Re: Battle - ballistics.

> I won't argue with you on this, but I am a professional military historian

<chuckle> don't you just hate it when the person you're arguing with
comes out with something like that? it's always something of a shock..

> >The fact that ballistae
> >all use the same size ammunition (at least in my campaign) means
> >kinetic energy must be higher to get more damage.  Thus speed would
> >increase (as mass is constant).
>
> Assuming they do use the same size ammunition.  I haven't seen that stated
> one way or another.

IIRC it's explicitly stated in the concordance of arcane space that all
ballistae use the same size bolt. i have this irritating habit of begin
able to remember entire rulebooks.

anyway, go figure: the ranges of the ship weapons is the single most
illogical facet of the game (esp. as they're given different values in
different places).
personally i ignore it and go with the flow, as it does provide a
modicum of game balance. the easy way around this is to assume that the
ballistae *don't* use the same ammunition (which struck me as odd
anyway..)

however, from my (albeit limited) understanding of ballistics, physical
disruption of the target (ie: damage) is more closely related to
momentum. given this..

the amount of kinetic energy imparted by the ballista is dependant only
on the mechanism (force times distance, remember?). let's call it E, and
the mass of the bolt m.

as everyone should know, 	E = 1/2 mv^2
		thus:		v = sqrt( 2E/m )
		and:	momentum = mv = sqrt( 2Em )


so, you have a trade-off between range and damage. a heavy bolt will be
slower but hurt more *for the same ballista*. all things being equal
however, a heavier ballista would have longer range.
perhaps if you're very fond of bookkeeping you could have special rules
for unusually light/heavy ammunition, but frankly i don't think it's
worth it. physics is screwy enough in SJ to make such arguments tenuous
at best, and i think it's more interesting as an intellectual diversion
than anything else..




--
rad.

I'd like the world to be saved, once and for all,
so that I don't have to do it again.