Catapult Ammunition Speculation

[Prismaux]

I was thinking about catapults before we got the rework and thinking about how they would work and if we would have to give ammo to them. I think a cool gimmick would be to load them different kinds of materials:

Loading it with a cave-in boulder will make it deal 50% more damage and it will give it a 10 percent bigger AoE for 10 hits.

Loading it with 3 pieces of Marble will make the Catupult deal 2.5 times the damge, but it's attack speed will be lowered 2.5 times. Everytime the marble hits a target, there's a 1% chance that a Marble Flooring will drop.

You can load it with Marble or Stone Sculptures. They will do 300 damge but will break the Sculpture instantly. 

Desert Stones can be put in the catapult. They catapult will be loaded with them for 5 attacks. Deserts Stones will teleport on top of their targets, never missing.

Glass Spikes and Glass Castles can be loaded onto catapults and the ammo lasts for 10 hits and deals 400 damage. Upon impact, they will drop 2-3 Glass Shards, which can be used on new crafting recipes. Glass Spikes and Castles can also be hammered for 1 Glass Shard.

Freddo Films suggested an awesome idea: Depending on the gems used in the G.E.M.erator, the catapult will have different effects. I thought about something similar to that, about upgrading them with Gems and Living Logs, or loading them with gems. 

[torauma]

loading in the sculptures for 300 damage, isn't that just a cheaper gunpowder?

[MondayNight]

If something is laborious to use... almost none will use it. And this loading-stuff supposed mechanic sure sounds pretty laborious.

Think at the mentioned Cave-In boulders - vast majority of players, experienced ones included, camp on Forest shard: do you think someone will sit to carry boulders outside and to a specific location where you want to shoot them fire-by-fire at a specific target? Even with 300 dmg per hit, lets take DF for example: what's simpler - this high-flown Winona theoretical strat or.. pick Wolf, get 40 Blue Caps, 1 Hambat and.. YOLO?!

All OP's propositions sound amusing on paper for a side-ways project, at bottom of a list when you run out of things to amuse yourself with, not as viable strat to take-down enemies. Even current Winona catapults are expensive to be made and need quite a planning be done in mentioned DF case when you can just go Wolf and wreak DF day 3 with minimal resources.

[Fuffles]

I'd honestly like that, but instead use some common items, like for example bee mines, how I imagine it could work is if it has some ammo item in it, it uses that first, and then uses boulders again, I'd love to see things with barely any use become an ammo, like the napsack too

[Prismaux]

I think it 

2 hours ago, x0VERSUS1y said:

If something is laborious to use... almost none will use it. And this loading-stuff supposed mechanic sure sounds pretty laborious.

Think at the mentioned Cave-In boulders - vast majority of players, experienced ones included, camp on Forest shard: do you think someone will sit to carry boulders outside and to a specific location where you want to shoot them fire-by-fire at a specific target? Even with 300 dmg per hit, lets take DF for example: what's simpler - this high-flown Winona theoretical strat or.. pick Wolf, get 40 Blue Caps, 1 Hambat and.. YOLO?!

All OP's propositions sound amusing on paper for a side-ways project, at bottom of a list when you run out of things to amuse yourself with, not as viable strat to take-down enemies. Even current Winona catapults are expensive to be made and need quite a planning be done in mentioned DF case when you can just go Wolf and wreak DF day 3 with minimal resources.

I just mentioned it all like a fun side project- I do believe the whole thing is very gimmicky and that the devs would be better off putting their resources into the new character and the character refreshes. I just thought it would be something that would make the Catapults slighty more interesting, although it would be very situational. And mean, I don't think that anything added to game can be more powerful and practical than sending in Wolfgang without it becoming even more OP than him.

[GetNerfedOn]

This gives me an idea. All this posturing about ammo reminds me of that scene in PotC where they load the cannons with random shrapnel because they ran out of cannonballs.

I would gladly load my catapult with bent sporks, pebbles and planks thanks to this. 

[TurtleKitty]

Load them up with baby smallbirbs! The fortress shall FALL!  >:3

[Maxposting]

There are even different Catapult types for Meep's sake

Ballista

Ballistae were similar to giant crossbows and were designed to work through torsion. The projectiles were large arrows or darts made from wood with an iron tip. These arrows were then shot "along a flat trajectory" at a target. Ballistae were accurate, but lacked firepower compared with that of a mangonel or trebuchet. Because of their immobility, most ballistae were constructed on site following a siege assessment by the commanding military officer.^[35]

Springald

The springald's design resembles that of the ballista, being a crossbow powered by tension. The springald's frame was more compact, allowing for use inside tighter confines, such as the inside of a castle or tower, but compromising its power.^[35]

Mangonel

This machine was designed to throw heavy projectiles from a "bowl-shaped bucket at the end of its arm". Mangonels were mostly used for “firing various missiles at fortresses, castles, and cities,” with a range of up to 1300 feet. These missiles included anything from stones to excrement to rotting carcasses. Mangonels were relatively simple to construct, and eventually wheels were added to increase mobility.^[35]

Onager

Mangonels are also sometimes referred to as Onagers. Onager catapults initially launched projectiles from a sling, which was later changed to a "bowl-shaped bucket". The word Onager is derived from the Greek word onagros for "wild ass", referring to the "kicking motion and force"^[35] that were recreated in the Mangonel's design. Historical records regarding onagers are scarce. The most detailed account of Mangonel use is from “Eric Marsden's translation of a text written by Ammianus Marcellius in the 4th Century AD” describing its construction and combat usage.^[36]

Trebuchet

Trebuchets were probably the most powerful catapult employed in the Middle Ages. The most commonly used ammunition were stones, but "darts and sharp wooden poles" could be substituted if necessary. The most effective kind of ammunition though involved fire, such as "firebrands, and deadly Greek Fire". Trebuchets came in two different designs: Traction, which were powered by people, or Counterpoise, where the people were replaced with "a weight on the short end".^[35] The most famous historical account of trebuchet use dates back to the siege of Stirling Castle in 1304, when the army of Edward I constructed a giant trebuchet known as Warwolf, which then proceeded to "level a section of [castle] wall, successfully concluding the siege".^[36]

Couillard

A simplified trebuchet, where the trebuchet's single counterweight is split, swinging on either side of a central support post.

[seffard]

That's not a bad idea, those numbers might be hard to tweak for many kinds of ammo though. 

[Prismaux]

1 hour ago, seffard said:

That's not a bad idea, those numbers might be hard to tweak for many kinds of ammo though. 

Yeah, I had no idea about the numbers. They are hard to balance.