[Low-Tech/Basic] Pick: War Club or Pickaxe

[Blind Mapmaker]

Originally Posted by Dalillama

I'm pretty sure there's comvat stats for a lumber axe in one of the LT books; I'd apply the same differences to a mining/digging pick vs. a military pick.

If there is, I can't find it - unless you mean the hatchet (probably not, but I'm not a native speaker of English). The tools section in LT is the closest match, but it doesn't give weapon stats for most. The adze is the closest I can get and this one says to treat it as a poorly balanced hatchet. I think the difference is larger than that, but maybe you're right and it's not that far off.

Originally Posted by Anthony

Hand tool versions of the pick, both one and two handed, have existed since prehistory and have probably been intermittently used as weapons for at least as long. If I had to guess why Basic calls the pick TL 3, it's because making a pick that will survive the rigors of combat is kinda hard.

You're not wrong about the general tool, but I'm thinking the pickaxe (as in this Wikipedia link) is a marked improvement over earlier versions already. Things like in this wikipedia link were more common and even less powerful ones too. Not to mention that nobody would make metal tools before the iron age.

Dalillama is also right about the weapons/arms race. If not for firearms these things would have kept a constant presence on battlefields. As it were they held on longer than you'd expect.

Game-mechanically I'm trying to strike a balance between realism and efficiency here, but I'm not there yet. Thanks for helping me get closer, though.