Day 137 | Open

[freedom_engineer]

Who: Colin and anyone curious about what he's doing.
Open: Open
When: Day 137, around midday
Where: Northwestern Bastion, open ground
What: Colin's surveying for a new building
Format Can match.
Warnings: Colin's deeply engrossed in his survey. He may be more of a socially impaired derp than usual.

[Colin has been positively hyperactive today. He wolfed down his breakfast like a man possessed, snagged a couple of fruit to eat in the field, and made sure to get his chores done far ahead of schedule. After that, he grabbed several wooden stakes and set himself to the task of analyzing the ground beneath his feet. Unseen, his eye has been taking detailed measurements of all of the buildings in the Bastion, and he's been setting out the stakes to mark an outline of a new building. Anyone feel like approaching him?]

Comments

[thirdoutofthree]

[ It hurts the mind. She's going to have a definite headache soon. ]

I dunno what I'd want for improvements, honestly. [ She offered an apologetic shrug. ] I haven't met a monster I couldn't beat down with my bow. [ Then she paused, thinking. ] Except maybe that Lunkhead.

[freedom_engineer]

Armor penetration, then.

I can get Stewart the design for some armor-piercing arrowhead models, and maybe come up with a bow design that can better project the force...

Uh... sorry.

[He smiles sheepishly.]

You put any sort of project in front of me, and I take off on it. I really get into my work.

[thirdoutofthree]

[ She smiles. ] Nothing wrong with loving your work.

I could definitely use some new arrows. Maybe even a variety of different ones. [ That could be promising. ]

[freedom_engineer]

I'll do up some sketches this afternoon, then. We've definitely got the materials to build most of what I know.

[thirdoutofthree]

What kind of material would you use to pierce armor? Wouldn't everything be too heavy?

[freedom_engineer]

You can actually do it with any metal, if you've got it in the right configuration. The trick is delivering enough force in a small enough area.

There are advanced patterns, and better metals as well, but simple steel, or even iron will be sufficient so long as you've got the talent.

The trick is you can't half-ass it. You've gotta have the force to do it.

[thirdoutofthree]

Hang on, here. [ The insinuation that she's not strong enough to pierce armor with her regular arrows is a rather insulting to Viola. ] I don't know what kind of special iron you've got, but I've smashed dozens of arrowheads flat trying to split rocks. Doesn't matter how hard I fired them-- I could've been throwing butter for all the use it had.

[freedom_engineer]

And what were the size of the arrowheads? What shape?

[Colin looks at her intently]

This is where math is important. A broad arrowhead, like most usual ones...

[He sketches an over-sized arrow in the dirt in demonstration. He marks along the length of the arrow head to make his point.]

Applies all the force over the entire area of the head, where the arrow strikes.

If you want to piece armor, or rocks, or anything solid and dense... You need to ensure that the arrowhead is narrow, that all the force is applied in one spot, to penetrate.

[Colin sketches a much narrower arrowhead in the dirt]

Like a mining pick. A bad draw, a glancing shot, ANYTHING that makes the force hit more area than necessary? Will render an armor-piercing shot pointless. That's the point I'm trying to make. These kinds of arrows do a special job, and they need to do it right.

And the arrowheads need to be made right too. They're packing a LOT of energy in a very narrow area, enough to destroy them on impact if they're poorly made.