Firing even a 42lb cannon wouldn’t capsize a decently large ship. A 42lb projectile at 1700 ft/s carries like 425 million joules of energy. Then shrink that mass down from 42lbs to 0.5 lbs and let conservation of energy multiply the and whatever is in its flight path is going to have a really bad day. Like a “half a pound traveling at 0.6% of C” level of bad day.
With magic metals like mithril you can probably make a siege cannon of at least double the poundage. Modulate the load and use a tungsten wire instead of a toothpick, and you make a plasma weapon. You would need wizards dedicated to calculating the firing solutions to ensure you don’t miss your shots. Einstein would be the deadliest mother fucker on the Sword Coast.
Well, the cannon only needs to produce enough force to move a tiny cannon ball really fast.
The 6 second interval is to match the in game fight sequences, implying that the enlarge spell would finish casting as it impacts the enemy ship. All of that momentum suddenly comes to a grinding halt as the weight suddenly changes and the cannon ball rips the enemy ship to shreds
Unfortunately after a single fire the force tosses the ship onto its side and is sinking
Firing even a 42lb cannon wouldn’t capsize a decently large ship. A 42lb projectile at 1700 ft/s carries like 425 million joules of energy. Then shrink that mass down from 42lbs to 0.5 lbs and let conservation of energy multiply the and whatever is in its flight path is going to have a really bad day. Like a “half a pound traveling at 0.6% of C” level of bad day.
With magic metals like mithril you can probably make a siege cannon of at least double the poundage. Modulate the load and use a tungsten wire instead of a toothpick, and you make a plasma weapon. You would need wizards dedicated to calculating the firing solutions to ensure you don’t miss your shots. Einstein would be the deadliest mother fucker on the Sword Coast.
Well, the cannon only needs to produce enough force to move a tiny cannon ball really fast.
The 6 second interval is to match the in game fight sequences, implying that the enlarge spell would finish casting as it impacts the enemy ship. All of that momentum suddenly comes to a grinding halt as the weight suddenly changes and the cannon ball rips the enemy ship to shreds