Difference between revisions of "Knife"

Revision as of 05:50, 31 October 2022

For the uncraftable jade variant, see jade knife.

The knife is a primitive, sharp melee weapon. It deals a low amount of damage, but has a short cooldown, making it friendlier to unskilled users.

Acquisition

Knives can be crafted at the crafting spot, fueled smithy or smithy with 30 Stuff (Metallic, 300 for SMVs) and 1,800 ticks (30 secs) of work. It can also be purchased from any outlander and orbital combat suppliers, or obtained from outlander and pirate raiders drops.

A plasteel knife is given at the beginning with Crashlanded scenario.

Analysis

Knives are low-tier melee weapons, being cheap and fast to produce.

Crashlanded start

A normal quality plasteel knife is roughly as strong as a normal steel longsword, and stronger than a steel gladius. The knife attacks faster, for less damage per hit, so is marginally worse against armor. The quick attacks also help colonists with low melee skill (< 6), who might want to train melee due to a passion, or trait like brawler.

Crafted knives

As you can make knives in a crafting spot, creating knives can be useful in Naked Brutality and other low-resource scenarios. But, provided you have 2 Crafting, the short bow should be your go-to weapon. As a ranged weapon, it is better for defense, and lets you hunt 0% manhunter animals without getting hurt.

In terms of melee weapons, Clubs are your direct crafting spot alternatives. Clubs have 2 advantages over knives: they can be made out of wood, which has nearly the same DPS as a steel club, and they have no quality. While a wood club is worse than a "normal" quality steel knife, they are better than a poor or awful knife.

As soon as you have access to Smithing, the gladius of the same material is slightly more expensive, but significantly better in combat. Knives could be used to train Crafting skill, but as clubs can be made of wood or stone, they are generally the better option.

Material table

Material	DPS^[1]	AP^[1]	Handle (Blunt)					Blade (Cut)					Point (Stab)					HP	Value [ExpandCollapse]
Material	DPS^[1]	AP^[1]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	DPS	Chance^[2]	HP	Value [ExpandCollapse]
Bioferrite Knife	9.12	22.26%	8.1	2s	11.7%	4.05	12.5%	15.6	1.5s	23.4%	10.4	75%	16.9	2s	26%	8.45	12.5%	200	39
Golden Knife	5.6	13.63%	9	2s	13%	4.5	12.5%	9	1.5s	13.5%	6	75%	9.75	2s	15%	4.88	12.5%	60	3005
Plasteel Knife	9.77	19.06%	8.1	1.28s	11.7%	6.33	12.5%	13.2	0.96s	19.8%	13.75	75%	14.3	1.28s	22%	11.17	12.5%	280	285
Silver Knife	6.25	15.23%	9	2s	13%	4.5	12.5%	10.2	1.5s	15.3%	6.8	75%	11.05	2s	17%	5.53	12.5%	70	305
Steel Knife	7.23	17.63%	9	2s	13%	4.5	12.5%	12	1.5s	18%	8	75%	13	2s	20%	6.5	12.5%	100	64
Uranium Knife	7.48	20.04%	13.5	2.42s	19.5%	5.58	12.5%	13.2	1.815s	19.8%	7.27	75%	14.3	2.42s	22%	5.91	12.5%	250	192

^{Assuming Normal quality, for the effect of other qualities, see Quality.}

↑ ^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
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 Chance for attack to be selected, assuming only the weapon's attack verbs are considered. It may change depending on the melee verbs available to the wielder

Version history

0.7.581 - Added

Weapons

Melee | Neolithic: Breach axe • Club • Ikwa • Knife (Jade) • Spear

Medieval: Gladius • Longsword • Mace • Axe • Warhammer

Ultra: Eltex staff • Monosword (Persona) • Plasmasword (Persona) • Zeushammer (Persona)

Improvised: Beer • Elephant tusk • Thrumbo horn • Wood

Ranged | Neolithic: Greatbow • Pila • Recurve bow • Short bow • Flamebow

Medieval: Nerve spiker

Industrial: Assault rifle • Autopistol • Bolt-action rifle • Chain shotgun • Heavy SMG • Launcher (EMP, Incendiary, Smoke, Toxbomb ) • LMG • Machine pistol • Minigun • Pump shotgun • Revolver • Sniper rifle • Hellcat rifle • Incinerator

Spacer: Charge lance • Charge rifle

Consumables: Doomsday rocket launcher • Triple rocket launcher

Throwables: EMP grenades • Frag grenades • Molotov cocktails • Tox grenades

Mechanoid: Heavy charge blaster • Inferno cannon • Needle gun • Thump cannon • Beam graser • Charge blaster turret • Hellsphere cannon • Mini-flameblaster • Mini-shotgun • Slugthrower • Spiner • Toxic needle gun

Structures: Autocannon • Mini-turret gun • Mortar (Weapon) • Uranium slug cannon • Auto-mortar • Inferno cannon (Turret) • Light charge blaster • Mini-slugger • Tactical turret gun

Related | Body part weapons: Prosthetic arm • Bionic arm • Archotech arm • Power claw • Field hand • Drill arm • Venom talon • Venom fangs • Knee spike • Elbow blade • Hand talon • Flesh whip

Integrated weapons: Grenadier armor • Phoenix armor

[Actual-1] 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

[Chance-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 Chance for attack to be selected, assuming only the weapon's attack verbs are considered. It may change depending on the melee verbs available to the wielder

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 37: / Line 37: @@
 | weaponTags = MedievalMeleeBasic, NeolithicMeleeBasic
 }}
-The '''knife''' is a primitive melee weapon, it that does a low amount of damage, has a short cooldown, and deals sharp damage. As is typical with any sharp weapon, knife attacks cause bleeding, and generally fares poorly against armor when compared to blunt weapons. Due to its low cooldown, knives are skill-friendly weapons; even if a pawn equipped with a knife misses their attack, another attack will follow not long after.
+The '''knife''' is a primitive, sharp melee weapon. It deals a low amount of damage, but has a short cooldown, making it friendlier to unskilled users.
-Knife will [[Deterioration|deteriorate]] with the usual conditions...
 == Acquisition ==
 Knives can be crafted at the [[crafting spot]], [[fueled smithy]] or [[electric smithy|smithy]] with {{Required Resources}} and {{Ticks|{{P|Work To Make}}}} of work. It can also be purchased from any outlander and orbital combat suppliers, or obtained from [[outlander]] and [[pirate]] [[raider]]s drops.
-Given at the beginning with [[Scenario system#Crashlanded|Crashlanded scenario]].
+A plasteel knife is given at the beginning with [[Scenario system#Crashlanded|Crashlanded]] scenario.
 == Analysis ==
-Knives are low-tier melee weapons with a slightly below average damage output, but are cheap and fast to produce. The fact that you can make knives at a [[crafting spot]] makes this weapon very desirable in the early game, especially in hard scenarios, like Naked Brutality.  If you have no decent [[Crafting|crafter]], the knife is a good option, as no weapon will be high-quality and you will level up a crafter more quickly.
+Knives are low-tier melee weapons, being cheap and fast to produce.
+===Crashlanded start===
+A normal [[quality]] [[plasteel]] knife is roughly as strong as a normal steel [[longsword]], and stronger than a steel [[gladius]]. The knife attacks faster, for less damage per hit, so is marginally worse against armor. The quick attacks also help colonists with low melee skill (< 6), who might want to train melee due to a passion, or trait like [[brawler]].
-That being said, the [[gladius]] offers significantly better performance for little more in the way of resource costs and more time to craft. When you have a colonist with good crafting skill (crafting level > 7 or so) and can build a [[Fueled smithy|fueled smithy]] or [[Electric smithy|electric smithy]], then this is the moment to upgrade to the [[gladius]] or [[Longsword]], and have a good chance to produce excellent or better [[quality]] weapons.
+===Crafted knives===
+As you can make knives in a [[crafting spot]], creating knives can be useful in Naked Brutality and other low-resource [[scenario]]s. But, provided you have 2 Crafting, the [[short bow]] should be your go-to weapon. As a ranged weapon, it is better for defense, ''and'' lets you hunt 0% manhunter animals without getting hurt.
-A plasteel knife* can be as good as a steel longsword (of roughly equivalent [[quality]]), dealing less damage per hit but with less cooldown between attacks. Overall this yields a little more DPS but with lower penetration, making it good in the early game against "softer" (unarmored) targets and for colonists with low melee skill but great potential (e.g. skill < 6 but with [[Skills#Passion|passion]] in melee, and/or the [[brawler]] trait. (Or for those with a low shooting skill with no passion, and so little prospect to improve there).
+In terms of melee weapons, [[Club]]s are your direct crafting spot alternatives. Clubs have 2 advantages over knives: they can be made out of [[wood]], which has nearly the same {{DPS}} as a [[steel]] club, and they have no [[quality]]. While a wood club is worse than a "normal" quality steel knife, they are better than a poor or awful knife.
-Against armor, a knife actually performs slightly better than its gladius counterpart, probably owing to the shorter cooldown. That being said, a [[Materials#Stone Blocks|stone]] [[club]] still performs considerably better than either. When talking about plasteel, the knife continues to outperform its steel gladius equivalent, but the steel [[club]] is still better here.
+As soon as you have access to Smithing, the [[gladius]] of the same material is slightly more expensive, but significantly better in combat. Knives could be used to train Crafting skill, but as clubs can be made of wood or stone, they are generally the better option.
 {{Weapon Material Table}}