the grind is wearing me down

[Evnissyen]

Copper and bronze dull extremely quickly in combat, actually. As for maces and morningstars, it's the haft that breaks first, in general, which is not usually made from metal like the head. In the days of the Roman legions and such, soldiers spent most of their evenings tending to wounds and sharpening their weapons again.

Fair points.

Copper and bronze really are not good materials to make weapons out of.

It's still annoying, though, I must say... .

(Does anyone remember those "stone swords" in the original Avernum trilogy? Sigh... .)

(Okay, I know I'm picking on the Spiderweb games a lot, lately. I'll stop.)

As for Eschalon: I'll have more to say when I get back into the game again.

As you get better quality weapons, they last a lot longer

Cool.

Lewis dodges the overgrown rat's sudden lunge, then follows up with a downward swipe of his sword. The blade barely makes contact with the rat's shoulder, scoring a small wound. The sword's momentum carries through and strikes the ground, hitting a stone; the impact shatters the brittle bronze material, leaving Lewis with naught but a stub of blade attached to a hilt.

"Aw, crap."

Okay, point taken. Darn that ground.

Of course, the rats above ground are not generally attacking you on stone surfaces. Underground . . . depends where you are, of course.

[KillingMoon]

The fast deterioration of weapons you find early in the game can lead to some interesting questions about upgrading later on in the game.

I'm facing such a question just now; already for most of the game I've fought with a bronze shortspear, 4 damage, +2 to-hit, +1 damage. Not a bad tool at all, but I'm always findig myself at the blacksmith's for repairs, as bronze wears down quickly.
There are some tungsten spears on offer now, one very expensive but with more damage then mine, and one with 6 damage.

I'm thinking that in this case only the really expensive one would be worth the purchase, but you can imagine that, depending on what's on offer, you could get into a real flap about whether to upgrade or not when you have to factor in the durability of the material.
Because these choices are interesting, or at least I find so, I'm probably of the opinion that those cheaper materials should indeed wear down quickly.

[Antigrav]

Anyone looking for realism, I would remind you that the game uses a hit-point system where living things have a "durability" score, but unlike weapons, are 100% effective until they break.

[Antigrav]

The fast deterioration of weapons you find early in the game can lead to some interesting questions about upgrading later on in the game.

I'm facing such a question just now; already for most of the game I've fought with a bronze shortspear, 4 damage, +2 to-hit, +1 damage. Not a bad tool at all, but I'm always findig myself at the blacksmith's for repairs, as bronze wears down quickly.
There are some tungsten spears on offer now, one very expensive but with more damage then mine, and one with 6 damage.

I'm thinking that in this case only the really expensive one would be worth the purchase, but you can imagine that, depending on what's on offer, you could get into a real flap about whether to upgrade or not when you have to factor in the durability of the material.
Because these choices are interesting, or at least I find so, I'm probably of the opinion that those cheaper materials should indeed wear down quickly.

I found that the Tinker's Gloves solved all my repair problems. I use my two equipment settings just to switch between a combat-ready outfit and a setup for sleeping and merchant dealings, where along with the gloves, I put on my Dealer's Hat.

[KillingMoon]

I found that the Tinker's Gloves solved all my repair problems.

I've set myself the restriction that I don't rest...

Actually, I don't like it much that the repair skill is dependant on resting. I would rather see sharpening stones in use. Maybe as a seperate slot where you could put your weapon in, and that it gradually came back to full sharpness then.

[Kreador Freeaxe]

The fast deterioration of weapons you find early in the game can lead to some interesting questions about upgrading later on in the game.

I'm facing such a question just now; already for most of the game I've fought with a bronze shortspear, 4 damage, +2 to-hit, +1 damage. Not a bad tool at all, but I'm always findig myself at the blacksmith's for repairs, as bronze wears down quickly.
There are some tungsten spears on offer now, one very expensive but with more damage then mine, and one with 6 damage.

I'm thinking that in this case only the really expensive one would be worth the purchase, but you can imagine that, depending on what's on offer, you could get into a real flap about whether to upgrade or not when you have to factor in the durability of the material.
Because these choices are interesting, or at least I find so, I'm probably of the opinion that those cheaper materials should indeed wear down quickly.

If you're looking for a good spear-type piercing weapon, don't buy one if you can fight your way through Westwillow to the far eastern promontory (a big horseshoe around from where you enter) and open the chest there.

[KillingMoon]

Then I might have spent that 6000+ gold a bit prematurely, Kreador - I was actually a bit shocked when I bought that thing, because the price was about 3400 for the thing itself, but due to the poor condition I needed to fork out another 2700 or so to have it repaired!
It doesn't even make a lot of difference in combat from my previous bronze spear - value 180 gold - but it does stay better for longer, so it does save me a couple of blisters on my feet.

Just before I bought it I did indeed arrive at a chest - I think it's the one you're talking about - but the odds to open it were given as 1%. I'm leaving those alone just now, hoping that I can up my lock pick skill still more - I might run out of opportunities to gain experience though, so I'm not sure what's going to happen between me and those formidable locks!

[Kreador Freeaxe]

You'll know the chest I'm talking about in Westwillow because it's protected by an electric fence.

[KillingMoon]

Perhaps I didn't arrive there yet then, as I opted to run back to the blacksmith for some badly needed repairs!