Best weapon types for settlers?

[Elegant Caveman]

Though the question applies in general (noticed a thread about this for endgame), I'm still early-ish, so I'm specifically wondering about "common" weapon types you can craft.

Up to now, I've been equipping everybody with bows, but I wonder if that's the best weapon type.

Is there friendly fire between NPCs? I've noticed they pretty much all have swords when you recruit them; should I be keeping them on melee?

They tend to not have to fight... I have a bit of a trap setup for raiders and try to take them all out myself, but I'm still trying to keep everybody decently-equipped just in case.

I've just crafted Demonic armor for my 17 settlers, and most have Gold bows. Before I upgraded everybody to Demonic bows, I figured I'd ask in case I should be taking a different route.

A possible alternative would be to buy either some Void Staffs or Void Missiles from my mages (I have three, each with the Void Missiles they joined with). I've got plenty of money from (mostly) selling wheat, so that's not an issue.

How are non-mage settlers with magical weapons? How's their mana, does it matter?

Seems like settlers have infinite arrows; do they also have infinite mana?

Another potential alternative could be Flintlocks and/or Hand Cannons from the Pirate Captain.

I'm assuming they'd get infinite ammo?

Would giving everyone Hand Cannons be a terrible idea...? We return to the question of friendly fire, this time coupled with AOE explosions...

Cheers.

[ElDudorino]

Early on giving them bows isn't the worst idea. Yes they have infinite mana as well as infinite ammo so magic weapons are good. But once you start getting weapons that can deal decent ranged damage *and* pierce multiple enemies those should be the priority. Assuming you have choke points set up to filter your enemies through, you can nail a bunch of them at once this way.

There is no friendly fire.

[Elegant Caveman]

Excellent, thank you.

Last raid was basically just me killing all the raiders with my Lightning Hammer as they bunched up behind a door, trying to knock it down... noticed how incredibly effective that was.

Not that I'd expect settlers to do that, of course, but it really emphasized how useful piercing can be (nevermind shooting through walls).

[Jimbo]

Also glaves work very well at keeping settlers alive. 2 settlers with decent glaves are quite effective at killing raiders while taking min dmg.

As Duro was saying anything that can hit multiple targets is great and should def be prioritized. A couple of npcs with glaves can more or less tank for the ranged npcs. Glaves have 360 degree hit, fast speed and decent knockback.

[Elegant Caveman]

Originally posted by Jimbo:

Also glaves work very well at keeping settlers alive. 2 settlers with decent glaves are quite effective at killing raiders while taking min dmg.

As Duro was saying anything that can hit multiple targets is great and should def be prioritized. A couple of npcs with glaves can more or less tank for the ranged npcs. Glaves have 360 degree hit, fast speed and decent knockback.

Interesting point, thanks.

[ShuFlngPu]

Any equipment with bonus move speeds. (I also force them to eat +MS food and naught else)
I give my guards the highest armor value available and melee weapons so they charge in.
Primary crafters and important characters should ALWAYS be ranged. (Dont die pls)
Mages can use MAGIC weapons very effectively.
Another notable mention for guards is the magic lamp and other assorted melee&Ranged but guards should always have the lowest range to make a tank wall for your people.