[Drulz hovercraft]
>In the real world, you can't mount large weapons on such a platform,
>either, as recoil tends to make them skitter, playing hob with
>navigation and follow-up shots, and possibly driving the shooter's
>vehicle into their neighbors in the formation-not practical for a
>cavalry charge. You'd get one shot, and then spend several minutes
>getting the craft back under control and on course. Again, useful if
>you can use it as a mobility increaser, but you'd have a heck of a
>time shooting on the move. Of course, if we're talking magic, you
>might as well make the spell a little more complex and build in recoil
>absorption mechanism into it to eliminate that problem.
However you don't get recoil on ancient weapons. The nearest thing I can think of is the trebuchet and with that the counterbalancing weight comes down which is not really recoil. Potentially disruptive by making the platform bounce around but not by moving it significantly. The time spent on regaining control is also trivial in the context of reloading time of such weapons.
Nor will a shooting platform be used in close formation. Historical mounted units trained to fight in close combat and as missile troops are rare. When they existed they tended to be poor in at least one of those functions.
While the idea of ducks beseiging Delecti's fortress with catapults on hovercraft is appropriately silly it seems beyond the resources of a small marginalised tribe.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
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