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Author Topic: Exploding Ballista bolts? Do want!  (Read 4621 times)

RebelZhouYuWu

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Re: Exploding Ballista bolts? Do want!
« Reply #15 on: August 01, 2008, 09:23:32 pm »

Lets not stop with corspes though.

Goblin at your door?  Launch a caged dragon at them!
Elves pissing you off?  Fire off the soap blocks!
Humans camping outside your walls? Throw pots of magma at them!
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KaelGotDwarves

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Re: Exploding Ballista bolts? Do want!
« Reply #16 on: August 01, 2008, 09:25:45 pm »

I guess I speak for all DF players when I say we just want more things that explode. Period.

RebelZhouYuWu

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Re: Exploding Ballista bolts? Do want!
« Reply #17 on: August 01, 2008, 09:26:51 pm »

If you want to see explosions give your dwarves the firebreath tag.
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Tamren

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Re: Exploding Ballista bolts? Do want!
« Reply #18 on: August 01, 2008, 09:34:00 pm »

We need spiked flails. That are on fire. Just like Kael's avatar, but with less safe and more boom.

You know those ball n chain things that ships used to fire at each other with cannons? Do you think those would work if launched by catapult?

Imagine two balls bouncing along the ground dragging a chain between them....
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SocietalEclipse

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Re: Exploding Ballista bolts? Do want!
« Reply #19 on: August 02, 2008, 04:12:54 am »

You know those ball n chain things that ships used to fire at each other with cannons? Do you think those would work if launched by catapult?

Imagine two balls bouncing along the ground dragging a chain between them....
That is chain shot.  Pleasant stuff. :D  Though I've read wonderful stories about grape shot as well.  I forget which naval battle it was but I read about juvenile sailor getting hit by a load of grape shot in the abdomen and the entire contents of his chest cavity exploded behind him to decorate the wall up to the next deck.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain-shot


Some sort of pitch manufacturing/collecting process would be nice.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_%28resin%29

When I was a child the particular pine trees we had in our yard produced so much excess sap you could collect it on a stick and make torches.

"The heating (dry distilling) of wood causes tar and pitch to drip away from the wood and leave behind charcoal."  We already have charcoal production so it fits right in as a secondary product.
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MercDraco

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Re: Exploding Ballista bolts? Do want!
« Reply #20 on: August 02, 2008, 04:35:12 am »

Expolding Ballista Bolt recipe 101 from the dragons mighty cookbook.

1 Metal Ballista Bolt
1 very Drunk Dwarf

Tie Dwarf to Bolt,
Light Beard
Fire at Will
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RebelZhouYuWu

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Re: Exploding Ballista bolts? Do want!
« Reply #21 on: August 02, 2008, 04:45:17 am »

How about we fire a barrel of ale out that will cause every dwarf to go into a trance and kill everything in their path to the ale.
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SocietalEclipse

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Re: Exploding Ballista bolts? Do want!
« Reply #22 on: August 02, 2008, 05:25:34 am »

The only drinks we currently have that sound like they are flammable enough for real explosions are sunshine, river spirits, and swamp whiskey.  Sunshine being a high quality (not blinding :D) version of moonshine and river spirits/swamp whiskey being like the $5 dollar vodka you get in a plastic bottle that just screams "drink me if you dare!"  Even 60 proof or so isn't really all that flammable.  And just because something burns doesn't mean it will explode with enough force to do anything beyond scorch/burn the area around it with a fireball.  I think it's safe to say Bacardi 151 or Everclear is beyond the technology of even dwarves.  And yes, I've tried making useful bombs with flammable liquids before and it's not as easy as you'd think. ::)
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Makrond

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Re: Exploding Ballista bolts? Do want!
« Reply #23 on: August 02, 2008, 06:23:30 am »

Meh, explosions are less about 'burn' and more about 'violent expansion of gas'. The actual burning is more or less ancillary. Awesome, but not a vital part of 'boom'.

Liquid fire would still be fun to fire in a hollow-point ballista bolt.
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Tamren

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Re: Exploding Ballista bolts? Do want!
« Reply #24 on: August 02, 2008, 10:52:07 am »

Explosive would require gunpowder and thats something a long way off for this game. But flame stuff using flammable materials and liqueur is perfectly workable. Whether or not your booze is high proof enough is just a matter of who is drinking it and how good your distiller is.

If you could get your glassmakers or possibly even pottery dwarves to make disposable liquid containers with attachments for a fuse of some sort. You could then use them to deliver all sorts of things. Acids when alchemy shows up. Maybe nitroglycerin someday.

I mean seriously guys its not that hard to do. Ive seen people make exploding sling bullets using a pottery wheel and pine sap (pitch).
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Sunday

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Re: Exploding Ballista bolts? Do want!
« Reply #25 on: August 02, 2008, 11:33:07 am »

Actually, I don't think it's all that difficult to make high proof alcohol.  It isn't particularly safe, of course, but who cares about that?  Real moonshine can approach 200 proof - and it doesn't take super high technology. 

Of course, if it gets just a little too hot, then you might have a problem. 

One of my buddies has been distilling off and on for twenty years, and while making huge amounts of high proof liquor safely does take some serious technology, it is certainly possible to make smaller amounts without serious risk.  And, of course, I think that the possibility of exploding stills in DF mode should be one more thing to worry about.  Possibly only with low skill brewers, but still.

And yes, exploding catapult/ballista ammo would be awesome.
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Duke 2.0

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Re: Exploding Ballista bolts? Do want!
« Reply #26 on: August 02, 2008, 11:44:14 am »


 Possible dwarven execution: Drinking impossibly high proof alcohol.

 Possibility: Create a metal that can only be made at a forge, which can only be made into ammo. The metal would vaporize at scorching temperatures, but be fine underground. Create some underground pillboxes, and have dwarves shoot them at enemies.

 The bolts should turn into gas, resembling "Beer bomb explosions." At least, in theory.
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Virex

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Re: Exploding Ballista bolts? Do want!
« Reply #27 on: August 02, 2008, 12:14:05 pm »

And yes, I've tried making useful bombs with flammable liquids before and it's not as easy as you'd think. ::)

Try using inflamable powders. They're a lot easier to turn into a fireball.
Come to think of it, Flour should combust if it's mixed well enough with air.

Anyhow, if dwarves can create sunshine, they have got some sort of distilling process worked out, which means they could make pure alcohol. And pure alcohol can be used in molotov-coctail like grenades, though it'd probably be less effective then octane or the unrefined oil used by the ancient greeks and romans. And why don't we have natural gas to go with the coal deposits? That ought to give a nice fireball.
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Tamren

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Re: Exploding Ballista bolts? Do want!
« Reply #28 on: August 02, 2008, 01:53:27 pm »

Natural gas deposits could crack the mountain in half... How would you harvest it safely?

And come to think of it guys we have everything we need to make thermite! :D
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RebelZhouYuWu

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Re: Exploding Ballista bolts? Do want!
« Reply #29 on: August 02, 2008, 01:54:08 pm »

How we just wait till the Magic arc so we can launch flame balls of fire at our enemies.
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