Something cool where they test randam weapons against a fake human skull is zombiegoboom they use fake blood and use make shift weapons or professionally made weapons
edges back in again
There’s also this article where Nikolas Lloyd (Lindybeige on Youtube) rhapsodises in detail about the virtues (and the disadvantages) of the sling in ancient warfare.
edges out, whispering “slings are coooooool…”
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I did some reading in other forums about the merit of slings. The reason why they are pretty deadly is that trained slingers can hit accurately to about 300 meters, the projectile doesn’t really slow down and the material used can be very dense (like lead), and it deals damage to armoured units via concussive force (like warhammers) as opposed to other projectile weapons which use penetration (and since we likely don’t have anything that can penetrate armour except bows at close range or possibly spears but I’d rather not get into a melee yet…).
It does not do a whole lot against shields, so you are going to have to flank them before slingers could be effective. The Roman pilum, IMO, was a good weapon against shields but we don’t have those weapons yet.
Edit: Why do I have a cake near my avatar?
Lindybeige! I disliked his parting shots in the Bren LMG vs MG42 videos even though I agreed with most of what he did say there, however. Most of his other video I do agree with. Shadiversity and the Military History Visualized are other channels I’d recommend.
I loved slingers since Rome Total War 1, even when archers had better stats. I will be reading that article for more information.
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Good points, but I don’t think we have either the lead to make such ammo or the trained slingers to effectively utilise such tactics, still slings do seem a better fit for our rebellion, at least until we can get some real rifle production going then bows.
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Maybe it’s your birthday.
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Interesting. I wonder if clay bullets created more of a penetration threat or more ballistic damage by shattering on impact. Something like a primative hallow point.
That article was good. Some of the conjecture seems rediculous like the sling as siege artillery bit, but most of his points seemed pretty good. Particularly the bits about formations and siege warfare. I suspect that both had more to do with the sling falling out of favor than “fashion.”
I’m thinking less siege artillery and more as a harassment weapon: having rocks fall from the sky at regular intervals will sap the morale of the defenders, after all.
Still doesn’t seem particularly likely. Unlike an arrow the sling stone is dependent on the energy generated by the throw for its power. Once it is thrown it will quickly loose energy to friction with the air much like a musketball. A musketball falling from the sky at terminal velocity generally doesn’t have enough to energy to kill.
There is a bit of a difference between a 25g musket ball and a 75g sling bullet, or a 150g rock though.
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Sure but a lead musket ball is much more dense then a 150g rock which is correspondingly larger which creates more air resistance. It probably wouldn’t tickle to get smacked on an unprotected head but I doubt it would kill or even seriously injure.
But if we’re talking terminal velocity only, then should both rock and musket ball be at roughly the same velocity by the time they hit the ground?
(Note: I am very bad at physics)
Without calculating for air resistance yes but since we live on in an atmosphere the feather falls much slower than the marble and all that.
Just think about throwing that same rock straight up in the air as hard and you could and then letting it hit you in the head. Do you think you are going to die?
That depends on how far I’m throwing it up. If we’re assuming long slings, then we’re talking arcs of 150-200 metres. That rock could be falling from 30-40 metres up.
Then again, this is all conjecture - you may be right - and I’m not sure @Havenstone wants us to clutter up his nice neat thread with a 300-post discussion about the utility of long slings in pre-modern sieges.
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That’s the whole thing with terminal velocity. Once you hit it you don’t go any faster no matter how high up you went in the first place because gravity can’t pull down any faster than the air resistance at a certain point in a fall. At less than a 90 degree angle the object will maintain some of its forward momentum but a slinger having to lob his bullet over a wall, and the bullets already relatively unareodynamic shape is working against it.
I agree on the off-topicness though so I’ll leave it there.
I always think: if it has not been used widely in history, there’s a reason for that.
Never mind the fact that we can be walking air rifles.
@Bagelthief
Well, said weapon was actually widely used but fell out of favour compare to other weaponry after sometime (this is extremely vague, I know). It is important to know why it fell out of favour, to see if switching to another weapon would be better or necessary, or if the current weapon is actually better in your situation or merely good enough.
Air resistance is the reason for terminal velocity and without air resistance terminal velocity would not be an issue. It is not just how aerodynamic the shape is though, the mass of the object also factors into terminal velocity and higher mass means higher terminal velocity. If air rifles have been around for a while in nations outside of the Hegemony, then their bullets might be more aerodynamic.
On a different note, I am looking forward to discussions with neighboring great powers as it seems obvious that while overthrowing the Hegemony might still be possible without foreign assistance, it would be much easier with it and I think a MC that was well-read would have picked up likely historical parallels. I am curious whether there are any real world examples of rebellions against a great power that succeeded without the assistance of another great power. I think my MCs would not be very concerned about the ethics of allying temporarily with any other great powers as the Hegemony is (as far as my MCs are concerned) very close to evil incarnate and in any case “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. As Winston Churchill said, “If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons.”
I wouldn’t mind chatting with the Halassurq over the Hegemony. Mostly because I also think that by the end of the series some ten years will have passed. I mean, the Karagonds won’t fall overnight. As the years go by and the rebellion gets closer to surer victory, foreign nations seeking to fight a common enemy wouldn’t be shocking.
But I also think there might be something more than just ending the Hegemony. Maybe the series will take a mroe fantastical turn as we go to search beynd the Xaoslands. Or maybe I’m just trying to see too many Mistborn parallells.
On another topic, what do you all think of education? Do your MCs think of putting public schools on the map after all’s said and done? And hoe would education even be?
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Considering they seem to be another variety of theocratic slavers themselves (even though they may still be somewhat “better” than the Hegemony), I’m not sure the Halassurqs would be particularly interested in chatting to my mc.
Oh, I’d like that, apart from hopefully getting to study and wield Xaos magic for real, my mc would prefer to have the Abhumans and whatever is left of Brorachia and possibly even those unquiet dead as allies, or at least ensure their neutrality rather than fight them, particularly since I think Halassur might take nearly as much issue as the Hegemony does with a new kind of world order that does not practice chattel slavery or even the death “penalty”. 
If we want to spread industrialization and truly become a modern nation setting up an effective public education system is absolutely essential, in fact after feeding the population this would probably be my regime’s number one priority. Like I said by not even trying to properly educate most of its population on the basis of that rotten caste system the Hegemony is wasting a huge amount of potential. Plus an education system is also great for inculcating the people with a certain set of values and building a new imagined community to replace both the Xthonic faith and Shayardene (and other) nationalism.
Even if my mc could bring himself to “ally” with Slavers it is clear that Halassur covets the absolutely vital region of Erezza (home to most of the mineral wealth needed for industry and Avezia, the place my mc wants as his own capital) and Nyral (the home of Skepticism). These are regions my rebellion absolutely cannot afford to lose as without them we’d essentially be reduced to the Xthonic heartland and primitive Wiendrj.
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Regarding education, I’m playing a 2 int aristo and teaching everyone to read. When the thaumatarchy is inevitably crushed beneath her feet she’s going to use some of her looted wealth to establish schools.
It’s too early to say how they would be set up and run, IMO, but if she avoids pissing off the nobility and clergy too much, it may be possible to recruit from those classes to teach. Maybe merchants would be willing to help fund it in order to have their kids benefit. You know, depending on whether or not we bring the wards down and unleash Xaos on an unsuspecting populace.
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