(TFT) Re: Sieges

["maou_tsaou1@netzero.net" <maou_tsaou1@netzero.net>]

1pt dam ~ 100 poundals - less than one inch deep cut or minor bruising or scalding, etc.
This is the bare minimum "ouch" moment where the body reacts to the force via 'mussel memory', bypassing conscious reaction proper.

2pts dam is about twice as much force, so, as you'd expect, it'd indicate a cut between 1 and 2 inches deep.
Jay is about 8 inches thick.
So at its simplest, this would suggest that it'd take a thrust of about 800ft. lbs. to run me through.
We'll talk about Figure damage in a later topic though, as it's obvious that there are quite a few complications when applying damage to players.

1d dam max ~ 600 poundals - roughly equivalent to the compressive strength of a brick.
This suggests that 2d dam on average breaks a brick.
A typical building brick measures 2 1/4" thick, 3 3/4" wide, and 8" long.
Retooling of machinery, and problems with building-code regulations help prevent innovation, such as interlocking brick, so this is a fairly strong standard.
When figuring loads, common 8" brick is listed at 80 lbs. per sq. ft. when calculating for walls.
At 18 in^2 per brick (2.25 * 8), 8 bricks = 1 ft^2.
This is 10 lbs per brick, or 200 bricks per ton making a wall 5ft. by 5ft. or 25ft.in area.
This suggests that a hole in a 3 and three-quarter inch thick brick wall 5 by 5 ft. in diameter would take about 1200pts dam. to achieve, assuming the definition of hole here involves the destruction of all 200 bricks.

Of course this is just for a common wall, which isn't even masonry, much less fortifications, but the example should serve to get the idea across.

Other measurements of force or energy can be applied through conversion.
1 Joule = 0.737 562 ft. lbs.

For more esoteric references, such as ergs, data may have to be converted into a common system.
Pounds per cubic foot * 0.01602 = Grams per cubic centimeter.
1 ton TNT = 4.2 * 10^16 erg
1 lb. TNT = 2.1 * 10^13 erg

21,000,000,000,000 ergs ~ 1,300,000,000,000,000pts dam, or >370d dam avg.
However, the exact distribution of this "damage" varies greatly with the situation.
Packed charges for mining are gonna have a different effect than a stick strapped to a post, or an air burst from a thrown stick. (About a pound? I'm not sure about this.)

When moving or quarrying large quantities of rock or minerals, each material has it's own properties and can vary in qualities depending upon its physical location or source.
I use encyclopedias and such for information regarding these questions.
"Iron ore is plentiful near the anthracite coal fields, annual production average production 1,500,000 tons from an estimated reserve of some 600,000,000 tons."
-Gazetteer of the World 'Hammond's Pictorial Atlas of the World' 1936
( see Architect/Builder Talent )
( see Devil's Postpile National Monument for hexagonal basalt columns)
I would expect subterranean races to have a general knowledge of the various qualities of common rocks and minerals, basically able to estimate "dig times" for the more common materials.

Natural disasters can be drawn from historical data, or extrapolated into mega-examples.
In general, the players are gonna be concerned with their own property.
Building methods, tech, and materials vary widely, but are usually consistent within a given region, such as a county, with buildings serving the same function following roughly the same pattern.
Even ultra-wealthy player Figures may have difficulty building anything out of the cultural pattern.
Of course that's a discussion for Tech Trees.
Anyway, certain aspects of buildings can be simply matched to basic aspects of a natural disaster.
Height constructed above sea level vs. flood level, building wind load vs. hurricane wind speed, etc.
I'll have a post on this using Mt. St. Helens as an example.
1 ton TNT = 4.2 * 10^16 erg
Hiroshima was about 20-kilotons
Mt. St. Helens was about 500 times greater than Hiroshima, 1 to 2 km^3 eruptive material, a loss of about 1,300 ft. of elevation, killing every living thing for a 230 square-mile area.
Over a quarter of a century later it's still very evident.

Krakatoa (1883) 18km^3
Tambora (1815) 150km^3

And then there's Yellowstone.
Mesa Falls ( 1.2 Ma ) ~280km^3
Lava Creek (  0.6 Ma ) 1000km^3 
Huckleberry Ridge (  2 Ma ) 2500km^3
"Gosh Yogi!"

Thousands of kilometers of eruptive material are gonna have environmental effects to say the least.
Which pop caused the 'year without a summer'?
At some point this kinda thing is gonna be a planet killer.

I've yet to fully Grok the whole range of possibilities, but the proper mass, applied at the proper velocity can practically wipe out a planet.
Kinda like shooting an apple with a rifle, but there's all sorts of interesting, unexpected (too me) effects, like ejecta forming rings as suggested by Mr. T.

Then your into literal mass conversion type issues, i.e. 1 solar mass equals how much deflection?

If I connected the "ends" of all the black holes together and direct the output at the Dark Lords universe...


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