What kind of weapons and armor would be used in an underground setting with tunnels and caverns...

What kind of weapons and armor would be used in an underground setting with tunnels and caverns? I'm working on a setting with a friend and I want to understand the implications of a civilization that has to fight underground and what their technology would be like (think late medieval)

I'd say daggers, fist weapons and some spears.

Shovel spears.

I think the only difference would be the enclosed spaces. Meaning you’d tend to use weapons with shorter reaches.

Also given the lack of natural light, probably larger eye slits.

Thrusting swords like Rapiers too. For an inbetween of those reaches.

Maybe Gladius as well, if in need of a short slashing weapon.

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Rough textured metal instead of smooth, shiny metal. Your enemy requires a light to traverse unfamiliar areas, so you don't want your armor to reflect that light brightly.

Shields and short/medium spears, and daggers as backup.

Bows and crossbows would be effective, to a degree; if you know how to operate it, there's not much else to hit besides your target.

Big shields, phalanx formations, and short spears.

Explosive weapons would probably be infinitely more dangerous because of cave-ins and shit

Lantern shield would be a normal thing.

>Object designed to be hit
>Container of flammable oil
>Open flame
>Literally strapped to your arm

Ok user.

You might as well wear armor made of molotov cocktails while you're at it, retard.

A lot of thrusting weapons with long reach, like spears and especially tridents, in addition to short maneuverable weapons. Virtually nothing requiring a swinging motion would be worth using.

Marching order would matter a lot. Basically, the guy up front would be in plate with a tower shield, a trident, and a dagger. The guy behind him would have a longer trident and a dagger. The guy behind him would have an even longer trident and a dagger. All the way back.

Why the fuck would they use a fishing spear instead of a normal goddamn spear?

Because it would be more difficult to get around it in a confined space.

It would depend on how tight your tunnels are. If they're seriously cramped, where it's a squeeze even in single file, then that would actually be really difficult to fight in. I mean, if it's late medieval then you're talking about plate armour for everyone. Trying to kill someone in plate armour using some one-handed weapon in extremely confining conditions sounds like a nightmare. Hand cannons (or even arquebuses) might be preferable here, though blasts could risk a cave in. I don't know that people would even want to fight in those conditions. They'd probably just back away from one another.

If your tunnels are wider and there are big caverns then you could expect most of the same weapons as were used historically in the 1400s. Specialized anti-cavalry weapons wouldn't appear of course, and I think bows would be a lot rarer.

Shit'd be trench warfare on steroids with claustrophobia to enhance the nightmares.

It would be the same thing. Possible with brighter colours to be easily recognisable in the darkness

Not sure about this but wouldn't the size of the eye slits not matter if its light levels you are worried about? I'd say it'd be more important for your footing than anything if we are talking about rocky crappy footing. I guess a normal visor would be fine for those situations.

Rough texture metal would be incredibly hard to make and prone to rusting due to the increased surface area that pitting gives for oxygen and water to settle on. More likely would be painted armour.

Could be bad though as there's not much room between you and your target and not much stopping them if you hit their shield. A tag team of pavisier with a melee weapon and a crossbowman to fire over his shoulder could be pretty useful though.

Depends on the ground though, caves are not known for their stable footing and phalanxes are not known for their effectiveness on rough ground. Something a bit more loose and independent like the legionary cohort or maniple could be much more useful in large, messy cavern fights.

100% agree. Two handed weapons wouldnt be as bad as they sound though.
A lot of late medieval plate armour defeating two handed weapons weren't actually swung in huge arcs in reality, more to get your heavily armoured opponent onto the ground so you can beat him to death there.

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Spears, crossbows, daggers, thrusting swords,

Assuming long tunnels, pikes and shields. The combination produces a basically unassailable presence, especially in numbers. Not huge numbers, as tunnels are rarely good fits for massed movement, not necessarily a whole phalanx, but 2-3 dudes in even a loose formation would be tough to get past.
Otherwise, shorter weapons, like maces, hammers, handaxes, and shortswords. Most of which will be used with a shield. A shield is disproportionately useful when you are almost assured all the bad guys will be coming from the same direction.
Because of this, the utility of weapons like fire bombs goes up as well.

>the faces of these niggers when they realize it's a real thing.

Just look at trench warfare user, particularly the melee weapons.
Hatchets would be a favourite of many considering how popular sharpened spades were, even sword bayonets were considered too long

A gladius is in no way, shape, or form defined primarily by its ability to slash.