Difference between revisions of "Spear"

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Swords gain another big advantage when combined with the damage gene - their Cut attacks. High quality longswords (excellent plasteel or better) now deal enough damage, that a single ''cleave'' attack is able to down through [[pain shock]], even if it doesn't destroy any body parts. The spear, being restricted to ''Stab'' attacks, can only ever damage 1 part at a time. If a spear stabs an arm, then it can only damage the arm, resulting in a large waste of damage. If the sword procs the ''cleave'' attack, then it is likely to down a human, with much more tolerance on where it lands.
 
Swords gain another big advantage when combined with the damage gene - their Cut attacks. High quality longswords (excellent plasteel or better) now deal enough damage, that a single ''cleave'' attack is able to down through [[pain shock]], even if it doesn't destroy any body parts. The spear, being restricted to ''Stab'' attacks, can only ever damage 1 part at a time. If a spear stabs an arm, then it can only damage the arm, resulting in a large waste of damage. If the sword procs the ''cleave'' attack, then it is likely to down a human, with much more tolerance on where it lands.
  
Therefore, high quality plasteel longswords will end up outclassing the equivalent spear. They share the same one-shot kill chance, but the sword has a greater chance to down humans due to the cleave attack. Masterwork plasteel swords have so much {{AP}}, that no non-human enemy has enough armor to resist it. Against enemies much larger than humans, the spear/sword can not longer one-shot; the sword ends up having more DPS due to the cleave bonus.
+
Therefore, high quality plasteel longswords, with the strong damage gene, will end up outclassing the equivalent spear. They share the same one-shot kill chance, but the sword has a greater chance to down humans due to the cleave attack. Masterwork plasteel swords have so much {{AP}}, that no non-human enemy has enough armor to resist it. Against enemies much larger than humans, the spear/sword can not longer one-shot; the sword ends up having more DPS due to the cleave bonus.  
  
The masterwork steel longsword given at the start of the [[Scenario_system#The_Sanguophage|The Sanguophage]] scenario reaches both relevant thresholds. With your sangophage, it can one-shot through a torso stab and one-shot through cleaving pain. This longsword is actually better than an excellent plasteel longsword, and likely better than any weapon you'll be seeing for a long time.
+
The masterwork steel longsword given at the start of the [[Scenario_system#The_Sanguophage|The Sanguophage]] scenario reaches both relevant thresholds. With your [[sanguophage]], it can one-shot through a torso stab and one-shot through cleaving pain. This longsword is actually better than an excellent plasteel longsword, and likely better than any weapon you'll be seeing for a long time.
  
 
{{Weapon Quality Table}}
 
{{Weapon Quality Table}}

Revision as of 22:30, 2 February 2023

Spear

Spear

A polearm tipped with a sharp point for stabbing opponents.

Base Stats

Type
EquipmentWeapons
Tech Level
Neolithic
Weapon Class
Neolithic
Mass
2 kg

Ranged Combat

Mode
Melee

Melee Combat

Mode
Melee
Melee Attack 1
Shaft
13 dmg (Blunt)
20% AP
2.6 seconds cooldown
Melee Attack 2 
Shaft
13 dmg (Poke)
20% AP
2.6 seconds cooldown
Melee Attack 3 
Point
23 dmg (Stab)
50% AP
2.6 seconds cooldown

Creation

Crafted At
Fueled smithy / Electric smithy
Required Research
Long blades
Skill Required
Crafting 4
Work To Make
12,000 ticks (3.33 mins)
Stuff Tags
Metallic, Woody
Resources to make
Stuff 75
Technical


The spear is a melee weapon that does a large amount of damage, has a fairly long cooldown, and deals sharp damage.

Acquisition

Spears can be crafted at any smithy once the Long Blades research has been completed, from Stuff 75 Stuff (Metallic/Woody, 750 for SVMs) and 12,000 ticks (3.33 mins) of work.

Spears can be purchased from any combat supplier or war merchant, or obtained from several kinds of melee raiders.

Analysis

The spear is a sharp weapon with a very similar damage output to the longsword, despite the in-game tooltips stating otherwise. This is because the game does not account for the melee verb selection mechanic introduced in 1.1.

As is typical with any sharp weapon, spear attacks cause bleeding, but most armor have higher Sharp armor values than their Blunt armor values. The mace requires less research and resources to create, and can outperform the spear against high armor, from flak vest-level equipment onwards. Higher ranking tribals often use spears for melee fighters.

Compared to longswords

For the "Best" category attacks (75% to be selected), the spear has the exact same base DPS as the longsword. The "Mid" attacks of the spear are also better. The spear has a noticeably greater AP, too. Additionally, the spear is cheaper, costing 25 materials less. This makes the spear numerically superior, but this is before considering the type of damage.

Longswords can Cut or Stab for its best attack, with an equal chance for both. Spears can only Stab. Cut damage can cleave, meaning it is spread throughout multiple body parts. However, when an attack cleaves, it deals a total of x1.4 damage (spread equally throughout body parts). If a Cut attack actually reduces a part's HP to 0, it is more likely to destroy it. However, the stab attack is more likely to destroy larger limbs, as it is always concentrated on a single part.

  • At normal-excellent qualities, longswords would generally be better (at least more consistent) for fighting against unarmored humanoid pawns, due to the increased pain from the cleaving damage. Spears would be better for fighting against armored enemies due to the higher AP.
  • However, a masterwork plasteel spear / sword will be able to one-shot a human's torso, the most likely body part to be hit. The spear will more consistently one-shot human enemies, as the damage won't be spread out. With this advantage, the spear becomes practically better against any sort of humanoid enemy, while retaining its bonus against armored enemies.

With strong melee gene

With the strong melee damage gene,Content added by the Biotech DLC the comparisons change drastically. High quality longswords can now one-shot the torso, which was a major advantage of the spear. The spear's AP becomes less of a factor, as the gene boosts the AP of both weapons to where high quality longswords will outright ignore many types of armor.

Swords gain another big advantage when combined with the damage gene - their Cut attacks. High quality longswords (excellent plasteel or better) now deal enough damage, that a single cleave attack is able to down through pain shock, even if it doesn't destroy any body parts. The spear, being restricted to Stab attacks, can only ever damage 1 part at a time. If a spear stabs an arm, then it can only damage the arm, resulting in a large waste of damage. If the sword procs the cleave attack, then it is likely to down a human, with much more tolerance on where it lands.

Therefore, high quality plasteel longswords, with the strong damage gene, will end up outclassing the equivalent spear. They share the same one-shot kill chance, but the sword has a greater chance to down humans due to the cleave attack. Masterwork plasteel swords have so much AP, that no non-human enemy has enough armor to resist it. Against enemies much larger than humans, the spear/sword can not longer one-shot; the sword ends up having more DPS due to the cleave bonus.

The masterwork steel longsword given at the start of the The Sanguophage scenario reaches both relevant thresholds. With your sanguophage, it can one-shot through a torso stab and one-shot through cleaving pain. This longsword is actually better than an excellent plasteel longsword, and likely better than any weapon you'll be seeing for a long time.

Attack table

Feature Toggle
AttacksRitual Quality Check Off.png
QualityRitual Quality Check Off.png
  • Spear Spear HP Value
    Quality
    Material DPS[1] AP[1]
    Normal Bioferrite Bioferrite Content added by the Anomaly DLC 9.75 53.25% 200 164 Silver
    Normal Gold Gold 6.17 32.13% 60 7540 Silver
    Normal Plasteel Plasteel 10.53 45.75% 280 770 Silver
    Normal Silver Silver 6.86 35.88% 70 795 Silver
    Normal Steel Steel 7.88 41.5% 100 186 Silver
    Normal Uranium Uranium 8.15 46.5% 250 530 Silver
    Normal Wood Wood 4.36 17.17% 65 120 Silver

    For the full effects of qualities, see Quality.

    1. Jump up to: 1.0 1.1 Note: This is the actual base average derived from the melee verb system updated in 1.1.2610, it may sometimes disagree with the listed value in the in-game infobox.
      It may also change depending on the stats and the melee verbs available to the wielder if the weapon is wielded by some other than a baseline human.
    2. Chance for attack to be selected, assuming the weapon is wielded by a baseline human. It may change depending on the melee verbs available to the wielder

    Version history