The other factor that needs to be considered is that KE isn't a good or even predictable measure of tissue damage until you get to relatively high velocities so it's a matter of apples to oranges. The mechanisms of wounding from something like a knife or arrow are quite different than from small arms. Damage from tissue displacement, cavitation, hydrostatic shock - what have you - is generally not considered mych of a factor until the projectile exceeds 600m/s.
KE as a measure of killing power (or Traveller Damage) should probably be pretty much left to high velocity slug throwers. A good measure of the killing power of HTH weapons is to consider that most casualties of these weapons who die, do so after the fact, and from secondary causes.
As an aside, both the German and French armies, in the late 19th century, determined that it required about 75J of energy from a small arm to 'produce a casualty' - although not one that was necessarily rendered hors de combat.
Whatever the case, It seems likely that most RPGs overestimate the killing power of HTH weapons - probably based on perceptions taken from movies and TV, and from high historical casualty rates that were as much a result of poor medical practice, infection and the delivery of coups de graces as they were the particular lethality of the weapons.
If we look at the figures I cited in the article referenced, you about 6x more likely to survive a knive wound as one delived by handgun. The study of survival rates involving altercations of tribal warriors in SA is particularly illustrative, as the transition from traditional weapons (spear and knife) to firearms has meant a huge upswing in deaths.
The upshot of all this is that if you realistically reflected the comparative killing power of HTH weapons vs. guns, PCs wouldn't bother with HTH weapons unless they had no other choice. The suggestion that a cutlass is in any way equivalent to the lethality of a main battle rifle, for example, is utterly ridiculous.
Don't you love how these threads wander?
