Exploding rocks?

[Evillemon325]

Unless the Carthaginians have somehow develop gunpowder 1500 years in advance and create explosives for their catapults, it would seem as though the ammunition used in their artillery would seem to have those exploding rocks from Star Trek

In the video, at 2:53 (can be seen at the palisade throwing several archers on impact, one apparently having a physics hiccup being thrown hundreds of feet to the left) and 7:15 (a direct hit in a crowd of Romans fighting by the harbor after coming into the breach killing at least 10, reminiscent of an armstrong gun in FOTS.)

Come on. This is BC. Let's not massively overexaggerate the killing power of everything for lightning quick battles, shall we?

[Aidy]

I did notice that, but I'm sure it'll be ironed out before release. After all, the video was of pre-alpha footage.

[Prof]

They knew how to make "explosive" projectiles. You know...pottery filled with flamable materials, which would burst into flames once they broke.

Like the ammunition the mangonels are using in Shogun2.

It should however just set people on fire and not throw them back home.

[Tim_Ward]

I saw no explosions, only boulders hitting the beach and kicking up sand, like you would expect.

[General George S. Patton]

Ya, I was actually very pleased compared to rome 1 lol

[Ichon]

That along with nearly every arrow being a fire arrow or flaming something. At this rate I expect sling to throw flaming bombs that explode.

[universalmind]

That along with nearly every arrow being a fire arrow or flaming something. At this rate I expect sling to throw flaming bombs that explode.

lol don't give them ideas

[Evillemon325]

To be clear: I'm not talking about the visual niceties- I rather like the tracers in previous games in spite of unrealism- I'm talking about the fact a 10 pound rock with a measly few thousand joules throws ten men into the air. It should act much like NTW solid shot, and not like late 19th century artillery.

[Ichon]

To be clear: I'm not talking about the visual niceties- I rather like the tracers in previous games in spite of unrealism- I'm talking about the fact a 10 pound rock with a measly few thousand joules throws ten men into the air. It should act much like NTW solid shot, and not like late 19th century artillery.

It is the same philosophy though. It looks cool.

[Evillemon325]

It is the same philosophy though. It looks cool.

Looking cool is fine. Speeding up gameplay by ridiculous amounts is not. Nappy and Empire arty looks plenty cool whizzing through the battlefield driving through lines, but didn't need to kill people stupid fast for the detriment of both realism and good gameplay. (while the fact that the soldiers somehow got up after taking a 12 pounder to the face was lame, the point stands).

[Ichon]

Looking cool is fine. Speeding up gameplay by ridiculous amounts is not. Nappy and Empire arty looks plenty cool whizzing through the battlefield driving through lines, but didn't need to kill people stupid fast for the detriment of both realism and good gameplay. (while the fact that the soldiers somehow got up after taking a 12 pounder to the face was lame, the point stands).

That is the point... looks cool seems to trump realism or gameplay in many instances- IE 1 v 1, RPS, flaming ammo, charges knocking people 30 feet in the air, team colors, trade nodes(as a way to encourage naval battles get shown off), weird super fast bug movement, DLC, etc.

Not that looking good is always an issue but when not matched by some restraint it turns out worse. The custom cities, more detailed facial animations, many of the other improvements look cool and increase realism and that idea of participation in a battle while bombs in Roman era remove you from participation because it seems so unrealistic.

[DarthShizNit]

This is the total war franchise. Stone's break walls, flamming pots explode and kill 10-15 people IF they somehow manage to hit something with their terrible accuracy. Has been in Rome 1, MTW2 and Shogun 2. It's a gameplay element, that has been there through the super quick battles in Rome and Shogun, and the slow meat grinders of battles that were MTW2. I fail to see how they have a major impact on the speeding up of battles.

[Huberto]

The custom cities, more detailed facial animations, many of the other improvements look cool and increase realism and that idea of participation in a battle while bombs in Roman era remove you from participation because it seems so unrealistic.

Well put.

[torongill]

Looking cool is fine. Speeding up gameplay by ridiculous amounts is not. Nappy and Empire arty looks plenty cool whizzing through the battlefield driving through lines, but didn't need to kill people stupid fast for the detriment of both realism and good gameplay. (while the fact that the soldiers somehow got up after taking a 12 pounder to the face was lame, the point stands).

About the soldiers getting up, they aren't hit. They're thrown back and away because of the physics of the passing projectile, which creates a pressure wave. For bigger guns the pressure wave was so strong that the cannonball could kill people just by passing a meter away, the so called "breath of the cannon ball".

In the footage of Carthage it's true that the damage from artillery against the walls is overstated, but:

first it's cool and mildly realistic, a shot hitting the "teeth" would send the stones and bricks flying backwards and would probably throw back a defender or two, and

second, the creators have to compress the damage done in months to something that can be handled by the attention span of the average gamer.

However the scene in the trailer of the roman soldiers being bowled over and away by the catapult shot is probably done to spare the gamers from nightmares. That shot(a statue head about a meter across) was so big(It's ridiculous really what kind of a siege engine would be able to launch that thing), that in reality it wouldn't launch people in the air. No, in reality it would leave a path of blood and torn flesh that would make you unable to eat lasagna for a couple of months.

[Karnil Vark Khaitan]

About the soldiers getting up, they aren't hit. They're thrown back and away because of the physics of the passing projectile, which creates a pressure wave. For bigger guns the pressure wave was so strong that the cannonball could kill people just by passing a meter away, the so called "breath of the cannon ball".

In the footage of Carthage it's true that the damage from artillery against the walls is overstated, but:

first it's cool and mildly realistic, a shot hitting the "teeth" would send the stones and bricks flying backwards and would probably throw back a defender or two, and

second, the creators have to compress the damage done in months to something that can be handled by the attention span of the average gamer.

However the scene of the roman soldiers being bowled over and away by the catapult shot is probably done to spare the gamers from nightmares. That shot(a statue head about a meter across) was so big(It's ridiculous really what kind of a siege engine would be able to launch that thing), that in reality it wouldn't launch people in the air. No, in reality it would leave a path of blood and torn flesh that would make you unable to eat lasagna for a couple of months.

you sir win this thread

[Anna_Gein]

However the scene in the trailer of the roman soldiers being bowled over and away by the catapult shot is probably done to spare the gamers from nightmares. That shot(a statue head about a meter across) was so big(It's ridiculous really what kind of a siege engine would be able to launch that thing), that in reality it wouldn't launch people in the air. No, in reality it would leave a path of blood and torn flesh that would make you unable to eat lasagna for a couple of months.

I think this scene is "inspired" by LotR The return of the king. The exact scene happen during the siege of Minas Tirith. I suppose it was meant to look "awesome".

If I might I want to eat lasagna now.

[Evillemon325]

About the soldiers getting up, they aren't hit. They're thrown back and away because of the physics of the passing projectile, which creates a pressure wave. For bigger guns the pressure wave was so strong that the cannonball could kill people just by passing a meter away, the so called "breath of the cannon ball".

I believe that was actually refuted by some study by the RN- they found that such deaths were actually due to the very slightest glancing hits which would cause massive internal trauma while the ball continued on its merry way.

[gaunty14]

To be clear: I'm not talking about the visual niceties- I rather like the tracers in previous games in spite of unrealism- I'm talking about the fact a 10 pound rock with a measly few thousand joules throws ten men into the air. It should act much like NTW solid shot, and not like late 19th century artillery.

Better than RTW where unless you used flaming shot, each rock fired killed 1 man!

[Bongfu]

Its pretty simple if you think about it. A lot of the rock that they would have used in North Africa would have been limestone, which is a pretty "brittle" rock to begin with. Now launch it haphazardly into the air only for it to crash into the group with a large amount of energy and you will get "exploding" rocks. The result would have been an early form of shrapnel, while not always lethal, it would disrupt troop formations on impact.

[♘Top Hat Zebra]

Because this is a video game?