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Elder_Scrolls_Ballista+copy.jpg

(a similar depiction of what a bridge ballista would look like)

 

Background Lore

 

Several months before war was officially declared on Norland, the Dwarves knew that armed conflict was inevitable. They had the numbers, and the resources to bring to the fight to their enemies, but a seemingly unsurmountable problem stood in their path. The island fortress of The Krag. In preparation of attacking this seemingly impregnable bastille, scores of Dwarven engineers were assigned to develop an efficient means of entry.

 

Experiments ranged from explosives, to catapults, to highly dangerous prototypes of flying machines, but all seemed too expensive, or too inefficient to meet the needs of their current dilemma. That was until, the suggestion was made to think of a redesign of an old favorite, tried and true for hundreds of years.

Old blueprints created by Nalro Grayhammer, the greatest ever dwarven engineer where dug up from engineering books within the vault of the great library of Kal’Omith. These blueprints, the first concept of the bridge ballista, were originally made to be used in the siege of the Shadow Castle during the dwarves attack on Oren, however were scrapped for a more simple approach through the use of just bombarding the walls. These blueprints were eventually put into use by the current Master Engineer Ogdan Frostbeard, in preparation for the attack on Norland.

 

Thus the Vath-Kahrkrumm (Wall Attacker) otherwise known as the bridge ballista, was put into production. An incredibly useful, yet fickle machine, it utilizes the same mechanics of an ordinary ballista, but instead of bolts it launches two powerful anchors made of black steel meant to be driven into the stone walls of a mighty fortress. In the wake of these anchors follows a bridge, made of rope and dubiously unsafe and flimsy wooden planks. Although strong enough for several armored dwarves to walk across at a time, the fragile bridge is prone to swaying in high winds, and can be easily broken through by a prepared defender.

 

The reliability of this war machine is low at best, and it is often prone to misfires, or simply not reaching it’s intended target. However, by time constraints and the expertise of Dwarven engineering inspectors, it was deemed ready for battle.


 

In Game Operation

 

Each ballista is mounted on wheels and is mobile, however only has the potential of one shot. Loading it and firing it is the same as a normal ballista, however after it’s first shot has been fired, it cannot be reloaded. If a shot does manage to hit, the siege moderator should worldedit a bridge of appropriate length to the target location. If defenders manage to hit the bridge with a siege weapon, it should be destroyed, and any on it at the time should fall or be damaged once the bridge is removed.

 

Suggested Rolling Stats

 

Perfect: 19-20

 

With a perfect shot I would suggest that the bridge land right on it’s target, with perhaps only a one block difference of high or low.

 

What a perfect attempt would look like:

https://i.gyazo.com/fad9a73a3c1a251c8846651eed7b538e.mp4

 

Good: 16-18

 

With a good shot, I would suggest the bridge land within the general area of it’s target, perhaps 3-5 blocks off in any direction, requiring the need to deploy ladders to reach it’s intended location.

 

Fair: 12-15

 

Although not terribly far off, a fair shot should land somewhere around 6-8 blocks from it’s target.

 

Bad: 9-11

 

Essentially a miss, this shot will land nowhere near it’s intended target, but may still be useful with a bit of ingenuity.

 

Fail: 1-9

 

The mechanism fails, causing the bridge to fire down into the trench, or the mechanism fails entirely.

 

What a failed attempt would look like:

https://i.gyazo.com/011688bc01bf1b9beaf8c4e9093fbaaf.mp4

 

What it looks like within minecraft:

097c7583934c383a1b0083bf6069bc8c.png


This lore is not set in stone by any means, and we are open to suggestion for changes that may help this piece get accepted. If any player or LM has an opinion or suggestion to make this happen, please do not hesitate to reply or message us.

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I like it. lore wise it would be likely that it would be created by engineers eventually for siege warfare. Could see it getting tangled or failing more times then it works since a large flying object is affected byt gravity and air. ntm in a siege arrows and everything would also be clanking off of it affecting its flight. I dont know why im typing so much nonsense xD

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you'd have problems with penetration into materials because you aren't getting that much velocity out of medieval siege weaponry

 

you've made a gigantic tandem grappling hook with a plank bridge attachment, but it won't stick into castle walls prob

 

altho carlo do gotta give u the credit for creativity

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12 hours ago, Destroyer_Bravo said:

you'd have problems with penetration into materials because you aren't getting that much velocity out of medieval siege weaponry

 

you've made a gigantic tandem grappling hook with a plank bridge attachment, but it won't stick into castle walls prob

 

altho carlo do gotta give u the credit for creativity

thank you sir although i disagree as black steel coming at stone very fast would most definitely penetrate a castle wall, it's only need to have enough of a grip to stabilize people walking along the bridge it creates. even still you could always just shoot the ground below a wall and then ladder up the side of the wall that way, the black steel arrow only needing to penetrate the ground

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3 hours ago, Malgonious said:

Nice try.  Denied.  Move to appropriate subsection.

Talk about conflict of interests 

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The numbers seem overturned tbh. You essentially have a 55% chance of getting an attachment. So let's say you bring 3 for example. You'd have a 9.11% chance of failing all three. Which means a 90.89% chance of successfully getting at least one. As well, on the scale of a castle the difference of even 8 blocks really isn't that much. Since the idea is to cross the gap and then pretty much use ladders up the wall, you only really need to hit the wall. 

On 4/17/2017 at 0:46 PM, Racker / Lefty said:

 need to deploy ladders to reach it’s intended location

 

 

The picture I attached would should the different levels (red is perfect, blue is second, green third, pink fourth). In the grand scheme of just trying to cross the gap it seems quite powerful. https://gyazo.com/ccfd5214e875f754654375f9aa63bc22

 

As well, just for an example, the bridge connecting the Krag to the mainland is 76 blocks (which is the shortest distance between the Krag -> Land & it stops on two separate stone pillars). I know mineman scale isn't perfect but each block being a meter, 76 blocks is about 83 yards for us Americans (8/10 the length of a football field). You would need an extreme amount of force to launch a bridge made of steel and wood across that large of a gap and then into a castle/mountain of stone. Not to mention the amount of tension to keep the bridge tight enough to walk across.

 

I think it's a good idea, but extremely  overpowered.

 

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2 minutes ago, Muddy_Buddy said:

The numbers seem overturned tbh. You essentially have a 55% chance of getting an attachment. So let's say you bring 3 for example. You'd have a 9.11% chance of failing all three. Which means a 90.89% chance of successfully getting at least one. As well, on the scale of a castle the difference of even 8 blocks really isn't that much. Since the idea is to cross the gap and then pretty much use ladders up the wall, you only really need to hit the wall. 

 

 

The picture I attached would should the different levels (red is perfect, blue is second, green third, pink fourth). In the grand scheme of just trying to cross the gap it seems quite powerful. https://gyazo.com/ccfd5214e875f754654375f9aa63bc22

 

As well, just for an example, the bridge connecting the Krag to the mainland is 76 blocks (which is the shortest distance between the Krag -> Land & it stops on two separate stone pillars). I know mineman scale isn't perfect but each block being a meter, 76 blocks is about 83 yards for us Americans (8/10 the length of a football field). You would need an extreme amount of force to launch a bridge made of steel and wood across that large of a gap and then into a castle/mountain of stone. Not to mention the amount of tension to keep the bridge tight enough to walk across.

 

I think it's a good idea, but extremely  overpowered.

 

thank you for your contribution, like I said it's open to editing due to it being a very raw concept and I have no problem with making it a lot less advantageous and more risk worthy

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I like the idea, could lead to a cool battle to look back on / take part in. However even though it is fantasy mineman magic rp setting, I couldn't really see this logically working without the influence of magic over greater distances or without the advantage of high ground. I would take influence from the ESO  cinematic. In that one the Daggerfall forces have a similar contraption, but it launches the anchors out ahead of time with the rope, which is then used as a guide as the bridges unravel.

 

You can see them in action here

 

This seems like you could logically get much more distance and velocity as you are only supporting the rope during the flight, rather than iron and planks. I see some issues like perhaps the anchors land to far apart for the bridge to fully unravel and of course, that sort of heavy rope is still a lot for a ballista bolt for carry behind it. Either way these bridges should be pretty easy to dislodge, perhaps falling off after a few minutes by gm call from people stampeding across in armor. Could say the planks are extended out onto the guide ropes by crank / spring, not to sure on lore regarding mechanical devices in lotc for that.

 

 

Similar to the video, I think any defending force should get once chance to dislodge the attached bridges once before forces get to cross, it isn't a simple contraption and it defeats a large part of a castles defense and should be treated as such. Also make sure to include some anchoring mechanism so the ballista end isn't pulled over the edge when the bridge is used.

 

Edit: Just realized the art you posted is the lore art for the video I linked, so you may have already intended for it to work this way, I assumed you wanted it working the For Honor way with the bridge flying out all at once

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Just stating this now, as with all lore pertaining to warclaim equipment this will have to be looked over by the war team to ensure it is balanced for said events.

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This Lore has been accepted. Moved to Implemented Lore, it will be sorted to it's appropriate category soon.

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