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[Jackrabbit]

I will know I'm in heaven if I meet Jesus and he's wearing a shirt saying "I roll twenties" and on the back it has "most of the time".

[Shade-o]

Incidentally, the story of David and Goliath is annoying me. What is exceptional or inspiring about it? A sling is a deadly weapon of war, capable of crushing bones, shattering armour and piercing organs. Goliath being killed from having his skull caved in is no more notable than 'Man With Sword Stabs, Kills Man Without Sword'.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

My Bible in History teacher actually theorizes that the Arc of the Covenant was a radiological weapon, and that's why Goliath was so absurdly large, due to the Arc ravaging Goliath's hometown some thirty years earlier, when he would have been in the womb.

[Leafsnail]

Incidentally, the story of David and Goliath is annoying me. What is exceptional or inspiring about it? A sling is a deadly weapon of war, capable of crushing bones, shattering armour and piercing organs. Goliath being killed from having his skull caved in is no more notable than 'Man With Sword Stabs, Kills Man Without Sword'.

It's a fair point.  Slings can cause a hell of a lot of damage if used right.

I'm thinking there's probably some interesting stuff to be had in interpreting biblical stories as metaphors.  I mean... many of the stories give out a grotesque moral message if boiled down.

[Shade-o]

Let's see. Goliath was strong, well equipped and huge.

David was small, weak and poor.

David used his sling to instantly kill Goliath.

Therefore:

Guns Slings are the great equaliser.

[alway]

Using slings to beat up another person? Big deal.

Similarly, the Finns made use of sling-launched Molotov cocktails in the Winter War against Soviet tanks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sling_(weapon)#Slings_today
The Finns can do better.

See also: Trebuchets, the combination of slings and catapults!
aka: "Oh sh** they have one of those? Time to fetch my white flag...."

[Sergius]

There was actually a program in Discovery or History channel. The freaking thing basically made a meter long hole in a boulder. And it was VERY accurate - the boulder had a bulls eye painted on it, hit it squarely in the center. The conclusion was that the fight was very unfair, because Goliath basically brought a knife to a gunfight.

They latter showed that it had very little trouble penetrating a metal chest plate.

I believe in one of his books Terry Pratchett brings up the same issue.

[alway]

There was actually a program in Discovery or History channel. The freaking thing basically made a meter long hole in a boulder. And it was VERY accurate - the boulder had a bulls eye painted on it, hit it squarely in the center. The conclusion was that the fight was very unfair, because Goliath basically brought a knife to a gunfight.

They latter showed that it had very little trouble penetrating a metal chest plate.

I believe in one of his books Terry Pratchett brings up the same issue.

Which leaves us with the REAL moral of the story: You will always win by a combination of stealth and superior technology.

heh, you were right, it IS fun to re-interpret these things!

[Shade-o]

They're awesome in Total War, too. Europa Barborarum mod, get control of the Balearic Islands and Rhodes and you have the most powerful armour-piercing force in the game.

Of course, they're only economical if you're actually fighting heavy infantry or cavalry. If you decide to invade Britain with them supporting an elite heavy infantry army, you're screwed. Turns out when your enemy are raging semi-naked barbarians, plain arrows work best.

I most definitely did not invade Britain as Carthage with an extremely expensive heavy infantry army. That would have been silly.

[Sergius]

And don't get me started on the Halflings in Master of Magic armed with adamantine sling stones!

[Shade-o]

That sounds awfully expensive.

[Eugenitor]

And useless. Shoudln't they be using slade instead? Adamantine rocks hit about as hard as styrofoam.

From that Wikipedia link:

Writing might include the name of the owning military unit or commander or might be more imaginative: "Take this," "Ouch," and even "For Pompey's backside" added insult to injury, whereas dexa (catch!) is just sarcastic.

Win.

[kuro_suna]

Let's see. Goliath was strong, well equipped and huge.

David was small, weak and poor.

David used his sling to instantly kill Goliath.

Realistically though any human more than two meters tall will be physically weak as a result of the Square-cube_law.

[Shade-o]

Until quite recently people were much smaller due to malnutrition, so simply getting a proper diet and avoiding any crippling illness would have made Goliath a giant among men, especially compared to a tiny shepherd-boy.

[Sergius]

That sounds awfully expensive.

It's not expensive. All you need is to have adamantine within the city borders, and an alchemist guild. You don't actually use up any resources . Also, ridiculously common if you start in the other Plane: it's about as plentiful as silver or gold is on ours.

Expensive IRL (or what passes as RL in a fantasy game), well. Duh. But if this was real life, they would recover all their used stones after a battle instead of having ammo magically vanish after use.