Constructing Siege Engines

Last session, my players recruited a normal man henchman who turned out to have 2 ranks of the Siege Engineering proficiency. Hurrah for random generation!

Now, of course, they want him to start building siege engines. Unfortunately, unlike most of the crafting proficiencies, the description doesn’t indicate how much a siege engineer’s labor is worth.

So, how does this work? How much work can the siege engineer do per month or day? How many people can work on building one siege engine? Does everyone working on the project have to have 2 ranks of siege engineering, or can the siege engineer lead a team of unskilled laborers? If so, does he improve their output like other overseers? What if the laborers have 1 rank of siege engineering?

This is detailed exhaustively in Domains at War: Campaigns. Here’s an excerpt:

Constructing a piece of artillery or siege equipment is handled as construction project. Use the standard Construction Project rules except as follows:
• The normal limits regarding construction sites do not apply to artillery and siege equipment. Any number of siege engines may be constructed simultaneously at the same site, provided enough supervisors are available.
• The number of workers able to work on any particular piece of artillery or siege equipment is limited. Huge siege towers are capped at 800 workers. Large siege towers are capped at 200 workers. All other artillery and siege equipment are capped at 50 workers. Because of these limits, craftsmen rather than unskilled laborers generally do the bulk of the work.

EXAMPLE: King Edward Longshanks orders the construction of a heavy trebuchet (2,500gp) under the supervision of a siege engineer. He assigns 5 master craftsmen, 10 journeymen, 20 apprentices, and 15 unskilled laborers, for a total of 50 workers The project has a construction rate of (5 x 5gp/day) + (15 x 0.1gp/day) or 26.5gp per day. After (2,500 / 26.5) 94 days, a little over three months, the workers finishes construction of the trebuchet. King Edward dubs it “Warwolf” and immediately smashes Stirling Castle with it.

NOTE: “Construction rate” is more-or-less the worker’s monthly wage divided by 30. For example, a laborer who earns 3gp per month has a construction rate of 1sp per day.

So, how does this work? How much work can the siege engineer do per month or day?

- It depends how many workers he has available

How many people can work on building one siege engine?

- Up to 50 for most siege engines, 200 for large towers, 800 for huge towers

Does everyone working on the project have to have 2 ranks of siege engineering, or can the siege engineer lead a team of unskilled laborers?

- The siege engineer can lead a team of unskilled laborers

If so, does he improve their output like other overseers? What if the laborers have 1 rank of siege engineering?

- A siege engineer earns 50gp per month, so his daily construction rate would be 1.67gp per day. He does not improve their output, but is required to do the project at all.

A laborer with 1 rank of siege engineering (an artillerist) earns 25gp per month, so his daily construction rate would be 83cp per day. An entirely unskilled laborer has a daily construction rate of 1sp (10cp) per day.

See Domains at War: Campaigns for more details! This "construction rate" system is applied to everything from ships to ballista to castles. 

 

Thanks Alex. That’s fantastic. Can’t wait for Domains at War!

Thanks! I'm very pumped about it. I've been playtesting it locally on an almost daily basis and I think it's going to really make possible the conquest of the empire type campaigns that we all secretly dream about.