Yep, definitely

[selenite0]

You're GURPS Low-Tech. You're all about the
gear. You like to kill it old school. You're
also surprisingly erudite and informative on
subjects like primative agrigulture and ancient
surgical techniques.


Which GURPS book are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Unfortunately I can't imagine any situation where I can get some use out of my idea for bronze age field artillery.

Comments

[celticdragonfly.livejournal.com]

Yep, me too. I don't think they put nearly as many choices into this quiz as you have GURPS books.

Silly me - I saw this test and thought I oughta show it to you, but of course you'd gotten to it already.

[kd5mdk.livejournal.com]

Island in the Sea of Time style. Turn the tide at the battle of Troy.

You could just explain it to me, I suppose.

Re:

[selenite.livejournal.com]

Island in the Sea of Time style

That's the problem--that book got written already. I don't think there's much of a market for "Lord Kalvan Goes to Babylon". Or much demand for an RPG set in that era.

The concept is pretty simple, basically a cross between a chariot and a ballista. Take a 4-horse chariot, strip off the riding compartment to leave the axle and pole. Mount a ballista (oversized crossbow) on a vertical shaft above the axle, pivoted for aiming and pointed away from the horses. It has no rider, it moves with an infantry unit with someone leading the horses. In combat the horses are unhooked from the pole but kept harnessed. The pole is put into the dirt to brace against recoil. The horses are hooked to the ballista to cock it. Ammo would probably be a bundle of arrows or stones for area effect. Aim, fire, hook up the horses, recock, unhook the horses, repeat.

Probably would be effective until gunpowder times. Seems like it'd've been useful but I've never seen a record of anything like it. In Mesopotamian times it probably would've changed the balance of power between the city infantry and the charioteer barbarians. I suspect the social status of horses might have been the block--anybody spending the money on bringing horses to a battle wants to ride them, not supervise some grooms and artisans mucking about.