OOTS #297 - The Discussion Thread

[CommanderFalken]

actually, historicalkly they are about 40 pounnds, They are the shieldbreakers of the army, and for duels. They were never meant for practical military use.

Arrakis

I'd like to know your references for that. I have heard from many, trustworthy sources that say that they were more like 5 lbs. And wouldn't shieldbreaking be considered 'practical military use'?

I'd love to see the greatsword that weifghed 40 pounds, and then the idiot who thinks he can weild it.

[The_Ducky_Ninja]

From what I could find online, a greatsword should weigh somewhere around 4-5 pounds.

[skaven13]

I'd love to see the greatsword that weifghed 40 pounds, and then the idiot who thinks he can weild it.

"Alright....I'm going to swing this at you....and I'm only going to do this once. Try not to miss it, as I won't be swinging it again. Please do not, and I cannot stress this enough, do not dodge."

...puts on a support belt for his back...

"Lift with the knees....lift with the knees...."

:P

Skaven13

[Baloo]

actually, historicalkly they are about 40 pounnds,
You're about an order of magnitude off. If you look at a place that sells sword replicas, you'll see more sensible weights.

For example, Del Tin's page for 15th/16th century swords have these twohanders:
4100 grams
2650 grams
2800 grams
3700 grams
2350 grams
1700 grams
For an average of 2883 gram = 2.9 kg = 6.4 lbs

Link: http://www.deltin.it/i4.htm

They also vary in length from 118 cm to 174 cm - and let me tell you, a 174 cm sword is frickin' huge (about 5'8" - that's the 4100 gram sword, BTW). It's longer than I am tall. Most of the swords are about 140-150 cm (4'8"-5').

[The Giant]

Comic is coming, but it's taking a long time. Expect it around 2:00 AM, maybe.

[Arachnophile]

Does anyone in Azure City ever wear anything other than blue? The color scheme makes me want to run around with a Supersoaker filled with brilliant orange paint.

btw: loved the punchline.

[rosebud]

It just occured to me that Roy Greenhilt's sword will now be even more green now. 8)

[yuccadude]

Funny how Frodo's sword Sting glows blue and is useful against orcs, and Roy's sword will glow green and be useful against the undead.

Nice comic Giant

"I am a forger of swords sir, not a speculator on dwarven motives for falsehood." ...those dang dirty dwarves and their lies...

[Bakta]

Hmmm,

"Particulary harmful to undead"... in a broad sense isn't a ghost a kind of undead?.

tsk, tsk, poor Eugene 8)

[Dugray]

Comic is coming, but it's taking a long time. Expect it around 2:00 AM, maybe.


Sounds fine Giant, I'm listening to the hockey game here anyways!

[Buzzaro]

You're about an order of magnitude off. If you look at a place that sells sword replicas, you'll see more sensible weights.

For example, Del Tin's page for 15th/16th century
... blah blah blah...

These are modern weapons; the steal is a much better blend. In D&D they are much heaver because of a lesser blend of ores.

How dare you bring your reality into our fantasy!

[infiniteviking]

Comic is coming, but it's taking a long time. Expect it around 2:00 AM, maybe.Thanks for the heads-up!

[Arulla]

Does anyone in Azure City ever wear anything other than blue? The color scheme makes me want to run around with a Supersoaker filled with brilliant orange paint.

btw: loved the punchline.

This is Azure City, what could you expect?

( Not to mention what kind of ninja the nobilities will send if Lord Shojo starts painting the city bright orange :P )

[5tephen]

Just one question - why did the weaponsmith even offered to counter the undead-harmful green glow?
But that would be because she is an artisan!
Can't have a nasty green glow mucking up all the beautiful lines that she will painstakingly hammer into that piece of wepeonry...


For all she knew, he was going to give the sword to his mummy.
&

PUN-ishingly bad?
Arrgh.
There is a special hell for you people....


Comic is coming, but it's taking a long time. Expect it around 2:00 AM, maybe.
For once living in the antipodes (Australia) does me a service! Woo Hoo!

[ElfLad]

Arrgh.
There is a special hell for you people....

Yes, but the Giant is exempt, because he is "the" Giant.

[5tephen]

Very likely.
Or he at least gets an upgrade to a better cabin.

(Is it just me, or do other people think that Hell is likely to take the form of a cruise ship?)

[kriklaf]

(Is it just me, or do other people think that Hell is likely to take the form of a cruise ship?)

The kind where all of the vacationers fall victim to a nasty stomach flu? Not a bad idea for eternal punishment, actually!

Ah, nuts. To stay up another hour, or to go to bed secure in the knowlege that an extra dose of OOTS will be there for me when I wake?


( Not to mention what kind of ninja the nobilities will send if Lord Shojo starts painting the city bright orange) (while the puns are flying) Does that make it a crime in Azure city to paint the town red?*trundles off to reserve a room on the special Pun Hell cruise*

[Baloo]

These are modern weapons; the steal is a much better blend. In D&D they are much heaver because of a lesser blend of ores.
The difference in density between modern and old-school steel isn't that big.

Here's a pair of links that go into the matter in more detail (especially the second one):
http://www.thearma.org/essays/weights.htm
http://www.thearma.org/essays/2HGS.html

[Friv]

I'd like to know your references for that. I have heard from many, trustworthy sources that say that they were more like 5 lbs. And wouldn't shieldbreaking be considered 'practical military use'?

I'd love to see the greatsword that weifghed 40 pounds, and then the idiot who thinks he can weild it.

You know, I could have sworn that there was a historical French greatsword that was actually designed to be wielded by two people instead of one (and weighed 30 or 40 pounds), but I can't find any evidence online...

[taigen]

The Voice of Mod: Does everyone know WHY these threads get so long? Because no one READS them anymore, they just go to the last page and post, "I didn't read the whole thread, but here's a question that's been asked and answered four times already." Hey, folks: Stop it! Read to see if your question has been answered before posting it; you'll have to read the thread again anyway later if someone answers you. But it's getting ridiculous to see the same mini-conversations over and over in the same thread.

Yes.. a lot of people skip to the end... mostly because you really only need to read 2 pages to get pretty much everything anyone is gonna say about the comic. Its 1 page worth of happy graphical goodness with words.. but not that many words... there really is only so much that can be said. However, were I a font of creativity able to produce something like this.. I would view the fact that every comic I write explodes into a 18 page long (if innane and repetative) discussion as a sign that I am definately doing something right... and have a very loyal (maybe a little insane) fanbase. I tend to see every repeated pointless post as a voice saying 'wow... I was so impressed by this comic that I couldn't wait to show my overflowing exubarance by reading everyone elses stuff and had to skip right ahead so I could show just how much I appreciate this being here.

Ah well.. thats why I post anyways... and I guess I am guilty of only reading about 5 or 6 pages... I just have attention span problems and unfortunately 20 posts about just how many plusses someones long sharp piece of metal (rendered in glorious color 2d) really has (when its posted right in the comic) tends to hit that attention span right where it hurts.

Ah well.. just let me say I enjoyed the comic.. and woohoo 18th page!... *rolls eyes* and hope someone didn't post this exact same thing 11 pages ago.

-Taigen

[rosebud]

The difference in density between modern and old-school steel isn't that big.Yup. Not to mention that some of the finest folded steel swords ever fashioned were made seven to eight centuries ago during the Kamakura period of Japan (the country they never heard of (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=209) :)). And some of the finest violins were made by the Stradivari three centuries ago. Modern does not necessarily mean better. :) There's a nice intro on sword making here (http://www.shadowofleaves.com/sword_making.htm).

For the easily amused, here's an article (http://swordforum.com/metallurgy/titanium.html) on titanium versus tempered steel swords and knives. Steel wins. (They don't seem to discuss starmetal. ;-))