Summary
I recently have been playing around with Roblox physics and constraints to make some cool creations. Just yesterday I made this working trebuchet (it’s a highly efficient type of catapult, basically, for those unfamiliar). It’s still a WIP but I’ve got it working and it can fling a projectile over 2,000 studs so far! Check out the video to see it in action, I’ll have to try and figure out how to make gifs for future posts.
I just want to get some feedback/advice on the build but also check out my list of things I need to add below, those marked with a question mark (?) may be a little harder and advice on how to achieve is certainly appreciated. I’m a builder by nature but I’ve been trying to advance my scripting ability so it’s mainly with those components I need help with, I’ll likely make an even larger version later on that’s more detailed but for now this prototype will have to do.
Photos/Comments
I marked out all the buttons, the surface gui on the counterweight isn’t working properly so I have to change the density of those parts manually for now.
This image shows the trebuchet under tension.
Here’s a video of me shooting it.
robloxapp-20200715-1357540.wmv (2.5 MB)
I also tried making it look more realistic by adding this little component I’ve circled but the arm of the trebuchet begins shaking violent in this proto-type so I’ve scaped the idea. I might be able to try modifying it using rods or making the real rope invisible and making the ones shown here impractical but for the aesthetic. For now though just trying to improve the design.
To add (I’ll try to update the comments, I may have to make a second post for scripting specific stuff)
- Sounds/particles
- A better sling system, I’m trying to think through alternatives to releasing the projectile when it hits the green part but I’m unsure how I’d do it yet, so if you have any ideas let me know (?)
- Allow for configuration to weight and length of the rope of the sling rope (?; I’m having trouble making the surface GUI recognize when I click it… I might need to post another topic in GUIs)
- Projectile damage/effects, going to work on this when the main body is done and I’ll have to add multiple kinds of projectile (such as a burning projectile and a more detailed mesh rock)
- Realistic animations for adding weight to the counterweight and loading a projectile, I’m also going to make the wheel spin further, I know how to do this I’m just being lazy
Reference Photos/Examples
Here’s a realistic depiction of it in use from the Netflix film, The King: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CWmtlG42jA
