Want to say something about how cut-damage should work, in my opinion.
Flanged maces look very bad, that's why they are weapons.
But they don't cut, no bread would get sliced.
Tools like wooden hammers could be used as weapons also.
One would expect that they would deal less damage,
but the ability to knock down would be at least the same.
Nevermind.
However, i think cut-damage should be excess damage,
wich only appears if an armor gets penetrated.
So let's say there is a basic damage multiplier,
something like 0,5 for limbs, 1,0 for the body and 1,5 for the head.
And then there is a cut-multiplier in addition,
wich is +0,3 on all locations.
Now someone gets hit by a mace for 100 points,
and his armor blocks all cut-damage for the first 50 points.
This person will suffer no cut-damage anyway,
so it's not a very interesting example with the mace now.
But now if getting hit by an axe of the same size,
there will be the same force behind it,
it would deliever 100 points also.
50 points remain for calculating cut-damage,
times 0,3 this would finally result in 15 cut-points.
Now a Bardiche is used instead of an axe.
It's less head-heavy than the axe,
so if the hit results from the uppermost area the damage should be lower.
The cutting-zone is longer than the axes,
but only if hit at a shorter range,
wich would decrease the damage even further,
before the cut-bonus gets applied.
So if the bardiche would deal 80 points at the longest range,
then (80-50)x0,3=9 would be cut-damage-bonus.
Now the Bardiche strikes from closer range,
it's only 70 points now, but the cut-damage gets doubled, because the whole cutting-zone would hit.
Now it's (70-50)x(0,3x2)=12 points cutting-damage-bonus.
The axe is the most asymetrical,
it should get a worse handling.
Glad to see detailed scheme, eventually. Yeah, flanges cannot do not cut long and thin, however the axe was not kind of razor blade too. Nevertheless, if you manage to add pulling move along blade right it the moment of hit (real technic) - it will tear the tissues, what is a kind of rough cut. It is expected output for not-so-deep penetration, and some weapons developed this way, not to go deep, but intrinsically slide. Sabers, bardiches as well as every round-blade axe. This is why you are right about cut is added damage, not a sort of separate s***ty damage. The weapon evolved to blades and spearheads not without reasons, primarily it made weapons lighter. Regarding bardiche, the blunt part of damage will be greater due to increased velocity, which is, in its turn, depends on shaft length.
Summarize, more or less plausible model of damage should be like this:
1. count mass x velocity
2. deduct part of the impulse have gone to the hands of attacker. the more the distance between mass center and hitting part, more deduction. It was promised to us by the Devs, to the point.
3. if there is an armor, part of energy goes to its deformation, so another deduction. best if armor damage could be accumulated some way .
4. apply the residue as blunt trauma with or without p.3
5. decide, is there penetration of armor or skin
6. apply piercing damage, full for skin and deducted for armor, because it still resist to perforation widening.
7. Apply cut damage. IMO cut is partly skill-based (adding pulling move to hit, as I meant above) and for greater extent for special weapons, like sabers. The more the speed the long the cut. Weapons designed to deep penetration have no cut.
this model really lacks of real-world chances, the blade very rare strictly hit perpendicularly to surface, this is why 6 flanges better than one of the axe (handling, yes). In addition, not all parts of the armor are the same, thus better to have some handling rng to mitigate variability of both attack and surface, except for really blunt/spherical weapon for the former.
Granted, the topic is strictly about point 3, but I hope to show that it's meaningless to discuss single point out of the whole.
Besides, in the code of game I've seen the thing which is seems similar to my description, at least logically. All three types of damages have a certain property called "
blunt factor", which might be used for the same calculations. Unfortunately, my skills are very low to trace the real meaning of this. If this used to calculate two factor damage (like Kenshi), it would be very nice.
