Chapter 17：Ballista in the Artillery Cabin

Taking advantage of the darkness and chaos, Da Fei rushed into an aisle that looked like where the dormitory was located and entered the next cabin. Then, not even daring to breathe, he crouched quietly beside the wall next to the door.

The Boss should have gone back to his position by now, right? Da Fei stuck his head out and looked backward. Sure enough, the Boss' back was again blocking the exit to the aisle. At the same time, there was no warning from the Reconnaissance Skill, which meant the Boss was unable to detect things behind it.

Da Fei was relieved. It was now time to search the warehouse. He hoped he would find something.

Da Fei moved along the wall carefully and started searching. The cabin had no rotting smell, but it did smell slightly of engine oil.

—System Message: You found a broken Ballista. (Large Item, cannot be carried around)

Da Fei was stunned! Ballista? The famous Ballista mentioned in the Study of the War Machines?

Da Fei took a closer look. Yes! It was a broken Ballista! The Ballista was said to be the Boss Killer!

—System Message: You found Ballista Ammunition. (Large Item, cannot be carried around)

—System Message: You found a Mechanical Repair Tool.

—System Message: You found a Fishing Rod.

There were even ammunition and repair tools! Was it possible that this Ballista could be used? It made sense. How could an expedition ship go out to sea unarmed? Winds were strong out at sea and targets were far away. Bows and arrows would not work well, so the Ballista was the best weapon! This meant that this was the ship's artillery cabin! The ships in this game were based on antique ship designs. When the sailing ships in movies went up against each other, two fleets would line up in a row and the artillery cabin windows would go up. The ships would then bombard each other to see who had more cannons and ammunition, and who could withstand the attack for a longer time.

If that was the case, there might be more than one Ballista in this artillery cabin! Da Fei continued to search in the dark. Indeed, he found 16 Ballistas, 8 on each side, with ammunition. However, they were all seriously damaged, none was intact!

There seemed to be no enemies in the entire artillery cabin. At the end of the artillery cabin was a locked iron door, and there was no way to continue onwards. According to the usual operation of the game, the only way to move on was to kill the Boss.

He understood now!

As an experienced gamer, what was the intention of such a scene appearing in the Beginner's Village? It was of course to teach rookies War Machine Knowledge and to let them try out the Ballista! That was how he learned the Reconnaissance Skill in the quiet Beginner's Village. It should be the same for Ballista usage!

If an ordinary player chose to start with the War Machine ability, he would be at a machine workshop in the city working as an apprentice so they could make money to buy a discounted Ballista. The only difference between this place and the workshop in the city should be that there was no mentor here. One could only figure it out for themselves!

According to the rules, he had to find the War Machine Skill Book. The book must be in a corner of this cabin!

Once he had the Skill Book, he would be able to repair these Ballistas. The powerful Ballistas were able to defeat enemies with the Impale ability. It would then be possible to defeat the powerful Zombie at the door!

Of course, even if it was not for killing the Zombie Boss, War Machine was a necessary ability for Da Fei, who was determined to be a sea merchant. If one's Reconnaissance Skill and Nautical Skill were not as good as the pirates', when facing the pirates, the Ballista was the last line of defense. Also, if they encountered sea monsters, they would also need the Ballista for self-preservation.

An introduction to the Study of the War Machines.

—Study of the War Machines: Improve the Durability and Effect of Ballistas, Siege Engines, and Medical Tents. Also allows repair of damaged war machines.

The branch skills of Study of the War Machines were usually Ballista Master, Siege Master, Tent Master, Battle Repair, and Explosive Bombs. The study of War Machines covered three types of machines, and the skill set combined with other skills made a dazzling array of skills, such as Triple Crossbow, Burning Crossbow, Magic Crossbow, Sulfur Smoke Rain, Plague Tent, Plague Siege Engine, Machine Destruction, etc. It took quite a lot of Skill Points to master the entire system.

War Machines were not affected by the hero's Attack and Defense attributes, as well as other combat skills. Each player could only bring one of each type of machine, so there was no need to spend too many Skill Points on a machine. Most players chose to be Ballista Masters or Tent Masters. As for the Siege Master, it was too advanced for players to consider sieging cities at this stage of the game.

Next, the Ballista.

—Ballista: Attack: 5, Defense: 5, Life: 100, Basic Damage: 1-2, Attack Speed: 5, Movement Speed: 1, Special Skill: Knock Back, Impale.

—Knock Back: Enemies hit by Ballistas have a certain chance of being knocked back.

—Impale: After the Ballista hits an enemy, the attack will continue to hit an enemy behind him.

These were the default properties of the Ballista. For each level of Study of the War Machines, the Ballista's Attack and Defense were increased by 5 points, the Basic Damage was increased by 1 point, and the maximum Life was increased by 100 points.

Although the Ballista's Attack and Defense were not subject to the hero's Attack and Defense attributes, the Damage of the Ballista was indeed related to the hero's Attribute Points. Different from the normal armament Damage calculation, the Damage of the Ballista was equal to the Basic Damage of the Ballista multiplied by the total value of the hero's attributes!

For example, Da Fei was now Level 6 and his Attack was 5, Defense 0, Magic 0, Knowledge 0. The total value of his attributes was 5. The Damage of the Ballista was 5-10, which was about that of a Level 4 unit. The formula meant that the stronger the hero was, the stronger his Ballista would be.

Therefore, even if the hero was not one who mainly added to Attack stats, once he got to a high enough level, he would still be able to use the Ballista to its full potential. So, even though Da Fei wanted to be a merchant, he would have no disadvantage when it came to learning to use the Ballista.

If one managed to master War Machines, the Ballista's stats would be—Attack: 30, Defense: 30, Life: 600, Basic Damage: 6-7. If Da Fei, who had 5 points of total attributes, used the Ballista, its Damage would be 30-35. The Damage was akin to that of a Level 7 unit! If he managed to become a Ballista Master, he would be able to fire two consecutive shots. That would mean the Damage was doubled!

That meant, if a Beginner learned the Ballista right from the beginning, it was equivalent to bringing a Level 7 unit along with him. Furthermore, it would not occupy any of the hero's Tactical Positions. It would be like having an extra army. For a Beginner, this would provide a very powerful and helpful long-range attack at the start of the game. They would be able to skip some levels and directly challenge monsters which were of a higher level, especially those powerful monsters which had long-range attacks that regular players did not dare attack.

In the public beta, the players who started with the Ballista or the Medical Tent were collectively called the Mechanical Starters, and they had obvious advantages.

If a player got Level 30, they would obtain 50 Attribute Points from leveling up, and the final Damage of the Ballista would be 300-350. This was far beyond any conventional arms. The damage was extremely high. It was not a matter of killing Level 7 units in one shot. Ordinary soldiers would be wiped out by one shot. A shot at sea by the Ballista would be quite a test of the quality of the ship!

In short, the Ballista, which was known as the Boss Killer, was itself a Boss! Of course, a player could only bring one such Boss with him.

Then, the shortcomings of the Ballista.

Although the Ballista was as powerful as a Boss, it was too large and inconvenient to aim. It had a low hit rate when firing upon moving enemies, and the rate of fire was slow. If attackers went around it, it would be helpless, even more so when faced with airborne units.

During the public beta, the value of the Ballista in the battlefield was just a 600-point sandbag. It attracted the first round of attack by the opponent's magical forces. So, in the latter part of the fight, there were not many Ballistas left.

The biggest disadvantage was that the Speed of the Ballista was only 1! That meant, it had a maximum Movement Speed of 1m/s. If a player carried a Ballista, he would be traveling at the speed of a turtle, even if he had mastered Logistics. Furthermore, they could only take the main roads, not small paths! Of course, the solution was to disassemble the Ballista into parts. But it would then take a long time to reassemble it before the battle. If the enemy discovered them while they were assembling the Ballista, the Skill was as good as useless.

On top of that, one had to carry expensive spare parts for repairing the Ballista with them.

Ultimately, players with Ballistas must win the battle. They must not allow themselves to be defeated. Once defeated… Haha, they would not have to worry about moving slowly anymore.

In short, the Ballista was able to provide players with very good combat support in the early stage, but it could also destroy a player. The usage of the Ballista depended on the player's own training methods.

For Da Fei, these disadvantages did not exist because naval battle and land battle were completely different concepts.

The ship was like a moving castle. As long as one could get this ship, the Ballista would have to be fired from the artillery cabin. If the enemy wanted to destroy the Ballista, the artillery cabin, which was the most heavily armored portion of a ship, had to be first destroyed. So, one did not have to worry about the artillery cabin getting destroyed right at the beginning of a battle.

Movement was not a problem as the Ballista moved with the ship.

The hit problem was no longer a problem. The target during a naval battle was usually a pirate ship. Even if one was blind, they did not worry about not being able to hit the opponent, right?

In fact, historically, giant cannons were all mounted on ships. The ship was the Ballistas' only home. Hence, Da Fei must learn this Skill!

…

At this moment, after fumbling for about half a day, Da Fei finally found a book in a box! He took a closer look. It was not a golden-colored Skill Book, but a "Manual for Maintenance and Repair of Ballistas"!

—Manual for Maintenance and Repair of Ballistas: Auxiliary Item. Equip this item to gain Ballista disassembly and assembly Skills.

Ha! It turned out to be a piece of equipment similar to the Magic Book!

In the game, in addition to the typical Weapon, Armor, Ring, and Accessory panel, there were a few columns for Auxiliary Items. Miscellaneous Items for various additional Skills, additional Morale, and additional Luck were under these columns.

Although he did not find the Skill Book for the Study of the War Machines, the effect of this equipment book was, in fact, better. Skill Points were not required, and it would take effect once it was equipped! If he had found a Skill Book, without any Skill Points, he would only be able to stare at it.

It seemed that the intention of this scene was completely in line with Da Fei's expectations. That was, for him to dismantle all the damaged Ballistas and then use the intact parts to reassemble new Ballistas! What was the purpose of these Ballistas? Of course, it was to kill the Zombie Boss guarding the door! Its back was facing Da Fei, waiting for him to blow it up! Even though he did not have support from the Study of the War Machines, its 100 Life was not for show!