11-18-2011, 09:52 AM | #11 |
Join Date: Nov 2006
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Re: Why swords are so expensive?
Nontheless I think the Long Knife is too cheap - They are produced in a similiar fashion than swords and sabers.
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11-18-2011, 10:15 AM | #12 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Canada
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Re: Why swords are so expensive?
Which are, indeed, Cheap in GURPS (40% of the usual price - so take a dulltipped Broadsword, a Cheap one is only $200).
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All about Size Modifier; Unified Hit Location Table A Wiki for my F2F Group A neglected GURPS blog |
11-18-2011, 10:17 AM | #13 |
Join Date: Jul 2006
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Re: Why swords are so expensive?
IIRC the scramsax - at least in some versions - was little more than a flat metal bar cast with a tang at each end, chamfer cut in half to produce a pair of blades onto which an edge was then ground.
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11-18-2011, 10:29 AM | #14 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Why swords are so expensive?
Quote:
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
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11-18-2011, 10:33 AM | #15 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Why swords are so expensive?
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11-18-2011, 10:43 AM | #16 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Edmond, OK
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Re: Why swords are so expensive?
I think that a better way to say it is that swords have a niche market. (Lower demand should lower prices, after all.) That niche market will be discerning, as well. The soldiers who want a cheap weapon will choose a spear or an axe.
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11-18-2011, 10:51 AM | #17 |
Join Date: Jul 2007
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Re: Why swords are so expensive?
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11-18-2011, 11:09 AM | #18 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Why swords are so expensive?
Of course swords vary in value. There could be a culture in which commoners take part in war often enough for them to desire swords. On the other hand such cultures often have not-quite-swords. Hoplites only used a sax-like, or kukri-like blade as a side arm. It was not a matter of money as every hoplite had a corselet and a shield. It was taste. Gurkhas preferred Kukris because kukris are far more versatile then swords.
Viking independent farmers and fishermen often owned swords if I remember. However they tended to prefer axes and spears. A spear is cheaper and an ax is more versatile.
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
11-18-2011, 11:14 AM | #19 | |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Canada
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Re: Why swords are so expensive?
Quote:
When you get into very low demand situations, your run out of supply options - if the only guy making them is an amateur, you can only get whatever quality he's producing on any given day. If the only guy making them is a master craftsman, then you have no choice but to pay master craftsman prices for masterwork quality items - there are no Cheap knockoffs and Good middle of the road items. Swords aren't quite at that level of low demand today, but while they were more in demand in previous eras there's a distinct distribution problem. If the sword smith was 100 miles away, you may be stuck making do with whatever the local blacksmith can bang out for you at whatever rate he feels like charging. Otherwise you have to risk walking or riding for three to four days to go pick up your sword and the trip back again (slightly safer now that you have a sword, but still generally expensive).
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11-18-2011, 12:29 PM | #20 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: Why swords are so expensive?
Also swords are optimized not just for combat but for specific kinds of combat.
A peasant might be interested in surviving mayhem but normally his only connection to mass warfare is being the victim of foragers. For mayhem a bow would normally be more useful. As a bonus it is a means of helping convince foragers to seek supplies elsewhere.
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knife, long knife, low tech, prices, sword |
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