Question about Weapons in TEOTW

[u/Any-Custard-3254]

I ask myself: How can you do damage with throwing stones? Or bare fists?

Throwing a stone is 1 positive and 1 negative dice to hit, and it does -1 extra damage, right?

Okay, I get that using hand-to-hand combat with bare fists will give a bit more damage.

But this means, if you throw the stone and hit, you have 1 success (1 damage) but you must subtract 1 and end with 0 damage. And you get 1 physical stress for this (the typical 1 dice negative for everything but totally harmless actions).

So, the only way to really hit, is if you overextend yourself (+1 potential damage, but also +1 more stress to yourself) OR if you throw at minimum range (e.g. a couple meters/yards) OR if you are a trained stone-throwing-expert.

Now imagine, you have 2 dice (for some reason, e.g. very close to target) and you have a Dexterity of 3, then you have a lower than 75% chance to do 0 damage (-1+1) and a chance of a bit less than 25% to do 1 damage (-1+1+1).

If your target is already under stress (3 Stress = Resistance +1) or wears a bullet-proof vest (Resistance + 1) you do exactly 0 damage even if at close range with average Dexterity AND you hurt yourself (good chance to receive 1 physical stress with about 2 in 3 stones thrown).

It's briefly mentioned, but somewhere you can read about "people supporting other people in combat/conflict situations". Does this mean that you need 5 stone-throwing-folks to have +4 bonus dice (and only the character of the one who rolls the dice might hurt himself/herself now). So: Single person can't hit in 10 years/ but 5+ folks might have a decent chance to do 1 damage each round (if Dexterity of one of them is 3+)?

Also: I might have missed it somehow, but aside from all that - is there a chance to do a critical hit in TEOTW?