heavy ballistic weapons for city protection

[adrien]

why not have balistas to shoot large animals like bahamets or silt horrors.
that would be easier then regenerating guards all the time would it?
a place for them would be on the wall above the gates.

A similar thing has been suggested in the past, and that is to have archers atop these massive walls, and it all boils down to the same thing in the end, and that is the cost : effect ratio. A balista, if Zalanthas is an advanced enough society to construct such, like archery would be wood dependant. I imagine that theyd be fairly large to launch such a thing and thus be very expensive to make, maintain, and then protect. Archery is the same way, wood is rare in the south, so thus so are arrows.

I suppose if such was to be created there would then be the following problems: Where to put it? The top of the wall might be a good place... but there probably isnt as much room up there as you'd think, and then the city is pretty crowded for space otherwise. But lets say for argument's sake that you got a balista built and positioned in a city... next comes the ammunition. You suggested large animals. I suppose the cost/danger would be extreme to capture/kill bahamets in the enemy north, transport them to the south, and then use them as catapult type fuel. Silt horrors a little closer, but just as dangerous. Allanak seems to do pretty well without having to commit troops to gather rare and exotic beasts to launch against 'invaders' which are pretty non-existant, occassional gith, bandit, or magicker attacks really arnt anything... I havent seen a gate penetrating attack since... forever really.

Perhaps a more logical thing would be large two-three person sling type things that could launch large chunks of sandstone, jasper or marble, or load up scrab shells with flash powder and drop them from atop the gate when sieged. Im sure Tek will pull some new idea out his arse should the situation ever reach the proporsion of the dwarf siege from the days past, if the society was more accepting of magickers, Im sure some Suk-Krathian's wouldnt mind lauching a few fireballs down from atop the gate on the gathered enemies.

Anyways... thats all.  :shock:

[Lazloth]

... next comes the ammunition. You suggested large animals. I suppose the cost/danger would be extreme to capture/kill bahamets in the enemy north, transport them to the south, and then use them as catapult type fuel. Silt horrors a little closer, but just as dangerous.

He was talking about shooting at bahamets and silt horrors, presumably to work around these monstrosities being led to the gates, not playing some perverse variant of reindeer games.

Oh well um... then I think it would still be pretty expensive to commision balistas and their spears, as wood is scarce, perhaps it could shoot rocks, but I dont know. Im really baffled now that my image of shooting animals is gone. I thought that was really creative, if outlandish.

[Morninglight]

How about bow-like contraptions that you load with spears?

Fit in a spear or javelin, pull back on the rope and let fly? It may be not as easy to aim as a catapault, but more in line with the technological level we're talking about here. (Greco-Roman, I believe.)

As for the materials, well, horn and sinew bows have been seen in-game. Wood for Tuluk, but maybe treated chitin and rope for Allanak.

That's just my thoughts,

[Lazloth]

Im really baffled now that my image of shooting animals is gone.

Yeah, I was reminded of some bugs bunny skit or other too.

[Savak]

I think Zalanthas in fact would/could/does have large immobile, semi-mobile, and mobile weapons along the lines of basic catapults or ballistas.  Crude perhaps, but effective enough to hurl a shower of stones or what have you over a wall or into the midst of a packed legion of soldiers.

We don't see many of these for a number of reasons.  One, they're impractical to code, aside from being a background description.  Two, templar magick tends to replace masses of heavy equipment.  Three, the presence of large numbers of half-giants means this equipment must be much larger than a real-world equivalent in order to be effective, thus more difficult to craft, keep up, & maneuver.  Four, the only "major" large-group battles between adversaries with the resources to use these regularly simply don't face off very often, making the ongoing need for them relatively less.  The relative rarity of wood (certainly in the South), compounds the issue.

So, while those may not be all the reasons, they are some.  Technologically speaking, however, I think a Zalanthan version of something like these could perhaps be made, using bone, wood, rope, etc.  How well they would last is another matter.

-Savak

[Carduus]

Well, I can see two different replies that gate guards would have when dealing with something huge like a bahamet.

1. Run in the gates and shut 'em. Hopefully, without an easily-accessable target, the predator will leave in time.

2. Get out the big weapons, or something known to drive them off. This would fall under what we're talking about, like big rocks or spears. It could also involve smells or sounds that would drive the predator off. This sort of stuff might involve big-ass horns, or kank dung dropped over the wall, or something.

But for god's sake, leaving measly gate guards to directly deal with the huge brutes out there is just asking for trouble.

Alot of people underestimate the size of the gates.
Considering an argosy (a fortress on wheels) pulled by a pair of MEKs or more, can pass through the gates says a thing about its size. I picture kinda a smaller version the gates of Mordor in LOTR. I dont think a predator could do anything really...

[Tlaloc]

Along with what Savak said, but different:

I could be that, really, they are there in a virtual sense. So, yes, you could have archers on top of walls (I've "shot" at folks who were raiding or casting magicks from the "Walls" who were hanging around at the base because they forgot that people might actually patrol those things), large ballistae keeping the Meks and Bahamets at bay.

However, they might be represented by the fact that you have a seemingly unlimited supply of troops that can keep popping back to life after each "Sandstorm" (reboot).

-Tlaloc

[Carduus]

Problem is, Tlaloc, when guards die, they're treated as individuals in many cases. Which really doesn't help the situation at all, because people are mourning for what you seem to be suggesting is a metaphor.

[adrien]

catapults are only good to attack citis. balistas are not that big either about the size of a man but fire spear size ammo