Change Extendable Batons to Tonfas

I see nobody using it on the ganger level, and even if they did they'd probably be accused of being a TERRA lover.

I do not believe there is an item sink for these either, as no NPC takes them to make them disappear causing a distinct item bloat of these since TERRA mementos keep dropping them 24/7.

Switching the appropriate weapon skill to martial arts related tonfas would give purpose to the weapon while filling in the gap between a martial artist picking up a bo staff and discovering that metal war fans exist.

Also, to 0x1mm: while there's a lot of Japanese themed weapons, or Okinawan in this case, consider that night sticks / the classic police club are tonfa. If anything, I'd have heavily preferred that bo staves never existed and instead tonfa were in their place, since it would have a place in Withmore as an essentially culturally neutral weapon that makes a lot more sense to carry around than a whole staff.

I'd bet there's been more Japanese characters in Withmore than any other single ethnic background. The game has been multiculturalizing and diversifying over time away from its stereotypes and heavy Japanese focus, something that had roots in the genre in the 80s as Japanese corporations and media influence started creating anxiety about American decline, but it's still a very Anime/Snowcrash influenced in terms of the degree to which it authentically represents the world it is meant to depict.

In the future Earth of Sindome's setting, something like 80%+ of all people in the world are living in either the Latin Trade Collective, the Collective Nations of Africa, or the Chinese Empire. This is not to say we need specific brands and products and tools and weapons to represent say, Brazil or Nigeria or China or other larger global cultures of the future timeline, but that just having fewer new things that are explicitly Japanese origin or Japanese themed helps to support more variety of character backgrounds that is more in keeping with the setting.

So really extendable baton is fine, but tonfa is worse in my eyes. Something like WAI RC-100 Riot Baton? Even Better.

There's a wealth of brandy jargony tacticool naming schemes from existing brands for things like axes, knives, long blades, blunt weapons, etc. that could be used to recast some stuff that is very Edo era or lacking in futuristic theme (which is nearly all the non-guns).

And I totally agree the game puts almost all its thematic eggs in a few background baskets and there's not remotely enough Latin American representation in the game considering the theme and world state (it's 300KM closer to Mexico than Night City in 2077, where half the residents speak Spanish), but that is not to say we should have specific representation of ethnic anything when it comes to stuff like weapons. I don't think there should be any to support the most amount of flexibility.

A bo staff doesn't need to be a bo staff, but equally a stiletto doesn't need to be a stiletto (it could be something like ZMI Tactical Switchblade) and a kukri doesn't need to be a kukri (it would probably be a lot more appealing if it was something like an F-S Carbide Combat Knife).

Unringing those bells now is probably impossible, I just think for everything new we should be thinking of whether it's siloing representations into particular areas at the expense of others.

There's a really great mod for 2077, Cosmopolitan Night City, that changes character dialogue to their native first language and it's really worth trying out for immersion.

I think Sindome is making strides towards stronger demographic representation that represents its theme and setting, but it is not lost on me that there are much more Japanese characters as there are African-American and African and Latin American and Caribbean characters combined which the setting and world suggests would not be true. Some of that is definitely that Anime appeal factor, where the game has appeal to some players because it's modern/near-future Animesque, but I do think some of it comes down to there is just a lot of Japanese factors and places and stuff of all kinds in the game to support that representation.

I say that I think I understand, because I don't know what background the people who coded the game have. All I can do is speak from my own experience. As that experience relates to martial arts and melee weapons…

I started training a Chinese martial art in 2002. I started teaching it in 2005. I taught multiple times a week up until I moved in 2016. I still go through the forms a couple of times a month to make sure that my body remembers the sequences.

I think I've posted this before. But here it is again for reference.

https://www.laukunedo.com/history.html

It's based on wing chun. Wing chun is big on ambi-dexterity and training each side of the body equally. I mention this specifically because there have been some questions about dual wielding.

I learned a handful of weapons. The first one was "the stick".

This is close enough. It's just a piece of hardwood. About two feet long.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804747603907.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.21.be914ed592djCV&algo_pvid=d44f67bf-014c-440d-a9e5-da36213bf385&algo_exp_id=d44f67bf-014c-440d-a9e5-da36213bf385-10&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22order%22%3A%2230%22%2C%22eval%22%3A%221%22%7D&pdp_npi=4%40dis%21USD%2133.35%2131.68%21%21%2133.35%2131.68%21%402101ead817450393627107383e55d8%2112000031070130683%21sea%21US%210%21ABX&curPageLogUid=19uhq3xSZWBA&utparam-url=scene%3Asearch%7Cquery_from%3A

Without going down rabbit holes and getting up on soapboxes, I will share that my personal experience is that fighting with weapons is not the same as fighting open handed.

My sisook at the temple was Derrick Dalan. He's the 2nd on the left of the guy in the red shirt in this picture.

https://wingtsunkwoon.com/atillo-balintawak-eskrima-at-wing-tsun-kwoon/

His eskrima (stick fighting is good). I'm no where nearly as good as he is. But, I know how to hit people with a stick.

All that said, I'd take a knife over a stick. "Nobody wins a knife fight. One person just loses less." I'd prefer a stick against knife, versus knife on knife. That extra inch or two of reach does matter.

The style I learned does have double weapons. Wing chun butterfly knives (you can look them up). Double nunchuks. Double willow leaf swords. Double tai chi swords.

All that said, practically everyone I trained with agreed that the preferred "real life" style would be one weapon and an open hand. The double weapons are for training. For getting that left brain / right brain connection going. For being able to use your off hand in case your primary hand gets disabled. (knuckles broken. wrist broken. dislocation. whatever)

With all that out of the way, in my opinion, a stick is not a baton. Is not a truncheon. Is not a tonfu. Is not a nightstick.

The human body can only move in so many ways. Joints only work the way they work. There are only so many ways to make a weapon that will be effective against other weapons, and other people.

Leave the baton as it is. Leave the cricket bat as it is. Leave martial arts alone. The whole, empty hand beats weapon stuff only really happens in the movies. A person who needs to defend themselves would be wise to use whatever weapons are at their disposal. Whether that's a pool cue. A broken bottle. A knife. A club. A handgun. Whatever.

Flesh is weak. Fighting hurts. As my Sifu once said, "You win every fight that you avoid."