21.10 Fashioning and construction by legions.

While much of the equipment used by legions is prepared by cities, by individual citizens or foraged personally from about the land, certain items are fashioned using the specialised skills of well-trained legions while, moreover, many important battlefield tools (some crucial for turning the tide of a conflict) require training to maneuver, handle and bring to bear on an enemy. Foodstuffs are used by default as rations, steeds are aggregated out if cavalry is part of a legion's repertoire, armour likewise apportioned as judiciously as possible. Everything else requires either specific training or apposite orders.

REMEMBER: barracks and dormitories are locations of training and 'at ease'. They tend not to be suitable for construction. Legions are better assebled out-of-doors or in suitably expansive locations before issuing CONSTRUCT orders.

Syntax: ... CONSTRUCT <item of field equipment> HERE/<environs> <quality%>.
Syntax: ... CONSTRUCT CEASE/COMMENCE HERE/<environs>.
The singlemost important command in this section is the CONSTRUCT order, allowing legion commanders and/or dispatches to initiate the creation of new items - using deployed 'fieldequipment' specialist-skill alongside whichever secondary might be appropriate (depending on the item under construction). Remember you must have your legion commanded to ACTION (as opposed to MELEE or passive) so they divert some numbers onto the construction. General legion speed is taken into consideration too - slowed by cavalry-status, spedup by enhanced natural pace. Construction takes place in a specific localepoint and the legion requires the entire localepoint without obstruction to carry it out. At a push a legion can continue construction in adjacent localepoints providing it is same location and legion faces the materials directly.

Construction of fortifications is somewhat more complicated insofar as it requires a legion to occupy its own localepoint and to be facing the localepoint adjacent in which the fortifications are to be erected/upgraded. The construct order then sees the legion erect/upgrade fortifications facing back towards the localepoint it occupies, blocking movement from legion's localepoint in direction facing into forts/construction localepoint. Example: legion in east localepoint facing northwest initiates fortification construction - forts will be built in the north localepoint facing SE, blocking movement from east localepoint going northwest into the north localepoint. See HELP FORTS for fortification specifics.

If, instead of specifying an item of equipment with the CONSTRUCT command you write CEASE or COMMENCE you will interact with the full range of construction projects in the location. Using CEASE aborts all constructions, while using COMMENCE will pick up the projects once again and recommence their completion. It is useful to be able to pull legionnaires away from construction projects when in danger - to leave them in no doubt they should be engaging an enemy - while it is also important sometimes to force them to recomence a steady construction despite impending danger; where otherwise the legionnaires might become fixated on battle and neglect pivotal projects required for the broader war effort. REMEMBER: it is not possible to construct in barracks interiors, but elsewhere - including outer barrack locations - legions are unrestricted.

"CATAPULT" using wood, iron and rope commodities.
It is a wooden contraption, metal-encircled for extra strength, utilising a spring system to retract a large cupola (into which bomb mortars can be placed). When released at speed the catapult can then fire the mortar bomb at opponent legions or enemy targets. Accuracy depends on 'projectiles' and 'besieging' skills and requires the target to be in an adjacent location (for sufficient distance). Mortars - the bombs hurled by catapults - can be fashioned by the specialist craftsmen of cities and guilds or by legions themselves.

"MORTARS" using any metal commodities (can also use blackstone shards).
The mortar-bomb is the projectile hurled by the catapult, a spherical amalgam of metallic ores protruding with sharp-edges and designed to encourage a shattering of shards upon impact. Volume produced per construction depends on 'projectiles' and 'fieldequipment' skillsets, along with numbers deployed on the task.

"BATTERINGRAM" using wood, yarriol and iron.
The ram is a thickset trunk of hardwood reinforced with yarriol rings and set on a wheeled integrated cart. The battering ram head is fashioned of yarriol, the strongest of metals, tapered in places to make for a most effecient strike. It is used for breaking barriers, smashing a path through obstacles - like breaching walls through which invading legions may pass.

"ARROWS" using wood or a woodland locale with sufficient tree-branch wood available (i.e. to be trimmed off).
By working away in an appropriate location, with tree-wood available for trimming or in possession of sufficient wood commodity in the legion's inventory, the legion can fletch - en masse - large numbers of arrows. The end product is the same as the 'arrowset' from HELP CRAFTSMEN. The number of arrows produced per iteration is determined by the size of the legion, the deployment of "fieldequipment" and the legion's skill training at "fieldequipment" and "archers".

"ARMOURY" using metallic ore.
Mass production of armour suitable for legionnaires is accomplished via this construction command - as opposed to the time-consuming process having to be employed by citizen forgers. The armour produced is of time expended, quality and volume depending on numbers deployed at the task and their 'armourforms' and 'fieldequipment' skills combined.

"WEAPONS" using metallic ore.
Rather than employ a lot of citizen forger time (or a lot of citizen forgers) you may have the legions construct their own weapons by simply providing the ore and setting them about the task. Volume, time-taken and quality depend on the numbers deployed to the task, the quality of the ore used (yarriol better than iron for instance) and their 'meleeweapons' and 'fieldequipment' skills.

"CROSSBOWS" using metal, wood and rope.
This is the most complex of bows, offering fast-paced delivery of arrows at shorter ranges than its companion longbow with a greater chance of jamming in its mechanism. It is useful for closer quarters combat where the longbow range is restrictive but requires more maintenance than its sister bows.

"SPEARS" using wood and metal.
The shortest range projectile is the spear - able to be hurled from fairly close distance (anything just beyond melee range) and capable of doubling as a melee weapon, though with a reduced potency. The spears are massproduced at a pace, quality and volume determined by the numbers deployed on the task and the 'fieldequipment' and 'projectiles' and 'meleeweapons' skills.

"LONGBOWS" using wood and furs.
the longbow is simpler than the crossbow but nearly as accurate, less prone to failure/jamming and possessing of a longer range. It is the default bow of any archrs-trained legion. Numbers produced depend on the usual factors with 'archers' and 'fieldequipment' as primary specialist skills.

"CAVALRY" using animals and straw
Legions suitably skilled are able to turn the basic animals commodity into "cavalry" trained for future battlefields. The cavalry mounts can be used by any legion trained in "cavalry" skill to great effect, particularly in melee. Mounted legions attack stronger and defend with greater effectiveness. See HELP FORMATION and the paragraph on cavalry for further info on using mounted legions.

"SIEGETOWER" using wood, metals, rope and oil.
The siege-tower is one of the simplest of battlefield housings, capable of being fashioned and moved around the land in an encumbering but nonetheless practical fashion. Lugging around siege-towers hinders a legion's movement speed but, once set in place, can be used to house legions below a certain size - offering protection, access to enemies with an inherent armouring, respite from melee on the ground, etc. It is one of the most complex and time consuming of constructions. See the SIEGETOWER command in HELP PROACTION for details on using it.

"FORTIFICATIONS using iron, and secondary rope and marble.
See HELP TERRAIN for detailed information on the construction of fortifications in context of bolstering/altering location landscape and HELP FORTS for detailed info on various aspects of fortification building, lowering, raising, manning, etc. These are the mainstay of frontline city defence and should be part of all military commander's repertoire.

"LANDMINES" and "WATERMINES" require various metal commodities, essence, balsa, oil and flint.
The mines are created by your legion, or by specialist city/guild craftsmen, and then stashed in with the legion's equipment for later use via active deployment of the 'minefields' and 'minehunting' skills. Mines are potentially deadly, covert devices hidden in locations (or in water) to catch unwary passing legions/guard special areas. See HELP DEPLOYMENT for mine laying information.

"DRAWBRIDGE" requires a great deal of wood and metal.
The drawbridge is a large piece of equipment, stretching down across a wide gap or raising up to prevent access. It requires at least twenty legionnaires to construct and involves a mechanism being created, to one end of the platform, for raising or lowering the drawbridge. Once it has been constructed it can be used to connect two locations or locales separated by a gap of not more than a locale-point/20 feet long.

"OILCAULDRON" requiring iron, wood and rope, and then oil to keep it full.
The oil-cauldron is a large cauldron connected to a framework mechanism wrought in such a way as to allow easy tipping and tilting of the container, enabling its operator to send cascades of - in this case - burning oil crashing down with a modicum of accuracy. It is used ideally from siegetowers or highpoints against nearby besiegers sufficiently lowly placed or accessible from the tower.

"LADDERS" requiring wood.
The ladder is a simple item - fifteen feet high or long, depending on its use - allowing legionnaires to make their way up greater heights than would normally be possible, or to access the tops of walls or siegetowers where otherwise they might be at a gross disadvantage on the battlefield.

"TRANSPORT" requires a great deal of wood, metal and rope.
The transport is a large item and rather costly in commodities. The end-product is a vehicle capable of transporting heavy weights (like a well-equipped modest sized legion) across small bodies of freshwater. It has been known to be used on the coastal seas but at great risk to the occupants. A legion must have at least fifty individuals to carry out a transport construction, and each transport is capable of carrying up to fifty over deepwater. The transports are held in the inventory of the legion whenever used and this is automatic.

"BRIDGE" requires wood, metal and rope.
This is a ropebridge, designed such that it can be relatively easily transported by a sizeable legion. It is also fashioned to make it possible to furl and unfurl the ropebridge, connecting its attachments when appropriate, to provide a ready portable means of traversing narrow rivers, small gorges or trenches.

"COSTUMERY" requires cotton, dyes, silk and wool.
This selection of costumes is a collection of articles of clothing, mainly of generic import but sufficiently distinctive - by dint of cottons, wools, dyes and designs - to afford effective disguise whenever requirement to 'dress like a local' could prove useful. It tends to be an item held by legions involve in covert operations or by scouts traversing hostile territory.

"BARRICADE" requires clay, metal and wood.
The barricade is like a mobile fortification. It is used for reinforcing items like siegetowers and the like, and also for building walls/obstacles/high points within locations - at specific locale points - allowing higher ground positions to be taken, location ceilings to be reached (allowing upward tunneling) - and more besides. See HELP PROACTION for details on how to set up and use constructed barricades.

"SCAFFOLD" requires metal, wood and rope.
The scaffold is a portable framework of uprights, ledgers and transoms used in a flexible fashion during digging, trench and tunnelling exercises. It is an essential component of all three endeavour - rendering deep-digging secure from subsidence, trenches fortified from collapse, and tunnelling free from cave-in. Some consider it the singlemost important piece of equipment in tactical warfare for the art of tunnelling, minefield bottlenecks and surprise troop movement have turned the fortunes of many a battlefield.

"SURVIVALKITS" require wheat, flint, furs and straw.
The survival-kit is an advanced form of travel and battelfield rationpack, together with an assemblage of useful fieldwork tools and commodities aimed at aiding various away-from-homesoil endeavour. Combating cold, requiring fire, needing sustenance, placating hungry animals... four simple examples of commonplace circumstances aided by the survival-kit.

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