CORE
- Siege machines cannot (mostly, more on this later) be destroyed by hand, but only by other siege machines.
- Only battering rams can break walls. Catapults cannot.
- Siege Engines need some amount of time, much like now, to charge before they can attack other objects. Which types of objects they can attack determined by how far they have charged up, Palisades perhaps 24 hours, Brickwalls, say, 32 hours, other Siege Engines, say, 2 hours. Siege engines can move immediately, but are still subject to similar restrictions as now, in that they can only move by some relatively small amount per hour, or so.
- We introduce a new "siege engine" called Archery Towers. Archery towers are stationary, and can be set to auto-fire at Siege Engines within range. Archery Towers have some minimum distance enforced between them, and do not require brimstone to construct. Archery towers only need about one hour's charge to attack other Siege engines.
- Siege engines can be locked, much like Knarrs.
- Siege Engines expire after some time, unless "cooled off" by brimstone. Archery towers perhaps around 64 hours, Catapults and Battering Rams around 48.
- Siege Engines, much like now, warn nearby claims when they are deployed.
- Archery Towers have slightly shorter range than Catapults. Both Archery Tower and Catapult ranges are still somewhat randomized.
- Archery Towers cannot attack other archery towers. There should be no incentive to construct them offensively.
OPTIONAL
- Catapults and Battering Rams can be dealt some amount of damage, or slowed down, by attacking them by hand, to give defenders some incentive to attempt sallies against them.
SCENARIO
- Attacker builds a ram against a claim, to test the occupant.
- Occupant builds a defensive archery tower, which counters the ram.
- Attacker builds catapults to take out the tower.
- Defender builds towers further into the base, forcing new catapults closer to the walls. As new catapults are deployed, the defender can rebuild the advanced Archery Towers to target the advanced catapults. The advanced towers can potentially be targeted by the rear catapults, but those can only fire so often.
- Defender also has the more expensive option to build his own catapults in defense.
Millions of unanswered and critical minutiae involved in this. Very rough executive summary. The beauty of it is, if it works, that there is potentially a large amount of back and forth involved, while also -- very important -- entirely avoiding claim magic.
Have at it!
