Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
If you have an email ending in @hotmail.com, @live.com or @outlook.com (or any other Microsoft-related domain), please consider changing it to another email provider; Microsoft decided to instantly block the server's IP, so emails can't be sent to these addresses.
If you use an @yahoo.com email or any related Yahoo services, they have blocked us also due to "user complaints"
-UE
If you use an @yahoo.com email or any related Yahoo services, they have blocked us also due to "user complaints"
-UE
How some people think swords are the best weapon in x apocalypse
...Why? I'd much rather have a crowbar in nigh on any apocalypse. FAR more useful since it has multiple uses! A sword is only useful if you need just a weapon (not going to say 'only if you need to cut up someone' because I just KNOW Alex would dispute that with things like the pommel and crossguard). A crowbar can be used as a weapon and a general purpose tool
Comments
And for situations that call for a weapon, I'd rather have a small, lightweight ranged one that I could probably carry along with a melee weapon for emergencies in case I empty out, yeah. In the usual zombie apocalypse scenario, for instance, getting up close and personal with a walking contagious disease is the fucking last thing you want to do.
Come to think of it, you'll probably want as many weapons as you can reasonably hang onto. Your first choice of a single weapon is probably already going be whatever you're better off in battle with in general.
I read this as "some people think words are the best weapon in an apocalypse."
Not actually as stupid as it sounds since you might have to talk your way out of difficult situations, win people over and so on. Having said all that, I'd still want a gun in the first instance, and a knife as well.
Emphasis mine.
But they almost are. Without industrial production for gun ammunition and without any kinda of common, sword-stopping heavy armours, both their modern and period disadvantages are gone.
In any case, a sword and a crowbar aren't nearly in the same class of stuff. A crowbar is a simple, lightweight tool that can be easily procured. A sword is actually a reasonably complex piece of technology, and a good one costs a fair bit to this day. In a practical sense, there's nothing stopping a swordsman from also having a crowbar.
One thing to keep in mind, of course, is that few people know how to use a sword, making it nothing more than a sharp club in their hands.
I don't know much about guns, but it seems to me that they're going to be pretty intuitive for a beginner if we're sticking to smaller guns and aren't talking about maintenance. Also, you can still make use of one even if your fitness level is poor.
The question of what melee weapon is best for someone without training is an interesting one.
In context of a country like Australia, where there's an almost 100% gun ban amongst civilians, the most effective piece of military hardware one can own is, in fact, a sword.
As for close combat weapons and training, there isn't really a good one for zero training. What makes a gun great isn't so much its distance or stopping power, but the result of those two things; it alters the "metagame" of combat, giving the combatant with superior position and initiative a very deadly and immediate advantage. Close combat is pitting skill against skill; with a gun, your adversary's skill can't resist your skills with theirs, if you follow.
That said, there have been short training methods devised throughout history that have proven effective. For instance, the Germans actually used commoners with longswords on the battlefield sometimes, giving them one day's training. They only knew two strikes, but in the metagame of infantry combat, that was enough to allow them to dominate. Similarly, spear training is generally measured in days or weeks.
^ alucardcackle.avi
Over to the other side of it, one of the worst things about a sword is that you'll cut yourself if you suck. They require cleaning after every fight, and possibly some neatening up with a grindstone.
the only way to win is not to playThe best way to survive is not to fight, but make peace with your immediate neighbours and work towards establishing some kind of wider trade relationship. If that can extend to the nearest farms, you've done well.