Re: alchemists ballista bolt

Static said <>

<Um, "alcmemist's fire" *is* greek fire without the word "Greek" in
it and with a slightly simpler game mechanic (e.g. igniting in air). And,
greek/alchemist's fire already has things like pitch and tar oil in it.>

"Rumors about its composition include such chemicals as liquid
petroleum, naphtha, burning pitch, sulphur, resin, quicklimeand bitumen,
along with some other "secret ingredient". The exact composition,
however, remains unknown."

 I thought in the 2e mechanics it didn't ignite on its own.  The self
ignition is pretty critical to its use, otherwise it couldn't used in
the phlogiston as it would explode on your own ship if you tried to
light a fuse.  As I understood it greek fire was stronger but has to be
lit, whereas alchemists fire is less effective but lights itself.

<Gunpowder is silly, since concussive blasts from the relatively weak
explosions will do effectively nothing that the greek/alchemist's fire
already won't, especially against ship hulls. (Except maybe spread the
greek fire better, in which case the powder would have to be inside the
liquid. Not a bad idea, really.)>
That was the idea, the powder wasn't placed to do damage but to splatter
the stuff.  It has to be contained and packed other wise it just burns,
instead of exploding (ie the trails of gunpowder leading to the big kegs
that are so classic).  So it can't really be mixed it in with the
liquid.

<What you really want is just a big hollow ball filled with alchemist's
fire to use from a catapult. I think these were already covered in Lost
Ships as a means of delivering toxic payloads (green slime, greek fire,
etc.).>
This would work too, though most people on the list seem to think that
ballista's are more accurate than catapults so thats why I went with
that.  Also with the ball some of the stuff splashes away from the ship.
With the bolt, the blast charge at the end pushes most everything
towards the ship.

<Crisco. :) There's enough oxygen in water to light alchemist's fire,
IMO. And greek fire was feared because it could continue to burn even in
water. Put that together, and you've got something that goes boom. Your
wax/crisco idea is the only way to really seal it.>
Greek fire could burn ON water not IN water, you need thermite for
something that can burn underwater.   Thermite...hmmmm theres an idea.
"As it was reputed to be inextinguishable and burned even on water, it caused panic and dread."
Regardless the things are already sealed because they have to airtight
(sealed against gas molecules) which means its also watertight (since
water molecules are generally larger).
It is implied (maybe flat out stated somewhere I don't remember)  water
does not contain enough oxygen to ignite alchemists fire, because one of
the methods for putting ones self out is the complete submersion in
water.

<A nice expensive, potentially dangerous to yourself weapon... :)>
lol.  All weapons can be potentially dangerous to the self, some just
more so than others :)  I imagine the jammers who are squeamish about
using smoke powder because of its potential danger to the users would
look at this thing with abject horror.



Proverb:  Give a man a fire and he will be warm for a day.  Light a man
on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life.



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