Bash & Crush vs. Cut & Slash

[Novi]

MaxWilson said:
Well, vs. a unit with heavy armor (16), the mode for the hammer's damage (w/ a strength of 10) is 1 while the broadsword's mode is 0. Because of the random numbers the mean will work out to be more like 1.3 vs. 0.5, but the hammer is still more effective vs. armored opponents. The difference is IIRC more significant the more heavily armored the foe is. Of course, you could increase the difference by increasing the base damage of the hammer as well, but the thing is that there's no reason to think a hammer would be *good* against plate armor. It's just that it's better than a sword, because of the extra momentum. (And a broadsword is a pretty heavy sword, which you could think of as a club with an edge to it. The hammer is something like three times as effective as a shortsword in this scenario.)

Picks are a different story. I could imagine those as armor-piercing, because that's what they do.

-Max

Ahh, I've never really delved into the game mechanics (I'm still not that devoted a player), but if your estimations are correct perhaps justice has already been served (Now, don't take that too literally - been excessively playing Baldur's Gate II lately. )
Anyway, that was referring to the comparison between the shortsword and the hammer. And on the second thought, you might be right about the broadsword as well though I have little idea how heavy it really is...