• wwaxen@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    2 years ago

    Crossbow: in mass use by the 10th century in Europe.
    Full plate armor: appears early in the 15th century.

    Non-credible confirmed.

      • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        2 years ago

        [ Nanni to Ea-nasir]

        If only I could tell you how much distress your shipment of “goods” has caused me! I dispatched messengers to you repeatedly about the state of my delivery, but you have not responded. My household is in disarray, and our workers are idle due to the absence of these phallic dingdongs shaped like … unusual objects.

        Your representative, whom you sent to me, had the nerve to claim that they were “fine”! But I can assure you, Ea-nasir, that not one of them has been fit for use. The artisans in my workshop are all laughing at these absurd objects and have not been able to work on any serious projects due to the interruption. Even the guards who were supposed to keep an eye on them found the sight too amusing!

        I implore you, Ea-nasir, to send a new shipment of proper ingots immediately! I want no more of these … er… “unique” items that have caused such embarrassment and ridicule for my household. My reputation depends on it.

        If you are unable to remedy this situation, I will be forced to take my business elsewhere. You would not want that, now would you? The people of Ur would surely hear about your inability to deliver quality goods.

        In the meantime, please instruct your representative to cease and desist from any further attempts at delivering these … unusual objects.

        Yours sincerely,

        Nanni

  • Etterra@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    Yeah the Pope baned crossbows for a while, but as you might have heard already, it didn’t stick.

  • Ilovethebomb@lemm.eeEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    I really hope the western allies have a plan for countering drones in the pipeline, otherwise the next time we fight an insurgency will be a bloodbath.

    • Milk_Sheikh@lemm.eeEnglish
      1·
      2 years ago

      As someone who’s been following this fairly closely since the Syrians started toying with it, and the Ukrainians threw it into hyperdrive… There’s no good counter when drones are cheap to make and can be programmed to run on a flight course:

      • Jamming has to fight inverse square so the radius is trash (and kills a lot of useful civil RF ranges like WiFi). Something like 200 meters is a strong system currently, and power needs ramp up fast.
      • ‘Kinetic hard kill’ like traditional air defense is way too expensive per shot, plus there’s issues with UXO, debris, and limited launching platforms. Legacy air defenses like Tunguska or FlakPanzer with programmable airburst rounds work best, but at very short range and make a lot of secondary fragments by design. Taking the guns out, interceptor missiles start at five figures.
      • Laser systems have a lot of promise with none of the explosive downsides whilst being cheaper per shot, but range isn’t great - you’re focusing energy to physically melt the target, and all light suffers from diffraction. It is better than jamming, but far too close for comfort.

      That assumes you know the drone is coming, mind you. Piston-engine flying wings aren’t silent, but they are generally made of polymers/laminates that are hard to detect via radar. Thermal cameras and acoustic sensors so far are the best early warning systems, but radar is still a huge help.

      And then there’s FPV and quadcopters. While a larger munition like Shaheed can be under $10k, even the more advanced FPV/quads with night vision (or even thermal) cameras frequently run under $1,000, up to a few thousand. Air dropped explosives have been fundamental in changing the course of the civil war in Myanmar for the rebels, it’s like having a budget Air Force and spy satellites on call.

      • Ilovethebomb@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        2 years ago

        The air burst rounds sound like the best option, pretty much guaranteed kill against a slow moving drone, cost less than what you’re shooting at, and useful against a wide range of targets.

        • Milk_Sheikh@lemm.eeEnglish
          1·
          2 years ago

          Yup, air burst and lasers are the leading ideas atm. But you’re still dealing with a zone of protection a kilometer or so - not a big deal to defend the main command post or vital supply depots, but spreading that out to industrial areas, grid power stations and substations, seaport complexes, or cities and your ‘blanket’ of protection starts looking too small for the job of covering the ‘want to have’ as well as the ‘need to have’ protected.

  • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    > ruins combat
> ruins warfare
> ruins swordfights
> ruins hand-to-hand combats
> ruins an entire fucking combat doctrine

Gunpowder, and its consequences...
    • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      2 years ago

      Bruh the sword was hugely in use for hundreds of years that that… thing… came along.

      1796 light cavalry saber? Hello?The 1892 pattern? Swords were so important and well evolved to their function the barely had to adapt to fire arms till functional automatic fire became a thing.

  • NigelFrobisher@aussie.zoneEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    The crossbow suddenly doesn’t look as good when your pavise shields are still stuck in the wagon train and you’re in range of the English longbowmen.