[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: Qin crossbow in TFT?
At 12:09 PM 8/18/2017, Cris Fuhrman wrote:
Re: Repeating - the Qin crossbow mentioned in the Nova program was
not repeating. The weapons were "discovered" with the terracotta
soldiers, and the wooden parts were all rotted. So this version was
not really understood (?) prior.
...
Oh ok; I thought from the replies it was a repeating crossbow.
The comparison of not using a crank and firing faster sounds to me
like the difference already present in TFT between using a TFT
cranequin or not. That is, the European model you mentioned:
At 07:10 PM 8/16/2017, you wrote:
The mechanics supposedly allowed it to be used by peasants and fired
much faster than European crossbows that had cranks, etc.
sounds to me like what TFT calls giving a crossbow and cranequin to
someone without the ST to pull the bow by hand. Allows your 30-point
peasants to train a 1-IQ talent and fire a 3d6 heavy crossbow... once
per minute (12 TFT turns). Meanwhile, the Qin crossbow described
could be considered an "ordinary" TFT crossbow, used without a
cranequin for higher fire rate but requiring ST.
Or, if I wanted to adapt this detail to TFT:
At 12:09 PM 8/18/2017, you wrote:
MIKE LOADES: We have some evidence that the Qin laid on their backs
to span their bows. That would suggest pretty powerful bows of about
200 pounds, which is more powerful than a hand-bow is going to be.
That sounds like a different loading technique that requires the
firer to be prone but allows a heavier bow to be cocked with lower ST
since it uses the legs. I would also add another turn to the
reloading time, but allow maybe +2 ST to the allowed bow ST that can
be cocked without a cranequin.
So that's not actually different from TFT except for the last bit,
which isn't going to be unbalancing for typical TFT action because it
will main affect unusual situations (a fairly long-term ranged
standoff such as a siege). As for balance fighting horse archers, it
doesn't add much, as it's no faster than other crossbows and slower than a bow.
As for GURPS China, it does detail several types of Chinese crossbows:
* Arcuballista, a 100-pound weight immobile siege weapon which fires
10 3d6 bolts at once, every 20 seconds.
* Chu-Ko-Nu, the two-handed repeater I thought you meant, which has a
10-bolt magazine but is fairly low power per shot.
* Pistol crossbow, a light one-handed crossbow.
* Sangmiau, a heavy crossbow fired over the shoulder with a four-man team.
* Ordinary crossbows using standard GURPS rules.
And a couple of aiming attachments.
PvK