Re: alchemists ballista bolt

Howdy,

In our last episode, Sam C. said:
>"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."

        Yup, that's about right.  Where is this quote from?

> 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.

        To me it looks like they were making a "super-flask-of-oil", one that
doesn't require a full round action to light.  (Like how a sunrod replaces
a torch.)  I figured it was accepted that it was a replacement for greek
fire, too.  (Which is why I've heard much chatter about "alchemist's fire
projectors", and less chatter about "greek fire projectors".) *shrug*  Who
knows what people are thinking, but that's how I see it.  If you want to
keep greek and alchemist's fire seperate, then be my guest. :)

><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.

        :) Check again.  I never said mixed with the liquid, thought it was
badly phrased on my part.

><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.

        Ballistas also threw stones, so don't let that limit you.  (I've seen
renaissance etchings of 'em.  They looked cool.)  As for the "blast charge"
you mention, I'm not sure what you mean by that.  A big long tube of burning
stuff isn't much different to me from a sphere of burning stuff.  (Wait, did
you mean "shaped charge"?)

><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.

        :) Hehe...  Maybe that was the "secret ingridient".  Looks like I had
something else confused.  I was under the impression that phosphorus was
used as the igniting agent in alchemist's fire.  For some reason I thought
phosphorus also burned it water, but google tells me that it doesn't.  My
bad.

>"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).

        Right.  I meant that if it broke, water may not stop it.  And, if
there was phosphorus involved, it would ignite anyway.  Though, as I
mentioned, I was off on that point.

>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.

        Yup, it states that right in the description.

><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.

        ... becoming the perfect victims! ;)

-Static

--
"It eats you, starting with your bottom."