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[RavingManiac]

Currently, my fortress has a corridor with an exceptional quality ballista battery at the end. Said ballistae reliably line the walls with broken ballista bolts, and the siege operators flee as soon as the enemy army gets close enough to actually be hit. I am quite sure that in real life, even badly made ballistae did not regularly fire their projectiles 45 degrees to the side.

The accuracy of ballistae should be increased, or at least made moddable.

[Pilsu]

Same applies to crossbows. Projectile mechanics as a whole are broken

Siege operating should probably disable fear much like hunting

[Rowanas]

Or be made into a proper military job. Nowhere in history (that I know of) were siege engines operated by peasants. Trebuchet and catapult crews were often a dedicated and elite few because they had to ensure the well-being of something that could swing the tide of battle where a line of men could not.

[Footkerchief]

Siege engines are a broken placeholder.  Toady's going to be working on sieges soon after the upcoming release, which means everything about siege engines and operators is likely to change dramatically.

[zagibu]

The trick is to make something like that:

Code: [Select]

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX..........................
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX /
===..........===.+....................+<--
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX \
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Entry is on the left. The corridor with monsters has to be separated from the ballista by an inaccessible corridor connecting both with +-signs (fortifications) (this way, the operator doesn't flee). The equal signs represent bridges that can be retracted to capture the monsters in the target corridor, so that unskilled operators have all time in the world to hit them.

[thobal]

Or be made into a proper military job. Nowhere in history (that I know of) were siege engines operated by peasants. Trebuchet and catapult crews were often a dedicated and elite few because they had to ensure the well-being of something that could swing the tide of battle where a line of men could not.

elite though they may have been, they were(especially in the premodern period) independent contractors.

[Rowanas]

True, but still military contractors.

[Footkerchief]

Blackmagma Inc.

[Lord Shonus]

Since mercenaries, historically, were often far more likely to stand their ground than native troops, I think you made the OP's point for him.

[Neonivek]

Since mercenaries, historically, were often far more likely to stand their ground than native troops, I think you made the OP's point for him.

Yes but it wasn't because they were mercenaries so to speak.

[Lord Shonus]

Since nobody paid much for unreliable mercenaries, it kinda was.

[Neonivek]

Since nobody paid much for unreliable mercenaries, it kinda was.

Not exactly what I meant.

[Tack]

... Or we could find a way to make it that a legendary siege operator, with finely crafted ballista and bolts, actually hits something 70% of the time. That would be really helpful.
The fear thing too.

[Dvergar]

Since nobody paid much for unreliable mercenaries, it kinda was.

There have been plenty of examples of unreliable mercenaries, one example being the Romans enlisting the Visagoths, mercenaries weren't always highered because they were good, but sometimes because the enlisting state had no other way of raising an army (Sicilian Wars, Hundred Years Wars, Buccaneers)

[Rowanas]

A lot of early mercenaries were hired because it was more like protection money to stop them targeting you. *cough* early mongols *cough*