Longsword

[Rathlord]

There's just a lot of terrible "facts" in this thread. MacArthur actually ordered all of the swords he confiscated from Japan destroyed, and they were sent to San Francisco for that purpose. I'm not saying none of them ended up in people's hands, but that number is minuscule compared to the amount that were simply melted down for scrap metal or reuse. Just... facts please, people. 

[Croak90]

Rathlord relax man, no one's agreeing with those "facts."

[Strang]

*grabs popcorn*

[Aenye Deithven]

There's just a lot of terrible "facts" in this thread. MacArthur actually ordered all of the swords he confiscated from Japan destroyed, and they were sent to San Francisco for that purpose. I'm not saying none of them ended up in people's hands, but that number is minuscule compared to the amount that were simply melted down for scrap metal or reuse. Just... facts please, people. 

Actually, I meant the WW2 and post-war occupation period - a lot of swords were being sold to US soldiers as 'souvenirs' from the destroyed country, up until 1952.

Same goes for Europe, particularly the German southwest, where numerous pieces of cultural heritage vanished only to reappear around the world some years after the war.

 

(if that was addressed to me)

[Croak90]

Lol put the popcorn away, I'm not getting in a fight with the support team.

[Rathlord]

 

There's just a lot of terrible "facts" in this thread. MacArthur actually ordered all of the swords he confiscated from Japan destroyed, and they were sent to San Francisco for that purpose. I'm not saying none of them ended up in people's hands, but that number is minuscule compared to the amount that were simply melted down for scrap metal or reuse. Just... facts please, people. 

Actually, I meant the WW2 and post-war occupation period - a lot of swords were being sold to US soldiers as 'souvenirs' from the destroyed country, up until 1952.

Same goes for Europe, particularly the German southwest, where numerous pieces of cultural heritage vanished only to reappear around the world some years after the war.

 

 

Aye, I wasn't really referring to that, but the other person in the thread who thought 5 million katanas were brought back to the US and distributed to rural Kentuckians.

 

There's definitely swords out there. My father owns a cavalry sword that's been passed down through 4 generations of my family. Like I said, they exist, just in my personal opinion not frequently enough to merit inclusion in the game.

[Konrad Knox]

Sorry, I'm calling bullshit on that, too. Machetes are incredibly important survival tools used in almost every single country in the world that's less developed, and additionally used in more developed countries for light duty yard/farm work. That's just... an incredibly outlandish and unprovable claim.

 

It's actually pretty logical. Considering machete itself rides the edge between knife and sword, just the numerous variants of machete already tip the scales, the kukri, kopesh, falchion, cutlass, sabre, short sword, all kinds of hand and a halves, langmesser, were all considered to be "knives" when they were invented, but really, by today's standard of what a knife is, they're really swords.

That's not even counting the thousands of cheap factory made chinese katana/ninja-to/kodachi replicas, the fencing foil/epee variants, and the actual european medieval twohanders.

I've seen more households with at least one at least decorative sword in it, than I've seen households with machetes.

 

If we play the game of population, the big game players are Africa and China.

African population: approx. 1.1 billion

China population: approx. 1.3 billion

While unprovable exactly, logically the estimate makes sense.

 

 

Dang it! Now I want to count all machetes and swords in the world. Imagine that project. Lining them up one to one along the equator. While Rathlord and Konrad walk on each side of the line up, counting. 

[Aenye Deithven]

Like I said, they exist, just in my personal opinion not frequently enough to merit inclusion in the game.

Eh, I guess that while unfortunate, it's true... That said, a sword mod would be lovely.

[Rathlord]

Sorry, I'm not going to count replicas, knock-offs, and any other cheap non-combat pieces as "swords." They may be sword shaped, but their existence adds nothing to this conversation and is utterly irrelevant. 

 

Having many different kinds of a thing doesn't prove that that thing is more prevalent. You could have 27 different kinds of cup in a house, and only 1 kind of fork. There still might be more forks than cups.

 

Your anecdotal evidence doesn't really add any logic to the mix, either, I'm afraid, especially as machetes in first world countries are kept in garages, not in the house.

 

If we play the game of population... you've just lost the debate for yourself. Those two countries you listed probably have about 1 machete per family if not per head. As I said before, it's a basic survival tool for them.

 

Edit: Not that that's relevant for PZ, which happens in Kentucky. Small towns full of farmers all have machetes. I have lived in a town the same size as Muldraugh and similarly in the southern US and every household has one or more. Of those households, none had swords in them. Anecdotal, but at least relevant to the topic.

 

Like I said, they exist, just in my personal opinion not frequently enough to merit inclusion in the game.

Eh, I guess that while unfortunate, it's true... That said, a sword mod would be lovely.

 

 

I'd definitely be all for that

[Croak90]

Well you don't exactly go displaying a machete as a conversation piece. And even if you DID find a decorative piece, it would be fake and be made of cheap metal. With the length of a sword the damn thing would break faster than a hunting knife. Not to mention it would probably be considered a blunt weapon.

[Strang]

Lol put the popcorn away, I'm not getting in a fight with the support team.

* sadly puts popcorn away*

[Konrad Knox]

Sorry, I'm not going to count replicas, knock-offs, and any other cheap non-combat pieces as "swords." They may be sword shaped, but their existence adds nothing to this conversation and is utterly irrelevant. 

 

 

Well. Sorry, but I'm gonna have to call bs on that one in turn. If a kitchen knife, a pencil, a scissors, or a baseball bat can be considered a zombie-slaying weapon, so can a decorative sword. It is not good for cutting, and may not take cutting impact well, but at least their tips tend to be sharp. Least you could do is use it as a stabbing weapon. Get some tape or glue around it to not let the flimsy hilt fall apart (not that you will need the hilt guard anyway, zombies aren't fencers exactly).

While I agree with (and have seen) the fact that a replica sword gets near immediately destroyed in combat against a real sword in the hands of a human opponent, even the cheapest crappiest replica is a formidable anti-zombie weapon. It's a sharp rod of metal with a handle. Counts for me.

You may have me on the population thing though. I really don't have any facts to back up the claim, so I am inclined to concede the point, though unconvinced. Because if China uses a variant of machete, it counts as a different weapon, still classified as a sword.

[Rathlord]

There's the Dao in China, which is there traditional cutting tool. It could surely be called as a sword (as could a machete, really) but in reality the majority are almost exactly like machetes and are used for similar (survival) reasons rather than actual swordplay and combat.

 

However, in the modern era China has become a huuuuuuuge exporter of machetes and it seems likely that many of them are sold locally as well. You can check most stores- I'd roughly estimate half of the machetes and similar bladed tools you'll find are imported from China now. I've had several that were Chinese made myself (2 of garbage quality that broke in less than a year each, one of great quality that I still use).

 

Otherwise, I think we'll just have to agree to disagree.

 

Edit: The distinction between sword and machete is simple, though. Swords are made to be weapons; machetes aren't, they're made to be tools. Although they're used as weapons frequently, that is not their purpose just like it isn't a kitchen knife's purpose to be a weapon.

[Konrad Knox]

Unless I pull a fast one on you and say that since machetes are classified as a sword, then machetes are a subset of swords.

Thus the number of swords in the world (machetes+other swords) is greater than the number of just the machetes.

 

 

 

*WINNING*

[Croak90]

If you're gonna argue that antique swords can at least be used for stabbing, why not just suggest a new recipe for a broom stick + hunting knife + duct tape to make a homemade spear?

[Rathlord]

I suggested that a lonnnnnnnng time ago, actually XD

 

Edit: As far as I know the main problem would be a stabbing animation for longer weapons, which doesn't yet exist. The next couple of months look promising for more animations, though.

[Croak90]

(Sorry for the mildly off topic post)

Rath do you think the devs would consider letting spears stab through chain link fences and handmade fences with holes in them, like the low level carpentry ones?

[Rathlord]

Offtopic

Perhaps- if that's something that gets done I'll make sure to suggest it

[Konrad Knox]

I think we made a full circle back to the bayonet rifle.

[migulao]

I think we made a full circle back to the bayonet rifle.

I want a home-made bayonet: Semi-automatic rifle + Kitchen Knife + 2 Duct Tape / Wood Glue / 4 Scotch Tape

 

(I heard there will be 2 rifles, and one of them is bolt-action, I hope the other one is semi.auto)

[Gaffa Tape Warrior]

If you cannot find a sword, you could make one?

[Ewok]

If you cannot find a sword, you could make one?

 

Without the proper training and equipment, not a very good one.

[Kajin]

Yeah, any sword you made would be of an obscenely low quality. Be better just to make a club or a spear. That'd be of a much higher quality given available tools and materials.

[Rathlord]

I'd be much more happy with makeshift spears and, as Kajin says, clubs.

[Aenye Deithven]

I'd be much more happy with makeshift spears and, as Kajin says, clubs.

Spears would be nice and easy, but with just a bit more skill, one could make bladed polearms, such as glaives (possibly using the machete that has popped up in this thread every now and then).

 

Yeah, any sword you made would be of an obscenely low quality. Be better just to make a club or a spear. That'd be of a much higher quality given available tools and materials.

I'd argue the "obscenely low" part. Without more advanced machinery, the only type of sword blade you could make would be a soft edge smithed around a hard core. While this would give you a large and durable bladed weapon, it would have to be re-tempered quite often, unless you wanted it to become more of a club...

 

That said, making a sword per se might not be the best solution, when we consider the fact that we have the logging company around. Indeed, the circular sawblades used in the wood industry are made of high quality alloy steel - beyond anything else you could find around a typical town... Why not use these ?