From: stan rydzewski <srydzews@ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Re: [Fwd: (TFT) Seige Weapons]
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999 11:06:06 -0400
Michael Taylor wrote:
>
> BOMBARD. The BOMBARD is a large cannon, used by (or against)
> castles and walled towns. Both of these use much gunpowder > and are not
often seen; the Bombard will not be covered in > this game.
>
> Did you ever come up with stats for this?
No. While even "catapult" covers a fairly large range of devices,
the term "bombard" can mean almost anything. Any sort of high-angle
gun from 8" bore howitzers to 36" bore monsters has been called a
"bombard". So it's tough to do the matter justice without a range
of weapons.
More importantly, who would use such a thing on Cidri? Consider
that enough gunpowder to fire a musket (let's go crazy and say
it's a whole ounce) costs $100. A large bombard might use ten
pounds of powder for a single shot (a WAY conservative figure
for these large windage guns, btw). That's $16,000 per shot!
If we're using this thing in a seige, that's at least $320,000
a day operating expense. Yeah, right--I just don't see a
realisic role for them.
Of course, there are those who say that gunpowder really is
cheap, but the wizards and chemists are in cahoots to jack up
the price so much that it's out of reach of the "common man".
These rabble-rousers inevitably claim that the "sulfur-metabolizing
microorganism" supposed to be such a problem for gunpowder is a
fiction; that such a thing would wreak havoc with the entire
ecosystem were it actually to exist, and anyway why can't
Cleansing spells kill it as easily as any other microorganism?
Of course, those who talk about such a conspiracy too loudly
often vanish in the middle of the night, only to have their
bodies turn up a few days later in the harbor, curiously bereft
of all organs that are used in the composition of potions and
magic items. Odd, that.
Anyway, *if* such a conspiracy existed, it could justify the
use of cannon by governments (that are, of course, all part of
the conspiracy) while still keeping the cost high to most people.
I don't know, myself, but I'm sure...the truth is out there.
Stan