can tell many ppl here are American, something bad happens first thing you think is "cool we can sue"
paynetrain007 said:
What did they shoot out of the cannon? A giant Bouncy Ball?
True. The same applies to coastal defence guns before the modern era. Mounted close to near the shore, they could skip a cannonball into a ship near it's waterline (the same method was used in World War II). On a land battlefield, the reasoning is a little more pragmatic - it ensured the greatest amount of damage (before the advent of fused and timed explosive), and a large amount of casualties. A wounded soldier continues to eat up your enemies resources (medical, food, water, transport, economic) whereas a dead soldier does not.Well, strangely enough, that's how old cannons operated. Against infantry a cannoneer would try and target it to hit the ground right in front of the enemy ranks. Depending on the surface, the ball would either shatter, sending shards through the ranks, or plough through the ranks on the bounce. Not sure why it was done that way. I guess aiming higher ran a risk of overshooting the target.
Good info here with both of these posts!dividebyzero said:
True. The same applies to coastal defence guns before the modern era. Mounted close to near the shore, they could skip a cannonball into a ship near it's waterline (the same method was used in World War II). On a land battlefield, the reasoning is a little more pragmatic - it ensured the greatest amount of damage (before the advent of fused and timed explosive), and a large amount of casualties. A wounded soldier continues to eat up your enemies resources (medical, food, water, transport, economic) whereas a dead soldier does not.Well, strangely enough, that's how old cannons operated. Against infantry a cannoneer would try and target it to hit the ground right in front of the enemy ranks. Depending on the surface, the ball would either shatter, sending shards through the ranks, or plough through the ranks on the bounce. Not sure why it was done that way. I guess aiming higher ran a risk of overshooting the target.
I'm afraid it's actually Discovery which turned "majorly stupid" in the last decade. Instead of concentrating on educational, science and fact based programming, they opted for the "wow! factor" and nowadays screen sensationalist "reality" crap.That show has turned majorly stupid the last 2-3 seasons.