Plasteel Maces for less damage to body parts?

[Choosechee]

So, I know that uranium maces have higher DPS, but they destroy body parts a lot. I don't like that when I am just trying to knock someone out. Do plasteel maces destroy body parts less?

[TwoTonGamer]

Wooden maces is what I would use.
You want a blunt item with the lowest damage per strike. Hopefully they go down from pain before any body part is destroyed.

[Hoki]

if you're handpicking raiders lances might be the best option.

given the changes they recieved (making them utility items with 2 charges) you end up with a cost of 300-360 silver per use. if its for recruitment this is just a little more than what you'd need extra for medicine and extra food needed for recovery time.

for harvesting this applies as well to some extent + the security that there will be no additional scars + no need for recovery.

[Choosechee]

Okay I will make a wooden club and use psychic shock lances.

[Razor 2.3]

Two warnings about lances. First, the target's psychic sensitivity is taken into account, so the deaf are immune. Second is brain damage and spontaneous combustion of the target are known side effects.

[ichifish]

Originally posted by Razor 2.3:

Two warnings about lances. First, the target's psychic sensitivity is taken into account, so the deaf are immune. Second is brain damage and spontaneous combustion of the target are known side effects.

Shock lances can also cause permanent brain injuries (60% consciousness). Don’t know what the chance is, but I’m 50-50 with two recruits this game. On the up side you don’t have an infection risk unless they get burned, you get to pick the pawn, and if you see a raider with good armor or a doomsday you can yoink it from them.

[Bullwinkle]

Melee weapons are nice when you are trying to capture and recruit someone because they don't inflict bleeding. But if you've got a decent doctor and meds available, the bleeding issue is probably not that big of a deal. What matters more is getting him downed but not dead. There are mods that can help you adjust that chance (important on the harder difficulty settings). The down side to melee weapons is they expose your melee fighter to receiving damage.

Remember if the dude is bleeding, it is possible to transform your hospital to a prison temporarily, treat the prisoner there initially, then transfer him to the real prison after he is stable.

Also, if you can't ever seem to find a decent raider you want to recruit, that can also be adjusted in the Scenario Editor. Personally, I take about 10 favorable traits and edit them in to have about a 4 or 5% chance each. The end result is slightly better pool of raiders to choose from. With a better pool to choose from, you don't need to be so careful to avoid killing any particular raider and suddenly ranged weapons are more viable when trying to capture/recruit.

[Astasia]

I don't see the utility in equipping wooden maces. If I want to beat somebody down with minimal injury risk I just send a couple pawns in to attack with their ranged weapons in melee. That does like 4.5 DPS blunt which is lower than a wooden mace and is pretty consistent damage, 9 damage every 2 seconds, while a normal wooden mace is like 8-13 damage with higher AP. You could also have your melee pawns drop their weapons and attack unarmed, but then you have to equip their weapons again after, too much micro for me. And it's good to keep your ranged colonists somewhat trained in melee.

[gimmethegepgun]

Lances have a 30% chance of lighting them on fire via their brain, which causes a brain scar (I've seen as low as 1 and as high as 4 points of damage) and may cause other burns on their body since they're on fire until you put it out or grab them.

Do note however that any time a pawn takes a brain injury there's a 12% chance of them becoming a trauma savant, which will make them ignore the consciousness penalty from the brain scars, and get +50% manipulation, but set their Talking and Hearing to 0% (thus making them useless for social tasks), make them unable to socialize with others, and set their opinion of others to 0.