Catapults are awesome

[Vincent Wolfe]

Sorry guys, probably my last post for the day.  Beakerhead in Calgary is hosting a catapult building contest.The goal is to hit a target 75m away, using a mechanical launcher.  I'm not sure if it needs to be a catapult, or a trebuchet would also be acceptable.

What do you guys think, we could make our debut in the most awesome way ever.

http://beakerhead.org/catharsis-catapult-call/

-Vince

[Andrew Blake]

Sir, I like the cut of your jib! Trebuchets fall under the umbrella of catapults, and nothing in the rules jumps out at me as prohibiting them. Tragically the no horizontal movement rule would rule out a scorpio unless one devised a way to rotate the arms 90 degrees.

[Vincent Wolfe]

I only wish they didn't have the pyrotechnics rule, a lot of fun could be had.

Anyone else interested in medieval mayhem?

[Vincent Wolfe]

I just got a reply from the organizing committee about the weapons:

Hello Vincent, 

Thanks for your query!  So a trebuchet is a type of catapult and as long as the ballista does not violate any of the additional guidelines listed you can totally create either of those contraptions.  Looking forward to hearing more about your entry! Deadline for submission is Friday, July 25. If you have any other questions feel free to let me know. 

Cheers!

Claudia 

[Andrew Blake]

Ooooh, I suppose "no horizontal rotation or spinning" must refer to side-arm deliveries.