Rather have my FREEDOM SMG and Knives.

#MasterRace

Racial knives would be boring.

At least they could do some other, more interesting forms for racial melee weapons. Be more original, at least..

Like futuristic brass knuckle thingies.
Or a futuristic sledgehammer thing.
Or a cool electric baton thingamabob.

Anything other than visually and functionally indistinct knives.

I was thinking more Castiel from Supernatural......

No, that's a Pistol.

Pistols are cool and all, but I want variety.

Personally, I think that if the Amarr/Minmatar blades are more in line with shortsword analogues (like the gladius and kukri, respectively), then that can add diversity- fewer, more powerful strikes with longer reach but a smaller swipe width.

Overall, however, we must still consider what is most likely to be militarily effective- the nations of New Eden are neither dumb nor given to meaningless gestures of "we can, therefore we will". Anything larger than a short sword or a sharpened entrenching tool isn't likely to be militarily practical under any kind of circumstance. Certainly, more unusual implements like mauls, maces, and warhammers could perhaps come back into vogue... except that they were generally weapons that were designed to counter specific threats, even if they generally fit into the size requirement.

A short sword is, quite frankly, nothing more than a glorified, oversized knife- which means that the many uses of a knife that do not involve "stabbing people in the face" can still be undertaken with a short sword. The kukri- a so-called fighting knife- is, in fact, considered a common household utensil in the regions that it originated in.

So yes, it might be nice to have things that are not, as you say, "reskinned nova knives". But it's unlikely that that will be the case, considering the concept art CCP has showcased already.

I'm eyeing that Klingon-style Hook Knife. Good thing I have trained up Gallente Scouts just in case. I'm also pretty close to training up Caldari scout so I can complete the whole lineup. That way, I will have a scout suit for every racial knife when it comes. XD

All of the things I mentioned, at least to me, seem to be able to be militarily effective. I am certainly not advocating for things that are extreme, like some Final Fantasy Buster Sword or a spoon.

The hammer/maul idea I mentioned, was of course historically used to deal with platemail and such. The future equivalent of platemail are our dropsuits, so a future maul does not seem too far fetched. While it may seem like "why use a maul when two smaller knives are just as capable as dealing with dropsuits?", I would retort that knives are good with one target at a time, while a maul could damage at least two dropsuits in one swing. Plus, militarily speaking, the futuristic maul could be used to bust barricaded doors/walls when explosives are unavailable/too dangerous.

The brass knuckle-gauntlet thing could be quite useful in hand-to hand, and extreme CQC, in ways that a knives aren't. Soldiers are taught to use both their fists and knives, and there are moments where one is more ideal than the other. Some sort of fist weapon seems reasonable.

Batons, though, seem more useful for police than military, but regardless, an electric baton may be of use to disrupt shields. I'm iffy on this one, but from an aesthetic POV, an electrical baton might be nicer to look at than yet another knife reskin.

As much as I like real life knives, and am aware of their time/battle-tested uses... DUST is a game. I can give a more in-depth and lore justifiable reasons for more than just knives being used. But stretching things a bit as far as melee weapons go could be fun. Anyway, a minotaur can dream.

You mean like the ACR is to the SMG? Or the ARR to the Magsec?

Anywho, the numbers on the knives in the edit are awful for Caldari and Gallente. Why do they have less against one tank and less of the other as well? If they were to balance out, it would be +7.5/+2.5, because adding them together would complete the +10%.

You mean like the ACR is to the SMG? Or the ARR to the Magsec?

Anywho, the numbers on the knives in the edit are awful for Caldari and Gallente. Why do they have less against one tank and less of the other as well? If they were to balance out, it would be +7.5/+2.5, because adding them together would complete the +10%.

We've seen the concepts for the racial knives, they are all similar to Nova Knives
So CCP have to go back on those, if the gladiators here want their shortswords
I think any high DMG melee weapon should not exceed current NK range, it would be crazy
If it did I would expect it to trade off a serious amount of DMG for the extra range

*Merc runs around corner *BLAP* they are killed from 5+ m by a sword*

Considering mercs cry about current NK, I can imagine the tears that would gather.

Amarr Knives - Bright Flash on impact , bonus to shields (stats = to Cal Knives)

Caldari Knives - Keep the rail-tech effect visual and the Armour DMG

Gallente Knives - This is tricky.. how to make a Gal Knife worth using over the Amarr
So considering the Gal is the invisible scout, I would go with decent swipe DMG (less than NK)
But the ability to charge longer than other knives dealing some high DMG. Maybe

Matari Knives - Super heated blades, have them glow red hot as they burn through
The sickly golden glory of the Amarrian Drop suits - Armour DMG

Racial parity on knives? How dull.

I want racial parity for rocket launchers! What would the Minni and Amarr be like D:

I can only assume RPG stuck in a rusty metal tube and a glorious lazor.