Re: Re: siege engines

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_...>
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 10:02:11 -0700


> > 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.)

The higher the Plateau+Wall, the closer the siege engine has to be to land a payload behind said wall, and one thing siege engines want to be is "as far away from hostile missiles as possible, thanks so much". (Of course, with Vingan Mile-thrown javelins, *any* real world ancient siege engine would be well within range of hostile missiles, so be sure to put up mantlets around the siege engines).

> > 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.

Sorry, missed those. Also, any engine using ropes would probably be the worse for wear after a heavy rain. And an awful lot of Real World engines were torsion-based.

http://www.middelaldercentret.dk/warengines.htm http://www.unc.edu/courses/rometech/public/content/special/Kat_Smith/ROMANARTILLERY.htm

> Siege towers make for impressive visual effects. Pulling them up ramps
> is a classic I wouldn't like to miss.

It's *so* much easier to push them along flat ground :-). Oh well, something for the "Forced Labor Brigades" to do.

> > 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?

You could certainly mount them there. I notice that there's no use of Solar Magic at the siege (at least in KoS - sorry if it's been discussed in the early days, I had to delete ~700 messages unread when I got back from a week away from home...). No bolts fo Sunfire burning the place to a crisp.

RR
It is by my order and for the good of the state that the bearer of this has done what he has done.
- Richelieu

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