I always thought it would be neat if we could use our scythe as a weapon, an actually viable weapon. As of now, just like with all other tools, hitting monsters with your scythe only does one point of damage per hit, and unlike other tools, the scythe cannot be upgraded. This is my idea: Allow us to upgrade the scythe! At its default level, the scythe does about the same amount of damage to monsters as the rusty sword. With each increasing upgrade (copper, steel, gold, and finally iridium), the scythe becomes a more powerful weapon. I think a weaponized scythe would be very practical, especially if you chose the combat-oriented farm layout.
It does seem very strange that a large, very sharp blade like a scythe is essentially harmless. What, we've got a children's plastic safety scythe? I for one can always be trusted to run with my scythe.
I would hazard that the reason the scythe is a weak weapon is because scythes aren't really constructed for combat; the placement of the handles, the long shaft, and the odd angle of the blade would combine to make them pretty awkward to wield for anything other than swinging them low to the ground to cut grass. Of course, that's me applying an alarming level of realism to a game where you can teleport and hunt slime monsters, so maybe that's not a particularly valid concern. I can definitely see how an upgradeable scythe would be convenient on the combat farm.
^ this. War scythes existed, but they were basically just turning the blade by 90 degrees so you had some sort of polearm to use in formations, especially against charging cavalry. On a normal scythe, the sharp end of the blade is actually facing you, and you do not want to have a sharp blade facing you in combat.
I had the thought that the Scythe tool should be upgraded, but only to the point that the scythe would be enchanted to be charged up and create a small tornado that only affects objects that can be removed by the scythe but in a larger area. If used in combat, maybe lightly toss around smaller/weaker enemies.
I'm not sure about that. For an upgrade to be viable, the scythe would probably need to use up energy first, and that'd make the early game brutally hard, if not downright unplayable, especially for more inexperienced players. Still, an idea worth discussing.
An energy consuming scythe isn't a game ender. There are not many reasons to use the scythe. It can get hay and harvests a few crops you don't normally have at spring 1. By the time you have a massive harvest for the scythe the farmer already has enough food to keep himself going. If the player wants to go clear cutting any weapon will work. In fact there's not much point to having the scythe use energy if weapons don't use energy.
Kinda. It'd be pretty awkward to have a scythe use energy and then go clear cutting with the sword. The base energy use doesn't have to be high, and it can scale a bit with weapons. So for example a scythe might use .5 energy because it's lightweight while a galaxy sword might use 2, for example. Higher levels of combat skill can be used to reduce the energy use towards the minimum. Or, you know. It could just be left as is. The scythe is an amazingly fast cutting tool as is and I don't think there would be any farming benefit behind upgrading it. I mean you could try charging up a huge field clearing reap, but it's so fast to run through and slash normally so what's the point.
scythes are dangerous tools to begin with so you wouldn't have any clue why people would rather face a war scythe than an actual modified version with more weight on the tip the blade inline with the pole and a reinforced handle. the problem is that they wanted armies wielding an effective weapon. this version of the scythe is too dangerous to your own allies than enemies. so formations would be quite loose and thus not effective at all. but if you don't have allies to worry about the normal modified farmers scythe would be a lot more dangerous. a weapon is only good as the wielder. the quality of the weapons only decides when it will break not if it will break. the proper design also influence how a weapon is used. I have used a farmers scythe and a modified version where the blade was inline with the pole. the inline blade made it more effective. not a weapon that would be easy to deal will and this weapon could ignore a shield to strike from below or from above. its a shield persons worst nightmare, people would have to learn how to use low tech weapons If at some point I were to show you how to wield one you would understand why people wanted to use these things.
I do HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) full-contact as a hobby, and let me tell you, shields are more mobile than they look. That's why you want your weapon to be mobile as well if you go to hand-to-hand combat. However, hand-to-hand is anyone's worst nightmare, which is why most warfare was sieges and, in the rare open field battles of the middle ages, archers, missile weapons such as javelins or throwing axes (or whatever else you could throw at your enemy), cavalry charges and spears. There are exceptions to that rule, of course, but in general it was this way. Scythes are tools - good at their job, but pretty unwieldy. Of course, if you train with it, it can be a deadly weapon in a duel, I won't deny that, but in warfare other options were used for good reasons. As for the use of a scythe in the actual game, it's also a balancing issue - if your scythe gets better and better, why would you ever buy a better sword? I agree that it's damage should somehow scale with your Combat skill level, but it should remain a last resort weapon.
If it were added, I'd think it should be a few points below the highest level sword you can get. And, only used in emergencies for those who don't carry their weapons at all times. Because using the scythe uses up energy, while using your weapons doesn't. So it doesn't make for a very good weapon in the first place because of it. But it would be interesting to see it as a full fledged, just weak, weapon.
