 What's a monosword? |
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 Dec 29 2005, 12:34 AM
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#1
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Dragon  Group: Members Posts: 4,589 Joined: 28-November 05 Member No.: 8,019  |
I know what monomolecular wire is. Does a monosword have monomolecular wire along an edge? And if it does, why is it less effective than a normal, mundane katana?
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Dec 29 2005, 12:47 AM
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#2
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Target Group: Members Posts: 88 Joined: 28-December 05 From: Québec Member No.: 8,110 |
From what I can see in the book, Katana and monosword are the same (except for Avail and price). They are both Reach:1 DMG:((STR/2)+3)P AP:-1
And, yes, a monosword is a sword with a superfine monofilament wire attached to its edges. |
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Dec 29 2005, 12:51 AM
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#3
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Target Group: Members Posts: 88 Joined: 28-December 05 From: Québec Member No.: 8,110 |
and the reason a Katana is as good as a monosword is beacause Katanas have a history of being the cool weapon of choice; its tradition. Because I'm pretty sure that monoswords should be better tahn katana... but then again, it is a widely known fact that katana can cut throug ANYTHING!
The question that rise from such fact is: what happen when 2katana strikes one-other? *pzitt*the universe cant stand such logical imposibilities and such destroy both blades :wobble: |
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Dec 29 2005, 01:03 AM
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#4
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 7,089 Joined: 4-October 05 Member No.: 7,813 |
bah, that's got nothing on the buttered bread tied butter side up to a cat and dropped paradox.
obviously, both katanas are chopped in half in that scenario. |
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Dec 29 2005, 01:17 AM
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#5
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Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,589 Joined: 28-November 05 Member No.: 8,019 |
The wielders then commit seppuku with their shattered swords.
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Dec 29 2005, 01:21 AM
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#6
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Target Group: Members Posts: 88 Joined: 28-December 05 From: Québec Member No.: 8,110 |
*nod**nod*
the perpetual mouvement set-up, with the cat and peanut butter, of course. I bow before your wisdom :) |
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Dec 29 2005, 01:54 AM
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#7
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 7,089 Joined: 4-October 05 Member No.: 7,813 |
shattered? shattered?! don't be ridiculous. as they were cut with a katana, they will naturally be cut, not shattered. the cut will be extremely clean, with not even a slight burr, let alone the jagged edges you would get from shattering it. |
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Dec 29 2005, 02:36 AM
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#8
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Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,589 Joined: 28-November 05 Member No.: 8,019 |
And if manga has anything to do with reality, you can decapitate someone with even a 2" stub of a blade.
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Dec 29 2005, 05:27 AM
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#9
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 944 Joined: 19-February 03 Member No.: 4,128 |
Perhaps they will exchange swords first so at least the _sword_ gets to kill the right guy...
But yeah, a Katana is little more than a high quality longsword. |
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Dec 29 2005, 05:43 AM
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#10
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 135 Joined: 8-November 05 From: Toronto, Ontario - Canada Member No.: 7,934 |
I would also like to point out that against an armored opponent, the katana is actualy inferior to the European longsword because the same process which makes the blade strong also makes it brittle. Not to mention the fact that the katana is only one edged, and that the hilt may as well not even be there. Frankly, I don't see where the western idea of the katana as the uber-sword came from- the weapon's only purpose is to eviscerate unarmored opponents, and beyond that role is actualy very much inferior to Western blades.
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Dec 29 2005, 05:44 AM
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#11
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Dragon Group: Members Posts: 4,589 Joined: 28-November 05 Member No.: 8,019 |
Katanas look cool. Plus, like everything else Asian, it has that "mystical Fu Manchu" factor. Because Americans are stupid.
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Dec 29 2005, 05:54 AM
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#12
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 753 Joined: 31-October 03 Member No.: 5,780 |
It's like putting a cowboy movie in Japan - it makes people say ooooh and aaaah, and oogle the shiny pistol and get an Indian friend (who's really Native American or similar) and call him Tonto.
it's silly social fads that live long. But there is a twisted logic behind the katana I think. If you can truly strike fast enough/hard enough, you could cut through many things. as long as you keep the power and don't tilt the blade, it'd keep going, etc, etc. The European sword wasn't designed with that in mind, it's just very good at stabbing, but you can hack a person up to a point if they aren't well armored. that's just a theory, however. |
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Dec 29 2005, 05:57 AM
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#13
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 135 Joined: 8-November 05 From: Toronto, Ontario - Canada Member No.: 7,934 |
Given, but as a huge buff of ancient weaponry, I felt the need to point out easily the most annoying fallacy about swords that the western world accepts.
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Dec 29 2005, 06:33 AM
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#14
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Resident Legionnaire Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,136 Joined: 8-August 04 From: Usually Work Member No.: 6,550 |
Well, first off: If by European sword, we're talking about the traditional Longsword/Broadsword, then they aren't just good at stabbing. They can be used for both stabbing and slashing rather effectively.
Second: The japanese sword is not "brittle". I think you were meaning to say that it is not made to be flexible like a lot of western swords are. A katana is a very stiff blade, but it is not brittle. Most likely, if you bent the blade it would resist bending, but once bent, would stay bent. |
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Dec 29 2005, 06:38 AM
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#15
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 934 Joined: 26-August 05 From: Earth - Europe - AGS - Norddeutscher Bund - Hannover Member No.: 7,624 |
Urghs. No, not at all. A Katana is meant to cause injury by cutting. A broadsword, as nearly all large European edged weapons, causes injury mainly by momentum. (Hope I did get the english terms right.) It is a fact that the capabilities of Asian weapons and martial arts are often over-exaggerated in western popular culture. The training of a medieval knight wasn't all that different to that of a samurai. Even the unarmed combat techniques where very similar. But a samurai would have had a hard time cutting through infantry plate mail, while a knight would have crushed a samurai armor like paper with his broadsword. |
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Dec 29 2005, 08:49 AM
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#16
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 135 Joined: 8-November 05 From: Toronto, Ontario - Canada Member No.: 7,934 |
Err, you're right, brittle was altogether the wrong word. I was not trying to imply that a katana would shatter if you hit it hard enough :P . My point was that while the blade is more durable, it is also more likely to snap or warp to the point of uselessness under duress than the more malliable European counterparts (which still carried a stabbing point even if the blade dulled). While the katana may *seem* more durable, the individual blade probably saw less practical use than, say, a comperable French or Spanish blade. |
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Dec 29 2005, 08:54 AM
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#17
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Resident Legionnaire Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,136 Joined: 8-August 04 From: Usually Work Member No.: 6,550 |
The European blade could be picked up and used more readily by the average soldier if need be due to it's flexibility as well as it's other intrinsic characteristics.
Cutting with a japanese sword is very much dependant on technique, and unlike the european blade (to a reasonable degree), poor technique could by itself cause one of the warps you mention. |
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Dec 29 2005, 08:57 AM
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#18
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Freelance Elf Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 7,324 Joined: 30-September 04 From: Texas Member No.: 6,714 |
Stupid katanophiles. *shakes his fist* Too bad they didn't fix that little fanboyism game stat for SR4.
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Dec 29 2005, 08:59 AM
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#19
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Resident Legionnaire Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,136 Joined: 8-August 04 From: Usually Work Member No.: 6,550 |
It's all about the 80's baby. 8)
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Dec 29 2005, 09:08 AM
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#20
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 135 Joined: 8-November 05 From: Toronto, Ontario - Canada Member No.: 7,934 |
I've always added half again as much impact armor versus katanas to nerf them a bit.
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Dec 29 2005, 10:31 AM
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#21
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 349 Joined: 28-January 05 From: Phoenix, Arizona Member No.: 7,030 |
but only if weilded correctly. Botch, and no karma to save, wave good bye to that "traditional" weapon. |
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Dec 29 2005, 12:21 PM
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#22
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Uncle Fisty Group: Admin Posts: 13,891 Joined: 3-January 05 From: Next To Her Member No.: 6,928 |
with a broadsword, it's power comes through whether or not it penetrates the armor. You can smack a gu in plate on the arm and not draw blood, but his arm is likely going to be broken. A lot of that is because of the momentum, where the katana is more of a cutter than a cleaver.
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Dec 29 2005, 12:46 PM
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#23
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 596 Joined: 18-February 03 Member No.: 4,112 |
Also, I think katanas are considered two-handed weapons in shadowrun, whereas the monosword is one-handed, whatever difference that might make.
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Dec 29 2005, 01:21 PM
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#24
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 5,889 Joined: 3-August 03 From: A CPI rank 1 country Member No.: 5,222 |
Relatively speaking, considering also the fighting techniques employed with High/Late Medieval Western European swords and katanas against armored opponents, the former might be more likely to cause significant blunt trauma through armor, but I do not think it would have been a likely occurrence even then for a one-handed sword to have caused broken bones through a decent suit of full plate armor. It could have happened, but it would've been far from likely. I would also like to point out that medieval European swordmanship by no means relied on hacking and using "momentum" to crush through an opponent. Against lightly armored or unarmored opponents, you would have seen a lot of cuts not all that dissimilar from what people were doing in Japan at the time. You would be an idiot to simply hack at an unarmored opponent with a sword which has some sort of sharp edge when a slash creates wounds far more severe.
That was true in SR3, at least, where it actually made a big difference: when allowed, wielding a one-handed weapon in two hands gave you +1 Power. Oddly enough, just about everyone ignored it and basically house ruled it so that katanas really did have a straight +1 Power bonus over normal swords and were 1-handed weapons. This post has been edited by Austere Emancipator: Dec 29 2005, 01:24 PM |
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Dec 29 2005, 06:00 PM
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#25
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 203 Joined: 18-November 05 Member No.: 7,978 |
Yeah, it is unfortunate the amount of katana love that gets seen. But we will live with it.
Vs modern armor? I am not sure if the katana would fare as badly as I don't know as much about it. What I do know is that longswords are crazy deadly and there are a great many techniques and uses put to them. Lots of short half hand stabs and such. Also, full plate was a truly nightmarish thing to be up against. It did not slow a person down that much (you can turn a cartwheel in it with a little training) and it made you virtually immune to all small arms. Heck even bows and crossbows wouldn't penetrate it as it got more advanced. Even the early musket rounds were being stopped by the full plate of the period. Full plate armor in games is seriously underestimated because to give it the correct stats would be horrible from a game balance perspective. Of course, this is shadowrun, which guns can punch through armor like paper anyways, so yeah. |
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