34
votes
General rule to spacing towers on a medieval city wall
The spacing of towers along medieval curtain walls was typically to provide flanking fire along straight sections of wall.
In order to provide proper flanking fire, it would be necessary to situate ...
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23
votes
Defensive Middle Ages measures against magic-controlled "smart" arrows
1: Electron… magic warfare.
Like with smart munitions, you add magical nodes that can disrupt smart arrows, if not hijack them. Your arrows will veer off-course, you just lose control or the arrow ...
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22
votes
General rule to spacing towers on a medieval city wall
From 30 to 150 meters, but 60 meters or less seems to be often preffered in big cities
The citadel of medieval city of Carcasone has wall in length of 3km with 52 towers, which would give you the ...
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19
votes
General rule to spacing towers on a medieval city wall
In addition to @MontyWild's excellent answer, consider the practicalities, too.
Your city/town doesn't have an infinite amount of money or resources. That means that, while the ideal would be to ...
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15
votes
Defensive Middle Ages measures against magic-controlled "smart" arrows
Smart archers need to see the arrow in order to control it
Smoke screens and anything which prevents the mages from seeing the target will work pretty well as defense against them, making their ...
- 276k
12
votes
Accepted
Defensive Middle Ages measures against magic-controlled "smart" arrows
First, let's look at the limits of your technology
Medieval war bows had tremendous draw weights. Estimates of 180 lbs are not uncommon. (I've drawn a 100 lbs. bow. It's a difficult draw if you're not ...
- 117k
8
votes
General rule to spacing towers on a medieval city wall
The Great Wall of China spaced its watchtowers anywhere from three miles to over double that depending on terrain.
Work out what the towers are for and then space them appropriately. If the wall ...
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8
votes
Defensive Middle Ages measures against magic-controlled "smart" arrows
Deception. (I.e., dummies)
Military deception has a longer history than the Wikipedia article might suggest. The obvious famous one being the so called Trojan Horse.
At 200 yards, no-one is going to ...
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5
votes
Defensive Middle Ages measures against magic-controlled "smart" arrows
Would armor evolve in this context?
Possibly. Arrows would not be the only threat in a battlefield. When the arrows are over it's lancing time, and when the spears break you get down to swords and ...
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4
votes
Defensive Middle Ages measures against magic-controlled "smart" arrows
Artillery
That is, arrows are used as artillery rounds instead of pinpointing enemies. Make a bomb, attach it to the smart arrow and launch it upwards like a mortar shell, possibly altering its course ...
- 6,156
4
votes
How would a scaled-up ballista designed to launch 50-foot spears function?
Poorly
The likely "full metal" for the mid-1400s would be cast iron. A bolt a metre in diameter and 15 metres long comprised of cast iron would mass about 90 tonnes.
Medieval ballistae used ...
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3
votes
General rule to spacing towers on a medieval city wall
If the wall is round, ever expanding peripherary needs more towers per unit of length. Draw a circle with scale radius. Bigger your settlement the more towers you need.
Generally, there are no rules ...
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2
votes
Defensive Middle Ages measures against magic-controlled "smart" arrows
A simple solution that would make it hard for your smart arrow users to see their targets properly would be polish. Lots and lots of polish! If the opposing army buffs up their armour to a high ...
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2
votes
How would a scaled-up ballista designed to launch 50-foot spears function?
Summary similar to the other answers
Thanks for the clarifications and improvements. I've retracted my close vote.
Basic math: A cylinder 50 feet long with a radius of 1.75 feet has a volume of 481 ...
- 117k
1
vote
How would a scaled-up ballista designed to launch 50-foot spears function?
You do realise that a 100 metric tonne bolt is the weight of about a Boeing 757. Having a ballista launch something like that is not really feasible, not even with today's technology.
I would suggest ...
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1
vote
Defensive Middle Ages measures against magic-controlled "smart" arrows
Partial answer: Tennis rackets
With eye slits being expertly covered by other answers (dazzle patterns), this answer deals with arrows navigating around other defensive measures like shields, or ...
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1
vote
Defensive Middle Ages measures against magic-controlled "smart" arrows
While I quite like Demigan's proposal to use dazzle patterns, I'd like to add on to it:
Ghillie Suits
Unless they're using some sort of telescopic sights, archers can't actually see someone's eye ...
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1
vote
Defensive Middle Ages measures against magic-controlled "smart" arrows
Here is a frame challenge, your arrows will rarely be used in the battle field. Thus armor will not change much, maybe apart from getting thicker to protect from faster projectiles.
It will be ...
- 7,552
1
vote
Defensive Middle Ages measures against magic-controlled "smart" arrows
Active Defense
Some modern tanks use explosive charges on the exterior of their armor to interfere with penetrating rounds. The incoming projectile needs to explode at just the right time to inject a ...
- 10.5k
1
vote
Defensive Middle Ages measures against magic-controlled "smart" arrows
Simplest is a plain armor with a "burka-like" overcoat preventing "smart archers" from seeing where weak points are.
A bit of padding would even prevent guessing where eye-slits ...
- 17.3k
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