mastery of melee combat or mastery of ranged combat: which would you choose?

[Deleted]

this is the (completely fictional) scenario: the United Nations recently started a top secret military project that can impose on any human being mastery of one of 2 major disciplines:

Melee combat:

• you can wield any melee weapon from any nation as an absolute grand master, equivalent of a 10th dan (which is basically only attainable if you reached significant achievements in a specific martial art). this includes martial arts, any bladed or blunt weapon, daggers and polearms, but also the more exotic weapons like quarterstaffs, sickles, scythes, nunchaku and basically anything that's wielded in melee.
• you can also use any object in your environment as a melee weapon, even if it's not designed for that purpose, up to reasonable size (no wielding bicycles as killer weapons) in both ways (no using shirt buttons to horribly mutilate people) and practicality (no killing people with orange sherbert).
• you also gain extreme agility and strength and can dodge, block or deflect every projectile with every weapon.
• you also gain the ability to move silently and unseen to anything and anyone, but only if people are unaware that you are there.
• you also gain an extremely resilient skin that can shrug off nearly everything from grenade explosions to bunker busters and even MOAB strikes.
• However, you cannot use any ranged weapons, including thrown weapons and projectile based weaponry. however, you can still use these as deadly weapons at close range, as well as dodge, block and deflect projectiles.

Ranged Combat

• you can wield any ranged or thrown weapons from any nation or era as a top notch marksman, rivalling the world's greatest wielders of a specific weapon. this includes small sidearms, any automatic rifle or shotgun, thrown weapons and bows. in addition, you can throw any weapon designed for melee combat across the length of a football field (say 100 meters, 120 yards or 350 feet), even if the weapon originally wasn't even able to do that.
• You can also use any object in your environment as a ranged weapon, even if it's not designed for that purpose. you can also use any vehicle as a precision missile, whether the vehicle is ground-, sea or airbased.
• you can also use any ranged weapon at any range up to 10 times the optimal range for the weapon, including melee range, without losing effectiveness or power. this means you can even throw a weapon at point blank range and it'll be 100% effective.
• you can disarm any opponent using any ranged weapon, unless they also were part of the UN project.
• as with the melee combat specialisation, you can move silently and unseen and have extremely resilient skin that can handle everything except a nuclear explosion within the conflagration zone.
• However, you cannot use any weapons for melee combat. this includes pistol bashing, stock strikes and stabbing with thrown weapons, although you can still use the ranged capacity of these weapons at melee range.

available for both combat styles:

• you can hack into any digital systems, even if they're completely isolated.
• you are extremely agile and mobile, with the ability for long distance cross country treks at the speed of a professional cycler, even on extremely rough terrain and in urban environments.
• you can drive any vehicle by yourself, no matter how complicated, but guns that aren't connected to the driver controls still need another person.
• you have master oratory skills and can convince anyone to do your bidding.
• you got unlimited resources at your disposal.
• you are extremely intelligent and are fluent at any language, even the extinct ones.
• you can slow down your perception of time at will for short periods (bullettime).
• You only answer to the Secretary General of the United Nations (currently Ban Ki-Moon).
• you can only kill other people as a last resort, and only if absolutely necessary. your license to kill expires at 100 kills: any more that and you need to do a month of desk duty for every person you kill in an op. the project acknowledges this and gives you a wide variety of ways to incapacitate other people without killing them, in theory enough to always have a non-lethal option.

You have to make a permanent choice between Melee mastery and ranged mastery. the goal of this project is to create a small force of extremely highly trained special forces, designed to deal with situations that are to delicate to be handled by the general assembly or the security council. every country gets to choose a certain number of people to send. if they have less than 1 million, they can't send anyone. if they got between 1 and 10 million, they can send 1 person. if between 10 and 100 million, they can send 5 people. if between 100 million and 1 billion, they can send 25 people. if more than 1 billion, they can send 125 people. dependancies are included with the home nation.

you can choose to refuse to join. in that case, you get the option of a watered down procedure that only incorporated the shared aspect (moving unnoticed, resilient skin, everything from the shared aspect except the unlimited resources and the final 2 parts about Ban Ki-Moon and license to kill) and a large sum of money (250 million EUR in equivalent currency for your country), or double the money but no training. if you join the procedure, your family members (blood related and married up to 4 degrees) and up to 25 people of your choosing gain 50 million EUR each and government protection.

so what will it be?

1) join and get melee mastery
2) join and get ranged mastery
3) refuse to join, get training and 250 million EUR
4) refuse to join, get 500 million EUR

[Rigimi44]

Melee is a no brainer. I wouldn't even be weak against ranged attackers, I could just walk up to them, deflecting every projectile, and cave their skull in with my mace.

[Gothicshark]

Some of the training and the money, 250million eu is $314.1 million. Yah that is more than enough money for anything.

[Deleted]

Training and cash most likely. I can then share the money with loved ones.
As for the watered training, in melee, because you can't carry a gun or ranged weapon at all times anywhere and still be a good spy. You can be a good sniper, but not a good spy.

Also, I feel the ranged weapon thing is less attractive because of that in face of the melee weapon, give the ranged guys a ranged thing on them at all times conceiled or have them have unlimited ammo somehow.

[Arkenaw]

Option 4 without a second thought.

[Rorixis]

TL;DR I'd take the money

[Markluzz]

Option 3, I don't want to be forced to work for somebody, and I am sure if I got the shared training I could learn to use melee and ranged weapons decently. Plus with that money and the intelligence I would have I would be able to prepare to overhaul the government and shut down their program. (Cause in every action movie with scenarios like this government program = bad)

[inboundpaper]

Since I don't get to just kill people with my sudden mastery of firearms, I would take the 500 mil.

[Reluctant]

Training and 250 mil. Its plenty of money and the shared training still makes you somewhat superhuman.

Mellee totaly dominates ranged with beign able to deflect every projectile.

[Fojos]

3rd option.

you have master oratory skills and can convince anyone to do your bidding.
you are extremely intelligent and are fluent at any language, even the extinct ones.

Those two alone are enough to make up for the lost money.