05-03-2022, 01:45 PM | #41 | ||
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: traveller
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Re: Military Stratedgies against a 300 Foot Snake/Worm
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Even if the creature doesn't mind carrion, shipping meat at TL3 usually requires on-the-hoof and slaughter only when (or if) needed. Most animals need about 10x their body mass at the next lower trophic level to support them. Using Anthony's figure of 250-500 tons, that's 2,500-5,000 tons of prey population -- maybe 5,000-10,000 head of cattle. Let's say 25% replacement per year: 1,250-2,500 head of cattle per year, or 3-7 head of cattle per day -- or the creature starves. Don't fight the beast: kill its food supply, before it gets close enough for the beast to eat. Much lower DR. Quote:
Or, how about its lungs? Instead of burning the entire forest, set pots of pitch upwind and put noxious chemicals in them to burn -- sulfur, lye, white lead, poison ivy, bougainvillea, lacquer, etc. |
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05-03-2022, 02:01 PM | #42 | |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Military Stratedgies against a 300 Foot Snake/Worm
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05-03-2022, 02:48 PM | #43 |
Join Date: Apr 2022
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Re: Military Stratedgies against a 300 Foot Snake/Worm
The creature could have a fat storage on it, perhaps not needing to eat all the time, perhaps they're linked with breeding cycles of their prey.
Perhaps they wait until mating seasons to devour bucks and the like and keeping the does alive so they make more deer. Perhaps they are omnivores and can also eat plant matter. In that case they might gorge themselves on things like acorns (beeches and acorns and the like were used to fatten up pigs IRL for example) And otherwise they just forage and snack. It's a pretty big creature but that doesn't have to mean that it has to be dangerous, food wise, all the time. And since OP already stated that some of them are making pacts with humans, maybe these creatures could also be regarded as guardian (spirits) of regions by more primitive tribes, or just spiritualists. They cull wildlife, they eat swathes through the forests for flight animals to sprint through. If they live up to their wormyness, they might divert rivers by just eating through soil every now and then. Maybe even conciously to landscape. Like gardeners. |
05-03-2022, 03:57 PM | #44 | |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Military Stratedgies against a 300 Foot Snake/Worm
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They may be able to supplement their food with the corpses of the enemy and their horses (or other beasts of war), but that would only be more-or-less immediately after a battle, and may well not be an option (they may balk at consuming other sapients, the laws of war might disallow desecration of corpses and count "Consumption by worm-snake" as such, etc), so probably not worth taking into account.
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05-03-2022, 04:24 PM | #45 | ||||||||
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Join Date: Mar 2012
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Re: Military Stratedgies against a 300 Foot Snake/Worm
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I'm trying to mostly respect the square-cube law here. Mostly. The food intake is interesting, especially as a lot of these wyrms are fed primarily by humans.
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05-03-2022, 04:28 PM | #46 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
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Re: Military Stratedgies against a 300 Foot Snake/Worm
We will refrain from mentioning that the earliest known reference to the Lambton Worm comes from the 18th century, around the time that the family came to public renown. But anyhow - it was a constrictor with extreme regeneration/body segment reattachment abilities, which was induced to attack a guy with spear points welded all over his armour, in running water which swept the body segments away before they could reattach.
Looking up Persian myths, which had some of the earliest “spiky blade-covered bait” stories, reminds me that those were just a subset of the “persuade it to eat poison” stories. (There were also “persuade it to eat incendiaries” variants.) Which might be the best bet here, if someone can scrape together enough poison; even beings of human intelligence can fall for a basic poisoned dinner trick.
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05-03-2022, 04:54 PM | #47 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Military Stratedgies against a 300 Foot Snake/Worm
'Respecting the square-cube law' means 'stand still and watch it die, crushed under its own weight'.
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05-03-2022, 04:56 PM | #48 |
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: The Athens of America
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Re: Military Stratedgies against a 300 Foot Snake/Worm
Much like writers, tacticians and strategists are prone to stealing/recycling/filing off serial numbers.
For the lowered DR version of the Doom Worm I suggest stealing from the best. The Desert Fox. Early in WW2 the Germans ran across The Matilda. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matilda_II They found that the 37mm and 75mm short barrelled tank cannons that they had could not hurt them. Their answer was to preset and Camouflage 88mm anti-aircraft cannon (long barrelled, relatively immobile tactically) and use the 'useless' tanks to draw the Matildas into and across the 88's killbox. Wasn't always easy on the tanks, but it worked. File off Tank and 88mm flak, scribble in calvary and Extra Heavy Ballista and you are halfway home.
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05-03-2022, 05:08 PM | #49 |
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: Military Stratedgies against a 300 Foot Snake/Worm
Summon a 150 foot mongoose, stand back and watch the show?
If magical enchantments are available and you have sufficient lead time Penetrating Weapon cast on 72" Scorpion (LT, p. 82) bolts would reliably pierce even DR 40. Even without enchantment they'd reliably pierce DR 20. If you allow bodkin points for such missiles that would have similar effects to an enchantment. Assuming 7d+1 (2) damage, you'd get an average of (25.5 - 40/2 = ) 5.5 points of damage per hit, so 20 hits would have a fair chance of incapacitating it even with DR40. With 1/2D range of 275 and RoF 1/30, even a stationary scorpion could get off about 2 shots before the beast got within range. 50-100 would likely be sufficient to seriously injure or incapacitate the beast in that time period. In any case, an army is only going to defeat such a monster with fast, mobile tactics which draw it into traps or unfavorable terrain, as well as defense in depth. Cavalry or the fantasy equivalent of horse artillery are your only options for engaging the beast, everything else is just crunchy snacks. Mount the scorpions on heavy duty wagons (at 1190 lbs., just doable) pulled by large, fast teams of horses so they can outrun it. Use "horse archer" tactics to gall and distract the beast while retreating units reload. Perhaps use harpoons trailing heavy weights to slow the beast down. Use the infantry as signalers, preferably protected by tall, very tough towers or stationed on hilltops. Alternately, have them pre-positioned to set massive fires to channel the beast's movements. If you have any sort of air power, the equation changes. A vehicle or creature capable of dropping 100 lb. rocks from 100 yards height will reliably do at about 32 HP of damage and has an outside chance of doing 40+ HP. Since the beast is land-bound, it can't attack aerial units even if they're slow. "Combined arms" ops would use aerial units as signalers and scouts, as well as "fire support" for ground-based units. |
05-03-2022, 05:21 PM | #50 | |
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: The Athens of America
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Re: Military Stratedgies against a 300 Foot Snake/Worm
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They would be either/or not both. And considering that wagon suspension didn't really exist at TL 3 shooting while moving would be pretty much a no go. Probably same deal with reloading on the move. Some 'horse artillery' might exist in some TL 3 games. But anything heavy enough to hurt even the lesser version of the Doom Worm IMHO would not really have tactical mobility. Never mind tactical 'speed'.
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My center is giving way, my right is in retreat; situation excellent. I shall attack.-Foch America is not perfect, but I will hold her hand until she gets well.-unk Tuskegee Airman |
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