> However, how tall is the tor that the actual city sits on? If tall
> enough, most siege engines will be useless. Even (especially)
> mobile siege towers.
Back to landscape design, then... ;)
I had planned Sestarto's Leap as the staging area for some heavy missile throwers. It would be about 400 metres from the city centre and about 100 metres below, which makes spear throwers uneffective but highly ballistic stone lobbers quite feasible. I've witnessed a slightly oversized onager tossing several kilograms of ice in an almost straight trajectory to a target area 200 metres distant. (Oversized in order to pamper modern-day security concerns in archaeological parks, ice because it makes it easier to get rid of the ammo.)
> Also, making things move through the Air (even Earth things
> like big rocks) isn't the best idea when facing Air magics.
> Works fine against other Solar cities, of course, so they might
> *try* it, only to have it fail dramatically..... The Lunar army
> doesn't seem to have a dearth of commanders that think they know
> better. (Starting with Jorkandros and working down to
> Jane's "Junior Officer who lets Kallyr go".)
I already mentioned a zone of Kadone's "heavy", and the influence of Thunderbolts on siege engines.
> I think keeping things "grounded" is a better plan - an earth
> ramp to reach the plateau, so troops don't have to "leave the
> Earth" to reach the walls, tunelling by Earth elementals (plenty
> people in the army can work with them - native Dara Happan
> Lodrili; Red Earth faction Esrolians, etc.) Earth beats Air,
> so ground-hugging gives Mythic aid to the attackers. Of course,
> it might take the Lunars a while to catch on to this idea
> (leading up to the ramps by the Seven of Vistur).
Siege towers make for impressive visual effects. Pulling them up ramps is a classic I wouldn't like to miss.
> One siege group I've been idly thinking of is a unit of huge
> glass, crystal and mirror "engines" that take the power of the
> sun and direct it against the walls of an enemy fortress - think
> "Star Wars Turbolasers", then:
That would be the wooden ceremonial ziggurat for the sun priests?
> "We count thirty Rebel flyers, Lord Jorkandros. But they're
> so small they're evading our Sun Beams!"
> Jorkandros: "We'll have to destroy them one on one. Get the
> crews to their wyverns."
Again Sestarto's Leap offers itself, as soon as we've included the necessary crags, bridges etc.
> To destroy siege engines requires a sortie (traditionally at
> night) to burn them.
Something that just screams "Nightjumpers" at me...
> Killing the engineers who can build the engines is a good idea too.
More sizzling lightning...
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