I don't really believe that Bigger is Always Better. 3x3 is a pretty sizeable construction. Especially when
massive creatures fit in a 1x1x1 tile. I would have to say that anything larger than that begins to almost seem unreasonable unless you have a particularly large embark area
and are maintaining an above-ground fortress. Otherwise the necessity of needing such large defensive constructions is not there.
To put it in perspective, a workshop is 3x3. A forge is typically not a small cramped place, not especially when you have tons of large piles of bars sitting around. 3x3 is a pretty well-sized building. 5x5 if you add walls to it and make it a proper building. 5x5 would be size of a good sized house. Most certainly twice as large as some home's peasants might live in. Defensive artillery that size is a little unnecessary imo.
Dwarves are mountain-dwellers. How much range can you need in a cavern or tunnel? Not quite
that much, typically.
Range? What is range? Engines have good range.
3x3 engines are rather LARGE engines as it is! I've honestly never bothered to use ballista or cats in DF, so i'm not familiar with range, honestly. One of my old neighbors built a crude homebrew light ballista. The thing shot, from the end zone of a football field, about halfway across the field. That's approximately 50 yards. With a
light home-made ballista with low-pound string tension. You increase the pound tension on the string, you get more spring, more power. You also increase the pressure on the rest of the ballista. From what I understand, he cranked the power up too high and the entire stock of the ballista cracked apart.
The stock on said light ballista was probably approximately 6 or 7 feet long. A 3x3 ballista in Dwarf Fort is probably larger than that. 3x3 is a large area. It's a small building or hut. That's probably larger than that light ballista was.
Maybe range needs to be tweaked and not size.
Siege weapons don't need to be larger.The modifications to Siege we need are as follows:
- A broader assortment of siege weapons
Siege Camps, Siege Ladders, Siege towers, Tower shields/Mobile Cover, Digging/Sapping, Battering rams, Trebuchet, etc.
Simply put: More options.
- A broader use of siege weapons
Enemies gaining the ability to build and use siege weapons on the fly. Assuming that there is a supply of wood in the area, or that the besiegers cart in supplies.
- Engineers
The use of engineers for the designing siege camps, fortifications, and siege equipment. More specifically, the addition of enemy engineers on the battle field who will direct and oversee building and production for the purpose of besieging and enemy. Goblin Engineers. What happens when you sally forth and murder all the engineers? Guess there isn't going to be much of a siege!
Engineers should also be considered a combat class, as well. They should have armor and weapons to fight with. What if the siege engines get attacked? They need to defend themselves and the engines. Having participated in SCA Heavy Armored Combat with Siege Engines (Treb, Cat, Ball), siege operators do go into battle armed.
- A broader use of siege tactics and assaults
Enemies actually assessing the situation and using different tactics/weaponry to get into a Fort. VARIATION is KEY. Maybe one time they'll build two catapults and a ballista. Next time they build a ballista and five siege ladders. Next time they try a battering ram. Then they try building a siege camp and holding out. Maybe they'll show up and just attack and do no formal assault on the base and try to get you to come out. We don't want to see them build a catapult 42 times in a row when they could try other things.
- Scaling Z-levels
Enemies should be able to make ladders, rope ladders, grappling hooks, or even try to scale a rough-hewn (not smoothed) wall. Enemies should try to get over the top. This is assuming that you have above-ground fortifications or walls that could be climbed over in the first place. No walls to climb over? This can't be an option. Have a cliff at the back of your base? Enemies should be able to drop a ladder or a rope, or try to climb down in. I believe Toady mentioned he's working on maybe rope ladders to help get into subterranean caverns, so it's a start.
- A broader range of ammunitions
Grapeshot, Chain-shot, humanoid or animal heads & carcasses, flaming debris, molotov kegtails -- a variety of random stuff we can throw for lulz and fun. A good use for too many cats!!!!
- Mobility
Siege engines used in assaults should be designed to be mobile. They're big, they're slow, but they have wheels. Even small cats, trebs, and ballista are typically on wheels for ease of movement. Those things can be heavy. A small portable ram is one thing for doors, but to take down metal gates a large ram would be necessary. Men moving a huge ram by hand is not only slow, but the men will be tired out by the time it comes to actually fighting in melee. Wheeled engines are a necessity.
- Firing Angles
Firing angles should be added for siege weapons. In order to get a maximum distance on any given projectile is to fire it at a 45degree angle. This would likely mean travel across Z-levels, as well. I believe the siege equipment with the greatest arc would be the trebuchet. This likely would make it the most ineffective weapon in tunnels and small caverns, and likely lead it to not being used by dwarves. Catapults and Ballista have smaller firing angles, but also require a 45degree angle for maximum distance. However, it is a lot easier to modify the firing angle on a Cat or Balli. Simply lift it up and put blocks under the front to raise the firing angle, or put blocks under the back to lower the firing angle. You can modify the range on the weapons this way. I've literally seen it done. In person. By people I know. Firing angles could be used to lob things over walls, or to fire directly down into group of enemy combatants. Low angles create shorter range, but would be useful in tunnels. Want more range in a tunnel? Dig out the level above it and make it 2 Z-levels for extra firing distance. I admit, though, adding options to change firing distance/angle could be a little on the complex and unecessary side. Perhaps simply an automatic system, or a "high angle/low angle" toggle option.
- Material/Structural Damage
Most Importantly: the ability to take down walls, gates, bridges with siege weapons to make a siege weapons&tactics actually useful.. I mean, this was the purpose of siege engines, really. Rain destruction upon your foes. Shatter their hopes and dreams... and walls! It wasn't easy, but after a bit of pounding they'd eventually fall apart.
The problem with Trebuchets is that they weren't exactly easy to set up and just as easy to take down. Unlike Catapults and Balistae that could be wheeled to the battlefield.
-It also had enough of an arc to shoot over tall walls.
Cats can be given the arc to shoot over walls too, though it probably
was much easier with a good Treb. And maybe easier at a longer range, too.
Trebs, however, weren't too difficult to set up.
CRAC (mouseover for more info on it, incase anyone doesn't know that) had a nice treb put together, and they took it apart. It got carted around to events. The same with their balli's and cats. They got taken apart and carted around. Taking them apart and putting them back together again isn't all that difficult. Peasants could easily be trained on how to dismantle and re-assemble them effectively. It was harder to actually build one from scratch than it was to put them back together.
Many peoples, I would imagine, used this tactic. Rather than making siege engines on the spot, build them at home and cart them to the siege locations and put them back together. I would imagine carting the siege weapons in pieces in wagons would have been easier than carting the actual engines around themselves. You could probably fit parts for a few engines into one large wagon, as opposed to having to pull a ton of different already-constructed engines. Though i'm sure that happened too in some cases.
Though more complicated siege tactics would also need to be developed in conjunction so that siege engines don't end up wiping out their own infantry the enemy I mean, dwarves are ok in that department... mostly
Well, Toady just needs to work on Siege AI, really. Well-trained siege operators watch the battle and pick their targets. You move your engines and modify firing angles appropriately in order to hit where you need to hit in a battle. Again,
CRAC did just this during SCA War events. You have a well-trained crew watching the battle and you fire where your support is needed, typically not at your troops. However, siege engines can be pretty accurate, barring outside factors such as wind. In those cases, however, you just compensate for the wind. Those guys in
CRAC were pretty good marksmen. One of their engines was dubbed 'Kingsbane' simply for the number of times it had killed a king.