Weapons and Armour
Possibly the most important items in the game. This gets complicated, but is essential reading for the budding adventurer. We'll start with weapons.
If you're lucky enough to start the game with a rusty sword, you'll notice the info box states things like "Swing 12c thrust 9p" or similar. This is the damage the weapon causes. In essence, there are three damage types in the game :
Cutting (c) - 'normal' damage. There's nothing special about this kind of attack; your opponent's armour is fully effective against any hit and if you cause enough of it they'll die.
Piercing (p) - Piercing damage halves the opponents armour in the location you strike, making it highly useful against men in armour. Again, stick them enough times and they'll fall over and stop breathing.
Blunt (b) - Has less armour negating value than piercing, though it does ignore some armour. Mainly it's prized for it's ability to knock out opponents rather than kill, making it useful for taking prisoners and completing some quests. Note that riding someone over with a horse does blunt damage, as does hitting someone with your fists (\ to switch by default).
Swing and thrust are attack types. Most weapons can be swung, some will thrust (in those that can't attempting a thrust usually results in an overhead chop). The weapon also has a speed value, the higher the better, and a reach value, again the higher the better.
So which weapon is the best? Tricky question. In general terms, weapons can be divided into single handed weapons and two handed weapons, with one or two that can be either. Single handed weapons tend to swing faster, and also allow the use of a shield which makes them ideal for defence. Two handed weapons mean you can't use a shield, but if you can avoid becoming a pincushion they're more than capable of taking a man down with a single blow. Some weapons, such as the Bastard Sword, can be used as either; note however that they suffer a speed and damage penalty when used with one hand.
Axes generally have the highest raw damage values in the game, however it is invariably cutting damage. This means they're excellent against lightly armoured or unarmoured opponents, but that effectiveness quickly wanes against the more heavily armoured foes. Of course, they also do bonus damage to shields which can help you crack through to the squishy treat beyond in half the time.
Swords are usually less damaging than axes, but faster to swing. In addition, many combine a high damage cutting attack with a lower damage piercing attack, making them a nice versatile weapon no matter what you are facing.
Maces and mauls tend to do blunt damage and swing slower than axes in some forms. Don't be fooled by the relatively low damage values though, remember that the blunt damage they cause ignores a portion of the targets armour. Needless to say, they are essential if the objective is to capture rather than kill the foe.
Polearms tend to cross the damage types, although they do slightly less damage than other weapons on average, and many prevent the use of a shield. What a polearm can do however is couched damage, applicable only to those riding a horse. Couching a lance or similar polearm causes roughly three times the damage to the opponent. Most can also stop a horse dead in it's tracks if thrust into it's face.
A quick note on couching a weapon. In order to couch, take your polearm and accelerate your steed. Under no circumstances press the attack key. Once you reach sufficient speed, you will notice your character shift to extend his polearm, indicating you are now ready to ruin someone's day. To inflict the couched damage, simply point the end of the weapon at your opponent and ride into them, once more not pressing the attack key under any circumstances. Your reward will be an explosion of damage, the announcement of "couched damage" in the bottom left hand side of the screen and very likely a dead foe.
Just to reiterate every time you press the attack key while trying to couch a weapon King Haralaus kills a kitten. Kitten lovers throughout the forum will probably try and kill you if you mention you can't couch a weapon and just happen to say you pressed the attack button at some point in the process. Trust me.
So, back to the question at hand. As a general rule, Axes are lovely against low armour or unarmoured opponents, but can be slow to swing. Swords are wonderfully versatile against any foe, but lack the sheer hitting power of the axe when facing unarmoured enemies. Maces tend to be somewhere in the middle of the two, but make up for it by providing a steady income from your hordes of prisoners. Polearms are the medieval equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction in the hands of a cavalryman. In short, there is no such thing as a 'best' weapon, each weapon combines particular advantages and disadvantages. However, the great creator thoughtfully provided us with four weapon slots, allowing sufficient room for experimenting on the battlefield to work out which fits our play style best. With that dealt with, on to ranged weapons!
Bows, Crossbows, Throwing stuff
All ranged weapons have certain similarities. For a start, there's a limited amount of ammunition you can carry for each, and once it's out it's out. In the case of throwing weapons, the weapon itself will list the ammunition available. For crossbows and bows, you need to take up an extra slot with a quiver of bolts or arrows. So, on to the weapons themselves.
Bows require time and training to master, but are deadly in the hands of an expert. Most bows have a minimum powerdraw requirement, which requires investment in that skill to actually wield the bow. Note that merely meeting the PD requirement is not enough; you will receive an accuracy penalty unless you exceed the PD requirement by three points. After three points there is no further benefit to accuracy, though of course the additional damage granted by the skill is still there. This presents the bowman with a tricky choice - do you stay with the weaker bow which you can fire with 100% accuracy in the knowledge that it'll take three arrows to kill anyone, or do you upgrade to the stronger bow which won't hit as often, but will hit harder. Bows can be fired from horseback, however without significant (6) investment in horse archery you'll suffer a penalty to accuracy. Hint - the penalty only applies to a moving horse. If you stop the horse prior to taking a shot, you'll not suffer any widening of the reticle, at least from being on the horse.
Crossbows don't benefit from any power draw or similar skill, nor are they affected by horse archery. They tend to be a lot more accurate than bows, and certainly at the lower range put out far more damage. The main drawback is the long reload times, and of course only the lighter crossbows permit reloading whilst on horseback. Rather than power draw, most crossbows use strength as a minimum requirement.
Throwing weapons tend to do less damage and come in a limited number compared to the other ranged weapons. They require less investment than a bow to wield, the highest requirement usually being a power throw of 3. In addition, you can simultaneously wield a throwing weapon and a shield, which can prove most useful.
So again the best weapon isn't that straightforward. My advice would be:
For the dedicated archer the humble bow can't be beat. While at early levels the crossbow will win out on accuracy and damage, once your character begins to specialise you'll be putting out twice the pain in half the time compared to even the heaviest crossbow. Combine with a horse so you can literally run rings around your enemy and the bow becomes hard to beat. Usually I stick with a single hand weapon, two quivers and a bow though once your skills are good enough it's perfectly possible to do without melee weapons altogether, particularly if your a horse archer.
The crossbow is good in the early levels, since it's inherent accuracy and high damage overcomes the lack of skill in it's use. At high levels however it loses out to the bow in terms of effectiveness. Dedicated crossbowmen are possible, but tend to be sub-optimal, and of course there's the horrendous reloading time to worry about. Where the crossbow really comes into it's own is for an all rounder character, or your traditional sword and board warrior who's looking for a bit of ranged edge. You don't need a massive skill investment to make use of it, the minimum requirements are the same as you would want for your melee weapon and the reload time is generally moot since you don't want to keep up a constant stream of fire. During sieges, it allows you to snipe the enemy bowmen from the parapet while you wait for your siege tower to connect, on the battlefield it lets you soften up the foe before your forces meet. My favourite tactic is to harry the foe - order your men to hold ground while you ride off with a light crossbow and skirt the edges of the enemy while taking potshots. By the time they're close enough for the charge you've softened them up nicely, and of course you can then switch to your main weapons and finish off the remainder.
Throwing weapons are often criminally overlooked, particularly in terms of the shield. While it can be handy if you have that spare slot to grab a set of throwing knives just in case, the real niche for the thrower is defensive. If your the kind of commander who stands steady with his men on a hill while the enemy advance then the jarid or throwing axe is your friend. You can stand in line and unleash a volley of axes as the enemy approach and rely on your shield to deflect any return fire, hopefully disrupting and softening the enemy prior to them reaching your line. Another use is in siege. One of the most common complaints when attacking a castle is the difficulty of climbing the ladder or ramp while the enemy rain arrows on your head and enthusiastic spear jabs try to push you off. You don't need to take this - instead, the smart commander leads his men up the ramp from behind his shield before unleashing a volley of axes at the defenders. With any luck, he can then jump onto a parapet now devoid of a welcoming committee and run amok against the foe cowering behind their ramparts.
Armour
Armour encompasses everything from thick plate to ladies dresses. Armour is thankfully relatively simple to explain; the higher the number the better. The more armour you have, the less damage you will take from a hit. The only complication comes from encumbrance. When moving on foot, the more weight you carry (including your weapons) the slower you will be. It therefore becomes a case of finding the best weight to protection ratio you can. Mounted troops don't suffer this problem, so if you never intend to leave the horse unless it or you die then plate is the way to go. For high athletics skilled infantry then you can probably get away with chain or similar without much worry, for infantry without athletics leather is probably the best way to go.
Modifiers
Each piece of equipment (including horses) can have a modifier attached. Some are negative (cracked, rusty), others positive (bodkin, spirited) and some are both advantage and disadvantage (heavy). The effects of any modifier will be taken into account in the info box when hovering over the item, so don't worry that there's some hidden effect that's going to suprise you. Most are self explanatory (though in case your wondering, heavy grants a small boost to damage at the expense of speed, or in the case of horses a boost to their armour).
