this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2024
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What's the distance on those things?
Over 300 meters. Truly the superior siege engine.
But I still love the Ballista.
I've made several over the years for demonstrations using a couple 2x4s, 2 oak dowels, a steel rod, and nylon rope that'll hurl a "bolt" (tube used to separate clubs in a golf bag with a tennis ball on one end) 400 yards.
They're just fun.
Depends on the mass of the projectile, and how the throwing arm is tuned.
If its release is tuned for distance and they’re flinging period-accurate projectiles, tuned firmly distance a typical period tree could throw stones about 300 meters.
Depending on the kind of fortifications they were against (and if they had siege engines of their own, or other artillery- bow and arrows, whatever) they might set up a little closer and tune instead for more forward velocity rather than range.
The typical mass was about 200-300 kilograms, or a small sedan. You could go heavier, but that typically reduced range.
A small sedan weighs about four times as much as that
Get out of here with your facts.
(for what it's worth, a reliant robin was about 450 kilo curb weight. I'm sure we can find a car that weighs in the range.)
You sent me down a little rabbit hole, depending on how one defines sedan, the lightest I could find is the Peel P50 at roughly 60 kg. A better fit weight wise could be the Isetta at roughly 350 kg.
But neither option, including the robin feels like a proper sedan to me, and only the robin really checks the basic requirements.
Afaik the term "sedan" doesn't really define the amount of wheels, but I don't tend to think of a three wheeled vehicle.
So the first four wheeled sedan style car that came to mind was the Trabant, but that's still 600kg.
Idk what the point of this text is...
Have a nice day, I guess?
AFICT, sedan is basically anything that’s not specifically something else.
Mostly, I used the robin because it has a very loyal fan base, for being such… an interesting little car. I was half expecting someone to jump on me being like “don’t you dare”.
In any case, the biggest issue is think timing the release. Like. With boulders or rocks or whatever, it’s really just a matter of geometry.
The CoG of a boulder in a sling (or gummy bear or dot, or whatever, really,) is pretty predictable.
For a car, though, it kinda pivots in a wonky way because of how they’re usually attached by the tow hooks, with a tether that gets released at the end of the throwing arm. It makes it hard to predict where the CoG actually is. (In the video I posted- and most of them, they botch the release, leading to it flying more up. I’m not sure how much more range they can get, but it was released fairly early. Maybe on purpose.)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-65099834.amp
And cheese my cows. They could launch cows as well.
search YouTube "punkin chunkin"
1000 meters easy.