OOC Chat

While ancient technology may have limited the power of catapults, there still were ingenious examples of weapons that overcame other operational shortcomings. Dionysius of Alexandria, who worked in the Rhodian arsenal, designed a magazine-fed repeating bolt-shooter, the polybolos, perhaps the most complex machine of classical antiquity. A chain drive (like a motorcycle chain running over rotating sprockets) simultaneously pulled back the bowstring, powered a cam-actuated rotary feeder, and cocked and released the trigger at the right time. The gravity-fed hopper was loaded with 19-inch bolts. A technical description is preserved in the artillery manual of Philon, who lived around the end of the third century bc. Some details are remarkably similar to a modern 25mm automatic cannon, the Hughes "Chain Gun."

An ancient machine gun may seem improbable, but a 19th-century German engineer officer named Schramm actually built one and demonstrated it to Kaiser Wilhelm. Schramm used bicycle chain, and his machine was reportedly so accurate that the second bolt to hit a target could split the first bolt, like Robin Hood’s mythical arrow. Ironically the polybolos was probably too accurate; an ancient writer complained that the lack of dispersion in the shot pattern made for overkill against man-sized targets. Medieval Chinese developed a much simpler lever-action 12-round repeater crossbow that remained in use until the 19th century.

In 211 bc the Romans conquered Syracuse after a long siege starring Archimedes, the legendary Greek scientist and engineer. Archimedes built the heaviest catapult ever recorded, firing a three-talent (almost 180-pound) stone. But he also understood the role of lighter weapons: "Archimedes had constructed artillery which could cover a whole variety of ranges, so that while the attacking ships were still at a distance he scored so many hits with his catapults and stone-throwers that he was able to cause them severe damage … Then, as the distance decreased and these weapons began to carry over the enemy’s heads, he resorted to smaller and smaller machines, and so demoralized the Romans that their advance was brought to a standstill."

Actually the Greek period Cestus would not only prevent you from using most other weapons it would definitely take more than 1 Action to remove but yea you could make them a bit more modern I suppose for game play purposes

Maybe this doesn't needed to be said, but I do apologize. I don't usually have my games so firmly on the rails as this one will be, but as mentioned at the beginning of it all, this is just a venue for some quick dirty fun and to test out the Titan Battle premise...