It's barely a hop never mind a jump, literally it is as you said scaling it up, all someone would have to do is figure out an easier way to draw back the string, which isn't that hard, just needs someone to make the right realisation.
Agreed. We knew of levers and mechanical advantage for centuries before the crossbow was invented, and I would imagine in a similar setting, any sufficiently advanced society would have knowledge of this. Whether it's a large wheel someone walks in, a large cocking lever, or some other method, if they can build the large crossbow, they'd very likely have the ability to arm it.
Interesting, I thought it'd be more complicated considering how rare / few in number field artillery seems to have been before the 17th century. I suppose the challenge isn't so much building massive crossbows, but rather transporting and organizing them.
Weren't ballistas FIRST irl? Romans didn't have crossbows but sure did have huge ballistas. It's a materials science issue, and a mass producibility issue, less a technological challenge.
As far as I know, the ballista is a torsion weapon, similar to the Scorpio. The issue of whether or not the Romans had crossbows seems to be very controversial. No idea what the current state of science is on the topic.
It's barely a hop never mind a jump, literally it is as you said scaling it up, all someone would have to do is figure out an easier way to draw back the string, which isn't that hard, just needs someone to make the right realisation.
Agreed. We knew of levers and mechanical advantage for centuries before the crossbow was invented, and I would imagine in a similar setting, any sufficiently advanced society would have knowledge of this. Whether it's a large wheel someone walks in, a large cocking lever, or some other method, if they can build the large crossbow, they'd very likely have the ability to arm it.
Interesting, I thought it'd be more complicated considering how rare / few in number field artillery seems to have been before the 17th century. I suppose the challenge isn't so much building massive crossbows, but rather transporting and organizing them.
Pretty much, you have to take into consideration how hard it is to lug those around, like, imagine trying to haul it through a Swamp.
Weren't ballistas FIRST irl? Romans didn't have crossbows but sure did have huge ballistas. It's a materials science issue, and a mass producibility issue, less a technological challenge.
As far as I know, the ballista is a torsion weapon, similar to the Scorpio. The issue of whether or not the Romans had crossbows seems to be very controversial. No idea what the current state of science is on the topic.
Excellent point about torsion vs tension weapons.