Siege Engines

[takataka]

I don't know if this has been touched on. I checked the suggestions list for "siege" and didn't see it. If I'm wasting my time, well, that makes me look quite foolish, eh?

I know walls will be a thing in the near future (or they might be already, I haven't played much since the last update; am just about to). I'm not sure how sturdy walls will be or will be capable of becoming, but I saw some suggestions about methods to scale walls and I thought that potentially, siege weapons could be useful.

Things like rams to damage gates, catapults to damage walls or men behind them (albeit with a bit of inaccuracy to them) and maybe even some ideas completely unseen in history created just for Kenshi. Each would be somehow tailored to Kenshi's world, of course; an English trebuchet out of the 15th century might not look quite right in Kenshi, but nail some patchwork slaps of metal to the base of a siege tower that rolls on large gears instead of wooden wheels and we might have something.

These would have to be constructed like buildings, though would generally take less time. After construction, it's probably more economical from a control standpoint if rather than controlling them like units, you had to attach men to them in order to move or operate them. Some, like siege towers, might allow men to sit inside behind protection. After their use had been exhausted, one could dismantle them to get at least a portion of the resources spent to make them back.

Siege weapons would be rather slow, encouraging one to find a good place near the targeted outpost or city to construct them in the field. It would also be possible to destroy them with base defenses or character attacks, though I imagine it'd take some balance work to find a means of making it possible but not easy to destroy them as the defender.

My ideas are as follows, and this is just off the top of my head as I type this (all rough ideas assume the "attach men to engine in order to operate" concept would be used):

Battering Ram
A very simple slab of metal, possibly with a spiked or "balled" end, hanging off of some kind of metal framework either by chains or cables. It can be walked up to gates and used to break them down. It'd be a slow process, but much faster than hacking at it with a bunch of swords. Would only require about four men to operate.

Catapult
Inaccurate but powerful, capable of damaging enemy soldiers as well as structures. Optionally, it could require a small amount of materials to fire, symbolizing the fact that you're actually putting objects into it to be launched. (Or maybe catapult ammo is a specific item on its own.) Would require four men to push, two of those two load, and only one of those two fire.

Mantlet
Basically a sheet of resilient metal, placed diagonally on a framework of iron bars, that is wheeled forward. It requires at least two men to push, but up to say five could be attached to it, and all of them would receive complete protection from ranged attacks from the front until it is destroyed.

A larger, slower version might be made to accommodate more men, and/or offer more protection with additional slabs of metal bound to the top and sides of the framework.

Siege Tower
Big and slow, but maybe not as much so as its historical counterparts, depending on how tall walls get. 4-6 men are required to push it, but a group of five can be housed inside. Once it reaches walls, the men inside can drop down from ropes (since I don't imagine grand battles atop battlements fit the setting of Kenshi all too well) or fire down at enemies behind the walls, if they have a ranged weapon. In this way, you can drop elite groups into the enemy's outpost at key locations, even while the walls still stand.

Just rough ideas. I'm not even sure if the whole concept would work mechanically or not, but ideas come easily to me, so forgive me if I toss a lot of ideas that end up not really working at the forum, now that I've finally decided to sign up.

[mehelsel]

It would also be cool if you can have a stable and train horses so your men can use them in combat, like mounted units

It could be neat

[takataka]

Ooh hey, horses and mounted combat! I really like that one! Plus it'd put farms to good use (feed for the horses), and it'd give us a new building (stable) worth building.

Make a topic for it! If it hasn't been suggested/confirmed yet. I'd love to see this in the game.

[hbrown]

Siege weapons have not been confirmed, and may not get more complex than ladders and grappling hooks.

This waht i got to say, didn t saw much discussion about it, but i would rather see simple stuff too like that, for some reason i don t go with the idea of "advanced" siege equipement .

[takataka]

Siege weapons have not been confirmed, and may not get more complex than ladders and grappling hooks.

This waht i got to say, didn t saw much discussion about it, but i would rather see simple stuff too like that, for some reason i don t go with the idea of "advanced" siege equipement .

I hear you. I figure if they're gonna be used, they'd definitely need to be modifier to have more of a feel that suits Kenshi. Like I said, a glorious medieval trebuchet doesn't really... feel right, you know? It'd have to be things that could logically be made in a somewhat makeshift manner and still work, and even then it'd have to be high up on the research ladder in terms of game mechanics.

[hbrown]

I would enjoy to see, not this regular seen medievel itens, like the trebchets you mean, but may, come up with their own siege engine, i can t take off the mind, there certain itens withing Kenshi, that should try to be unique to himself, like if was a second Japan, and with this i mena, Japan had it s culture and other stuff diferent due to the seperation off the worl, so let us sya, Kenshi is the same, try to come up iwht his own siege forms and what not, cna t take it off mind xD.

But yeah this would be machines in the research list ahead, and would be a job for the pack mules to carry, if these ones are rare would be a pain to get them, for both matrails ,research and trasnport, as some people to carry would be hard, unless ou go pharaoh and whip the slaves to do it .

[EvilTea]

:-\ Not sure my simple squad could handle this, they even run from hungry bandits, the most we ever took down were 2 hungry bandits with the aid of another faction. Dont judge them they are simple scavengers lol.