Slings!

[shawnhcorey]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

A stone or a bullet surely. Is it possible to do it with a dart?

The dart is placed sideways. Because it is front-weighted and has flights, it will turn in flight so the pointy end hits.

[martinl]

Originally Posted by tbone

There must be an Acme Sling-Garrote, guaranteed for both slinging and strangling. How did that one escape the DF/DFRPG equipment list?

I think you mean Gnomco.

I also think that it would not take much additional work to make a sling-garrote-flail-cestus. Just don't crit flail.

[chandley]

Originally Posted by tbone

There must be an Acme Sling-Garrote, guaranteed for both slinging and strangling. How did that one escape the DF/DFRPG equipment list?

The DF weapon really is the ACME Sling-Kusari made of Orichalcum chain...

You can strangle (a la a rope garrote) but not cut/strangle (a la a wire garrote) with that if you like.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by chandley

The DF weapon really is the ACME Sling-Kusari made of Orichalcum chain...

I think you mean the Lakota ACME Orichalcum Sling-Kusari.

[Black Leviathan]

Originally Posted by tbone

How hard

For reference I have maybe 20 hours of instruction with the Sling and 40 hours or practice, the guy who taught me Alex, has probably 400 hours in.

The big issue is that ACC 0. That's a very accurate game metric. There really is no taking aim with a sling. After a single rotation you're just hoping to time the throw better.

It's very hard to move and fire with a sling because you're breaking that centripetal loop you use to guide your shot. I can sway very slightly without it fouling my shot. Alex is able to move slowly, effectively step-and-attack.

For the same reason it's hard to hit a moving target. I can hit a swinging paper plate about half the time at 20 feet (Not impressive!). For all his practice Alex doesn't do a whole lot better. It's tough lining up a shot if the target isn't where it was when you started your arc. You really have to time your throw and aim where the target will be.

You can swing overhead if you're tight for space but it's very hard. Swinging parallel to your body you have gravity to aid the timing of your shot. When you're slinging horizontally you have to watch the position of the sling by eye and fire by instinct.

Wild shots are super normal with a sling. probably for every three shots I hit I fire a missed stone in a veritably random direction. Even Alex will occasionally throw backwards if he's making a fast throw.

I would say that in a realistic game Sling is a VH skill.

[fredtheobviouspseudonym]

IIRC in the early 1970s Scientific American had a long article on this topic -- The Sling as a Weapon October 1, 1973 — Manfred Korfmann. It pointed out, among other things, that the Balearic slingers were some of the most prized -- and highly paid -- auxiliary troops in the Roman Empire. Apparently Korfmann found a researcher who looked at the last shepherd-slingers in the Balearics in the early 1960s and found they could hit a target the size of an apple 50% of the time at 50 meters.

So slinging is a difficult skill but quite impressive when mastered.

[shawnhcorey]

Originally Posted by Black Leviathan

The big issue is that ACC 0. That's a very accurate game metric. There really is no taking aim with a sling. After a single rotation you're just hoping to time the throw better.

It's very hard to move and fire with a sling because you're breaking that centripetal loop you use to guide your shot.

Don't twirl a sling. Hold your throwing arm out in front of you level or about 30° down. Hold the pouch in your other hand pulling the cords tight. In one motion, pull down with your throwing arm and swing the pouch down, then back. As the pouch begins to rise, step into the throw, like pitching a ball. One motion. You don't twirl your arm when throwing a ball. Don't do it with a sling.

[acrosome]

Originally Posted by shawnhcorey

Don't twirl a sling. Hold your throwing arm out in front of you level or about 30° down. Hold the pouch in your other hand pulling the cords tight. In one motion, pull down with your throwing arm and swing the pouch down, then back. As the pouch begins to rise, step into the throw, like pitching a ball. One motion. You don't twirl your arm when throwing a ball. Don't do it with a sling.

This. Watch the videos on slinging.org. At most you make two swings. The Gaza technique of a lot of swings or spinning using a very long sling is optimized for range. Which is totally logical when you're tossing rocks at armed soldiers. See Niven's Laws 1a and 1b.

EDIT-- Hmm. I don't see the videos any more. The ones about specialized golf-ball slings were very amusing.

[swordtart]

I was told that you only swing the sling to settle the stone or while waiting for your shot (it is quicker to wait for the next slow loop round than to start from a stationary position, back swing and then make a full rotation). This is quite a lazy swing, just enough to keep the string tight. You can speed it up when you actually take your shot. Winding up might work for some, but I loose the feel for where the stone is after more than one rotation.

There are different techniques (and sling configurations) for different uses. Just dropping a stone 200 yards that-a-way and being able to keep it up for hours at a time (such as siege work) would use a different technique than trying to hit a specific small target at closer range (say before it moves).

If you sling vertically your stone will usually (barring the stone slipping out) fall on a line between you an the target and extending behind you (it flies off at a tangent to the arc you are swinging it).

If you sling overarm releasing too early means your sling stone is still on the up swing and you will drop the stone anywhere on that extended line (including straight up and behind). If you release too late it will fall short.

If you sling underarm an early release is more likely to throw the stone into the ground a short distance behind you (which in my mind means it is a little safer). Releasing too late means you will overshoot (or undershoot from height if you release very late, but at least it will be up range). You have to mess it up really badly to get it behind you.

If you sling horizontally you can gauge the distance more easily, but the stone could fly off in any direction at just over head height and end up hitting the ground somewhere on the circumference of the circle centered on you and with a radius equal to the distance to your target.

Diagonal just makes everything much harder to judge in all directions.

Once you know what you are doing you will of course have fewer wildcard shots, but if you accidentally clock someone or a window before you reach that point of proficiency you may be prevented from practicing enough to become proficient.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by chandley

The DF weapon really is the ACME Sling-Kusari made of Orichalcum chain...

You can strangle (a la a rope garrote) but not cut/strangle (a la a wire garrote) with that if you like.

It is not clear the advantage of cutting a strangled person.