Deflare

In Update #5, the devs have informed us that the major powers of the setting are largely possessed of late medieval/early Renaissance technology, including early firearms. Please, please, please, please do my history-major self a favor and include cannons in that. A brief history: Gunpowder's first use after its invention in China was in fireworks, because why not. Someone got the bright idea to point fireworks at enemy soldiers, which, while frightening, isn't terribly good at maiming or killing. Then, someone got the idea of strapping a gunpowder bomb to a castle wall or door, and that was effective, though rather dangerous. So the first reliable, safe use of gunpowder in warfare was the cannon. The larger barrels of cannons allowed them to handle greater stresses than something that could be carried by a person, which make their manufacture somewhat easier. They also fulfilled a valuable niche: Blasting down increasingly large and rugged castle walls. For this reason, cannons were being used in European warfare as eary as the 13th century--a good two or three centuries before handguns became prolific. Their rate of fire was slower than other siege weapons, but against a wall, who cares? They hit a lot harder, and were scary to boot. Translating this to a fantasy world, the logic holds. The physics are (probably) the same, so cannons are still easier to make. They're still good at smashing down stone walls (even if those stone walls are magically reinforced, given the precedent of firearms being able to puncture such barriers). A lucky shot means they could likely pulverize a lot of large monsters, especially slow ones or ones made from stone. There are logistical difficulties in transporting cannons, of course, and they require more specialized resources than, say, trebuchets, but a wealthy kingdom will very likely find them worthwhile. Obviously, cannons don't need to feature in your average dungeon crawl. I'm just thinking that if we see a siege at some point, or read an account of one happening now or in the recent past, they should be a thing that exists. It's starting to bug me how many high-medieval settings don't have any sign of them, y'know? Thanks, and I'm looking forward to the game. )