Siege Weapons II: Sartar Strikes Back

From: James Frusetta <gerakkag_at_wam.umd.edu>
Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 10:40:13 -0500 (EST)


Hmm. Now, the Lunars have their little mobile bolt-throwers, and stone-throwers for sieges. The Sun Domers are familiar with the principle of siege weapons (as in Harpoon). And the Broo have the dread and feared Broo Slingshot (as seen by the Cradle). And, of course, the Cannon Cult is well-known.

So who else has "artillery weapons"? Or can deal with them?

Frex, there's a couple of cultures that don't have 'em, IMO. Pentians don't (Sheng Seleris probably used slaves for crews, as did the Mongols). Other primitive-types (Praxians, Grazers, Hsunchen) don't.

So where does that leave everyone else? Let the silliness commence!

I personally like the idea of Elves having a tree that fills the job. Pamaltean elves might have a very flexible palm tree, that you bend over to lob its bronze coconuts at the enemy. Perhaps Green Elves have something similar -- maybe an evergreen that shoots little bronze pine needles at the foe. Both can be planted along the edges of the woods, and used for their defense. (If nothing else, the thought of trollkin scurrying in terror as Coconut Death rains from the sky is MGF). On the offense, why not various plants that will undermine or weaken city walls? Yeah, it's slow, but you live for a long time and long-range plans don't bother you. Scatter the seeds far and wide, and then trigger the plants' growth somehow to bring city walls down a'plenty. And, of course, you don't need to chop down a tree to use as a battering ram. You ask your specially-bred tree nicely, and it strolls over and does the job on its own.

Trolls are a little problematic. Now, what trollish leader hasn't tried feeding steroids to his Great Troll, trying to get it strong enough to be a living catapult? Tragically, you just can't get the same kind of effect, and summoned monsters keep getting slaughtered on you (Black Eater, Only Old One's Buddy, etc). So, what to do? Well, since you've got the biggest proportion of flying troops in the game (not the _best_, but it's quantity over quality, here), you could try having them drop stuff on the enemy. Baskets of rocks, arrows, hot tar, trollkin... And spend some bolgs on R&D at the Gorakiki temple. Try to breed those locusts, beetles and whatnot for even bigger size, to carry more. (I suspect that this only works _so_ far. And, of course, you have to figure out how to defend your waddling, laden flying bugs from the enemy's wyverns, slyphs, wind children, dream dragons and what have you. Still, fun can be had: shades of the Battle of Britain...).

In Ralios, you might get specialized mercenary companies that you hire on for city sieges. You might see a very formalized kind of siege warfare, like in the era of Louis XIV and Vauban. Of course, the engineers are essentially useless in the field, IMO. You hire them for the _siege_, not to mess about with the armored goons on horseback.

Companion to the Dread Broo Slingshot is the Dread Broo Rocklobber. That's when the broos make a see-saw, and have a bunch of Broos jump on the end without the rocks on it. (Razalkark has to repeat this last bit over and over again, or the broo forget and job on either end). Still in R&D. However, his specially-treated captured catapults _do_ do a lovely job of hurling gorp into enemy strongholds, and put an end to any sniggering.

In the Kingdom of War, Lord Death on his Hobby-Horse, of course, uses --URK! Lord Death: "Give away my secrets, eh?"
Nossir!
"Good."

Note that Pavis is a good chance for some unconventional uses. Since you have a half-dozen ancient enemies crammed into a fairly small area, I could see each making a couple siege weapons just for fun. Trolls ambush your Yelmalian patrol? Wheel out the Bolthrower and lob a few into the Stronglands. Sure, it's not _effective_, but it does make you feel better. Granted, the trolls get the worst of this (as Dwarves, Elves, Chaos, Yelmalians all hate 'em), but it's not exactly like their buildings are built to last in any case ("Oh no, my hovel has been destroyed. Time to take 10 minutes to build a new one." :).

When all concerned parties are _really_ worked up, the denizens of Pavis can sit on the wall, crack open a beer and watch the fun as rocks, bolts, firey projectiles, gorps and the occasional duck get tossed around between the hostile parties, while furious troll beetle patrols counter-attack their enemies. (Hmmm. Shades of "Nuclear War," the card game).

Might occasionally disconvenience adventurers, for yet more fun. "You realize telling the Yelmalian runelord that his mother and father were brother and sister and then parading in line of sight of their hill fort was _not_ a good idea. Incoming!" Clever Issaries merchants could sell bolthrowers to the Stormbulls, pointing out the clear advantage of
"softening up" Ogre Island before adventuring nearby. (Perhaps on a rental
basis, with a hefty deposit. :)

Um, yes. So anyway, what's up with Sartar? Are the windy Celts left bereft of engines, or do they know their use? Or do they hire foreigners? Might not have been an issue unitl the Lunars arrived, and the Sartarites were faced with an efficient foe who could capably assault cities and forts.

James Frusetta


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