Catapult
Main / Skills / Carpentry / Fine carpentry / Catapult
 |
| Creation |
|---|
|
| Additional materials |
|
| Result |
|
| Skill and improvement |
|
Contents
Description
A war machine designed to launch projectiles at walls and buildings.
Notes
The skill used when operating a catapult is Catapults.
Needs 21 strength to use. Can be dragged. Cannot be fired inside caves.
Usage
A catapult's primary use is the destruction of walls and gates. You can hit another person with it, but it's very difficult.
To use a catapult, you must first load it with ammunition. Almost everything can be catapulted, but rock shards and stone bricks do the most damage. Quality and damage of the ammunition will affect the amount of damage done to your target. To load a catapult, activate an item in your inventory, right-click the catapult, and select Machine -> Load.
After you load the catapult, it must be winched. With every winch the catapult shoots 1 tile further. The minimum distance a catapult can shoot is 10 tiles, the maximum distance is 50 tiles. To winch a catapult, right-click the catapult after it has been loaded, and select winch. This distance is calculated including both the tiles that the catapult and the target are standing on.
To aim the catapult, simply drag it so that it points to the target.
After it has been winched at least 10 laps, you can fire the catapult. Right-click the catapult, select Machine and then select 'Fire'. If it was properly aimed and winched, you will either get a message in event window that you just missed the target, or that you've hit it. If it only says that you've hit nothing, your aim is off.
It is very important to remember that a catapult will only hit the fences on the north or west sides of a tile. Don't target the tile where the fences is on the south side, target the tile where the fence is on the north side. Even with very low skill you will hit most of the time or get a message saying you just missed the fence.
As of update 27/11/12 catapults now hit all tile borders!
Ammunition
| Item | Notes |
|---|---|
| Rock Shards | |
| Stone Brick | Less damage then rock shards, however, are also more accurate. |
| Dirt | Deals little to no dmg, collects in piles on ground. Possible use is using to adjust aim or warning shots. |
| Ore | Frequently used during raids, as it can't be used by the enemy to repair walls and it's near worthless after shot. |
Additional notes
- A catapult will hit every wall of a tile with a house on it,
but will only hit the west and north walls of a tile with fences on it. Because of this it may be a better idea to use dual layers of fences, rather than a one tile wide house, to defend against them.As of update 27/11/12 catapults now hit all tile borders! - Any item launched with the catapult will be either heavily damaged or destroyed. Any item that's not destroyed will be at the tile you've launched it at.
- Catapults can fire over buildings and walls
- Catapults cannot hit guard towers.
- You can do a maximum of 20 damage to your target in one successful hit.
- A brass spyglass is an excellent tool for measuring distance when winching
- Quality not only affects damage as previously stated, but keeping quality 25+ generally yields a chance your ammo is not destroyed. This allows you in demolition situations to collect spent ammo for using again.
Freedom servers
It is possible to use catapults on Freedom servers, with following limitations:
- Outside deeds (including perimeters) can destroy any walls (including hedges) but not buildings (regardless if owned or not);
- On deeds, can destroy anything (including owned houses) if given destroy building permission. Applies to ally and non-citizens as well.
Multi-story Assault
Testing in progress; but it would appear that firing a catapult at a multi-story building will randomly damage at least one wall, window, floor, opening etc. Not yet tested on fences which have been built on buildings. ALL planned walls are damaged by the impact, however floors appear untouched - this could also apply to openings.
Tips
- When attacking with a catapult during a raid, a good strategy is to use ore as ammunition. Ore does the same damage as equivalent quality rock, but unlike rock cannot be used by the defenders to repair or rebuild their walls.
Weight does not have a negligible effect on damage caused. A 20kg rock shard will do the same amount of damage as an 80kg shard.There is a noticable difference. Using 80kg shot vs 20kg shot yields better chances at obtaining maximum damage per hit (20dmg).
