So about 1 Mage per 150 or so Normies, and if you have magic your children are more likely to have magic?
Then make your own damn thread about it.
Not sure if this is a reliable source but according to it a spell with 120mm HE level of explosive power would only penetrate about 1.2m earthen wall while forts can have several meters of his. I say this is sufficient to call a protection, especially with a multi-meter stone wall encased within it.Article: The crater
Generally speaking, the blast of the artillery projectile creates a crater (or a shell hole) , if it penetrates the soil, and explodes underneath the surface at an optimum depth. The blast throws up soil high into the air, from which a part scatters around the point of impact, while a part falls back into the crater and to the edges of the crater creating a small embankment surrounding the hole. The maximum depth, where this type of a crater will be formed is roughly 10 times the caliber, which is usually also the radius of the blast.
Of course, the soil is also a factor. It's obvious that the resulting crater in soft sand in different than it is in a hard and rocky terra
I mean, when you're brainstorming all of the ways that a castle could fail in a relatively undefined 'Fantasy' setting, in order to determine how the castles would be altered, it's basically going to be taken for granted that doing so... Involves regular castles and soldiers failing.
Um, what?
That's exactly why such an ability would be either rare and almost unheard of or there are existing magic defenses against it. Perhaps both so both potent scrying magic to spy with is rare but defenses exist which are similarly rare and expensive.
I said I'd make it a low fantasy setting if the only continuously discussed subject was magic.
my OP mentioned magic, which was apparently a mistake. It also mentioned dragons, how many posts do you see discussing that?
I suppose I wasn't clear on this, it is the energy contained within the explosive filler that I was talking about. With the 3-5kg of TNT you mentioned 12.552 MJ to 20.92 MJ as the maximum amount of energy a spell can transfer.
Lords live in their castles, yes. they also plan things within its walls, but no, this is not its main function. castles were mainly built to keep unwelcome visitors out and to keep the inhabitants safe from said visitors. Also one doesn't conquer a castle to get intel, the objective is usually the occupants or the castle itself. scrying wouldn't necessarily help attack a castle either, there are tales of really well made castles being held by 5 men.
There's a very large difference between planning a defense against an army supported by 5th level mages, and an army being supported by 20th level mages, and the thing that people like to do in this thread is that they start out by describing an army supported by fifth level mages, and when someone points out that fifth level mages can't actually achieve the sweeping changes to the way war is fought that they claim to describe someone else pops in and starts describing an army supported by a 20th level mage who of course can totally effect those sweeping changes, and then the entire discussion falls apart because the two scenarios have about as much in common as 40k space combat and star wars, but people insist on treating them like they are discussing the same thing.
A giant of that size slamming against a wall isn't very effective. Even with their size and strength, if they're a problem at all then the solution is always bigger walls and more fire.
yes but if they go for the gatehouse the gate wouldn't stand much of a chance against them
Gatehouses are pretty tight, and designed specifically to kill anybody who breaks into it. I'd say the giant is the one who doesn't stand a chance.
Assuming they can fit inside it. It's entirely possible that gatehouses could be designed to just not let giants get inside in the first place, let alone what murder holes do. As Sassy Sauron mentioned, I suspect they'd be better for logistics than actual combat.
This is effectively what I'm doing in my own book. In it, everyone's a mage and mana can be losslessly stored indefinitely, leading to disturbing concentration of power over time by ancient houses. At the highest level, you have three continent-spanning empires with enough mana stored to let loose power on par with a couple strategic nuclear weapons, so the capital cities of the empires are hardened with sprawling underground networks and heavy magical shielding with the palaces very much resembling nuclear bunkers, aside from, as you mentioned, perfunctory above-ground structures that are more for general administration than national security.
I like the idea, and have played around with similar ones in the past, but I have a nasty tendency to get caught up in building the rules and settings for original fiction, and then never getting around to writing an actual story.
Still waiting for that Monster Hunter quest, Vindictus.
I may start a rewrite sometime soon, but I've been using the break to binge games I haven't had a chance to play in a while... Or ever, in the case of the Phantom Brave PC port I picked up the other day.Still waiting for that Monster Hunter quest, Vindictus.
In any case, remember to drop me a line when you do. Our conversation in the Writing thread about it was pretty interesting.
