Best all-around weapon (for me and companions)...

[fishhooks]

just curious what you veterans use/give.

I'm leaning towards the various iterations of the Bass - tard sword. It's got better-than-decent reach and damage, speed, etc. And me or my guys can go two or one handed with it. I was giving my heavy fighter companions massive two handed axes, but in siege assaults (when I need them most), they charge out with a huge battle axe while I'm waiting for the tower to reach the walls. They usually get porcupined with arrows and collapse before ever getting close. But with a bass - tard sword, they can still use a shield, and switch to two-handed when they get there.

Thoughts?

(Sorry for the screwy naming of the sword, but the "censors" always bleep the real name, so I wanted to be sure you guys knew which sword I was talking about.)

[ForevaNoob Wonemorturn]

Well, nothing to add. The lesson is full and the explanations perfect. Therefore, I shall shut up... for the first time in my life.
Not before saying that's what I experienced and learned in the best mod of all, PoP...
They might be a bit too long for sieges sometimes though, when castles get very crowded and there is not enough room to swing such a huge blade.

[fishhooks]

lol...jml...you have GOT to be a student of philosophy, Your answers to this (and many other posts) lead me to believe that you ARE a thinker. Thanks for your many great insights into the game. (And for the record, your "frenchenglish" is totally better than my "englishfrench"...or w/e. lol

[ForevaNoob Wonemorturn]

Touché.
And I'm also really good at saying craps sometimes.
Just a regular human being, but human, I hope...

[the smoking mค็็็็็n]

shield and sword 1 H
ive used plenty 1H/2H,they dont work as well if your not using them 2H than a 1H
your npc drop like fly in a seige without shields,so 1H or maybe the morningstar depending on mod with a shield in seige
crossbows to,unless thier bow handy to start with,they get much better with time,and they are lethal in most specially late game,npc use them well
in open feild most do well with a polearm,mod depending as well
but i bare bones them to begin with shield 1H..horse of coarse
trained like this with crossbow,these npc can cut through swathes of ppl on thier own mid/late game..i've watched

[cqqks]

(native, no mod's)

Just incase you're unaware, there is a penalty (30%?) for your character using a B-sword. As for your companions, I'm not sure if they get dinged also. Now I'm not sure of what I'm about to add but you might over come that penalty by raising your sword fighting skills in your stat section (5% per point added).

I equip my companions with (1H) balanced long arming swords (S:99/R:105).

EDIT: When using a 2H sword with a shield you incur a 35% penalty. Using any 2H weapon on horseback that can only be used with one hand also incurs this penalty (game manual).

For every point placed in your power strike stat, you raise your melee damage by 8%.

[Asphe]

Originally posted by cqqks:

(native, no mod's)

Just incase you're unaware, there is a penalty (30%?) for your character using a B-sword. As for your companions, I'm not sure if they get dinged also. Now I'm not sure of what I'm about to add but you might over come that penalty by raising your sword fighting skills in your stat section (5% per point added).
I equip my companions with (1H) balanced long arming swords (99/105).

Equipping ANY non-1H weapon gets you that 30%. Still... definitely worth the extra reach/damage to use a 2H over a 1H, especially on a horsie.

And yeah, it affects your companions (to be fair, it affects all troops too, including the AI's).

[iPrecision]

I use a war axe (1h) with a shield. and ive got a polearm waraxe for protecting a castle so i can still reach the enemies coming up ramps

[the smoking mค็็็็็n]

btw in all mods of observed if you give them a shield, 1H/2H,they will us it only 1H unless thier profiency is naturally higher in 2H..or thier shield breaks,if you need explo on where those extra 2H points come from

[Morkonan]

Originally posted by fishhooks:

...Thoughts?...

I agree with you. In fact, most people probably will.

I would say that you really must choose a "sword and board" combo be available for you or your companions. That's not saying that you can't also give them other weapons or can't use other weapons, yourself, but everyone needs the protection of a shield and the use of a one-hander or hand-and-a-half sword, like the one you mentioned. :)

It's also worth noting that some of the maces can be excellent weapons and, as an added bonus, can net you a lot of prisoners.

For my companions, I almost always try to give them a ranged weapon combo suitable to use from horseback and a good, fast, horse for those specializing in horse-archery. For my heavy-hitters, I deck them out with sword-and-board and a lance as well as a secondary weapon, either a two-hander or a mace, and put them on the heaviest horse with the best "charge" value I can get for them. Charge helps them push through lines of troops, which they'll often find themselves in the middle of if they're equipping a lance/melee weapons.

Note: This is usually for "Floris" mod, which has corrected some of the default AI's "lance behavior" and other "weapon behavior" so your heroes don't do stupid things, like assaulting castle walls on foot, armed with a lance... (Yes, that used to happen in vanilla. Not sure if it still does or not.)

[ForevaNoob Wonemorturn]

It does, Morkonan, it does...

[Myrmuz [IRL]]

I like War Cleaver, shield and either a bow or crossbow.