Ki is real. As far as I'm concerned. I've been a "crash test dummy" for it. Heh. Not with swords, of course. I don't know anything about that. But there's much to be praised about western martial arts too. You sound kind of bitter about it or something. You shouldn't be. You won't find bias from your peers at least.

I can't see what about his post made you think he was serious.

I didn't think he was serious. I thought he was being facetious and sarcastic.

I found it rather amusing.

Suuuure you do!
Thanks for clearing that up tho'. Cheers!

Well in the main questline, right near the beginning of it..

If you are past that point, you cans till go back to that secret room and find the 1 handed Katana there.. it wont go anywhere..

Except the Berserkers.. you need to learn about them. There was a story of 1 holding off a large number of Romans. And what about the Spartans? They were European..

The "godless heathens" were much better warriors than the christian ones down the road. What about the Barbarians of the black forest of Germany? Rome was never really able to fully take Germany/Germania because of that..

I personally am not a fan of asian culture and asian armor/weaponry in general.
Looks so silly and bleh.

Gimme some good ol' chain mail and a large viking broadsword anyday!

If this game had an 1864 U.S. Calvary Sword, My character would use it. The in game Katana is the closest to that type of weapon in Skyrim. Long thin curved swords survived well into the age of gunpowder because they follow a very efficient design. My favorite one handed sword in Oblivion was Redwave for the same reason. I also enjoyed the a certain Captains Saber from the Bloodmoon Expansion.

The real problem here is opinion. I like all bladed weapons.. I prefer katana and Yedo. But I think rapiers and greatswords are fantastic weapons. But any sabre (curved sword) is better for slashing. Any straight blade is better for piercing. Both can do the other well, but that wasn't their original purpose.

Yeah, I like cutlasses/sabres, too.

...and rapiers are super deadly in the hand(s) of someone how knows how to use them.

it cannot pierce steel plating. Steel plating is very strong.

Well... it largely depends on the quality of the steel involved, but true: swords cannot pierce steel plate. However, they most definitely can pierce steel plate armor (given it's not an absolute solid).

Swords as a whole were proven ineffective versus full sets of plate armor. Only way you could do damage was to stab the joints/where there were no plates. Maces, morning-stars, and warhammers (more commonly the horse-mans hammer) were used agaisnt plate seeing as they didnt need to pierce it, they downright crushed and bent the armor in and killed the person wearing it.

Wow. Y'all left me in the dust back there a ways.... So, yeah - some of you really know your stuff. Still.... I find the "katana-type" (whether 1 hand or 2 hand) a nice graceful sword for a fem warrior. And regardless some person didn't get what I meant.... I got "there" by reading about Tarma. SHE is my ideal warrior. So that's how I view my girls....

So I thought I'd actually help the OP rather then usurping the topic to argue about whose sword is better,

In Delphine's private room there is a blade's sword hanging on a weapon rack. She's part of the MQ. Now you want to avoid random dragon attacks right? I have been told that once you begin the quest A Blade in The Dark most random dragon attacks cease(they still appear at shrines and such) Until you arrive at the burial mound to complete the quest.

LordV, you're a nice person! I didn't know about the "alternatives". And I just console whatever I want (or get a mod to craft it) so I didn't really have anything to tell the guy....

Yep. Maces and hammers had bonuses against plate armor in the original D&D and bladed weapons had penalties against them. The reverse was true of chain and scale.

Edited for spelling.

That's nothing special either. Even ancient romans used that technique.
What kind of armor? Hide? Leather? Cloth? Paper?
You can't cut through chainmail ... you'll dent some links at best. end of story. You can pierce it, but that's something completely different.

By definition a curved sword is for slashing. I don't know why I even have to point out something that obvious. Sure, you can stab with it and it's completely sufficient against unarmored or lightly armored people. But once you have to penetrate something more challenging you are better off with something straight and pointy.

no big surprise. europeans discovered that stabbing from far away is sufficient for killing unarmored opponents, which is why the development of sword forms didn't stop with the longsword and lighter, faster weapons soon dominated the duel grounds like the rapier.
japan reached 'perfection' and stuck with it.

To be fair, japan probably couldn't have made the switch to rapier-like weapons even if they wanted to, because their local iron svcked and was brittle as hell. smithing a long, thin, strong and flexible blade was simply impossible for japanese swordsmiths without importing better iron ore.

Speaking as a martial artist and a fencing, err...enthusiast...katanas are great swords if your style is based on speed and grace. The western broadsword is great if you're into minimalist movement and power. To think either one is inherently superior to the other just goes to show you've never held a sword in your hands. Play nice kiddies.

<3

But some are superior when it comes to certain things.
Stabbing- european
against metal/heavy armor - european
Slashing - Katana (but only when against lightly armored or un-armored enemies)

Heck Samurai didnt even use them that much, they preferred arrow and spears. Their 'katana' were more made for terrorizing/slaughtering unarmored villagers/civilians.

http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=3871 http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1002

I agree.

Not really. Samurai had some pretty decent armor themselves, and it isn't about what you can cut through. It's about how you use the blade. I'm afraid you have a pretty narrow, uninformed view of feudal Japan. And please understand I don't mean that as an insult. Again, it all comes down to style because if it's between armored opponents, you aren't trying to cut through armor. You're trying to attack the weak points in the armor.

For the record, as I stated, I'm a fencing enthusiast. I'm not particularly good. My only style focus is making sure the pointy end goes in the other man. I do however have a love for sword based combat and have spent a great deal of time researching the subject, styles, and types of swords.

To the OP, I apologize for derailing (once again) but I do believe the ones that have already been covered in this thread are the only ones you are likely to find.

My point exactly... except that the back was pretty vulnerable too. Thing is, there's no point using "plate armor" in discussions about swords, because none of them were particularly effective.

Salient point someone else had tho': it's all irrelevant as far as the OP goes. I read with interest: as I'm sure thematically a character I make sooner or later would 'prefer' a katana-styled weapon.