Question about Weapon Damage and Statistics

[xBamfo]

Alright. So I know that there is some descriptions in the game, and also in the wiki about this, however, I am still unclear on a couple things on how exactly the following work.

Gaining Stats:
So far, from what I have seen, you gain Dexterity from using Lighter class weapons, and Strength from Heavier class weapons. But do you gain both depending on the type of damage you deal?
For example, I'll mention the Topper. The Topper has less cutting power than other Katana, but makes up for it with blunt damage. Does this mean that this weapon in particular will raise strength too as the character learns how to take advantage of the blunt force damage? Or will it just raise Dexterity because it is a Light class katana weapon?

Bonuses from Stats:
From what I have read, it seems that Strength gives bonus to damage overall, while Dexterity gives bonus damage to lighter class weapons, along with better defense. Do Dexterity and Strength give bonuses to Cutting and Blunt? Or are those values completely separate?
Does strength give damage to all weapons? Or just heavy weapons? Does Dexterity give extra defense to all weapons? Or just light weapons, where it also seems to give more damage?

Overall:
The reason I'm asking this is because i like to, when I play games like this, have small little light 'roleplay' elements going through my head. I like to build and specialize characters a certain way.
I originally was going with the topper for my main guy because I had a bit of an image I wanted to create. This image was a heavily armored samurai, who would focus mainly on dexterity and getting better with the use of his longer, heavier katana. However, over time, his strength would grow to give him a bit of a boost with the blunt damage that the topper has on it, and allow him to move more quickly in the heavy armor.
I'm not sure if this is how the game works or if it's possible, because all I know, is that the raising of strength has been so slow I don't think it's even been present.

[Blxz]

All weapons raise strength. The heavier the weapon the faster the strength stat raises.

If I am not mistaken the same is true for Dex.

I believe dex influences cutting damage along with block speeds.

Block speeds are influenced regardless of weapon type although it can be useful to train with lighter weapons first to benefit using heavier weapons later.

A middle balanced weapon should theoretically let you raise both str and dex at the same rate.

EDIT: It has been more than a year since I paid serious attention to the stats and even then I was not the most fluent in the fine details. I do believe I am right though.

[Hatsune_Neko]

you are pretty correct.
though light weapons raise dex better as it goes with the over all being light as a feather ( no encumberance ) thats prime requiremnet to raise Dex.

[xBamfo]

Sorry for delay in reply. I was starting a cold when I wrote the original post, and then it got waaaay worse for the next few days lol.

But anyways, thanks for the clarification. Strength is raised based on weight of the weapon in combat, along with other bits of just having heavy stuff on you. And Dexterity is raised faster with being lighter in everything. That makes quite a bit of sense. I was wondering if for lighter class weapons the Topper could raise a bit more strength because of the blunt damage, but that doesn't seem to be the case. If anything, the Topper may only give a little more strength than basic Katana because it weighs a bit more.

Though as for damage, do Strength or Dexterity focus on cutting or blunt? I know that Dexterity says that it's supposed to be for cutting damage, but I'm unsure if it is ONLY for cutting, and if strength focuses on more blunt, or just gives ridiculous damage boosts to everything overall. I'm thinking the latter makes more sense.

[Aereto]

Sorry for delay in reply. I was starting a cold when I wrote the original post, and then it got waaaay worse for the next few days lol.

But anyways, thanks for the clarification. Strength is raised based on weight of the weapon in combat, along with other bits of just having heavy stuff on you. And Dexterity is raised faster with being lighter in everything. That makes quite a bit of sense. I was wondering if for lighter class weapons the Topper could raise a bit more strength because of the blunt damage, but that doesn't seem to be the case. If anything, the Topper may only give a little more strength than basic Katana because it weighs a bit more.

Though as for damage, do Strength or Dexterity focus on cutting or blunt? I know that Dexterity says that it's supposed to be for cutting damage, but I'm unsure if it is ONLY for cutting, and if strength focuses on more blunt, or just gives ridiculous damage boosts to everything overall. I'm thinking the latter makes more sense.

Even if old, may as well answer this. Weight affects the str/dex gain rate balance. Heavier weapons gain more strength at the cost of dexterity gain, provided that the weight is in proportion to max weight capacity; matching wep weight to max weight without going over the max is the best option. 1kg weapons gives the most dex gain at the cost of minimal strength gain.

Strength increases only blunt damage. Dexterity increases only cut damage. Weapon skill increases overall damage before strength and dexterity modifiers (blunt and cut). The weapon itself happens to be the final modifier. Blood loss modifiers... well... I had a hard time observing differences. Looking into the weapon's modifiers help which stats will be most applied, not exactly grown, as far as my observations are concerned.

[Loengrinn]

From what I've seen, and I'm not sure this has been stated, and if it has, this is simply repetition, for which I'm sorry.

Stats level by being used (obviously). Dexterity determines speed of attacks, blocks and your cutting damage. Strength gives you a higher weight allowance, let's you swing bigger weapons with greater ease, and affects your blunt damage. Str and Dex go up, regardless of the weapon, but the type of weapon influences how quickly. Lighter weapons lean toward Dex on this spectrum, and heavy weapons to Str.

So if you want to develop Str, you load up your character with heavy armor (or high encumberance works too, just avoid backpacks as they reduce your combat stats) and give them a heavy weapon. This character will get bonuses to the Str exp modifiers, which is noted in both the Stat screen and the drill down (technically up) of stats on the far bottom left of the screen when you click on the arrow above the character's stats. This character will ALSO make gains in Dex (and when moving, they'll make gains in athletics too, which you raise faster by being lightly encumbered), however the modifiers for said experience are drastically reduced.

The inverse also holds true, that a character with light armors and a light weapon also makes gains in Str, but they are significantly slower when outfitted this way. As it would make sense in the real world: using a light weapon and light armor helps you to be fast, but since there is WEIGHT to them, even if a small amount, your muscles become stronger, even if at a very tiny amount. Just as with heavy things, you'll get faster, but the majority of your gain would be raw strength.

Admittedly, this game has done a fantastic job with the stats, and how to train them, as it makes perfect sense from a real world standpoint, to a certain degree. Whereas in the real world if you don't up the weight or increase the speed, you'd stop getting better, but from a gameplay standpoint, this system is about as close to perfect as I've ever seen.