbow/sling/bow/crossbow. These give projectiles a slight boost. There are also objects with characteristics which make it so the item travels farther than 'normal'. For instance, you may be able to throw a sword 6 squares, and it may deal 50 base damage at 1 distance. But, an AXE has the characteristic of flying farther, so it may travel 10 squares instead of 6 (but still does 50 base damage at 1 distance). The difference is, at distance 6, the axe may have 30 base damage, while the sword has 0 base damage. (The axe flies farther, but doesnt necessarily deal more damage). The relationship between thrown weapons and melee weapons is extremely unknown (maybe it could be a research project?), but in my experience, if you throw an item, make it the axe, and the damage done by a thrown axe is comparable to between chop-melee... maybe half-way. Also, for some reason, the firestaff (complete) makes one hell of a thrown weapon!
Hope this helps
Arrows/thrown objects, that is a whole 'nother story. I've dabled in the code quite a bit, and that equation still is a very hefty mystery to be solved. Generally, the farther an object goes in an infinit hallway, the more damage it is CAPABLE of doing to a monster. But the farther it travels, the less damage it will do (This is known fact, I've done alot of dabbling in the source to realize this). The main factors are the weapons that fire projectiles, such as speedbow/sling/bow/crossbow. These give projectiles a slight boost. There are also objects with characteristics which make it so the item travels farther than 'normal'. For instance, you may be able to throw a sword 6 squares, and it may deal 50 base damage at 1 distance. But, an AXE has the characteristic of flying farther, so it may travel 10 squares instead of 6 (but still does 50 base damage at 1 distance). The difference is, at distance 6, the axe may have 30 base damage, while the sword has 0 base damage. (The axe flies farther, but doesnt necessarily deal more damage). The relationship between thrown weapons and melee weapons is extremely unknown (maybe it could be a research project?), but in my experience, if you throw an item, make it the axe, and the damage done by a thrown axe is comparable to between chop-melee... maybe half-way. Also, for some reason, the firestaff (complete) makes one hell of a thrown weapon!
Hope this helps