Editing Spear

Spears can be crafted at [[fueled smithy|any]] [[electric smithy|smithy]] once the [[Research#Long blades|Long Blades]] research has been completed, from {{Required Resources}} and {{Ticks|{{P|Work To Make}} }} of work.

The spear is a sharp weapon with a ''very'' similar damage output to the [[longsword]], despite the in-game tooltips stating otherwise. This is because the game does not account for the [[Weapons#Melee formulas|melee verb selection]] mechanic introduced in 1.1.  

 

== Comparisons ==

=== Comparison to longswords ===

Spears have very slightly less {{DPS}}. The longsword is {{+|{{%| (7.96 / 7.88) - 1 round 3}} }} stronger in ''raw'' DPS than the spear, after considering [[melee verb selection]]. In exchange, the spear has noticeably more {{AP}} ({{+|14%}}) and costs {{Icon Small|stuff}} 25 materials less. This makes the spear numerically superior, but that is not the full story.

Longswords can either ''[[Damage types#Cut|Cut]]'' or ''[[Damage types#Stab|Stab]]'', while spears can only ''Stab''. Cut damage has a chance to "cleave" through body parts. This increases damage per swing by 140%, but its damage is split between body parts. The spear can only stab: its damage is weaker, but always concentrated on one body part. The cleave will cause [[pain shock]] faster, due to increased damage. Generally, pain shock is much more likely than body part destruction.

If a cut happens to reduce a body part to 0 HP, it is more likely to be destroyed. But since cleaving will spread out damage in the first place, Cut remains less likely to destroy larger limbs (like the arms and legs). Also, stabs are more likely to hit internal organs. However, both of these factors tend to be less important than the aforementioned cleaving.

Overall, which option is better depends on expected targets:

* At normal to excellent qualities, longswords are often better (definitely more consistent) for fighting against unarmored humans, lightly armored humans, and light mechs like [[scyther]]s and [[lancer]]s. This is due to the increased damage from cleaving. Spears would be better for fighting against armored enemies, like [[centipede]]s, due to the higher {{AP}}.

* A masterwork [[plasteel]] spear / sword is able to one-shot body parts like head and neck, though not the torso. The masterwork spear will more consistently one-shot human enemies, as the damage won't be spread out. Empirical testing suggests that the longsword remains better against unarmored targets.{{Check Tag|More testing needed|At legendary, when sword killed 100 adult pawns, spear killed 92 - 97. This was done 3x, in all 3 sword was better}} Spears still have more {{AP}}, so are better against armored enemies.

It's worth noting that the spear faces competition with the [[mace]] as a cheaper, anti-armor weapon.

=== Comparison to maces ===

The spear is actually closer to the [[mace]] in their niche, as both are better than the longsword against armor. Maces are cheaper, is best used with [[uranium]] rather than [[plasteel]], and unlocked in Smithing rather than Long Blades. Before armor, spears deal {{+|{{%| 7.88/7.01 -1 round 2}} }} more damage than a mace of equal quality. Maces are good against armor, despite having lower AP, since most enemies have practically no Blunt armor.

At normal quality, a [[plasteel]] spear deals more damage than a [[uranium]] mace until fighting enemies with {{%| (9.56/10.55 -1)/(-0.75) + 0.55 round 2}} <!--  

Sub variables in and you get (9.56 / 10.55) = (100 - 0.75(x - 55))%. Solve for x and we get (9.56 / 10.55 - 1) / -0.75 = (x - 0.55), after converting percents into decimals. ---> Sharp armor. This is before considering quality; at higher quality, the spear only gets better. For example, if both weapons are excellent, then the mace only starts to become better at {{%| (11.48/12.63 -1)/(-0.75) + 0.66 round 2}} armor. For reference, [[centipede]]s have 72% armor. So while a mace would be stronger against [[flak vest]]s (when hitting the vest) and [[power armor]], spears are noticeably better against unarmed foes, and roughly equal against armor up to centipedes'. Enemies with power armor aren't very common.

* Once you reach masterwork quality, the plasteel spear's AP gets very high. No enemy, short of the [[empire]]'s absolute best soldiers{{RoyaltyIcon}}, has enough armor to justify using the mace. The spear is roughly equal against most power armor (a few % DPS worse), but can ignore all of a centipede's armor for the full 112%-of-mace damage.

* This comparison does not account for the strong melee damage [[gene]].{{BiotechIcon}} With strong melee damage, the mace comes out ahead due to overkill mechanics (see below).

=== With strong melee gene ===

With the [[Genes#Strong melee damage|strong melee ''damage'']] [[gene]],{{BiotechIcon}} the comparisons change.

# Meanwhile, the spear can only ever hit a single body part. If a 62 damage spear hits a 25 damage arm, the arm is destroyed and 37 damage (over {{%|1-(25/62) round 2}} of the attack) is wasted. If a sword cleaves, much less damage is wasted. Blunt weapons like [[mace]]s and [[warhammer]]s{{RoyaltyIcon}} will hit the parent part if it would overkill (e.g. destroying the arm will damage the shoulder for remaining HP).

# Strong melee damage also boosts the {{AP}} of longswords. But due to the quirks of the game, it does ''not'' boost the AP of spears. Longsword AP becomes nearly identical to the spear.

{{Weapon Stats Table}}