Written by: Mohammed Afzal (MageMoa), Onrpg writer
Hurl and burn!!!
A long, long time ago we didn’t have tanks, guns and grenades. We used swords, hammers, axes, and bows to kill each other. Humans found out that these ancient weapons would not be enough to defend themselves against their opponents so they started to use the nature (fire, forests, waters etc..) to keep their enemies away. The problem they faced was that these elements could not be used directly against their opponents in the middle of a war. They started to develop a new kind of weapon which could be used to fire rocks, burning oil and boulders over long distances. A weapon so powerful that it could break through walls; The catapult and trebuchet, two wooden war engines, were found.
Virtual wars
Many MMORPGs decided to make good use of these medieval weapons. Age of Conan is one of them. Age of Conan has the unique feature to build a town together with your guild mates and defend it with catapults etc.. You have to ride these catapults yourself, but keep in mind that they are slow and pretty easy to break down.
Another game that uses catapults is Guild Wars. You can find these catapults in several missions and they could be a great advantage against your enemies.
Savage 2 has, in my opinion, the greatest trebuchet you can find in the MMO industry; The Steambuchet. This steambuchet might be slow, but it can deal severe damage to your opponent’s buildings.
Your own war engine
There is nothing as great as your own war engine. There are several places on the internet where you can buy your own, miniature, catapult or trebuchet. These small engines could be used to fire small stones or other small objects, but you could also use them to annoy your little brother with balls of paper or you could pour a little water in them and wake your parents with it!
These little things are basically awesome and I would recommend you all to try them out!
Do you want to buy your own? Go to http://www.thinkgeek.com/ and order your own masterpiece!
