It’s already incredibly easy to kill with melee if you’re remotely prepared, or the other person is unprepared. The easier it is for people to kill, the less people will trust others, because whoopsie that random guy standing next to you had a fire extinguisher in his backpack and you’re now at 50hp before you even noticed, let alone had time to get out of the room
Not even considering how brutal delimbing can be, if someone with a cleaver hits your leg twice, whoops only one now, and you have even less of a chance to get away, if you had one at all…
Yeah sure maybe some melee weapons could do with a damage increase, but it’d just make improvised weapons (or greytiding to get things like the hatchet and cleaver) even more common.
shotguns have literally always been a melee counter regardless of weapon and damage, because it’s a shotgun. They’re rare and valuable, and the lethal ammo is scarce without a hacked autolathe. Not just something any random sec officer or person would have.
By the time you’ve gotten that taser off your armour or out of your backpack, you’ve likely been hit twice - now meaning you’re about 55% if they hit your jumpsuit (if you’re lucky enough to be a sec officer), and you’ve got to hit some greyshit dancing around you, which for newer officers can take a good couple shots, though yeah…being stunned stops you being murdered? Again, it’s a weapon that’s difficult for regular crew to get.
By the time it goes off you’re in crit and it’s worthless unless you pre-ignited it or were able to stun them.
This is just going off random greyshit XYZ happening to have a toolbox, which might give you some additional reaction time.
Melee weapon damage is super specific because they’re the most common type of weapon, and the easiest to get. Lots of very, very common things (see: screwdrivers) suddenly become fantastic weapons (by current damage), which has huge ramifications.
Fireaxe deals 24 per-hit when used in both hands 6 less than an esword. Meaning if your target has taken 4+ damage you only need 4 hits. This is not taking into account bleeding damage, damage slowdown, and the fact the axe can dismantle windows and grilles in one hit, making it one of the best tools for breaking and entering when you don’t have antag-exclusive options. All while being available in Atmos and bridge at roundstart, as well as a bone variant with equal stats craftable by miners/ashwalkers.
On average a push allows for two free hits, with a proper knowdown you can get in 4 and typically get the 5th before they can react or move away due to damage slowdown.
In what universe would you want this thing to be more effective? It’s not supposed to be used as a weapon anyway.
Well why don’t you kill me before I finish this movie HUH ? YOU ARE WEAK. HIT ME BITCH. “robust” I have never seen a bigger more stupid and boring joke than, “this is robust”