Broadsword: someone please convince me of their usefulness

[BoloDigby]

When I was growing up we had an ancient 1961 Comet. It was powered by a 'slant-6' engine, an engine that had the power output of a 4-cylinder, the fuel consumption of an 8-cylinder, and the oil consumption of both combined.

I accused broadswords of being the slant-6 engine of the Adom world. They weigh more than a long sword and short sword combined, and barely beat out a short sword in damage output. They seem to be cursed more often than other bladed weapons and they seem to rarely have any prefix or suffix at all.

It seems to me that I get more than the RNG share of Broadswords, and I am not a big fan. More often than not I just stick to my starting short sword than chance it with the broadsword.

Is there something I am missing regarding the purpose of broadswords? Are there {non-prefix/suffixed} broadsword enthusiast out there? Please let me know what I am missing.

[SirTheta]

Broadswords have better +dmg and die roll than short sword. They're among the best of the long blades class and I never ever use short swords or long swords w/o a good reason - broadsword I'll upgrade to every time [unless I don't have a good reason]. Sabres and rapiers are also quite nice.

Weight is not an issue.

[shockeroo]

Cursing and prefixing/suffixing is just varience. Broadswords do slightly more damage on average than the other weapons (1d7+1 = 2-8 (avg 5) vs 1-8 (avg 4.5)) with greater consistency.

That said, it's rarely an issue for me because I almost never use swords early - spears have a way better weapon skill IMO.

[Al-Khwarizmi]

Wow, I also thought longswords had better damage output than broadswords, just looked and no! Broadswords are better!

Anyway, these things depend on what you find... if I find an early-game adamantium short sword of devastation and the alternative are stock long and broadswords, you bet I'll be gladly using short swords for a while.

The slant-6 engines of the ADOM world IMHO are the weapons that never come with higher metals or with prefixes/suffixes. For example, IIRC, stone clubs, stone spears, skull clubs, cudgels, heavy cudgels or sickles. They're just never worth using except in the very very very early game if you don't have anything else, and that's a pity.

[divij]

stone spears are as good as heavy spears and dont rust or degrade...also i think spears > sword, & sabres,rapier > broad > long > short

tldr : stone spears are as good as heavy spears and dont rust or degrade..also i think spears > sword, & sabres,rapier > broad > long > short

[_Ln_]

The problem with ADOM swords is just that there are so many of them with useless variation. Adding rapiers & sabres certainly didn't help matters. Too bad that orcish spears found in abundance beat all of them except rapiers through the sole virtue of 1 extra PV.

The problem with ADOM weapons is that unless you find a good affixed weapon (basically of devastations/of mayhem/of penetration out of _all_ suffixes) guaranteed Big Punch will be your weapon until you find a better artifact or go to the Maze.

[shockeroo]

Sabres are crazy. They beat all the other swords for damage and weigh less.

[JellySlayer]

I always go with the best weapon I have. In terms of swords, broadswords are usually the best (though I'd take a rapier given the choice). The weight is not that big of a deal... I'll happily use a 150s flail over an 80s broadsword for +1 extra damage.

[YourMum]

The better base damage of broad swords puts them ahead slightly of long swords. Probably better to use against opponents with better PV so you're not wasting hits failing to penetrate armour.

Yeah there do seem to be quite a number of different sword types, I prefer sabres for the better base damage and weight (standard values) and rapiers for the DV and pv bonuses. They tend to have decent damage too.

Sadly Big Punch is becoming my regular weapon of choice, to smash through steel golems and fire elements.

[daft inquisitor]

stone spears are as good as heavy spears and dont rust or degrade...also i think spears > sword, & sabres,rapier > broad > long > short

tldr : stone spears are as good as heavy spears and dont rust or degrade..also i think spears > sword, & sabres,rapier > broad > long > short

Do you know how "tl;dr" is supposed to work? :/