The seige catapult or the battering ram?
120145
There is likley not to be a definitive answer to this question. \n\nAncient walled towns / fortresses (eg, Jericho, Troy, assorted Mesopotamian cities / strongholds, ...) very often were built with narrow, often low, passages through the walls. At least one ancient gate through the Jerusalem wall  was built just so. Walls being quite thick (multiple yards in some cases), tall (the "towering walls of Illium"), and often non-flammable (clay, rock, brick, ...), the only practicable way for a beseiging army to get in was through the doors (stout, and most likely wooden if perhaps with metal cladding at times). The battering ram was a natural resort. They were used (in variants) at sea (triremes were primarily used as battering rams when in a direct attack as at Salamis and other battles) and though actuall battering rams have not survived from ancient times (too useful as splintered firewood, one presumes), they are likely to be quite ancient. Being simple, and more or less easily improvised from a locally available tree trunk and so easily replaced at need, they are very likley to have been used before we have historical records of any kind. \n\nCatapults are also ancient. They were certainly known in late Greek times (as at the seige of Syracuse most remembered for the murder of Archimedes at its end), and portably, later in Roman times as at the seige of Masada in Palestine. Seige warfare in the Eastern Mediteranean or in Mesopotamia likely used them even earlier. However, because catapults require high level cordage technology (bad rope = nothing gets heaved), and relatively high precision wood joinery skills, it is clear that the very first attacks on fortified structures / camps would not have been by catapult since the requiste prior technologies must have been both developed to a high degree, and available simultaneously, before research and development could pay off in a working catapult of any sort. \n\nSuch a keep, if having a relatively weak door or gate, could be attacked with an easily 'built' battering ram, absent a catapult. The problem for such an attack is protecting those lugging the battering ram from missles from the walls. Personal shields, common from very early times and attested by carvings and images from nearly everywhere, have an obvious application.\n\nOn the whole then, I would suggest, in the absence of good    archeological sample evidence, that battering rams, being simpler, predate catapults of any kind in seige warfare. \n\nBut time (based on water supply or food supply or disease) was probably an earlier seige weapon than either, and continued to be so even after the development of organized structures wihin which to lug a battering ram or of very sophisticated catapult variants. Consder the seige in the Crimea at which it is said the first known European cases bubonic plague occurred. A body of a soldier who died of plague is supposed to have been catapulted over the walls to speed up the diesase weapon.
651608
The use of depleted uranium is NOT the use of "low yield nuclear weapons!"  This comparison is simply invalid.\nDepleted uranium is used as is it is extremely dense, simple physics explains the use of a heavy item causes more damage than a light item as a projectile.\nNuclear weapons take advantage of the instability of certain isotopes and their ability to release great amounts of energy.\nNo valid comparison between the methods of use!
244543
P90 here i'm thinking of getting M4 carbine and probably a gas  blowback barreta or glock. On the Rocket launcher good luck I heard there were plans for an CO2 powered RL somewhere on the net but i haven't really looked.
15102
Man you guys realy gotta learn how to google.\n\nThe earliest 'hand gonne' was developed in the fifteenth century, but was not a great influence in battle. It was a small cannon with a touch-hole for ignition. It was unsteady, required that the user prop it on a stand, brace it with one hand against his chest and use his other hand to touch a lighted match to the touch-hole, and had an effective range of only about thirty to fourty yards. It surely must have taken iron nerves to use one of these against a charging knight, nearly within his lance's reach, when the powder might not even ignite.
642931
Would bullets be better?
380252
http://uk.search.yahoo.com/search?search=%27busch+ram+punch%27&ei=UTF-8&fr=ks-ques&ico-yahoo-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAvAQtf57RZ60QkUKwaxW8.ASBgx.%2FSIG%3D1140u5jk8%2F*-http%3A%2F%2Fuk.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch&ico-wikipedia-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAv5.YOIkCwg8Cf4p787pW1ISBgx.%2FSIG%3D11ia1qo58%2F**http%253a%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSpecial%253aSearch&p=%27busch+ram+punch%27
517786
I'm on a destroyer and we have had our CIWS train on seagulls before.  Ha!  Yours is probably a Block 1B or greater, and has probably had some software upgrades that will enable it to track objects that small.  When you consider that it's designed to counter antiship cruise missiles (the nose-on aspect of which is only slightly larger than a mortar round) you shouldn't have much to worry about as far as the radar.  From my experience though, it's a really buggy system especially if you have the pneumatic drive vice the hydraulic system.  You get 4500 rounds a minute, but the tradeoff is less reliability.  What's more important?  Keep your head down out there, dude.
477660
try the German Stukka. It was made to strike terror in to the hearts of their Enemys, With its "trumpet of Jericho" Siren. It was feared as a Dive Bomber.
72702
Well I was Marine Corps infantry during the first offensive into Fallujah. (Around the time they hung US bodies from the bridges. I can tel you what our numbers were from about 750 in our battalion. 19 KIA (dead). In my company we had 4 KIA. Injuries are much higher though. I was a machinegunner, and just in my section of 18 guys, 6 of us were injured seriously. I took shrapnel 3 inches into the right side of my brain. One lost an arm, One paralized neck down, One hip blown apart, One face reconstructed, One bullet to the chest. Lt is right, if you have any fear, the infantry is not the place. Go admin.  But if you can hack infantry, it is the best thing you will ever do. No extreme sport can give you that kind of..... well I dont know what to call it, cause it aint a game. It will make a man of you though.
284586
i use CB caps for what you are doing.  it's a regular long rifle case with just primer and a smaller bullet.  CCI makes them, and i bought a brick from cabelas.  it shoots a 20 grain bullet at about 900 fps, no noise either.  i can hear the hammer fall.
525888
Depends on the bullet and its grain.The average velocity of a 12 pdr projectile was around 900 fps with a range of \n1800 yards. ...  Field Howitzer shell
458798
The Harpoon is an anti ship missile, fired from; let's say an F-16. The Tomahawk is capable of destroying entire buildings and is even capable of carrying a nuclear warhead (never used before). But there could be more out there in the non US defence market, we never know. The Russians and the Chinese have some neat stuff. Peace to the world.
589839
Hope this helps you out , you might want to download a program called webferrett it will find just about anything \n\nwww.redstoneprojects.com/trebuchetstore/build_a_catapult.html
596405
It depends on the range.Bullets are made several different ways.Some sharp pointed,some hallow point,some are rounded and flattened.The pointed ones have a longer range while the flat ones have a shorter range.The flat tip or hallow points make impact with an object and explode.The ponted tip will knock something down at a long range but does not do as much damage.Most hunting riffles use a point in between so that you still have a little range and power but you do not want to destroy the meat.Most military guns are pointed for the range and but is enough to knock down the enemy.
373975
This sounds like a Kubotan.  However it's not used to "smash people to a pulp".  Its primary use is pressure point and nerve manipulation.  This is, in my opinion, one of the most effective short range weapons ever envisioned.
485007
...the term "better" is very subjective; no doubt each has its strengths and weaknesses.  Judging strictly by the calibre rounds used, I would suspect (not having fired either) that the AK-47 has more power and the AK-74 is more accurate.  \n\nAs far as durability goes though, it would probably be tough to beat the AK-47.  It's quite a feat that a weapon designed in 1947 is still the assault rifle of choice for the majority of the world.\n\nAlso, I'm not sure but I think the AK-74 might be classified as a submachinegun whereas the AK-47 is an assault rifle.  If that's true, the 74 was designed for close-quarters.
163984
swordsmen.  I have a high respect for the sword and those who would use it.  The sword is the only weapon specifcally made for killing another man and you have to be so close to him that doing just that will either kill you deep inside or liberate you.