Trebuchet-Catapult by Uncle T

611 bricks.

So I built a trebuchet-catapult just for fun. I call it a trebuchet-catapult since it's a bit of a blend between the two. It has the swinging counterweight of a typical large trebuchet but the rigid throwing arm of a catapult, albeit a lot longer. A catapult would usually be powered by a torsion cord that stored the tension and propelled the arm, while a trebuchet would have a large sling attached to the arm, greatly increasing the achievable acceleration and thus power and range. Since a working sling would be a nightmare to construct (if at all possible) in the game I went with a much longer throwing arm as a substitute.

Contrary to what game designers and Hollywood film makers think this type of large counter-weight trebuchet was not used in pitched field battles (smaller hand operated trebuchets and the smaller cousins torsion catapults were like the Roman "Onager" - "mule" so named after the fierce kick it produced), but in sieges since they were far to heavy and unwieldy to move any significant distance and a low rate of fire. Against a stationary target like a castle wall movement and rate of fire are less important since you have days or weeks to pummel a wall into rocks and gravel, and they were build on site where they were intended to be used.

This Trebuchet-Catapult comes with 16 fire/explosive pots/boulders and 16 metal balls (tungsten) as ammunition. The fire/explosive pots (usually) explodes on impact, and if they don't we'll chalk it up to faulty medieval tech. The metal balls are basically for breaking stuff and for possibly firing at tightly packed infantry. They weigh about 60 kg each, so light enough for Bob to lift and load.

The range for the lighter fire/explosive pots is between 350 and 450 meters if it launches correctly. NOTE that these have a quite a few foam tanks with Nitro in them so handle with some care or you might blow up yourself and the trebuchet-catapult. The range for the heavier tungsten balls is between 250 and 300 meters and upon landing they tend to roll quite far along the ground, taking out any infantry unfortunate enough to stand in the way.

NOTE! This is how far it throws in SP at 140-150 fps; I have no idea how far it'll throw in MP or at lower fps or if it will even work as inteded since the physics at different fps are so broken in the game. The range can also vary wildly between shots even with the same type of ammo just due to the nature of the thing and Brick Rigs physics etc.

OPERATION

1. Grab the winch hook.
2. Run up either ramp and attach the winch hook to the steel loop about halfway up the throwing arm.
3. Use the winch to pull down the arm fully by turning the wheels (button on either side).
4. Load a projectile in the holding basket. Make sure it's resting properly in the basket.
5. Release the hand brake from the driver's seat. This helps the whole thing roll back and forth when launching the projectiles, thus dampening the stress of the heavy moving parts, and it actually seems to fire slightly farther on average.
6. If you use the fire/explosive pot activate the fire and smoke effect by pressing the button hidden inside (press E). This is purely cosmetic and the projectile will explode on impact whether you use this or not, but it looks cool flying through the air. :)
7. Release the winch hook (press R while looking at it) to loose the throwing arm and throw the projectile.
8. Repeat process until the castle is rubble and enemy is vanquished!

Sadly you can't launch yourself or Dummies with it. It seems any alive Bob or Dummy is "glued" to the thing and will follow the basket up but will stay stuck to it. Where's the fun in that?!?!

Feel free to edit, but if you reupload publicly in any way please acknowledge the original creation and creator.

Have fun!