Re: Spelljammer Construction System (Part II)

>Actually, you could have eight or nine heavy catapults loaded at a time,
>and when you get into combat just have a couple men running from catapult
>to catapult, firing but not reloading.

Actually, no, that's not possible.  It can be done with smokepowder or
chemical propulsion weapons, but not with any torsion devices.  They
deteriorate over time,  Leave a catapult like that for 24 hours or so and
all you'll have accomplished is destroying your catapult. Now,  if you see
a battle coming and have time to load them all just before hand, that would
work pretty well.  They can sit for a while, just not for a length of time
which would make routinly running with loaded weapons feasible.

Of course,  running with a shipfull of loaded and run out bombards has its
own hazards.  But those should be pretty obvious.

"We look on the same stars,  the sky is common,  the same world surrounds
us.  What difference does it make by what pains each seeks the truth?  We
can not attain to so great a secret by one road..."
Symmachus,  "Memorial on the Occasion of the Removal of the Altar of
Victory from the Senate House" (392 AD)

westermeyer.3@???.edu
Paul William Westermeyer