Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-31507215-20170314002708/@comment-31507215-20170315020613

Lord Eldacar wrote: Ballistae were extremely varied in size, ammunition, and construction. But generally, you can break them down into Torsion powered engines, and Tension powered engines. Torsion ballistae were in use before even the Roman Empire, although they did perfect the design. These devices used the torsion of coiled rope-springs to force the two wooden arms outward and loose the projectile. They ranged from two-man, portable dart-throwers, to behemoths that fired massive stones and fire-pots.

Tension ballistae work in the exact same way as crossbows, with the tension of the bow giving force to the projectile. They were in use during the later middle-ages, and rarely fired anything but bolts.





Of the two, I envision the Torsion ballista to be more at home in Tolkien's lore, given it's real-world ancient context. This means we could have a bunch of different sizes that launch different projectiles. Smaller ones could be dart-throwers, and larger ones dedicated seige weapons capable of heaving stones and firepots.





Nota Bene: These were in all likeliness the "engines" described by Tolkien to be situated on Minas Tirith's walls. This is because they were easy to assemble, could vary in size to fit the position, and put very little stress on the walls themselves, whereas a Trebuchet would stand a good chance of shaking apart the wall on which it stood. That does make a certain amount of sense. I was mostly going for fun and simplicity, and trying to be lore-friendly, not neccesarily adhering perfectly to it. I was mostly going for a tension ballista, as those are relatively simple. Those suggestions are good ones, though, so I will keep them in mind. It would probably be a little more complex than what I have currently, but it would be fun nonetheless! I will do some research and either get back to you, incorporate it in some way, shape, or form, or both!

Thanks!