Up front I'll say I'm a big trebuchet fan. It is the superior siege engine so pls don't downvote me but... So would a catapult. And technically a trebuchet requires gravity, so unless you use magnetism to pull the counterweight down, the projectile is not going anywhere. Not so for a catapult which would work in 0g (I think).
But if you're already using magnetism, might as well just have a rail gun 🤷
Yeah that's why I like the idea of using magnetism in place of gravity. Imagine the counterweight with a big-ass electromagnet strapped to the bottom. Just affix the treb to the station (or some kind of magnetic base), load it up, switch on the electromagnet, and watch the payload fly!
I’ll be damned if another Lunar lord is going to build a regolith fort on the border of my moon plot that was gifted to me in a very legitimate way via of a piece of paper you can buy on the internet
Nah, trebuchet just isn't the answer. A simple catapult would work floating in 0g, a trebuchet won't. I do like the idea of a medieval siege weapon floating in space with infinite range, if we want to honor that simplicity it can just be a catapult, without the gymnastics to justify a trebuchet
The projectile would apply the same force against the catapult as the catapult applied to it. Same of all things. Thing is, if the catapult is fixed to something of great mass, say a station or asteroid, the force applied to the catapult+asteroid wouldn't be enough to really accelerate them.
in space you dont send things some distance away, you accelerate them, and then they just keep floating with that speed infinetly becuase there is no air resistance to slow them down.
So even when you are in orbit of a planet, range is not measured as distance, its measured as chnge of speed: it doesnt mater how far away the moon is, what matters is that you need to increase your speed by 4km/s from low earth orbit to get to the moon.
I think the ballista would be the best choice in a low gravity, vacuum space. It's made to shoot straight, leaving the natural curve from gravity the only worry. That worry is gone in space, so aiming would become easier, while with another form of catapult you would be limited to the angle the ammo is going upon release.
There is gravity in space, like when youre in orbit, you stay in orbit because you are pulled down, instead of just flying off in a straight line.
There are of course ways to exploit gravity gradient to produce acceleration, sy if you put the "counterweight" on a lower orbit, it will pull ahead of you... Ever so slightly... Still better than a catapult/ballista!
That’s true, but the fatal flaw of both is the projectile arcs which is how they hit. In space they wouldn’t arc so you need to adjust big time to hit
Zero range, sorry. It pains me to say this and I do believe that what I am about to say is blasphemy. But.. a stupid poopoo catapult would do better in space. I shall now repent for I feel unclean...
Up front I'll say I'm a big trebuchet fan. It is the superior siege engine so pls don't downvote me but... So would a catapult. And technically a trebuchet requires gravity, so unless you use magnetism to pull the counterweight down, the projectile is not going anywhere. Not so for a catapult which would work in 0g (I think).
But if you're already using magnetism, might as well just have a rail gun 🤷
I’m thinking something with incredible mass on a low gravity well world that you can shoot the projectile out past the orbit and into space….
If the gravity is weak then the counter weight wont apply much force. Good luck escaping that gravity well.
For example the moon's escape velocity is still 8,600kph.
Yeah that's why I like the idea of using magnetism in place of gravity. Imagine the counterweight with a big-ass electromagnet strapped to the bottom. Just affix the treb to the station (or some kind of magnetic base), load it up, switch on the electromagnet, and watch the payload fly!
But now you basically have rail gun with extra steps
Going for style points!
It's not about efficiency it's about sending a message
I’ll be damned if another Lunar lord is going to build a regolith fort on the border of my moon plot that was gifted to me in a very legitimate way via of a piece of paper you can buy on the internet
Nah, trebuchet just isn't the answer. A simple catapult would work floating in 0g, a trebuchet won't. I do like the idea of a medieval siege weapon floating in space with infinite range, if we want to honor that simplicity it can just be a catapult, without the gymnastics to justify a trebuchet
Giant ballista
I would agree with you but in true 0g it would send the projectile just as far as it would send itself
Physicists correct me if I’m wrong
The projectile would apply the same force against the catapult as the catapult applied to it. Same of all things. Thing is, if the catapult is fixed to something of great mass, say a station or asteroid, the force applied to the catapult+asteroid wouldn't be enough to really accelerate them.
But if the trebuchet is sitting alone in spa-
Oh fuck it wouldn’t work at all
Thank you for this realization
😂 just doing my part 🫡
In true 0g, you'd pull the rope to release the trebuchet and nothing would happen. Because there's no gravity to make your counter weight move
if the counterweight is far enough away it would drift and produce some thrust on the projectile.
It just wouldnt be very impressive.
in space you dont send things some distance away, you accelerate them, and then they just keep floating with that speed infinetly becuase there is no air resistance to slow them down.
So even when you are in orbit of a planet, range is not measured as distance, its measured as chnge of speed: it doesnt mater how far away the moon is, what matters is that you need to increase your speed by 4km/s from low earth orbit to get to the moon.
Or you could use muscle power to launch
An earth-based Trebuchet, that is powerful enough to accelerate a projectile to more than escape velocity would also have infinite range
Catapault would work because they operate on elastic potential energy
Just take the wheels off and bolt the fucker to the ground. Boom, all problems solved
Imagining a railgun asking great great…(etc) grandpa trebuchet, the superior siege engine for bedtime siege storiesÂ
Your arm would too…it would just take much…much…longer
I think the ballista would be the best choice in a low gravity, vacuum space. It's made to shoot straight, leaving the natural curve from gravity the only worry. That worry is gone in space, so aiming would become easier, while with another form of catapult you would be limited to the angle the ammo is going upon release.
There is gravity in space, like when youre in orbit, you stay in orbit because you are pulled down, instead of just flying off in a straight line.
There are of course ways to exploit gravity gradient to produce acceleration, sy if you put the "counterweight" on a lower orbit, it will pull ahead of you... Ever so slightly... Still better than a catapult/ballista!
That’s true, but the fatal flaw of both is the projectile arcs which is how they hit. In space they wouldn’t arc so you need to adjust big time to hit
So would .. throwing anything ..Â
Railgun is the superior siege weapon
I mean it would have 0 range, because there's no fixed ground to take advantage of gravity (also practically nil)
The ammo is not attached to the trebuchet so the trebuchet would also have infinite range in the opposite direction as the projectile
But there's no gravity to launch the projectile in the first place. There's no movement generated to launch the projectile because there's no gravity.
Trebuchets run off of gravity. A big ass counterweight launching a mass. The counterweight requires gravity to be a weight, or it's just a mass.
True... Maybe this trebuchet is spring loaded
At which point it's a torsion engine. Like a catapult.
BLASPHEMY!
It won't. The counterweight won't go down.
But you know what will work? A ballista.
Thank god you didn’t say the C word
Technically, they are all a type of C-word, even the Onager you're thinking of.
There's also the onager you're not thinking of, to soorh your mind.
The absence of gravity wouldn't allow it to fire in the first place.
Zero range, sorry. It pains me to say this and I do believe that what I am about to say is blasphemy. But.. a stupid poopoo catapult would do better in space. I shall now repent for I feel unclean...
If it makes you feel better a catapult would deorbit itself after firing.
Bless you sir!
Sigh... Fine, ill calculate the counterweight needed to get a 90kg projectile into escape velocity from ground level
still calculating?
it doesnt have infinite range in space... And in fact it barely can provide a few meters/second in space
Besides the whole no gravity for the counterweight…
Bro my fucking arm has infinite range in space
Should call up NASA with that big brain idea. You're always in a gravity well.
Not necessarily
Don’t think a counterweight would work in space
Reminds me of Mass Effect 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p77XnhzJz7g
So would a slingshot.
A trebuchet in space would have zero range.
A catapult in space would have infinite range though
So would my piss?
Trebuchets also rely on an arc, so you’d be firing up and it would never come down
True. It would also propel itself a possibly infinite distance in the opposite direction of the projectile
Counterweights don’t work in space
Trebuchet wouldn't even work in space. A catapult however would as would a ballista
So would my arm lmao
Heavy breathing
This is why Im hereo