What constitutes sufficient force to kill a shield using a red weapon? Is it a light two handed tap (cheap looking but makes consecutive shots easy), a mediocre yet still firm strike that moves the shield little or the balls to the wall baseball bat swing that not only damages the weapon and shield involved, but if it were to make it past the shield and hit meat, it might injure.

I was briefly struck by the thrust tip craze, they are awesome and incredibly fun to use BUT, after facing off against several shieldmen with nearly unbreakable shields, the stab tips died in a firey death of shield killing extravagance. The shields killed my sword, not the other way around. Which led me to the conclusion there is no way to have a safe stab tip that is still rigid enough to smash the more "tougher" shields (this is an opinion thing on part of the shield user, apparently, like archers, its their call whether it was sufficient enough, leading some to have near unbreakable shields). That little bend in the weapon gets worked over hard, even during a single redshot. Reason I am so concerned is I am about to make another cross country trip and I need a weapon that will pass at all fields, hit hard enough to kill the hardest shields yet still soft enough that it doesn't injure (being lightweight adds to one's ability to keep fighting, heavy weapons tire their users out quicker).

Is it good that we have such a standard or is shield users having nearly unbreakable shields a good thing. I like swinging super hard, I like thrusts, I do not like breaking swords or people. I think there is only two possible remedies, set a standard that says redshots don't have to be uber hard OR remove their shield killing power completely. What are your guy's thoughts? (the only way I can concievably see a stab tip survive is lighter redshots, though this may give me an advantage,) Think I may have to suck it up and leave the stab tip behind.

The general thing that I teach people is that if you can feel the red move your shield a reasonable amount and it is more than a tip graze, you should count it. There are people who teach that it should move the shield into your body, have (x) solid impact, etc etc etc. The issue is that if you were cranking people that hard and they weren't taking it, either they were cheating or you weren't hitting that hard. It is nowhere in the rules that a shield must be hit so hard that it shakes their whole body. Just like taking a shot on your body, the taker can call it light if they do not deem it solid enough. Also, just like anything else, if you think someone is cheating, take it to a herald.

Also, stop hitting them with the last six inches of your sword and your stab tips will last considerably longer.

Well, I've heard this tip fighting suggestion a while back and I listened and all it did was move the damage to the part of the blade I was hitting with. Shield users like to faint, pretend their shield is there and jump back. All unpredictable so no, that never works, why? Cause I went out and tried it. However, I posted this on the Dag boards and they gave me a good suggestion, its not how I fight (well partly), its my bad sword construction. Then again, I've broken three bandshopp poles and worn out an edhellen/forged foam great sword core enough that it has this little katana like curve now (its also to flexy now). Maybe there is no way around this. I think I am just gonna have to suck it up and keep redding hard against the unbreakable shields, if someone gets hurt, oh well.

(I am asking because I need a standard sword that should be able to pass at all bel/dag fields yet durable enough to withstand the abuse. Only way I've achieved this is by not having a stab tip. Redswording on a budget)

If you'd take it to the body, you should probably take to the shield.