How would one attack or lay siege to a flying castle?

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So we already know that flying creatures are good at attacking castles. But what about a flying castle attacked by ground creatures?



Let's say we have ourselves a medium-sized castle built on a driftrock, attached with a heavy chain to the ground 800ft below. For the purposes of this particular edge of the world there exist flying creatures like birds and dragons etc. (and obviously giant flying rocks) but we cannot use/tame/control them.



How does one attack / lay siege to such a fortification?



I mean, you could attempt to cut the anchor chain, but then the whole endeavour floats away on the breeze - plus you make yourself an excellent target. One usually sieges a castle to get the stuff inside, or gain a valuable location, not to make it float away...



Useful info:



  • We're in a medieval-esque fantasy world, at least as far as technology is concerned. Light use of magic is fine, but minimal handwaving preferable.

  • Let's say the castle has supplies for a year (food, weapons, ...). Obviously therefore no-one there will need to go groundwards.

  • The usual way into the castle is with a crane. Large wicker basket for people and crates for goods.

  • The inhabitants of the castle have access to the bottom of the driftrock. They can open access hatches to shoot, or abseil down the side of the rock. You may not necessarily be safe if you're standing underneath.






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  • 1




    Is it possible to control floating boulders with sails/balloons? If so, you could drop stuff from floating rocks while ground forces make sure no one escapes. This could be much quicker than a siege.
    – Starpilot
    Aug 17 at 0:58






  • 23




    Historically, one would usually besiege a castle because it stood between your army and the rich cities beyond it. Therefore I imagine some attackers would be fine with untethering it and letting the defending army float away. It is also more easily besieged since defenders can't sally out very easily. What is this flying castle actually defending, and why can't attackers just go around it?
    – creeon
    Aug 17 at 6:17






  • 30




    "One usually sieges a castle to get the stuff inside" this is a misconception. A castle in the Middle Ages is made to protect the access to some territories. If the castle is gone, the territory is yours. If it floats away uncontrolled, you've won.
    – bilbo_pingouin
    Aug 17 at 6:41






  • 3




    Cutting it loose really is the way to deal with this castle, it's the land and the cities that are the wealth of a kingdom, not whatever is locked away in a castle.
    – Separatrix
    Aug 17 at 9:33






  • 5




    I don't think I could resist assulting the giant flying rocks by using giant flying rocs.
    – Hurkyl
    Aug 17 at 15:19














up vote
29
down vote

favorite
2












So we already know that flying creatures are good at attacking castles. But what about a flying castle attacked by ground creatures?



Let's say we have ourselves a medium-sized castle built on a driftrock, attached with a heavy chain to the ground 800ft below. For the purposes of this particular edge of the world there exist flying creatures like birds and dragons etc. (and obviously giant flying rocks) but we cannot use/tame/control them.



How does one attack / lay siege to such a fortification?



I mean, you could attempt to cut the anchor chain, but then the whole endeavour floats away on the breeze - plus you make yourself an excellent target. One usually sieges a castle to get the stuff inside, or gain a valuable location, not to make it float away...



Useful info:



  • We're in a medieval-esque fantasy world, at least as far as technology is concerned. Light use of magic is fine, but minimal handwaving preferable.

  • Let's say the castle has supplies for a year (food, weapons, ...). Obviously therefore no-one there will need to go groundwards.

  • The usual way into the castle is with a crane. Large wicker basket for people and crates for goods.

  • The inhabitants of the castle have access to the bottom of the driftrock. They can open access hatches to shoot, or abseil down the side of the rock. You may not necessarily be safe if you're standing underneath.






share|improve this question


















  • 1




    Is it possible to control floating boulders with sails/balloons? If so, you could drop stuff from floating rocks while ground forces make sure no one escapes. This could be much quicker than a siege.
    – Starpilot
    Aug 17 at 0:58






  • 23




    Historically, one would usually besiege a castle because it stood between your army and the rich cities beyond it. Therefore I imagine some attackers would be fine with untethering it and letting the defending army float away. It is also more easily besieged since defenders can't sally out very easily. What is this flying castle actually defending, and why can't attackers just go around it?
    – creeon
    Aug 17 at 6:17






  • 30




    "One usually sieges a castle to get the stuff inside" this is a misconception. A castle in the Middle Ages is made to protect the access to some territories. If the castle is gone, the territory is yours. If it floats away uncontrolled, you've won.
    – bilbo_pingouin
    Aug 17 at 6:41






  • 3




    Cutting it loose really is the way to deal with this castle, it's the land and the cities that are the wealth of a kingdom, not whatever is locked away in a castle.
    – Separatrix
    Aug 17 at 9:33






  • 5




    I don't think I could resist assulting the giant flying rocks by using giant flying rocs.
    – Hurkyl
    Aug 17 at 15:19












up vote
29
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up vote
29
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So we already know that flying creatures are good at attacking castles. But what about a flying castle attacked by ground creatures?



Let's say we have ourselves a medium-sized castle built on a driftrock, attached with a heavy chain to the ground 800ft below. For the purposes of this particular edge of the world there exist flying creatures like birds and dragons etc. (and obviously giant flying rocks) but we cannot use/tame/control them.



How does one attack / lay siege to such a fortification?



I mean, you could attempt to cut the anchor chain, but then the whole endeavour floats away on the breeze - plus you make yourself an excellent target. One usually sieges a castle to get the stuff inside, or gain a valuable location, not to make it float away...



Useful info:



  • We're in a medieval-esque fantasy world, at least as far as technology is concerned. Light use of magic is fine, but minimal handwaving preferable.

  • Let's say the castle has supplies for a year (food, weapons, ...). Obviously therefore no-one there will need to go groundwards.

  • The usual way into the castle is with a crane. Large wicker basket for people and crates for goods.

  • The inhabitants of the castle have access to the bottom of the driftrock. They can open access hatches to shoot, or abseil down the side of the rock. You may not necessarily be safe if you're standing underneath.






share|improve this question














So we already know that flying creatures are good at attacking castles. But what about a flying castle attacked by ground creatures?



Let's say we have ourselves a medium-sized castle built on a driftrock, attached with a heavy chain to the ground 800ft below. For the purposes of this particular edge of the world there exist flying creatures like birds and dragons etc. (and obviously giant flying rocks) but we cannot use/tame/control them.



How does one attack / lay siege to such a fortification?



I mean, you could attempt to cut the anchor chain, but then the whole endeavour floats away on the breeze - plus you make yourself an excellent target. One usually sieges a castle to get the stuff inside, or gain a valuable location, not to make it float away...



Useful info:



  • We're in a medieval-esque fantasy world, at least as far as technology is concerned. Light use of magic is fine, but minimal handwaving preferable.

  • Let's say the castle has supplies for a year (food, weapons, ...). Obviously therefore no-one there will need to go groundwards.

  • The usual way into the castle is with a crane. Large wicker basket for people and crates for goods.

  • The inhabitants of the castle have access to the bottom of the driftrock. They can open access hatches to shoot, or abseil down the side of the rock. You may not necessarily be safe if you're standing underneath.








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edited Aug 16 at 23:45

























asked Aug 16 at 23:23









MarcinKonowalczyk

28628




28628







  • 1




    Is it possible to control floating boulders with sails/balloons? If so, you could drop stuff from floating rocks while ground forces make sure no one escapes. This could be much quicker than a siege.
    – Starpilot
    Aug 17 at 0:58






  • 23




    Historically, one would usually besiege a castle because it stood between your army and the rich cities beyond it. Therefore I imagine some attackers would be fine with untethering it and letting the defending army float away. It is also more easily besieged since defenders can't sally out very easily. What is this flying castle actually defending, and why can't attackers just go around it?
    – creeon
    Aug 17 at 6:17






  • 30




    "One usually sieges a castle to get the stuff inside" this is a misconception. A castle in the Middle Ages is made to protect the access to some territories. If the castle is gone, the territory is yours. If it floats away uncontrolled, you've won.
    – bilbo_pingouin
    Aug 17 at 6:41






  • 3




    Cutting it loose really is the way to deal with this castle, it's the land and the cities that are the wealth of a kingdom, not whatever is locked away in a castle.
    – Separatrix
    Aug 17 at 9:33






  • 5




    I don't think I could resist assulting the giant flying rocks by using giant flying rocs.
    – Hurkyl
    Aug 17 at 15:19












  • 1




    Is it possible to control floating boulders with sails/balloons? If so, you could drop stuff from floating rocks while ground forces make sure no one escapes. This could be much quicker than a siege.
    – Starpilot
    Aug 17 at 0:58






  • 23




    Historically, one would usually besiege a castle because it stood between your army and the rich cities beyond it. Therefore I imagine some attackers would be fine with untethering it and letting the defending army float away. It is also more easily besieged since defenders can't sally out very easily. What is this flying castle actually defending, and why can't attackers just go around it?
    – creeon
    Aug 17 at 6:17






  • 30




    "One usually sieges a castle to get the stuff inside" this is a misconception. A castle in the Middle Ages is made to protect the access to some territories. If the castle is gone, the territory is yours. If it floats away uncontrolled, you've won.
    – bilbo_pingouin
    Aug 17 at 6:41






  • 3




    Cutting it loose really is the way to deal with this castle, it's the land and the cities that are the wealth of a kingdom, not whatever is locked away in a castle.
    – Separatrix
    Aug 17 at 9:33






  • 5




    I don't think I could resist assulting the giant flying rocks by using giant flying rocs.
    – Hurkyl
    Aug 17 at 15:19







1




1




Is it possible to control floating boulders with sails/balloons? If so, you could drop stuff from floating rocks while ground forces make sure no one escapes. This could be much quicker than a siege.
– Starpilot
Aug 17 at 0:58




Is it possible to control floating boulders with sails/balloons? If so, you could drop stuff from floating rocks while ground forces make sure no one escapes. This could be much quicker than a siege.
– Starpilot
Aug 17 at 0:58




23




23




Historically, one would usually besiege a castle because it stood between your army and the rich cities beyond it. Therefore I imagine some attackers would be fine with untethering it and letting the defending army float away. It is also more easily besieged since defenders can't sally out very easily. What is this flying castle actually defending, and why can't attackers just go around it?
– creeon
Aug 17 at 6:17




Historically, one would usually besiege a castle because it stood between your army and the rich cities beyond it. Therefore I imagine some attackers would be fine with untethering it and letting the defending army float away. It is also more easily besieged since defenders can't sally out very easily. What is this flying castle actually defending, and why can't attackers just go around it?
– creeon
Aug 17 at 6:17




30




30




"One usually sieges a castle to get the stuff inside" this is a misconception. A castle in the Middle Ages is made to protect the access to some territories. If the castle is gone, the territory is yours. If it floats away uncontrolled, you've won.
– bilbo_pingouin
Aug 17 at 6:41




"One usually sieges a castle to get the stuff inside" this is a misconception. A castle in the Middle Ages is made to protect the access to some territories. If the castle is gone, the territory is yours. If it floats away uncontrolled, you've won.
– bilbo_pingouin
Aug 17 at 6:41




3




3




Cutting it loose really is the way to deal with this castle, it's the land and the cities that are the wealth of a kingdom, not whatever is locked away in a castle.
– Separatrix
Aug 17 at 9:33




Cutting it loose really is the way to deal with this castle, it's the land and the cities that are the wealth of a kingdom, not whatever is locked away in a castle.
– Separatrix
Aug 17 at 9:33




5




5




I don't think I could resist assulting the giant flying rocks by using giant flying rocs.
– Hurkyl
Aug 17 at 15:19




I don't think I could resist assulting the giant flying rocks by using giant flying rocs.
– Hurkyl
Aug 17 at 15:19










19 Answers
19






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Let's revisit the premise that the sky-castle has a year's worth of water stored on it. As a corollary to this premise, we should assume that the stored water won't become stagnant or otherwise undrinkable.



With minimal bathing and cleaning, just cooking and drinking and basic hygiene, the castle's smelly troopers still require about 5 gallons (16 L) of water each day. That means the castle has over 1750 gallons (6,630 L) of water, weighing 14,500 lbs (6,630 kg) and occupying a bit over 6.6 cubic meters for EACH person defending the castle.



So the castle might be a floating fortification - but it's also mostly an enormous water tank. All you need to do is empty the water out of it, one way or another, and then the defenders will capitulate (or die) in a couple days.



One way: Reel the castle down a bit, and build vast bonfires under it to cook the water out. When the defenders dump irreplaceable water to quench the fires, then build more bonfires! Most of your besieging army will be collecting firewood and clearing detritus (and dropped sewage), but that's what happens when you besiege a well-stocked flying castle.



Another way: Use your trebuchet and arbalest bombardments to crack the castle's cisterns and let their water leak away.



Another way: Use kites and balloons (and trained animals if available) to lift flammable cargoes, and dump them on top of the city. The defenders must use their irreplaceable water to fight the fires.



Yet another way: If your besieging force is too small to constantly fight water with fire, then simply gird your treasury, discipline your forces, and wait a year for them to get thirsty.



We have no information on the climate, culture, or architecture, so no idea how much additional water, if any, can be harvested from rain/snow/fog. Unless 100% can be replenished, it won't make a difference - the siege will merely take longer.






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  • 4




    Consider: "Minimum standards for daily water intake are universally recognized and set at 2.5 – 3 liters per day (or approximately 85 – 101 fluid ounces). Although this may include food intake, if food is to offer a significant fraction of the necessary water intake, then the food must be comprised of a sufficiently high percentage of water, i.e. a diet high in fruit and vegetables. The bare minimum of 2 liters (68 fluid ounces) of drinking water per day is an absolute minimum and reflects survival only. per day." [to be continued]
    – a4android
    Aug 17 at 2:26






  • 7




    [continues: "This does not include water for personal hygiene such as dental hygiene, which requires an additional minimum 4 fluid ounces ." Your estimate of 38 L suggests the flying castlers are awash with water. Medieval folk were less into hygiene than us moderns. At a guesstimate they could survive on 5 to 6 L daily (including cooking). However, attacking their water supply is a great way to end a siege. Good principle, but less water may be involved.
    – a4android
    Aug 17 at 2:32






  • 27




    Don't they collect rain, though?
    – Nicolas Raoul
    Aug 17 at 2:58






  • 1




    @NicolasRaoul seems like a Question comment more than an Answer comment. Calculating the amount of rain collected, and determining if it's adequate to replace usage, is left as an exercise for the student.
    – user535733
    Aug 17 at 3:12







  • 18




    @user535733: I would rather say that it is an element you have forgotten to take account of in your answer's calculation.
    – Nicolas Raoul
    Aug 17 at 3:59

















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  1. From a safe distance, your sappers excavate a tunnel. The tunnel leads to the tether point of the castle's anchor chain.


  2. Bring the tether down into the tunnel from below. Winch it along the tunnel.


  3. You will winch the castle downwards. Defenders of the sinking castle will see their chain disappearing into a hole. They can rappel down and enter the hole to try to stop what is going on, but your battle badgers are right there.


  4. When the castle is on the ground, you may enter by typical methods. If this was a castle that was built to be a floating castle, it may not be fortified in the same way as a land based castle would be. Alternatively, the inhabitants may see fit to surrender as their defenses might all be premised on height advantage.






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  • 1




    but in this case the defenders could just release their end of the chain and float away (even if it's just a "I'll deny your victory even if it's my death" - move)
    – RancidCrab
    Aug 17 at 10:46






  • 3




    @RancidCrab That depends on why the castle is sieged. When denying victory by destroying/killing the thing/person the attackers want is a desirable last resort outcome for the defenders, then that will almost always be an option, regardless of whether you have a floating or a conventional castle. It only helps if the attackers goal is to take the castle itself (and not just get rid of the castle or its inhabitants).
    – Philipp
    Aug 17 at 12:04


















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As others have said, a year-long siege is probably the way to go, but...



If you aren't patient enough for a siege



Here are some ideas for how you might actively attack a floating castle and force it to surrender:



  1. Gain a height advantage. Height is a huge advantage for archery, and I'll bet that the castle's main defense is archers firing down at targets below. They probably can't fire up more than 50-100 feet, and their arrows would have little force even if they could. So you could attack from above using hot-air balloons, dirigibles, or even hang-gliders if there's a convenient mountain to glide down from. As the attacker, you can always go get more arrows when you run out. Wear them down by constant attacks.


  2. Turn their advantage against them. Instead of dragging their castle down, as Willk suggests, consider letting them climb a bit. By attaching a new tethered chain to the 2nd link up, and cutting the bottom link, your attackers could let the castle rise up another 800 feet. For maximum effect, wait for a tremendous thunderstorm, then let them up to get a closer view of the weather. (Side note: realistically, the castle would probably be pretty frequently struck by lighting anyway. But let's say it's not high enough, until the attacker lets out the line.) After the storm, send a messenger and threaten to add another thousand feet if they don't surrender.


  3. Attack by crane. A good old-fashioned Trojan Horse strategy would be best executed during a rainy day when visibility is low, arrows are inhibited, and it's hard to burn the crane. The first basketload of warriors is disguised as civilians (they don't actually have to be in a wooden horse, just don't let them look like the enemy). They launch a surprise attack when they land (or later, during the night watch?) and, instead of opening a gate, they're seizing control of the crane, defending it while they haul up a second basketful of soldiers. This could make for some exciting action as the tide turns every time another basket arrives. A diversion (such as the aforementioned hot air balloon attack) might draw the defenders away as part of the plan.






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  • Assuming traditional physics, as long as you have a long enough rope/chain (and the rock is buoyant enough) you can just let them asphyxiate. Not terribly unpleasant, as ways to die goes. You'll probably just be laughing
    – Wayne Werner
    Aug 21 at 18:10










  • No way am I going to follow that link! But to your point, yes, assuming the weight of the chain itself doesn't become too much for the rock (or the chain).
    – Joe
    Aug 21 at 18:13










  • It's just Destin from Smarter Every Day showing you what happens to your brain on dru... err.... off oxygen. Don't worry, he doesn't really die!
    – Wayne Werner
    Aug 21 at 18:24

















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Use flying rocks as your siege machines



If there is one flying rock there are other flying rocks as well. Use them as a base for your siege.



As a general rule - get some flying rocks (they need to be large, but much smaller that the one utilised by the castle as a base), chain them to the ground/platform and use as a base for your attack. You can use them in various ways:



Archer posts



Make a posts for your archers that gives them enough protection and enables to shoot efficiently slightly downwards. Use a bit longer chain than the one used by the castle so the archer posts are over the castle and shoot from the above. You are less vulnerable to backfire from the castle since it's always easier to shot downward than upward



Hammer



Balance a flying rock with regular rocks in a way that makes it easy pull the rock down with a significant force. Attach two long chains (longer than the one used by the castle) to the rock, with additional chain reaching ground attached to the holding chain. Place the holding chains on opposite sides of the castle. Now pull the additional chains with as large force as possible (possibly the chain has to go through some ring attached to the ground so that you pull parallel to the ground) to throw the rock down into the castle. It works as a huge hammer.



Landing ships



Use a similar appliance for a rock but balance it so that you can put some troops on top of it. Now when the rock is pulled down and hits the castle your troops can jump down and attack the castle defenders.



Drop bombs



You can use various ways here:



  • take flying rock as a base, fill it with stones and a small crew. Using chains control it so that the stone flies over the castle and drop stones you have. You can use other things, hot tar or boiling water for example.

  • attach stones to small hot-air balloons. Launch them so that they fly over a castle. Now use archers (see above) to pierce the balloons dropping the stones on a castle

  • similarly to the previous way but rather than using archers use some simple time trigger to pierce the balloon after a specific amount of time that ensures it's over the castle

Relocate castle



Since you have access to the chain base, you can use it to detach the castle. Since you don't want it to drift away, use other chains to control the castle so that rather it floating away it goes where you want to.



You might need to do multiple re-chaining or something like that but it should be possible to move the castle anywhere you want.



Mountain as a siege machine



Pull the castle to the mountain, with a steep slope, that you can use to attack the castle.



Starve on the sea



Pull the castle to the sea and attach it to the sea bed. Then sail away and wait one year until defenders starve/run out of supplies. Later just come back and collect what's left.



Bad weather



You name it - freezing winter or a scorching desert Sun. Just get the castle somewhere were you don't want to stay for a long period of time



Dragon's nest



We may not be able to control dragons, but locating a nice supply of food (i.e. castle full of people and their edible supplies) near their nest should drag them for a feast. They will do the conquer work for you.



Smoke them



If something is up in the sky, it is vulnerable to smoke. Build large bonfires so that the smoke goes in the direction of the castle, add whatever you can to make it as smelly/poisonous as possible. You'll need to move your bonfires probably but just keep them in the smoke until the morale is so low they will beg you to allow them to surrender to you.



Cut oxygen supply



I don't know how high can a flying rock fly. But if you can reach over 10k feet with it you end up with an oxygen deprivation. The higher the better. At 20k feet your defenders will soon die due to the thin air.



Just make sure the additional chain you have to add is strong enough to pull the castle back to the ground once your defenders are done.






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  • I really wish I could upvote your answer twice cause this is creative and beautiful. I'm surprised you forgot just straight up climbing the chain though.
    – Clay Deitas
    Aug 17 at 10:46










  • I nearly wrote this answer, but didn't because it is stated in the question that "[giant flying rocks]...we cannot use/tame/control them."
    – Korthalion
    Aug 17 at 10:56






  • 1




    @ClayDeitas I didn't. I ruled it out. OP specifically pointed out that defenders have access to the bottom of their flying rock base and can attack you when you're beneath the rock. You can still do raids to reach for the chain, but climbing it is really not safe, slow and one chain produces obvious bottleneck. I was considering also dropping some sort of a net on top a castle to serve as a ladder but it is still too high and exhausting. In general I discarded some of my initial ideas that I though won't serve really well (e.g. pulling the castle over an active volcano - you need one close).
    – Ister
    Aug 17 at 10:58










  • @Korthalion if you can control a driftrock to the level enabling to build a castle on top of it then all those methods should work too.
    – Ister
    Aug 17 at 10:59






  • 2




    I like the deprive them of oxygen/smoke them out ideas because it really plays to the unique nature of the floating castle and how you would lay siege to it.
    – BobtheMagicMoose
    Aug 17 at 13:53

















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If I'm not mistaken, "laying siege" to a castle or town means to cut off supplies into or out of the city until they ran out of supplies and surrendered to your men, and sieges could last for months.



That crane you outlined seems like the perfect target to capture or destroy, which will cut off at least a large chunk (if not all) of the people's ability to get into or out of the castle. From that point, it's just a matter of shooting down, blocking off, or capturing any other means the castle has to supply itself and waiting them out. The besieging army could easily put up decent enough defenses against any expected underside attacks, and maybe take some potshots of their own at people inside the walls to decrease morale.



The attacking army could even start trying to set fire to things inside the floating city via catapults or arrows shooting flaming shots, or whatever brand of fire magic you like; storehouses and homes would be good targets if one wanted to shorten that food supply and/or lower the morale of those inside. Medieval warfare is all about that morale management.






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  • Good point about the exact meaning of 'lay siege'. Thank you. I've changed the title of the question a little bit to better reflect what I had in mind.
    – MarcinKonowalczyk
    Aug 16 at 23:49










  • I was about to say just that, but I would add raids of saboteurs to try and poison water and food supplies, start random fires, etc. The important thing about a siege is the attacker's ability to maintain the pressure. You are the Lex Luthor to their Superman, they need to counter every attack. You only need one success. Take potshots 24/7, mount a raid every other night, eventually you'll make them flinch.
    – AmiralPatate
    Aug 17 at 9:53

















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If the chain is taut like a guitar string, all you have to do is play it. The vibration will drive the castle dwellers crazy, and might even cause property and biological damage. Every chamber in the castle will potentially act as a small resonance chamber as well.



To play the chain, use it as target practice for trebuchets. Hit it once, and you've got it calibrated for the next strum. Use something softer than the chain's material as ammo in order to avoid damaging it (too much).




If the rope is not taut, your engineers may find a way to yank it. Pull it taut and let go, and every castle dweller will become a reddish goo stuck to a wall.






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  • 3




    A tonic vibration machine has real world proof. theconversation.com/…
    – Jammin4CO
    Aug 17 at 18:06

















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good answers above: starve them out, pull them down by the chain.
You can also smoke them out by lighting enough fires upwind of the city.
but that is all very mundane.



One "epic" idea is to unbalance the city. The wikia page you linked implies that the city is levitated by a single small rock at its center. So if throw enough rocks onto one side, or knock enough rocks down, you can tilt the city.



Or you can attach a second chain near the edge, and pull down (or cut the main chain)



Finally, same wikia page says that flightrock can be killed by a "stormphrax crystal". Hire some rogues, and task them with infiltrating the city (via grappling hooks), and install that crystal.






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  • I'm not literally after taking down Stormphrax, and the driftrock my city is built on floats all by itself - like a large cork. I do really like the idea of unbalancing the city though! (A bit like an iceberg)
    – MarcinKonowalczyk
    Aug 17 at 8:02










  • For the uninitiated, a Stormphrax crystal would weigh enough to sink the castle if kept in total darkness. Also if we're using EdgeChron flight rocks you just need one saboteur to assassinate the Stone Pilot and heat the rock so that the castle sinks.
    – Korthalion
    Aug 17 at 9:42

















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  1. Find a flying rock of similar size (in this country of flying rocks, they are probably not so rare)

  2. Attach 3 ropes on its sides

  3. Make sure its bottom flies at about the same altitude as the enemy rock's fortifications

  4. Employ 3 groups of 10 horses to slowly move the rock until its bottom impacts the enemy rock's top. If the enemy start throwing stuff, use longer ropes.

  5. Slowly move it around, crushing all of the fortifications, and more if necessary, until surrender.

enter image description here



Advantages over other methods:




  • No deaths on your side: Make the ropes a bit longer than the maximum reach of the enemy's weapons.


  • Surgical: Just destroy the fortifications, not the UNESCO-classified library nor the unique-in-the-world jewelry workshop. Keep your reputation seat by not indistinctly killing or burning everyone including civilians.


  • Cheap: Other methods require a lot of resources such as wood. Here you just need ropes (maybe chains) and 30 slow horses.


  • Eco-friendly: No need to burn the wood from all forests around.


  • Persuasive: Frighten enemies. Swords and arrows do nothing against a huge rock scrubbing your small territory at will.





share|improve this answer





























    up vote
    2
    down vote













    Seems like a simple blockade in a circle around the city would work fine. Maybe a trench and barricade going the full circle around to keep people out, and some archers to shoot at anyone attempting to lower themselves down during the duration of the siege. The blockade should be large enough to prevent fire from above reaching the ground units. Basically a donut shaped camp around the lift zone.



    In addition, you could design an oversized ballista to shoot projectiles into the city. I recommend using a hollow headed arrow that caries a biological agent such as rotting flesh into the city as a form of biological warfare.



    Bonus: If you find a smaller floating rock, you can drag it into the castle rock as a siege weapon, mostly hurting moral but potentially causing damage depending on how you use it.



    Double bonus: Has no one suggested climbing the chain? Send a single man up the chain on a dark night and have him instal some kind of eye for a rope or chain into the rock. You now have your own way of getting up to the fort. Slowly work your way to one of the access hatches and sneakily use it to ferry in soldiers.






    share|improve this answer





























      up vote
      1
      down vote













      Destroy the foundations



      Your floating castle has a huge problem: it's foundations are completely exposed (assuming they've built to protect the rock that's keeping them in the air).



      Ground castles make good fortifications because the only thing an enemy can ideally strike at is the big thick stone walls you've built around it.
      The quickest way to end a a ground castle siege is to mine underneath the walls so that they lose structural strength and collapse either on their own or to your siege weapons (see the term undermine).



      All your attackers need to do is simply build a siege weapon that can reach the castle (cannonballs could go pretty far, as could trebuchets if you don't want black powder in your world) and start blasting chunks out of it's base. Your valiant defenders are soon going to realise that they have two choices: surrender and come down alive, or don't surrender and come down with the castle when it breaks apart.



      If the castle base is protected by the driftrock? Even better! Any mason will tell you that if you hit a rock enough times in the same place, it cracks, usually in half.



      The threat of either of these scenarios would be enough to force a surrender within a few weeks.






      share|improve this answer



























        up vote
        1
        down vote













        Whirlwind



        These nobs are so proud of their flying castle now are they? They might change their mind after a magically created whirlwind that violently shakes and spins them. Since the castle is anchored to the job should be easier as the target is relatively stationary(though you'll make that change)



        If the driftrock obeys the rules outlined in the wiki you can start a huge fire and use the wind to channel the smoke to the flying castle. Once heat has brought the castle back to the ground you can attack them with conventional means.



        Economics



        You could also do it the financial way. Take over all the big banks. Exaggerate/lie about the trade deficits between your countries and raise tariffs to emphasise your Ground Castles First foreign policy. Convince everyone else that castling the sky is a violation of international law and institute punitive sanctions. Make speeches denouncing the attack on freedom of travel implied by weaponising the sky and embargo them. Spread rumours about 'Skyxit' separatists to spook the markets. Any trick to devalue their currency should be used. Acquiring a monopoly in a key import or export works too.



        This way you don't even need to lay physical siege to them, you just need to deliver the message that their princesses will soon be maids and tavern wenches in some other country.



        Regime Change



        Finally there's the CIA option. Forment unrest from within with saboteurs and agitators, throw your support behind the enemy leader's political rivals. Raise an army from within with the help of highly trained 'advisors' you'll have to put in place beforehand. When the coup is finally launched you should support it with a large conventional invasion. It's important to seize control of the cranes and the bottom hatches first so you can easily deliver reinforcements...of good will of course. After all, you only sent your army to liberate the oppressed people and restore the rule of law.






        share|improve this answer





























          up vote
          1
          down vote













          Castles are military assets that play a role in the balance of power for a region. They are strong holds that allow a small army to cast a shadow of power over a larger region. When they come under siege by a larger force they must await for reinforcements.



          A floating castle becomes an asset you can move.



          Cut the chain and drag the castle out of that region and you've gained power and control over that region. You don't have to way siege upon the castle and try to out wait those inside. You're battle is one of time to move the castle before reinforcements arrive.



          People inside the castle would counter an attack by dropping anchors and trying to prevent their castling from being moved.



          So moving the castle would be the objective of the battles. One trying to pull it away and the other trying to keep it where it is.






          share|improve this answer



























            up vote
            1
            down vote













            The point of sieges isn't to knock down the fortifications, it's to prevent supplies from entering the castle and forcing surrender before the population starves to death. Now if they have a year's worth of supplies that would make for a long siege, but it wouldn't be unheard of. Candia was sieged for 21 years.



            Also if the only way into the castle is with a giant crane, you probably don't even need that big of an army to maintain the siege, so even a multiyear siege may not be too bad. Assuming the castle didn't have any allies that could come to it's defense.






            share|improve this answer





























              up vote
              1
              down vote













              Take a bigger, flatter floating rock. Use chains to hold it close to the ground right below the castle, and then let go! For bonus points unteather the castle and let it float really high, so that the rock following it can gain more momentum






              share|improve this answer



























                up vote
                1
                down vote













                Spin it



                There are many ways of exploiting the chain, one even suggested spinning around its center by twisting the chain.

                However, I would suggest spinning around the chain base as more effective way. Get a few horses and have them pull the chain around its base, contrary to twisting the chain this would allow the inertia to gather over longer time. Given enough time the Centrifugal force would solve all your problems with any defenders.


                This also gives an easy way of demolishing the fortifications if you decided so, few hours after the defenders left the castle flying over the horizon the fortifications would follow.






                share|improve this answer



























                  up vote
                  0
                  down vote













                  What sort of governance does the current population of the ground kingdom have? Now assuming we are in some sort of socialist or spin of socialism (which I'm assuming we are as we're jealous of someone else's ability to form a floating city in a land supposedly devoid of any technology of notable merit, and want to take it away from them), or perhaps a very unjust king, then I would imagine it would be alright for the governance of said population to simply take things from its populace and justify it by some means.



                  Therefore I'd like to suggest this government raid every farmstead and peasant run grazing land for all creatures of the bovine species; Oxen, Auroch (assuming we'd still have them), Buffalo etc.



                  Once the countryside and all grazing land has been picked clean of all bovine creatures, we will distribute these cows to questionable market traders not under the banner of our united socialist republics and thus still in the ecstatic heights of capitalism, in all markets across the globe (assuming this is a globe and not flat, nor balanced upon the back of some sort of animal, or heaved upon the shoulder of a native deity). We will send our economical leaders (the ones we haven't killed in our quest for global socialist revolutionary supremacy, so I'm not assuming they'd be all that great really, however the large quantities of bovine creatures should make up for that) to negotiate with these market dealers, and ascertain absolutely ungodly amounts of magic beans.



                  Under the cover of darkness, with the obscene numbers gathered in our revolutionary peasant war band, we will have them all smear themselves in black so they will remain unseen, and then we will plant the entire stock of magic beans around the floating castle.



                  In the morning, when the denizens of the floating castle are yawning, they will see all beneath them devoid of life, they will assume our peasant revolt has dispersed, little to their knowledge that they now float upon a forest of giant beanstalks, with which our brave warband climbs to wreak socialist destruction upon the cloud bound citadel.



                  Once we have shown the sky fortress the errors of its capitalist ways, we shall distribute the pulpy remains of the beanstalks to the people, and install our completely legitimate government upon the heavenly throne, cast the world off of the shoulders of the deity balancing it, and cast our own form of jealous judgement upon all creature and denizen of the known world from unseemly heights, whilst occasionally having to pop our ears and catch our breath adjusting to the new unbearable altitude.






                  share|improve this answer





























                    up vote
                    0
                    down vote













                    At 800ft up, the defenders can't really see what's going on.
                    And their arrows are kind of useless. Longbows had a range of around 600 feet. The arrow still falls with gravity, but with only enough force to injure an unarmored opponent. Any attackers are going to have platforms held above their heads while they build fortifications.



                    So the simplest answer is to build catapults, build shelters from above, then pull the castle down.



                    Once the castle is pulled down, standard siege tactics work, my favorite, throwing dead animal heads and parts over the wall to spread disease.



                    And the best part is you don't have to bring them all the way to the ground, leave them 50ft in the air, lob disease at them, then let go and let the castle rise back up 800ft. Now they are stuck with these dead heads, they can't escape, and you just made them all sick. Maybe your troops should shield themselves from the impending aerial diarrhea and dead bodies lobbed over their own walls at your troops below.






                    share|improve this answer






















                    • I would imagine arrows used to shoot downward from a floating castle could be designed differently from arrows used for more traditional lateral combat. With the initial release velocity aimed downward, is 800ft enough for air resistance to slow the arrows to terminal velocity?
                      – Mr.Mindor
                      Aug 17 at 16:18










                    • I don't know of anyone firing an arrow out of a balloon to test it. Spear throwing might make more sense but making new spears is more resource intensive then making new arrows. So hard to say
                      – Trevor D
                      Aug 17 at 17:06










                    • Throwing dead animal parts seems a bit counter productive as the goal of a siege is to starve your opponent and you are basically just feeding them. They would have to be carrying something that will spread disease worse than all the living animals and people already cramped in there.
                      – Nick
                      Aug 17 at 20:15






                    • 1




                      Dead animals was actually the earliest form of chemical warfare historically. It definitely worked.
                      – Trevor D
                      Aug 17 at 20:42

















                    up vote
                    0
                    down vote













                    Detach the chain from its base and reattach it to a wheel placed on a bearing that spins, with an arm to push it around. Have Conan or any sufficiently strong Barbarian to spend their days spinning the wheel, constantly rotating the now spinning castle. After a few days, stop the wheel, and watch as the extremely dizzy and unbalanced defenders fall from the sky






                    share|improve this answer




















                    • easier version: just jam a really long pole thru the links, twist it up & let it go
                      – Nathan Smith
                      Aug 18 at 23:04










                    • That was actually my original thought, but chains twist ‘weird’ - as in not predictably like rope, sometimes
                      – Celestialgranturismo
                      Aug 19 at 1:23






                    • 1




                      true. actually, I think attaching a cable 1/3 of the way up then pulling it from a safe distance & letting it go slack to bounce them around (repeatedly) would probably be easier & quite intolerable for them
                      – Nathan Smith
                      Aug 19 at 21:35


















                    up vote
                    -1
                    down vote













                    Carve the floating rock(s) into masts of floating sailing ships, the amount,sizes and shapes of the sails would determine how fast, and the type of ship they are.



                    Flying carpets for people as well as Djinn and Elementals.






                    share|improve this answer
















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                    19 Answers
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                    up vote
                    45
                    down vote













                    Let's revisit the premise that the sky-castle has a year's worth of water stored on it. As a corollary to this premise, we should assume that the stored water won't become stagnant or otherwise undrinkable.



                    With minimal bathing and cleaning, just cooking and drinking and basic hygiene, the castle's smelly troopers still require about 5 gallons (16 L) of water each day. That means the castle has over 1750 gallons (6,630 L) of water, weighing 14,500 lbs (6,630 kg) and occupying a bit over 6.6 cubic meters for EACH person defending the castle.



                    So the castle might be a floating fortification - but it's also mostly an enormous water tank. All you need to do is empty the water out of it, one way or another, and then the defenders will capitulate (or die) in a couple days.



                    One way: Reel the castle down a bit, and build vast bonfires under it to cook the water out. When the defenders dump irreplaceable water to quench the fires, then build more bonfires! Most of your besieging army will be collecting firewood and clearing detritus (and dropped sewage), but that's what happens when you besiege a well-stocked flying castle.



                    Another way: Use your trebuchet and arbalest bombardments to crack the castle's cisterns and let their water leak away.



                    Another way: Use kites and balloons (and trained animals if available) to lift flammable cargoes, and dump them on top of the city. The defenders must use their irreplaceable water to fight the fires.



                    Yet another way: If your besieging force is too small to constantly fight water with fire, then simply gird your treasury, discipline your forces, and wait a year for them to get thirsty.



                    We have no information on the climate, culture, or architecture, so no idea how much additional water, if any, can be harvested from rain/snow/fog. Unless 100% can be replenished, it won't make a difference - the siege will merely take longer.






                    share|improve this answer


















                    • 4




                      Consider: "Minimum standards for daily water intake are universally recognized and set at 2.5 – 3 liters per day (or approximately 85 – 101 fluid ounces). Although this may include food intake, if food is to offer a significant fraction of the necessary water intake, then the food must be comprised of a sufficiently high percentage of water, i.e. a diet high in fruit and vegetables. The bare minimum of 2 liters (68 fluid ounces) of drinking water per day is an absolute minimum and reflects survival only. per day." [to be continued]
                      – a4android
                      Aug 17 at 2:26






                    • 7




                      [continues: "This does not include water for personal hygiene such as dental hygiene, which requires an additional minimum 4 fluid ounces ." Your estimate of 38 L suggests the flying castlers are awash with water. Medieval folk were less into hygiene than us moderns. At a guesstimate they could survive on 5 to 6 L daily (including cooking). However, attacking their water supply is a great way to end a siege. Good principle, but less water may be involved.
                      – a4android
                      Aug 17 at 2:32






                    • 27




                      Don't they collect rain, though?
                      – Nicolas Raoul
                      Aug 17 at 2:58






                    • 1




                      @NicolasRaoul seems like a Question comment more than an Answer comment. Calculating the amount of rain collected, and determining if it's adequate to replace usage, is left as an exercise for the student.
                      – user535733
                      Aug 17 at 3:12







                    • 18




                      @user535733: I would rather say that it is an element you have forgotten to take account of in your answer's calculation.
                      – Nicolas Raoul
                      Aug 17 at 3:59














                    up vote
                    45
                    down vote













                    Let's revisit the premise that the sky-castle has a year's worth of water stored on it. As a corollary to this premise, we should assume that the stored water won't become stagnant or otherwise undrinkable.



                    With minimal bathing and cleaning, just cooking and drinking and basic hygiene, the castle's smelly troopers still require about 5 gallons (16 L) of water each day. That means the castle has over 1750 gallons (6,630 L) of water, weighing 14,500 lbs (6,630 kg) and occupying a bit over 6.6 cubic meters for EACH person defending the castle.



                    So the castle might be a floating fortification - but it's also mostly an enormous water tank. All you need to do is empty the water out of it, one way or another, and then the defenders will capitulate (or die) in a couple days.



                    One way: Reel the castle down a bit, and build vast bonfires under it to cook the water out. When the defenders dump irreplaceable water to quench the fires, then build more bonfires! Most of your besieging army will be collecting firewood and clearing detritus (and dropped sewage), but that's what happens when you besiege a well-stocked flying castle.



                    Another way: Use your trebuchet and arbalest bombardments to crack the castle's cisterns and let their water leak away.



                    Another way: Use kites and balloons (and trained animals if available) to lift flammable cargoes, and dump them on top of the city. The defenders must use their irreplaceable water to fight the fires.



                    Yet another way: If your besieging force is too small to constantly fight water with fire, then simply gird your treasury, discipline your forces, and wait a year for them to get thirsty.



                    We have no information on the climate, culture, or architecture, so no idea how much additional water, if any, can be harvested from rain/snow/fog. Unless 100% can be replenished, it won't make a difference - the siege will merely take longer.






                    share|improve this answer


















                    • 4




                      Consider: "Minimum standards for daily water intake are universally recognized and set at 2.5 – 3 liters per day (or approximately 85 – 101 fluid ounces). Although this may include food intake, if food is to offer a significant fraction of the necessary water intake, then the food must be comprised of a sufficiently high percentage of water, i.e. a diet high in fruit and vegetables. The bare minimum of 2 liters (68 fluid ounces) of drinking water per day is an absolute minimum and reflects survival only. per day." [to be continued]
                      – a4android
                      Aug 17 at 2:26






                    • 7




                      [continues: "This does not include water for personal hygiene such as dental hygiene, which requires an additional minimum 4 fluid ounces ." Your estimate of 38 L suggests the flying castlers are awash with water. Medieval folk were less into hygiene than us moderns. At a guesstimate they could survive on 5 to 6 L daily (including cooking). However, attacking their water supply is a great way to end a siege. Good principle, but less water may be involved.
                      – a4android
                      Aug 17 at 2:32






                    • 27




                      Don't they collect rain, though?
                      – Nicolas Raoul
                      Aug 17 at 2:58






                    • 1




                      @NicolasRaoul seems like a Question comment more than an Answer comment. Calculating the amount of rain collected, and determining if it's adequate to replace usage, is left as an exercise for the student.
                      – user535733
                      Aug 17 at 3:12







                    • 18




                      @user535733: I would rather say that it is an element you have forgotten to take account of in your answer's calculation.
                      – Nicolas Raoul
                      Aug 17 at 3:59












                    up vote
                    45
                    down vote










                    up vote
                    45
                    down vote









                    Let's revisit the premise that the sky-castle has a year's worth of water stored on it. As a corollary to this premise, we should assume that the stored water won't become stagnant or otherwise undrinkable.



                    With minimal bathing and cleaning, just cooking and drinking and basic hygiene, the castle's smelly troopers still require about 5 gallons (16 L) of water each day. That means the castle has over 1750 gallons (6,630 L) of water, weighing 14,500 lbs (6,630 kg) and occupying a bit over 6.6 cubic meters for EACH person defending the castle.



                    So the castle might be a floating fortification - but it's also mostly an enormous water tank. All you need to do is empty the water out of it, one way or another, and then the defenders will capitulate (or die) in a couple days.



                    One way: Reel the castle down a bit, and build vast bonfires under it to cook the water out. When the defenders dump irreplaceable water to quench the fires, then build more bonfires! Most of your besieging army will be collecting firewood and clearing detritus (and dropped sewage), but that's what happens when you besiege a well-stocked flying castle.



                    Another way: Use your trebuchet and arbalest bombardments to crack the castle's cisterns and let their water leak away.



                    Another way: Use kites and balloons (and trained animals if available) to lift flammable cargoes, and dump them on top of the city. The defenders must use their irreplaceable water to fight the fires.



                    Yet another way: If your besieging force is too small to constantly fight water with fire, then simply gird your treasury, discipline your forces, and wait a year for them to get thirsty.



                    We have no information on the climate, culture, or architecture, so no idea how much additional water, if any, can be harvested from rain/snow/fog. Unless 100% can be replenished, it won't make a difference - the siege will merely take longer.






                    share|improve this answer














                    Let's revisit the premise that the sky-castle has a year's worth of water stored on it. As a corollary to this premise, we should assume that the stored water won't become stagnant or otherwise undrinkable.



                    With minimal bathing and cleaning, just cooking and drinking and basic hygiene, the castle's smelly troopers still require about 5 gallons (16 L) of water each day. That means the castle has over 1750 gallons (6,630 L) of water, weighing 14,500 lbs (6,630 kg) and occupying a bit over 6.6 cubic meters for EACH person defending the castle.



                    So the castle might be a floating fortification - but it's also mostly an enormous water tank. All you need to do is empty the water out of it, one way or another, and then the defenders will capitulate (or die) in a couple days.



                    One way: Reel the castle down a bit, and build vast bonfires under it to cook the water out. When the defenders dump irreplaceable water to quench the fires, then build more bonfires! Most of your besieging army will be collecting firewood and clearing detritus (and dropped sewage), but that's what happens when you besiege a well-stocked flying castle.



                    Another way: Use your trebuchet and arbalest bombardments to crack the castle's cisterns and let their water leak away.



                    Another way: Use kites and balloons (and trained animals if available) to lift flammable cargoes, and dump them on top of the city. The defenders must use their irreplaceable water to fight the fires.



                    Yet another way: If your besieging force is too small to constantly fight water with fire, then simply gird your treasury, discipline your forces, and wait a year for them to get thirsty.



                    We have no information on the climate, culture, or architecture, so no idea how much additional water, if any, can be harvested from rain/snow/fog. Unless 100% can be replenished, it won't make a difference - the siege will merely take longer.







                    share|improve this answer














                    share|improve this answer



                    share|improve this answer








                    edited Aug 17 at 12:35

























                    answered Aug 17 at 1:49









                    user535733

                    4,8171222




                    4,8171222







                    • 4




                      Consider: "Minimum standards for daily water intake are universally recognized and set at 2.5 – 3 liters per day (or approximately 85 – 101 fluid ounces). Although this may include food intake, if food is to offer a significant fraction of the necessary water intake, then the food must be comprised of a sufficiently high percentage of water, i.e. a diet high in fruit and vegetables. The bare minimum of 2 liters (68 fluid ounces) of drinking water per day is an absolute minimum and reflects survival only. per day." [to be continued]
                      – a4android
                      Aug 17 at 2:26






                    • 7




                      [continues: "This does not include water for personal hygiene such as dental hygiene, which requires an additional minimum 4 fluid ounces ." Your estimate of 38 L suggests the flying castlers are awash with water. Medieval folk were less into hygiene than us moderns. At a guesstimate they could survive on 5 to 6 L daily (including cooking). However, attacking their water supply is a great way to end a siege. Good principle, but less water may be involved.
                      – a4android
                      Aug 17 at 2:32






                    • 27




                      Don't they collect rain, though?
                      – Nicolas Raoul
                      Aug 17 at 2:58






                    • 1




                      @NicolasRaoul seems like a Question comment more than an Answer comment. Calculating the amount of rain collected, and determining if it's adequate to replace usage, is left as an exercise for the student.
                      – user535733
                      Aug 17 at 3:12







                    • 18




                      @user535733: I would rather say that it is an element you have forgotten to take account of in your answer's calculation.
                      – Nicolas Raoul
                      Aug 17 at 3:59












                    • 4




                      Consider: "Minimum standards for daily water intake are universally recognized and set at 2.5 – 3 liters per day (or approximately 85 – 101 fluid ounces). Although this may include food intake, if food is to offer a significant fraction of the necessary water intake, then the food must be comprised of a sufficiently high percentage of water, i.e. a diet high in fruit and vegetables. The bare minimum of 2 liters (68 fluid ounces) of drinking water per day is an absolute minimum and reflects survival only. per day." [to be continued]
                      – a4android
                      Aug 17 at 2:26






                    • 7




                      [continues: "This does not include water for personal hygiene such as dental hygiene, which requires an additional minimum 4 fluid ounces ." Your estimate of 38 L suggests the flying castlers are awash with water. Medieval folk were less into hygiene than us moderns. At a guesstimate they could survive on 5 to 6 L daily (including cooking). However, attacking their water supply is a great way to end a siege. Good principle, but less water may be involved.
                      – a4android
                      Aug 17 at 2:32






                    • 27




                      Don't they collect rain, though?
                      – Nicolas Raoul
                      Aug 17 at 2:58






                    • 1




                      @NicolasRaoul seems like a Question comment more than an Answer comment. Calculating the amount of rain collected, and determining if it's adequate to replace usage, is left as an exercise for the student.
                      – user535733
                      Aug 17 at 3:12







                    • 18




                      @user535733: I would rather say that it is an element you have forgotten to take account of in your answer's calculation.
                      – Nicolas Raoul
                      Aug 17 at 3:59







                    4




                    4




                    Consider: "Minimum standards for daily water intake are universally recognized and set at 2.5 – 3 liters per day (or approximately 85 – 101 fluid ounces). Although this may include food intake, if food is to offer a significant fraction of the necessary water intake, then the food must be comprised of a sufficiently high percentage of water, i.e. a diet high in fruit and vegetables. The bare minimum of 2 liters (68 fluid ounces) of drinking water per day is an absolute minimum and reflects survival only. per day." [to be continued]
                    – a4android
                    Aug 17 at 2:26




                    Consider: "Minimum standards for daily water intake are universally recognized and set at 2.5 – 3 liters per day (or approximately 85 – 101 fluid ounces). Although this may include food intake, if food is to offer a significant fraction of the necessary water intake, then the food must be comprised of a sufficiently high percentage of water, i.e. a diet high in fruit and vegetables. The bare minimum of 2 liters (68 fluid ounces) of drinking water per day is an absolute minimum and reflects survival only. per day." [to be continued]
                    – a4android
                    Aug 17 at 2:26




                    7




                    7




                    [continues: "This does not include water for personal hygiene such as dental hygiene, which requires an additional minimum 4 fluid ounces ." Your estimate of 38 L suggests the flying castlers are awash with water. Medieval folk were less into hygiene than us moderns. At a guesstimate they could survive on 5 to 6 L daily (including cooking). However, attacking their water supply is a great way to end a siege. Good principle, but less water may be involved.
                    – a4android
                    Aug 17 at 2:32




                    [continues: "This does not include water for personal hygiene such as dental hygiene, which requires an additional minimum 4 fluid ounces ." Your estimate of 38 L suggests the flying castlers are awash with water. Medieval folk were less into hygiene than us moderns. At a guesstimate they could survive on 5 to 6 L daily (including cooking). However, attacking their water supply is a great way to end a siege. Good principle, but less water may be involved.
                    – a4android
                    Aug 17 at 2:32




                    27




                    27




                    Don't they collect rain, though?
                    – Nicolas Raoul
                    Aug 17 at 2:58




                    Don't they collect rain, though?
                    – Nicolas Raoul
                    Aug 17 at 2:58




                    1




                    1




                    @NicolasRaoul seems like a Question comment more than an Answer comment. Calculating the amount of rain collected, and determining if it's adequate to replace usage, is left as an exercise for the student.
                    – user535733
                    Aug 17 at 3:12





                    @NicolasRaoul seems like a Question comment more than an Answer comment. Calculating the amount of rain collected, and determining if it's adequate to replace usage, is left as an exercise for the student.
                    – user535733
                    Aug 17 at 3:12





                    18




                    18




                    @user535733: I would rather say that it is an element you have forgotten to take account of in your answer's calculation.
                    – Nicolas Raoul
                    Aug 17 at 3:59




                    @user535733: I would rather say that it is an element you have forgotten to take account of in your answer's calculation.
                    – Nicolas Raoul
                    Aug 17 at 3:59










                    up vote
                    41
                    down vote













                    1. From a safe distance, your sappers excavate a tunnel. The tunnel leads to the tether point of the castle's anchor chain.


                    2. Bring the tether down into the tunnel from below. Winch it along the tunnel.


                    3. You will winch the castle downwards. Defenders of the sinking castle will see their chain disappearing into a hole. They can rappel down and enter the hole to try to stop what is going on, but your battle badgers are right there.


                    4. When the castle is on the ground, you may enter by typical methods. If this was a castle that was built to be a floating castle, it may not be fortified in the same way as a land based castle would be. Alternatively, the inhabitants may see fit to surrender as their defenses might all be premised on height advantage.






                    share|improve this answer
















                    • 1




                      but in this case the defenders could just release their end of the chain and float away (even if it's just a "I'll deny your victory even if it's my death" - move)
                      – RancidCrab
                      Aug 17 at 10:46






                    • 3




                      @RancidCrab That depends on why the castle is sieged. When denying victory by destroying/killing the thing/person the attackers want is a desirable last resort outcome for the defenders, then that will almost always be an option, regardless of whether you have a floating or a conventional castle. It only helps if the attackers goal is to take the castle itself (and not just get rid of the castle or its inhabitants).
                      – Philipp
                      Aug 17 at 12:04















                    up vote
                    41
                    down vote













                    1. From a safe distance, your sappers excavate a tunnel. The tunnel leads to the tether point of the castle's anchor chain.


                    2. Bring the tether down into the tunnel from below. Winch it along the tunnel.


                    3. You will winch the castle downwards. Defenders of the sinking castle will see their chain disappearing into a hole. They can rappel down and enter the hole to try to stop what is going on, but your battle badgers are right there.


                    4. When the castle is on the ground, you may enter by typical methods. If this was a castle that was built to be a floating castle, it may not be fortified in the same way as a land based castle would be. Alternatively, the inhabitants may see fit to surrender as their defenses might all be premised on height advantage.






                    share|improve this answer
















                    • 1




                      but in this case the defenders could just release their end of the chain and float away (even if it's just a "I'll deny your victory even if it's my death" - move)
                      – RancidCrab
                      Aug 17 at 10:46






                    • 3




                      @RancidCrab That depends on why the castle is sieged. When denying victory by destroying/killing the thing/person the attackers want is a desirable last resort outcome for the defenders, then that will almost always be an option, regardless of whether you have a floating or a conventional castle. It only helps if the attackers goal is to take the castle itself (and not just get rid of the castle or its inhabitants).
                      – Philipp
                      Aug 17 at 12:04













                    up vote
                    41
                    down vote










                    up vote
                    41
                    down vote









                    1. From a safe distance, your sappers excavate a tunnel. The tunnel leads to the tether point of the castle's anchor chain.


                    2. Bring the tether down into the tunnel from below. Winch it along the tunnel.


                    3. You will winch the castle downwards. Defenders of the sinking castle will see their chain disappearing into a hole. They can rappel down and enter the hole to try to stop what is going on, but your battle badgers are right there.


                    4. When the castle is on the ground, you may enter by typical methods. If this was a castle that was built to be a floating castle, it may not be fortified in the same way as a land based castle would be. Alternatively, the inhabitants may see fit to surrender as their defenses might all be premised on height advantage.






                    share|improve this answer












                    1. From a safe distance, your sappers excavate a tunnel. The tunnel leads to the tether point of the castle's anchor chain.


                    2. Bring the tether down into the tunnel from below. Winch it along the tunnel.


                    3. You will winch the castle downwards. Defenders of the sinking castle will see their chain disappearing into a hole. They can rappel down and enter the hole to try to stop what is going on, but your battle badgers are right there.


                    4. When the castle is on the ground, you may enter by typical methods. If this was a castle that was built to be a floating castle, it may not be fortified in the same way as a land based castle would be. Alternatively, the inhabitants may see fit to surrender as their defenses might all be premised on height advantage.







                    share|improve this answer












                    share|improve this answer



                    share|improve this answer










                    answered Aug 17 at 1:43









                    Willk

                    84.9k20168365




                    84.9k20168365







                    • 1




                      but in this case the defenders could just release their end of the chain and float away (even if it's just a "I'll deny your victory even if it's my death" - move)
                      – RancidCrab
                      Aug 17 at 10:46






                    • 3




                      @RancidCrab That depends on why the castle is sieged. When denying victory by destroying/killing the thing/person the attackers want is a desirable last resort outcome for the defenders, then that will almost always be an option, regardless of whether you have a floating or a conventional castle. It only helps if the attackers goal is to take the castle itself (and not just get rid of the castle or its inhabitants).
                      – Philipp
                      Aug 17 at 12:04













                    • 1




                      but in this case the defenders could just release their end of the chain and float away (even if it's just a "I'll deny your victory even if it's my death" - move)
                      – RancidCrab
                      Aug 17 at 10:46






                    • 3




                      @RancidCrab That depends on why the castle is sieged. When denying victory by destroying/killing the thing/person the attackers want is a desirable last resort outcome for the defenders, then that will almost always be an option, regardless of whether you have a floating or a conventional castle. It only helps if the attackers goal is to take the castle itself (and not just get rid of the castle or its inhabitants).
                      – Philipp
                      Aug 17 at 12:04








                    1




                    1




                    but in this case the defenders could just release their end of the chain and float away (even if it's just a "I'll deny your victory even if it's my death" - move)
                    – RancidCrab
                    Aug 17 at 10:46




                    but in this case the defenders could just release their end of the chain and float away (even if it's just a "I'll deny your victory even if it's my death" - move)
                    – RancidCrab
                    Aug 17 at 10:46




                    3




                    3




                    @RancidCrab That depends on why the castle is sieged. When denying victory by destroying/killing the thing/person the attackers want is a desirable last resort outcome for the defenders, then that will almost always be an option, regardless of whether you have a floating or a conventional castle. It only helps if the attackers goal is to take the castle itself (and not just get rid of the castle or its inhabitants).
                    – Philipp
                    Aug 17 at 12:04





                    @RancidCrab That depends on why the castle is sieged. When denying victory by destroying/killing the thing/person the attackers want is a desirable last resort outcome for the defenders, then that will almost always be an option, regardless of whether you have a floating or a conventional castle. It only helps if the attackers goal is to take the castle itself (and not just get rid of the castle or its inhabitants).
                    – Philipp
                    Aug 17 at 12:04











                    up vote
                    19
                    down vote













                    As others have said, a year-long siege is probably the way to go, but...



                    If you aren't patient enough for a siege



                    Here are some ideas for how you might actively attack a floating castle and force it to surrender:



                    1. Gain a height advantage. Height is a huge advantage for archery, and I'll bet that the castle's main defense is archers firing down at targets below. They probably can't fire up more than 50-100 feet, and their arrows would have little force even if they could. So you could attack from above using hot-air balloons, dirigibles, or even hang-gliders if there's a convenient mountain to glide down from. As the attacker, you can always go get more arrows when you run out. Wear them down by constant attacks.


                    2. Turn their advantage against them. Instead of dragging their castle down, as Willk suggests, consider letting them climb a bit. By attaching a new tethered chain to the 2nd link up, and cutting the bottom link, your attackers could let the castle rise up another 800 feet. For maximum effect, wait for a tremendous thunderstorm, then let them up to get a closer view of the weather. (Side note: realistically, the castle would probably be pretty frequently struck by lighting anyway. But let's say it's not high enough, until the attacker lets out the line.) After the storm, send a messenger and threaten to add another thousand feet if they don't surrender.


                    3. Attack by crane. A good old-fashioned Trojan Horse strategy would be best executed during a rainy day when visibility is low, arrows are inhibited, and it's hard to burn the crane. The first basketload of warriors is disguised as civilians (they don't actually have to be in a wooden horse, just don't let them look like the enemy). They launch a surprise attack when they land (or later, during the night watch?) and, instead of opening a gate, they're seizing control of the crane, defending it while they haul up a second basketful of soldiers. This could make for some exciting action as the tide turns every time another basket arrives. A diversion (such as the aforementioned hot air balloon attack) might draw the defenders away as part of the plan.






                    share|improve this answer




















                    • Assuming traditional physics, as long as you have a long enough rope/chain (and the rock is buoyant enough) you can just let them asphyxiate. Not terribly unpleasant, as ways to die goes. You'll probably just be laughing
                      – Wayne Werner
                      Aug 21 at 18:10










                    • No way am I going to follow that link! But to your point, yes, assuming the weight of the chain itself doesn't become too much for the rock (or the chain).
                      – Joe
                      Aug 21 at 18:13










                    • It's just Destin from Smarter Every Day showing you what happens to your brain on dru... err.... off oxygen. Don't worry, he doesn't really die!
                      – Wayne Werner
                      Aug 21 at 18:24














                    up vote
                    19
                    down vote













                    As others have said, a year-long siege is probably the way to go, but...



                    If you aren't patient enough for a siege



                    Here are some ideas for how you might actively attack a floating castle and force it to surrender:



                    1. Gain a height advantage. Height is a huge advantage for archery, and I'll bet that the castle's main defense is archers firing down at targets below. They probably can't fire up more than 50-100 feet, and their arrows would have little force even if they could. So you could attack from above using hot-air balloons, dirigibles, or even hang-gliders if there's a convenient mountain to glide down from. As the attacker, you can always go get more arrows when you run out. Wear them down by constant attacks.


                    2. Turn their advantage against them. Instead of dragging their castle down, as Willk suggests, consider letting them climb a bit. By attaching a new tethered chain to the 2nd link up, and cutting the bottom link, your attackers could let the castle rise up another 800 feet. For maximum effect, wait for a tremendous thunderstorm, then let them up to get a closer view of the weather. (Side note: realistically, the castle would probably be pretty frequently struck by lighting anyway. But let's say it's not high enough, until the attacker lets out the line.) After the storm, send a messenger and threaten to add another thousand feet if they don't surrender.


                    3. Attack by crane. A good old-fashioned Trojan Horse strategy would be best executed during a rainy day when visibility is low, arrows are inhibited, and it's hard to burn the crane. The first basketload of warriors is disguised as civilians (they don't actually have to be in a wooden horse, just don't let them look like the enemy). They launch a surprise attack when they land (or later, during the night watch?) and, instead of opening a gate, they're seizing control of the crane, defending it while they haul up a second basketful of soldiers. This could make for some exciting action as the tide turns every time another basket arrives. A diversion (such as the aforementioned hot air balloon attack) might draw the defenders away as part of the plan.






                    share|improve this answer




















                    • Assuming traditional physics, as long as you have a long enough rope/chain (and the rock is buoyant enough) you can just let them asphyxiate. Not terribly unpleasant, as ways to die goes. You'll probably just be laughing
                      – Wayne Werner
                      Aug 21 at 18:10










                    • No way am I going to follow that link! But to your point, yes, assuming the weight of the chain itself doesn't become too much for the rock (or the chain).
                      – Joe
                      Aug 21 at 18:13










                    • It's just Destin from Smarter Every Day showing you what happens to your brain on dru... err.... off oxygen. Don't worry, he doesn't really die!
                      – Wayne Werner
                      Aug 21 at 18:24












                    up vote
                    19
                    down vote










                    up vote
                    19
                    down vote









                    As others have said, a year-long siege is probably the way to go, but...



                    If you aren't patient enough for a siege



                    Here are some ideas for how you might actively attack a floating castle and force it to surrender:



                    1. Gain a height advantage. Height is a huge advantage for archery, and I'll bet that the castle's main defense is archers firing down at targets below. They probably can't fire up more than 50-100 feet, and their arrows would have little force even if they could. So you could attack from above using hot-air balloons, dirigibles, or even hang-gliders if there's a convenient mountain to glide down from. As the attacker, you can always go get more arrows when you run out. Wear them down by constant attacks.


                    2. Turn their advantage against them. Instead of dragging their castle down, as Willk suggests, consider letting them climb a bit. By attaching a new tethered chain to the 2nd link up, and cutting the bottom link, your attackers could let the castle rise up another 800 feet. For maximum effect, wait for a tremendous thunderstorm, then let them up to get a closer view of the weather. (Side note: realistically, the castle would probably be pretty frequently struck by lighting anyway. But let's say it's not high enough, until the attacker lets out the line.) After the storm, send a messenger and threaten to add another thousand feet if they don't surrender.


                    3. Attack by crane. A good old-fashioned Trojan Horse strategy would be best executed during a rainy day when visibility is low, arrows are inhibited, and it's hard to burn the crane. The first basketload of warriors is disguised as civilians (they don't actually have to be in a wooden horse, just don't let them look like the enemy). They launch a surprise attack when they land (or later, during the night watch?) and, instead of opening a gate, they're seizing control of the crane, defending it while they haul up a second basketful of soldiers. This could make for some exciting action as the tide turns every time another basket arrives. A diversion (such as the aforementioned hot air balloon attack) might draw the defenders away as part of the plan.






                    share|improve this answer












                    As others have said, a year-long siege is probably the way to go, but...



                    If you aren't patient enough for a siege



                    Here are some ideas for how you might actively attack a floating castle and force it to surrender:



                    1. Gain a height advantage. Height is a huge advantage for archery, and I'll bet that the castle's main defense is archers firing down at targets below. They probably can't fire up more than 50-100 feet, and their arrows would have little force even if they could. So you could attack from above using hot-air balloons, dirigibles, or even hang-gliders if there's a convenient mountain to glide down from. As the attacker, you can always go get more arrows when you run out. Wear them down by constant attacks.


                    2. Turn their advantage against them. Instead of dragging their castle down, as Willk suggests, consider letting them climb a bit. By attaching a new tethered chain to the 2nd link up, and cutting the bottom link, your attackers could let the castle rise up another 800 feet. For maximum effect, wait for a tremendous thunderstorm, then let them up to get a closer view of the weather. (Side note: realistically, the castle would probably be pretty frequently struck by lighting anyway. But let's say it's not high enough, until the attacker lets out the line.) After the storm, send a messenger and threaten to add another thousand feet if they don't surrender.


                    3. Attack by crane. A good old-fashioned Trojan Horse strategy would be best executed during a rainy day when visibility is low, arrows are inhibited, and it's hard to burn the crane. The first basketload of warriors is disguised as civilians (they don't actually have to be in a wooden horse, just don't let them look like the enemy). They launch a surprise attack when they land (or later, during the night watch?) and, instead of opening a gate, they're seizing control of the crane, defending it while they haul up a second basketful of soldiers. This could make for some exciting action as the tide turns every time another basket arrives. A diversion (such as the aforementioned hot air balloon attack) might draw the defenders away as part of the plan.







                    share|improve this answer












                    share|improve this answer



                    share|improve this answer










                    answered Aug 17 at 2:53









                    Joe

                    2,3401519




                    2,3401519











                    • Assuming traditional physics, as long as you have a long enough rope/chain (and the rock is buoyant enough) you can just let them asphyxiate. Not terribly unpleasant, as ways to die goes. You'll probably just be laughing
                      – Wayne Werner
                      Aug 21 at 18:10










                    • No way am I going to follow that link! But to your point, yes, assuming the weight of the chain itself doesn't become too much for the rock (or the chain).
                      – Joe
                      Aug 21 at 18:13










                    • It's just Destin from Smarter Every Day showing you what happens to your brain on dru... err.... off oxygen. Don't worry, he doesn't really die!
                      – Wayne Werner
                      Aug 21 at 18:24
















                    • Assuming traditional physics, as long as you have a long enough rope/chain (and the rock is buoyant enough) you can just let them asphyxiate. Not terribly unpleasant, as ways to die goes. You'll probably just be laughing
                      – Wayne Werner
                      Aug 21 at 18:10










                    • No way am I going to follow that link! But to your point, yes, assuming the weight of the chain itself doesn't become too much for the rock (or the chain).
                      – Joe
                      Aug 21 at 18:13










                    • It's just Destin from Smarter Every Day showing you what happens to your brain on dru... err.... off oxygen. Don't worry, he doesn't really die!
                      – Wayne Werner
                      Aug 21 at 18:24















                    Assuming traditional physics, as long as you have a long enough rope/chain (and the rock is buoyant enough) you can just let them asphyxiate. Not terribly unpleasant, as ways to die goes. You'll probably just be laughing
                    – Wayne Werner
                    Aug 21 at 18:10




                    Assuming traditional physics, as long as you have a long enough rope/chain (and the rock is buoyant enough) you can just let them asphyxiate. Not terribly unpleasant, as ways to die goes. You'll probably just be laughing
                    – Wayne Werner
                    Aug 21 at 18:10












                    No way am I going to follow that link! But to your point, yes, assuming the weight of the chain itself doesn't become too much for the rock (or the chain).
                    – Joe
                    Aug 21 at 18:13




                    No way am I going to follow that link! But to your point, yes, assuming the weight of the chain itself doesn't become too much for the rock (or the chain).
                    – Joe
                    Aug 21 at 18:13












                    It's just Destin from Smarter Every Day showing you what happens to your brain on dru... err.... off oxygen. Don't worry, he doesn't really die!
                    – Wayne Werner
                    Aug 21 at 18:24




                    It's just Destin from Smarter Every Day showing you what happens to your brain on dru... err.... off oxygen. Don't worry, he doesn't really die!
                    – Wayne Werner
                    Aug 21 at 18:24










                    up vote
                    13
                    down vote













                    Use flying rocks as your siege machines



                    If there is one flying rock there are other flying rocks as well. Use them as a base for your siege.



                    As a general rule - get some flying rocks (they need to be large, but much smaller that the one utilised by the castle as a base), chain them to the ground/platform and use as a base for your attack. You can use them in various ways:



                    Archer posts



                    Make a posts for your archers that gives them enough protection and enables to shoot efficiently slightly downwards. Use a bit longer chain than the one used by the castle so the archer posts are over the castle and shoot from the above. You are less vulnerable to backfire from the castle since it's always easier to shot downward than upward



                    Hammer



                    Balance a flying rock with regular rocks in a way that makes it easy pull the rock down with a significant force. Attach two long chains (longer than the one used by the castle) to the rock, with additional chain reaching ground attached to the holding chain. Place the holding chains on opposite sides of the castle. Now pull the additional chains with as large force as possible (possibly the chain has to go through some ring attached to the ground so that you pull parallel to the ground) to throw the rock down into the castle. It works as a huge hammer.



                    Landing ships



                    Use a similar appliance for a rock but balance it so that you can put some troops on top of it. Now when the rock is pulled down and hits the castle your troops can jump down and attack the castle defenders.



                    Drop bombs



                    You can use various ways here:



                    • take flying rock as a base, fill it with stones and a small crew. Using chains control it so that the stone flies over the castle and drop stones you have. You can use other things, hot tar or boiling water for example.

                    • attach stones to small hot-air balloons. Launch them so that they fly over a castle. Now use archers (see above) to pierce the balloons dropping the stones on a castle

                    • similarly to the previous way but rather than using archers use some simple time trigger to pierce the balloon after a specific amount of time that ensures it's over the castle

                    Relocate castle



                    Since you have access to the chain base, you can use it to detach the castle. Since you don't want it to drift away, use other chains to control the castle so that rather it floating away it goes where you want to.



                    You might need to do multiple re-chaining or something like that but it should be possible to move the castle anywhere you want.



                    Mountain as a siege machine



                    Pull the castle to the mountain, with a steep slope, that you can use to attack the castle.



                    Starve on the sea



                    Pull the castle to the sea and attach it to the sea bed. Then sail away and wait one year until defenders starve/run out of supplies. Later just come back and collect what's left.



                    Bad weather



                    You name it - freezing winter or a scorching desert Sun. Just get the castle somewhere were you don't want to stay for a long period of time



                    Dragon's nest



                    We may not be able to control dragons, but locating a nice supply of food (i.e. castle full of people and their edible supplies) near their nest should drag them for a feast. They will do the conquer work for you.



                    Smoke them



                    If something is up in the sky, it is vulnerable to smoke. Build large bonfires so that the smoke goes in the direction of the castle, add whatever you can to make it as smelly/poisonous as possible. You'll need to move your bonfires probably but just keep them in the smoke until the morale is so low they will beg you to allow them to surrender to you.



                    Cut oxygen supply



                    I don't know how high can a flying rock fly. But if you can reach over 10k feet with it you end up with an oxygen deprivation. The higher the better. At 20k feet your defenders will soon die due to the thin air.



                    Just make sure the additional chain you have to add is strong enough to pull the castle back to the ground once your defenders are done.






                    share|improve this answer






















                    • I really wish I could upvote your answer twice cause this is creative and beautiful. I'm surprised you forgot just straight up climbing the chain though.
                      – Clay Deitas
                      Aug 17 at 10:46










                    • I nearly wrote this answer, but didn't because it is stated in the question that "[giant flying rocks]...we cannot use/tame/control them."
                      – Korthalion
                      Aug 17 at 10:56






                    • 1




                      @ClayDeitas I didn't. I ruled it out. OP specifically pointed out that defenders have access to the bottom of their flying rock base and can attack you when you're beneath the rock. You can still do raids to reach for the chain, but climbing it is really not safe, slow and one chain produces obvious bottleneck. I was considering also dropping some sort of a net on top a castle to serve as a ladder but it is still too high and exhausting. In general I discarded some of my initial ideas that I though won't serve really well (e.g. pulling the castle over an active volcano - you need one close).
                      – Ister
                      Aug 17 at 10:58










                    • @Korthalion if you can control a driftrock to the level enabling to build a castle on top of it then all those methods should work too.
                      – Ister
                      Aug 17 at 10:59






                    • 2




                      I like the deprive them of oxygen/smoke them out ideas because it really plays to the unique nature of the floating castle and how you would lay siege to it.
                      – BobtheMagicMoose
                      Aug 17 at 13:53














                    up vote
                    13
                    down vote













                    Use flying rocks as your siege machines



                    If there is one flying rock there are other flying rocks as well. Use them as a base for your siege.



                    As a general rule - get some flying rocks (they need to be large, but much smaller that the one utilised by the castle as a base), chain them to the ground/platform and use as a base for your attack. You can use them in various ways:



                    Archer posts



                    Make a posts for your archers that gives them enough protection and enables to shoot efficiently slightly downwards. Use a bit longer chain than the one used by the castle so the archer posts are over the castle and shoot from the above. You are less vulnerable to backfire from the castle since it's always easier to shot downward than upward



                    Hammer



                    Balance a flying rock with regular rocks in a way that makes it easy pull the rock down with a significant force. Attach two long chains (longer than the one used by the castle) to the rock, with additional chain reaching ground attached to the holding chain. Place the holding chains on opposite sides of the castle. Now pull the additional chains with as large force as possible (possibly the chain has to go through some ring attached to the ground so that you pull parallel to the ground) to throw the rock down into the castle. It works as a huge hammer.



                    Landing ships



                    Use a similar appliance for a rock but balance it so that you can put some troops on top of it. Now when the rock is pulled down and hits the castle your troops can jump down and attack the castle defenders.



                    Drop bombs



                    You can use various ways here:



                    • take flying rock as a base, fill it with stones and a small crew. Using chains control it so that the stone flies over the castle and drop stones you have. You can use other things, hot tar or boiling water for example.

                    • attach stones to small hot-air balloons. Launch them so that they fly over a castle. Now use archers (see above) to pierce the balloons dropping the stones on a castle

                    • similarly to the previous way but rather than using archers use some simple time trigger to pierce the balloon after a specific amount of time that ensures it's over the castle

                    Relocate castle



                    Since you have access to the chain base, you can use it to detach the castle. Since you don't want it to drift away, use other chains to control the castle so that rather it floating away it goes where you want to.



                    You might need to do multiple re-chaining or something like that but it should be possible to move the castle anywhere you want.



                    Mountain as a siege machine



                    Pull the castle to the mountain, with a steep slope, that you can use to attack the castle.



                    Starve on the sea



                    Pull the castle to the sea and attach it to the sea bed. Then sail away and wait one year until defenders starve/run out of supplies. Later just come back and collect what's left.



                    Bad weather



                    You name it - freezing winter or a scorching desert Sun. Just get the castle somewhere were you don't want to stay for a long period of time



                    Dragon's nest



                    We may not be able to control dragons, but locating a nice supply of food (i.e. castle full of people and their edible supplies) near their nest should drag them for a feast. They will do the conquer work for you.



                    Smoke them



                    If something is up in the sky, it is vulnerable to smoke. Build large bonfires so that the smoke goes in the direction of the castle, add whatever you can to make it as smelly/poisonous as possible. You'll need to move your bonfires probably but just keep them in the smoke until the morale is so low they will beg you to allow them to surrender to you.



                    Cut oxygen supply



                    I don't know how high can a flying rock fly. But if you can reach over 10k feet with it you end up with an oxygen deprivation. The higher the better. At 20k feet your defenders will soon die due to the thin air.



                    Just make sure the additional chain you have to add is strong enough to pull the castle back to the ground once your defenders are done.






                    share|improve this answer






















                    • I really wish I could upvote your answer twice cause this is creative and beautiful. I'm surprised you forgot just straight up climbing the chain though.
                      – Clay Deitas
                      Aug 17 at 10:46










                    • I nearly wrote this answer, but didn't because it is stated in the question that "[giant flying rocks]...we cannot use/tame/control them."
                      – Korthalion
                      Aug 17 at 10:56






                    • 1




                      @ClayDeitas I didn't. I ruled it out. OP specifically pointed out that defenders have access to the bottom of their flying rock base and can attack you when you're beneath the rock. You can still do raids to reach for the chain, but climbing it is really not safe, slow and one chain produces obvious bottleneck. I was considering also dropping some sort of a net on top a castle to serve as a ladder but it is still too high and exhausting. In general I discarded some of my initial ideas that I though won't serve really well (e.g. pulling the castle over an active volcano - you need one close).
                      – Ister
                      Aug 17 at 10:58










                    • @Korthalion if you can control a driftrock to the level enabling to build a castle on top of it then all those methods should work too.
                      – Ister
                      Aug 17 at 10:59






                    • 2




                      I like the deprive them of oxygen/smoke them out ideas because it really plays to the unique nature of the floating castle and how you would lay siege to it.
                      – BobtheMagicMoose
                      Aug 17 at 13:53












                    up vote
                    13
                    down vote










                    up vote
                    13
                    down vote









                    Use flying rocks as your siege machines



                    If there is one flying rock there are other flying rocks as well. Use them as a base for your siege.



                    As a general rule - get some flying rocks (they need to be large, but much smaller that the one utilised by the castle as a base), chain them to the ground/platform and use as a base for your attack. You can use them in various ways:



                    Archer posts



                    Make a posts for your archers that gives them enough protection and enables to shoot efficiently slightly downwards. Use a bit longer chain than the one used by the castle so the archer posts are over the castle and shoot from the above. You are less vulnerable to backfire from the castle since it's always easier to shot downward than upward



                    Hammer



                    Balance a flying rock with regular rocks in a way that makes it easy pull the rock down with a significant force. Attach two long chains (longer than the one used by the castle) to the rock, with additional chain reaching ground attached to the holding chain. Place the holding chains on opposite sides of the castle. Now pull the additional chains with as large force as possible (possibly the chain has to go through some ring attached to the ground so that you pull parallel to the ground) to throw the rock down into the castle. It works as a huge hammer.



                    Landing ships



                    Use a similar appliance for a rock but balance it so that you can put some troops on top of it. Now when the rock is pulled down and hits the castle your troops can jump down and attack the castle defenders.



                    Drop bombs



                    You can use various ways here:



                    • take flying rock as a base, fill it with stones and a small crew. Using chains control it so that the stone flies over the castle and drop stones you have. You can use other things, hot tar or boiling water for example.

                    • attach stones to small hot-air balloons. Launch them so that they fly over a castle. Now use archers (see above) to pierce the balloons dropping the stones on a castle

                    • similarly to the previous way but rather than using archers use some simple time trigger to pierce the balloon after a specific amount of time that ensures it's over the castle

                    Relocate castle



                    Since you have access to the chain base, you can use it to detach the castle. Since you don't want it to drift away, use other chains to control the castle so that rather it floating away it goes where you want to.



                    You might need to do multiple re-chaining or something like that but it should be possible to move the castle anywhere you want.



                    Mountain as a siege machine



                    Pull the castle to the mountain, with a steep slope, that you can use to attack the castle.



                    Starve on the sea



                    Pull the castle to the sea and attach it to the sea bed. Then sail away and wait one year until defenders starve/run out of supplies. Later just come back and collect what's left.



                    Bad weather



                    You name it - freezing winter or a scorching desert Sun. Just get the castle somewhere were you don't want to stay for a long period of time



                    Dragon's nest



                    We may not be able to control dragons, but locating a nice supply of food (i.e. castle full of people and their edible supplies) near their nest should drag them for a feast. They will do the conquer work for you.



                    Smoke them



                    If something is up in the sky, it is vulnerable to smoke. Build large bonfires so that the smoke goes in the direction of the castle, add whatever you can to make it as smelly/poisonous as possible. You'll need to move your bonfires probably but just keep them in the smoke until the morale is so low they will beg you to allow them to surrender to you.



                    Cut oxygen supply



                    I don't know how high can a flying rock fly. But if you can reach over 10k feet with it you end up with an oxygen deprivation. The higher the better. At 20k feet your defenders will soon die due to the thin air.



                    Just make sure the additional chain you have to add is strong enough to pull the castle back to the ground once your defenders are done.






                    share|improve this answer














                    Use flying rocks as your siege machines



                    If there is one flying rock there are other flying rocks as well. Use them as a base for your siege.



                    As a general rule - get some flying rocks (they need to be large, but much smaller that the one utilised by the castle as a base), chain them to the ground/platform and use as a base for your attack. You can use them in various ways:



                    Archer posts



                    Make a posts for your archers that gives them enough protection and enables to shoot efficiently slightly downwards. Use a bit longer chain than the one used by the castle so the archer posts are over the castle and shoot from the above. You are less vulnerable to backfire from the castle since it's always easier to shot downward than upward



                    Hammer



                    Balance a flying rock with regular rocks in a way that makes it easy pull the rock down with a significant force. Attach two long chains (longer than the one used by the castle) to the rock, with additional chain reaching ground attached to the holding chain. Place the holding chains on opposite sides of the castle. Now pull the additional chains with as large force as possible (possibly the chain has to go through some ring attached to the ground so that you pull parallel to the ground) to throw the rock down into the castle. It works as a huge hammer.



                    Landing ships



                    Use a similar appliance for a rock but balance it so that you can put some troops on top of it. Now when the rock is pulled down and hits the castle your troops can jump down and attack the castle defenders.



                    Drop bombs



                    You can use various ways here:



                    • take flying rock as a base, fill it with stones and a small crew. Using chains control it so that the stone flies over the castle and drop stones you have. You can use other things, hot tar or boiling water for example.

                    • attach stones to small hot-air balloons. Launch them so that they fly over a castle. Now use archers (see above) to pierce the balloons dropping the stones on a castle

                    • similarly to the previous way but rather than using archers use some simple time trigger to pierce the balloon after a specific amount of time that ensures it's over the castle

                    Relocate castle



                    Since you have access to the chain base, you can use it to detach the castle. Since you don't want it to drift away, use other chains to control the castle so that rather it floating away it goes where you want to.



                    You might need to do multiple re-chaining or something like that but it should be possible to move the castle anywhere you want.



                    Mountain as a siege machine



                    Pull the castle to the mountain, with a steep slope, that you can use to attack the castle.



                    Starve on the sea



                    Pull the castle to the sea and attach it to the sea bed. Then sail away and wait one year until defenders starve/run out of supplies. Later just come back and collect what's left.



                    Bad weather



                    You name it - freezing winter or a scorching desert Sun. Just get the castle somewhere were you don't want to stay for a long period of time



                    Dragon's nest



                    We may not be able to control dragons, but locating a nice supply of food (i.e. castle full of people and their edible supplies) near their nest should drag them for a feast. They will do the conquer work for you.



                    Smoke them



                    If something is up in the sky, it is vulnerable to smoke. Build large bonfires so that the smoke goes in the direction of the castle, add whatever you can to make it as smelly/poisonous as possible. You'll need to move your bonfires probably but just keep them in the smoke until the morale is so low they will beg you to allow them to surrender to you.



                    Cut oxygen supply



                    I don't know how high can a flying rock fly. But if you can reach over 10k feet with it you end up with an oxygen deprivation. The higher the better. At 20k feet your defenders will soon die due to the thin air.



                    Just make sure the additional chain you have to add is strong enough to pull the castle back to the ground once your defenders are done.







                    share|improve this answer














                    share|improve this answer



                    share|improve this answer








                    edited Aug 17 at 14:29

























                    answered Aug 17 at 10:27









                    Ister

                    92110




                    92110











                    • I really wish I could upvote your answer twice cause this is creative and beautiful. I'm surprised you forgot just straight up climbing the chain though.
                      – Clay Deitas
                      Aug 17 at 10:46










                    • I nearly wrote this answer, but didn't because it is stated in the question that "[giant flying rocks]...we cannot use/tame/control them."
                      – Korthalion
                      Aug 17 at 10:56






                    • 1




                      @ClayDeitas I didn't. I ruled it out. OP specifically pointed out that defenders have access to the bottom of their flying rock base and can attack you when you're beneath the rock. You can still do raids to reach for the chain, but climbing it is really not safe, slow and one chain produces obvious bottleneck. I was considering also dropping some sort of a net on top a castle to serve as a ladder but it is still too high and exhausting. In general I discarded some of my initial ideas that I though won't serve really well (e.g. pulling the castle over an active volcano - you need one close).
                      – Ister
                      Aug 17 at 10:58










                    • @Korthalion if you can control a driftrock to the level enabling to build a castle on top of it then all those methods should work too.
                      – Ister
                      Aug 17 at 10:59






                    • 2




                      I like the deprive them of oxygen/smoke them out ideas because it really plays to the unique nature of the floating castle and how you would lay siege to it.
                      – BobtheMagicMoose
                      Aug 17 at 13:53
















                    • I really wish I could upvote your answer twice cause this is creative and beautiful. I'm surprised you forgot just straight up climbing the chain though.
                      – Clay Deitas
                      Aug 17 at 10:46










                    • I nearly wrote this answer, but didn't because it is stated in the question that "[giant flying rocks]...we cannot use/tame/control them."
                      – Korthalion
                      Aug 17 at 10:56






                    • 1




                      @ClayDeitas I didn't. I ruled it out. OP specifically pointed out that defenders have access to the bottom of their flying rock base and can attack you when you're beneath the rock. You can still do raids to reach for the chain, but climbing it is really not safe, slow and one chain produces obvious bottleneck. I was considering also dropping some sort of a net on top a castle to serve as a ladder but it is still too high and exhausting. In general I discarded some of my initial ideas that I though won't serve really well (e.g. pulling the castle over an active volcano - you need one close).
                      – Ister
                      Aug 17 at 10:58










                    • @Korthalion if you can control a driftrock to the level enabling to build a castle on top of it then all those methods should work too.
                      – Ister
                      Aug 17 at 10:59






                    • 2




                      I like the deprive them of oxygen/smoke them out ideas because it really plays to the unique nature of the floating castle and how you would lay siege to it.
                      – BobtheMagicMoose
                      Aug 17 at 13:53















                    I really wish I could upvote your answer twice cause this is creative and beautiful. I'm surprised you forgot just straight up climbing the chain though.
                    – Clay Deitas
                    Aug 17 at 10:46




                    I really wish I could upvote your answer twice cause this is creative and beautiful. I'm surprised you forgot just straight up climbing the chain though.
                    – Clay Deitas
                    Aug 17 at 10:46












                    I nearly wrote this answer, but didn't because it is stated in the question that "[giant flying rocks]...we cannot use/tame/control them."
                    – Korthalion
                    Aug 17 at 10:56




                    I nearly wrote this answer, but didn't because it is stated in the question that "[giant flying rocks]...we cannot use/tame/control them."
                    – Korthalion
                    Aug 17 at 10:56




                    1




                    1




                    @ClayDeitas I didn't. I ruled it out. OP specifically pointed out that defenders have access to the bottom of their flying rock base and can attack you when you're beneath the rock. You can still do raids to reach for the chain, but climbing it is really not safe, slow and one chain produces obvious bottleneck. I was considering also dropping some sort of a net on top a castle to serve as a ladder but it is still too high and exhausting. In general I discarded some of my initial ideas that I though won't serve really well (e.g. pulling the castle over an active volcano - you need one close).
                    – Ister
                    Aug 17 at 10:58




                    @ClayDeitas I didn't. I ruled it out. OP specifically pointed out that defenders have access to the bottom of their flying rock base and can attack you when you're beneath the rock. You can still do raids to reach for the chain, but climbing it is really not safe, slow and one chain produces obvious bottleneck. I was considering also dropping some sort of a net on top a castle to serve as a ladder but it is still too high and exhausting. In general I discarded some of my initial ideas that I though won't serve really well (e.g. pulling the castle over an active volcano - you need one close).
                    – Ister
                    Aug 17 at 10:58












                    @Korthalion if you can control a driftrock to the level enabling to build a castle on top of it then all those methods should work too.
                    – Ister
                    Aug 17 at 10:59




                    @Korthalion if you can control a driftrock to the level enabling to build a castle on top of it then all those methods should work too.
                    – Ister
                    Aug 17 at 10:59




                    2




                    2




                    I like the deprive them of oxygen/smoke them out ideas because it really plays to the unique nature of the floating castle and how you would lay siege to it.
                    – BobtheMagicMoose
                    Aug 17 at 13:53




                    I like the deprive them of oxygen/smoke them out ideas because it really plays to the unique nature of the floating castle and how you would lay siege to it.
                    – BobtheMagicMoose
                    Aug 17 at 13:53










                    up vote
                    12
                    down vote













                    If I'm not mistaken, "laying siege" to a castle or town means to cut off supplies into or out of the city until they ran out of supplies and surrendered to your men, and sieges could last for months.



                    That crane you outlined seems like the perfect target to capture or destroy, which will cut off at least a large chunk (if not all) of the people's ability to get into or out of the castle. From that point, it's just a matter of shooting down, blocking off, or capturing any other means the castle has to supply itself and waiting them out. The besieging army could easily put up decent enough defenses against any expected underside attacks, and maybe take some potshots of their own at people inside the walls to decrease morale.



                    The attacking army could even start trying to set fire to things inside the floating city via catapults or arrows shooting flaming shots, or whatever brand of fire magic you like; storehouses and homes would be good targets if one wanted to shorten that food supply and/or lower the morale of those inside. Medieval warfare is all about that morale management.






                    share|improve this answer






















                    • Good point about the exact meaning of 'lay siege'. Thank you. I've changed the title of the question a little bit to better reflect what I had in mind.
                      – MarcinKonowalczyk
                      Aug 16 at 23:49










                    • I was about to say just that, but I would add raids of saboteurs to try and poison water and food supplies, start random fires, etc. The important thing about a siege is the attacker's ability to maintain the pressure. You are the Lex Luthor to their Superman, they need to counter every attack. You only need one success. Take potshots 24/7, mount a raid every other night, eventually you'll make them flinch.
                      – AmiralPatate
                      Aug 17 at 9:53














                    up vote
                    12
                    down vote













                    If I'm not mistaken, "laying siege" to a castle or town means to cut off supplies into or out of the city until they ran out of supplies and surrendered to your men, and sieges could last for months.



                    That crane you outlined seems like the perfect target to capture or destroy, which will cut off at least a large chunk (if not all) of the people's ability to get into or out of the castle. From that point, it's just a matter of shooting down, blocking off, or capturing any other means the castle has to supply itself and waiting them out. The besieging army could easily put up decent enough defenses against any expected underside attacks, and maybe take some potshots of their own at people inside the walls to decrease morale.



                    The attacking army could even start trying to set fire to things inside the floating city via catapults or arrows shooting flaming shots, or whatever brand of fire magic you like; storehouses and homes would be good targets if one wanted to shorten that food supply and/or lower the morale of those inside. Medieval warfare is all about that morale management.






                    share|improve this answer






















                    • Good point about the exact meaning of 'lay siege'. Thank you. I've changed the title of the question a little bit to better reflect what I had in mind.
                      – MarcinKonowalczyk
                      Aug 16 at 23:49










                    • I was about to say just that, but I would add raids of saboteurs to try and poison water and food supplies, start random fires, etc. The important thing about a siege is the attacker's ability to maintain the pressure. You are the Lex Luthor to their Superman, they need to counter every attack. You only need one success. Take potshots 24/7, mount a raid every other night, eventually you'll make them flinch.
                      – AmiralPatate
                      Aug 17 at 9:53












                    up vote
                    12
                    down vote










                    up vote
                    12
                    down vote









                    If I'm not mistaken, "laying siege" to a castle or town means to cut off supplies into or out of the city until they ran out of supplies and surrendered to your men, and sieges could last for months.



                    That crane you outlined seems like the perfect target to capture or destroy, which will cut off at least a large chunk (if not all) of the people's ability to get into or out of the castle. From that point, it's just a matter of shooting down, blocking off, or capturing any other means the castle has to supply itself and waiting them out. The besieging army could easily put up decent enough defenses against any expected underside attacks, and maybe take some potshots of their own at people inside the walls to decrease morale.



                    The attacking army could even start trying to set fire to things inside the floating city via catapults or arrows shooting flaming shots, or whatever brand of fire magic you like; storehouses and homes would be good targets if one wanted to shorten that food supply and/or lower the morale of those inside. Medieval warfare is all about that morale management.






                    share|improve this answer














                    If I'm not mistaken, "laying siege" to a castle or town means to cut off supplies into or out of the city until they ran out of supplies and surrendered to your men, and sieges could last for months.



                    That crane you outlined seems like the perfect target to capture or destroy, which will cut off at least a large chunk (if not all) of the people's ability to get into or out of the castle. From that point, it's just a matter of shooting down, blocking off, or capturing any other means the castle has to supply itself and waiting them out. The besieging army could easily put up decent enough defenses against any expected underside attacks, and maybe take some potshots of their own at people inside the walls to decrease morale.



                    The attacking army could even start trying to set fire to things inside the floating city via catapults or arrows shooting flaming shots, or whatever brand of fire magic you like; storehouses and homes would be good targets if one wanted to shorten that food supply and/or lower the morale of those inside. Medieval warfare is all about that morale management.







                    share|improve this answer














                    share|improve this answer



                    share|improve this answer








                    edited Aug 17 at 2:18









                    a4android

                    30.3k339118




                    30.3k339118










                    answered Aug 16 at 23:41









                    Tustin2121

                    2613




                    2613











                    • Good point about the exact meaning of 'lay siege'. Thank you. I've changed the title of the question a little bit to better reflect what I had in mind.
                      – MarcinKonowalczyk
                      Aug 16 at 23:49










                    • I was about to say just that, but I would add raids of saboteurs to try and poison water and food supplies, start random fires, etc. The important thing about a siege is the attacker's ability to maintain the pressure. You are the Lex Luthor to their Superman, they need to counter every attack. You only need one success. Take potshots 24/7, mount a raid every other night, eventually you'll make them flinch.
                      – AmiralPatate
                      Aug 17 at 9:53
















                    • Good point about the exact meaning of 'lay siege'. Thank you. I've changed the title of the question a little bit to better reflect what I had in mind.
                      – MarcinKonowalczyk
                      Aug 16 at 23:49










                    • I was about to say just that, but I would add raids of saboteurs to try and poison water and food supplies, start random fires, etc. The important thing about a siege is the attacker's ability to maintain the pressure. You are the Lex Luthor to their Superman, they need to counter every attack. You only need one success. Take potshots 24/7, mount a raid every other night, eventually you'll make them flinch.
                      – AmiralPatate
                      Aug 17 at 9:53















                    Good point about the exact meaning of 'lay siege'. Thank you. I've changed the title of the question a little bit to better reflect what I had in mind.
                    – MarcinKonowalczyk
                    Aug 16 at 23:49




                    Good point about the exact meaning of 'lay siege'. Thank you. I've changed the title of the question a little bit to better reflect what I had in mind.
                    – MarcinKonowalczyk
                    Aug 16 at 23:49












                    I was about to say just that, but I would add raids of saboteurs to try and poison water and food supplies, start random fires, etc. The important thing about a siege is the attacker's ability to maintain the pressure. You are the Lex Luthor to their Superman, they need to counter every attack. You only need one success. Take potshots 24/7, mount a raid every other night, eventually you'll make them flinch.
                    – AmiralPatate
                    Aug 17 at 9:53




                    I was about to say just that, but I would add raids of saboteurs to try and poison water and food supplies, start random fires, etc. The important thing about a siege is the attacker's ability to maintain the pressure. You are the Lex Luthor to their Superman, they need to counter every attack. You only need one success. Take potshots 24/7, mount a raid every other night, eventually you'll make them flinch.
                    – AmiralPatate
                    Aug 17 at 9:53










                    up vote
                    11
                    down vote













                    If the chain is taut like a guitar string, all you have to do is play it. The vibration will drive the castle dwellers crazy, and might even cause property and biological damage. Every chamber in the castle will potentially act as a small resonance chamber as well.



                    To play the chain, use it as target practice for trebuchets. Hit it once, and you've got it calibrated for the next strum. Use something softer than the chain's material as ammo in order to avoid damaging it (too much).




                    If the rope is not taut, your engineers may find a way to yank it. Pull it taut and let go, and every castle dweller will become a reddish goo stuck to a wall.






                    share|improve this answer


















                    • 3




                      A tonic vibration machine has real world proof. theconversation.com/…
                      – Jammin4CO
                      Aug 17 at 18:06














                    up vote
                    11
                    down vote













                    If the chain is taut like a guitar string, all you have to do is play it. The vibration will drive the castle dwellers crazy, and might even cause property and biological damage. Every chamber in the castle will potentially act as a small resonance chamber as well.



                    To play the chain, use it as target practice for trebuchets. Hit it once, and you've got it calibrated for the next strum. Use something softer than the chain's material as ammo in order to avoid damaging it (too much).




                    If the rope is not taut, your engineers may find a way to yank it. Pull it taut and let go, and every castle dweller will become a reddish goo stuck to a wall.






                    share|improve this answer


















                    • 3




                      A tonic vibration machine has real world proof. theconversation.com/…
                      – Jammin4CO
                      Aug 17 at 18:06












                    up vote
                    11
                    down vote










                    up vote
                    11
                    down vote









                    If the chain is taut like a guitar string, all you have to do is play it. The vibration will drive the castle dwellers crazy, and might even cause property and biological damage. Every chamber in the castle will potentially act as a small resonance chamber as well.



                    To play the chain, use it as target practice for trebuchets. Hit it once, and you've got it calibrated for the next strum. Use something softer than the chain's material as ammo in order to avoid damaging it (too much).




                    If the rope is not taut, your engineers may find a way to yank it. Pull it taut and let go, and every castle dweller will become a reddish goo stuck to a wall.






                    share|improve this answer














                    If the chain is taut like a guitar string, all you have to do is play it. The vibration will drive the castle dwellers crazy, and might even cause property and biological damage. Every chamber in the castle will potentially act as a small resonance chamber as well.



                    To play the chain, use it as target practice for trebuchets. Hit it once, and you've got it calibrated for the next strum. Use something softer than the chain's material as ammo in order to avoid damaging it (too much).




                    If the rope is not taut, your engineers may find a way to yank it. Pull it taut and let go, and every castle dweller will become a reddish goo stuck to a wall.







                    share|improve this answer














                    share|improve this answer



                    share|improve this answer








                    edited Aug 17 at 12:46

























                    answered Aug 17 at 12:40









                    Renan

                    31.9k768162




                    31.9k768162







                    • 3




                      A tonic vibration machine has real world proof. theconversation.com/…
                      – Jammin4CO
                      Aug 17 at 18:06












                    • 3




                      A tonic vibration machine has real world proof. theconversation.com/…
                      – Jammin4CO
                      Aug 17 at 18:06







                    3




                    3




                    A tonic vibration machine has real world proof. theconversation.com/…
                    – Jammin4CO
                    Aug 17 at 18:06




                    A tonic vibration machine has real world proof. theconversation.com/…
                    – Jammin4CO
                    Aug 17 at 18:06










                    up vote
                    8
                    down vote













                    good answers above: starve them out, pull them down by the chain.
                    You can also smoke them out by lighting enough fires upwind of the city.
                    but that is all very mundane.



                    One "epic" idea is to unbalance the city. The wikia page you linked implies that the city is levitated by a single small rock at its center. So if throw enough rocks onto one side, or knock enough rocks down, you can tilt the city.



                    Or you can attach a second chain near the edge, and pull down (or cut the main chain)



                    Finally, same wikia page says that flightrock can be killed by a "stormphrax crystal". Hire some rogues, and task them with infiltrating the city (via grappling hooks), and install that crystal.






                    share|improve this answer




















                    • I'm not literally after taking down Stormphrax, and the driftrock my city is built on floats all by itself - like a large cork. I do really like the idea of unbalancing the city though! (A bit like an iceberg)
                      – MarcinKonowalczyk
                      Aug 17 at 8:02










                    • For the uninitiated, a Stormphrax crystal would weigh enough to sink the castle if kept in total darkness. Also if we're using EdgeChron flight rocks you just need one saboteur to assassinate the Stone Pilot and heat the rock so that the castle sinks.
                      – Korthalion
                      Aug 17 at 9:42














                    up vote
                    8
                    down vote













                    good answers above: starve them out, pull them down by the chain.
                    You can also smoke them out by lighting enough fires upwind of the city.
                    but that is all very mundane.



                    One "epic" idea is to unbalance the city. The wikia page you linked implies that the city is levitated by a single small rock at its center. So if throw enough rocks onto one side, or knock enough rocks down, you can tilt the city.



                    Or you can attach a second chain near the edge, and pull down (or cut the main chain)



                    Finally, same wikia page says that flightrock can be killed by a "stormphrax crystal". Hire some rogues, and task them with infiltrating the city (via grappling hooks), and install that crystal.






                    share|improve this answer




















                    • I'm not literally after taking down Stormphrax, and the driftrock my city is built on floats all by itself - like a large cork. I do really like the idea of unbalancing the city though! (A bit like an iceberg)
                      – MarcinKonowalczyk
                      Aug 17 at 8:02










                    • For the uninitiated, a Stormphrax crystal would weigh enough to sink the castle if kept in total darkness. Also if we're using EdgeChron flight rocks you just need one saboteur to assassinate the Stone Pilot and heat the rock so that the castle sinks.
                      – Korthalion
                      Aug 17 at 9:42












                    up vote
                    8
                    down vote










                    up vote
                    8
                    down vote









                    good answers above: starve them out, pull them down by the chain.
                    You can also smoke them out by lighting enough fires upwind of the city.
                    but that is all very mundane.



                    One "epic" idea is to unbalance the city. The wikia page you linked implies that the city is levitated by a single small rock at its center. So if throw enough rocks onto one side, or knock enough rocks down, you can tilt the city.



                    Or you can attach a second chain near the edge, and pull down (or cut the main chain)



                    Finally, same wikia page says that flightrock can be killed by a "stormphrax crystal". Hire some rogues, and task them with infiltrating the city (via grappling hooks), and install that crystal.






                    share|improve this answer












                    good answers above: starve them out, pull them down by the chain.
                    You can also smoke them out by lighting enough fires upwind of the city.
                    but that is all very mundane.



                    One "epic" idea is to unbalance the city. The wikia page you linked implies that the city is levitated by a single small rock at its center. So if throw enough rocks onto one side, or knock enough rocks down, you can tilt the city.



                    Or you can attach a second chain near the edge, and pull down (or cut the main chain)



                    Finally, same wikia page says that flightrock can be killed by a "stormphrax crystal". Hire some rogues, and task them with infiltrating the city (via grappling hooks), and install that crystal.







                    share|improve this answer












                    share|improve this answer



                    share|improve this answer










                    answered Aug 17 at 2:40









                    Bald Bear

                    2,632211




                    2,632211











                    • I'm not literally after taking down Stormphrax, and the driftrock my city is built on floats all by itself - like a large cork. I do really like the idea of unbalancing the city though! (A bit like an iceberg)
                      – MarcinKonowalczyk
                      Aug 17 at 8:02










                    • For the uninitiated, a Stormphrax crystal would weigh enough to sink the castle if kept in total darkness. Also if we're using EdgeChron flight rocks you just need one saboteur to assassinate the Stone Pilot and heat the rock so that the castle sinks.
                      – Korthalion
                      Aug 17 at 9:42
















                    • I'm not literally after taking down Stormphrax, and the driftrock my city is built on floats all by itself - like a large cork. I do really like the idea of unbalancing the city though! (A bit like an iceberg)
                      – MarcinKonowalczyk
                      Aug 17 at 8:02










                    • For the uninitiated, a Stormphrax crystal would weigh enough to sink the castle if kept in total darkness. Also if we're using EdgeChron flight rocks you just need one saboteur to assassinate the Stone Pilot and heat the rock so that the castle sinks.
                      – Korthalion
                      Aug 17 at 9:42















                    I'm not literally after taking down Stormphrax, and the driftrock my city is built on floats all by itself - like a large cork. I do really like the idea of unbalancing the city though! (A bit like an iceberg)
                    – MarcinKonowalczyk
                    Aug 17 at 8:02




                    I'm not literally after taking down Stormphrax, and the driftrock my city is built on floats all by itself - like a large cork. I do really like the idea of unbalancing the city though! (A bit like an iceberg)
                    – MarcinKonowalczyk
                    Aug 17 at 8:02












                    For the uninitiated, a Stormphrax crystal would weigh enough to sink the castle if kept in total darkness. Also if we're using EdgeChron flight rocks you just need one saboteur to assassinate the Stone Pilot and heat the rock so that the castle sinks.
                    – Korthalion
                    Aug 17 at 9:42




                    For the uninitiated, a Stormphrax crystal would weigh enough to sink the castle if kept in total darkness. Also if we're using EdgeChron flight rocks you just need one saboteur to assassinate the Stone Pilot and heat the rock so that the castle sinks.
                    – Korthalion
                    Aug 17 at 9:42










                    up vote
                    3
                    down vote













                    1. Find a flying rock of similar size (in this country of flying rocks, they are probably not so rare)

                    2. Attach 3 ropes on its sides

                    3. Make sure its bottom flies at about the same altitude as the enemy rock's fortifications

                    4. Employ 3 groups of 10 horses to slowly move the rock until its bottom impacts the enemy rock's top. If the enemy start throwing stuff, use longer ropes.

                    5. Slowly move it around, crushing all of the fortifications, and more if necessary, until surrender.

                    enter image description here



                    Advantages over other methods:




                    • No deaths on your side: Make the ropes a bit longer than the maximum reach of the enemy's weapons.


                    • Surgical: Just destroy the fortifications, not the UNESCO-classified library nor the unique-in-the-world jewelry workshop. Keep your reputation seat by not indistinctly killing or burning everyone including civilians.


                    • Cheap: Other methods require a lot of resources such as wood. Here you just need ropes (maybe chains) and 30 slow horses.


                    • Eco-friendly: No need to burn the wood from all forests around.


                    • Persuasive: Frighten enemies. Swords and arrows do nothing against a huge rock scrubbing your small territory at will.





                    share|improve this answer


























                      up vote
                      3
                      down vote













                      1. Find a flying rock of similar size (in this country of flying rocks, they are probably not so rare)

                      2. Attach 3 ropes on its sides

                      3. Make sure its bottom flies at about the same altitude as the enemy rock's fortifications

                      4. Employ 3 groups of 10 horses to slowly move the rock until its bottom impacts the enemy rock's top. If the enemy start throwing stuff, use longer ropes.

                      5. Slowly move it around, crushing all of the fortifications, and more if necessary, until surrender.

                      enter image description here



                      Advantages over other methods:




                      • No deaths on your side: Make the ropes a bit longer than the maximum reach of the enemy's weapons.


                      • Surgical: Just destroy the fortifications, not the UNESCO-classified library nor the unique-in-the-world jewelry workshop. Keep your reputation seat by not indistinctly killing or burning everyone including civilians.


                      • Cheap: Other methods require a lot of resources such as wood. Here you just need ropes (maybe chains) and 30 slow horses.


                      • Eco-friendly: No need to burn the wood from all forests around.


                      • Persuasive: Frighten enemies. Swords and arrows do nothing against a huge rock scrubbing your small territory at will.





                      share|improve this answer
























                        up vote
                        3
                        down vote










                        up vote
                        3
                        down vote









                        1. Find a flying rock of similar size (in this country of flying rocks, they are probably not so rare)

                        2. Attach 3 ropes on its sides

                        3. Make sure its bottom flies at about the same altitude as the enemy rock's fortifications

                        4. Employ 3 groups of 10 horses to slowly move the rock until its bottom impacts the enemy rock's top. If the enemy start throwing stuff, use longer ropes.

                        5. Slowly move it around, crushing all of the fortifications, and more if necessary, until surrender.

                        enter image description here



                        Advantages over other methods:




                        • No deaths on your side: Make the ropes a bit longer than the maximum reach of the enemy's weapons.


                        • Surgical: Just destroy the fortifications, not the UNESCO-classified library nor the unique-in-the-world jewelry workshop. Keep your reputation seat by not indistinctly killing or burning everyone including civilians.


                        • Cheap: Other methods require a lot of resources such as wood. Here you just need ropes (maybe chains) and 30 slow horses.


                        • Eco-friendly: No need to burn the wood from all forests around.


                        • Persuasive: Frighten enemies. Swords and arrows do nothing against a huge rock scrubbing your small territory at will.





                        share|improve this answer














                        1. Find a flying rock of similar size (in this country of flying rocks, they are probably not so rare)

                        2. Attach 3 ropes on its sides

                        3. Make sure its bottom flies at about the same altitude as the enemy rock's fortifications

                        4. Employ 3 groups of 10 horses to slowly move the rock until its bottom impacts the enemy rock's top. If the enemy start throwing stuff, use longer ropes.

                        5. Slowly move it around, crushing all of the fortifications, and more if necessary, until surrender.

                        enter image description here



                        Advantages over other methods:




                        • No deaths on your side: Make the ropes a bit longer than the maximum reach of the enemy's weapons.


                        • Surgical: Just destroy the fortifications, not the UNESCO-classified library nor the unique-in-the-world jewelry workshop. Keep your reputation seat by not indistinctly killing or burning everyone including civilians.


                        • Cheap: Other methods require a lot of resources such as wood. Here you just need ropes (maybe chains) and 30 slow horses.


                        • Eco-friendly: No need to burn the wood from all forests around.


                        • Persuasive: Frighten enemies. Swords and arrows do nothing against a huge rock scrubbing your small territory at will.






                        share|improve this answer














                        share|improve this answer



                        share|improve this answer








                        edited Aug 23 at 5:35

























                        answered Aug 17 at 15:06









                        Nicolas Raoul

                        1,140619




                        1,140619




















                            up vote
                            2
                            down vote













                            Seems like a simple blockade in a circle around the city would work fine. Maybe a trench and barricade going the full circle around to keep people out, and some archers to shoot at anyone attempting to lower themselves down during the duration of the siege. The blockade should be large enough to prevent fire from above reaching the ground units. Basically a donut shaped camp around the lift zone.



                            In addition, you could design an oversized ballista to shoot projectiles into the city. I recommend using a hollow headed arrow that caries a biological agent such as rotting flesh into the city as a form of biological warfare.



                            Bonus: If you find a smaller floating rock, you can drag it into the castle rock as a siege weapon, mostly hurting moral but potentially causing damage depending on how you use it.



                            Double bonus: Has no one suggested climbing the chain? Send a single man up the chain on a dark night and have him instal some kind of eye for a rope or chain into the rock. You now have your own way of getting up to the fort. Slowly work your way to one of the access hatches and sneakily use it to ferry in soldiers.






                            share|improve this answer


























                              up vote
                              2
                              down vote













                              Seems like a simple blockade in a circle around the city would work fine. Maybe a trench and barricade going the full circle around to keep people out, and some archers to shoot at anyone attempting to lower themselves down during the duration of the siege. The blockade should be large enough to prevent fire from above reaching the ground units. Basically a donut shaped camp around the lift zone.



                              In addition, you could design an oversized ballista to shoot projectiles into the city. I recommend using a hollow headed arrow that caries a biological agent such as rotting flesh into the city as a form of biological warfare.



                              Bonus: If you find a smaller floating rock, you can drag it into the castle rock as a siege weapon, mostly hurting moral but potentially causing damage depending on how you use it.



                              Double bonus: Has no one suggested climbing the chain? Send a single man up the chain on a dark night and have him instal some kind of eye for a rope or chain into the rock. You now have your own way of getting up to the fort. Slowly work your way to one of the access hatches and sneakily use it to ferry in soldiers.






                              share|improve this answer
























                                up vote
                                2
                                down vote










                                up vote
                                2
                                down vote









                                Seems like a simple blockade in a circle around the city would work fine. Maybe a trench and barricade going the full circle around to keep people out, and some archers to shoot at anyone attempting to lower themselves down during the duration of the siege. The blockade should be large enough to prevent fire from above reaching the ground units. Basically a donut shaped camp around the lift zone.



                                In addition, you could design an oversized ballista to shoot projectiles into the city. I recommend using a hollow headed arrow that caries a biological agent such as rotting flesh into the city as a form of biological warfare.



                                Bonus: If you find a smaller floating rock, you can drag it into the castle rock as a siege weapon, mostly hurting moral but potentially causing damage depending on how you use it.



                                Double bonus: Has no one suggested climbing the chain? Send a single man up the chain on a dark night and have him instal some kind of eye for a rope or chain into the rock. You now have your own way of getting up to the fort. Slowly work your way to one of the access hatches and sneakily use it to ferry in soldiers.






                                share|improve this answer














                                Seems like a simple blockade in a circle around the city would work fine. Maybe a trench and barricade going the full circle around to keep people out, and some archers to shoot at anyone attempting to lower themselves down during the duration of the siege. The blockade should be large enough to prevent fire from above reaching the ground units. Basically a donut shaped camp around the lift zone.



                                In addition, you could design an oversized ballista to shoot projectiles into the city. I recommend using a hollow headed arrow that caries a biological agent such as rotting flesh into the city as a form of biological warfare.



                                Bonus: If you find a smaller floating rock, you can drag it into the castle rock as a siege weapon, mostly hurting moral but potentially causing damage depending on how you use it.



                                Double bonus: Has no one suggested climbing the chain? Send a single man up the chain on a dark night and have him instal some kind of eye for a rope or chain into the rock. You now have your own way of getting up to the fort. Slowly work your way to one of the access hatches and sneakily use it to ferry in soldiers.







                                share|improve this answer














                                share|improve this answer



                                share|improve this answer








                                edited Aug 17 at 10:42

























                                answered Aug 16 at 23:46









                                Clay Deitas

                                2,381516




                                2,381516




















                                    up vote
                                    1
                                    down vote













                                    Destroy the foundations



                                    Your floating castle has a huge problem: it's foundations are completely exposed (assuming they've built to protect the rock that's keeping them in the air).



                                    Ground castles make good fortifications because the only thing an enemy can ideally strike at is the big thick stone walls you've built around it.
                                    The quickest way to end a a ground castle siege is to mine underneath the walls so that they lose structural strength and collapse either on their own or to your siege weapons (see the term undermine).



                                    All your attackers need to do is simply build a siege weapon that can reach the castle (cannonballs could go pretty far, as could trebuchets if you don't want black powder in your world) and start blasting chunks out of it's base. Your valiant defenders are soon going to realise that they have two choices: surrender and come down alive, or don't surrender and come down with the castle when it breaks apart.



                                    If the castle base is protected by the driftrock? Even better! Any mason will tell you that if you hit a rock enough times in the same place, it cracks, usually in half.



                                    The threat of either of these scenarios would be enough to force a surrender within a few weeks.






                                    share|improve this answer
























                                      up vote
                                      1
                                      down vote













                                      Destroy the foundations



                                      Your floating castle has a huge problem: it's foundations are completely exposed (assuming they've built to protect the rock that's keeping them in the air).



                                      Ground castles make good fortifications because the only thing an enemy can ideally strike at is the big thick stone walls you've built around it.
                                      The quickest way to end a a ground castle siege is to mine underneath the walls so that they lose structural strength and collapse either on their own or to your siege weapons (see the term undermine).



                                      All your attackers need to do is simply build a siege weapon that can reach the castle (cannonballs could go pretty far, as could trebuchets if you don't want black powder in your world) and start blasting chunks out of it's base. Your valiant defenders are soon going to realise that they have two choices: surrender and come down alive, or don't surrender and come down with the castle when it breaks apart.



                                      If the castle base is protected by the driftrock? Even better! Any mason will tell you that if you hit a rock enough times in the same place, it cracks, usually in half.



                                      The threat of either of these scenarios would be enough to force a surrender within a few weeks.






                                      share|improve this answer






















                                        up vote
                                        1
                                        down vote










                                        up vote
                                        1
                                        down vote









                                        Destroy the foundations



                                        Your floating castle has a huge problem: it's foundations are completely exposed (assuming they've built to protect the rock that's keeping them in the air).



                                        Ground castles make good fortifications because the only thing an enemy can ideally strike at is the big thick stone walls you've built around it.
                                        The quickest way to end a a ground castle siege is to mine underneath the walls so that they lose structural strength and collapse either on their own or to your siege weapons (see the term undermine).



                                        All your attackers need to do is simply build a siege weapon that can reach the castle (cannonballs could go pretty far, as could trebuchets if you don't want black powder in your world) and start blasting chunks out of it's base. Your valiant defenders are soon going to realise that they have two choices: surrender and come down alive, or don't surrender and come down with the castle when it breaks apart.



                                        If the castle base is protected by the driftrock? Even better! Any mason will tell you that if you hit a rock enough times in the same place, it cracks, usually in half.



                                        The threat of either of these scenarios would be enough to force a surrender within a few weeks.






                                        share|improve this answer












                                        Destroy the foundations



                                        Your floating castle has a huge problem: it's foundations are completely exposed (assuming they've built to protect the rock that's keeping them in the air).



                                        Ground castles make good fortifications because the only thing an enemy can ideally strike at is the big thick stone walls you've built around it.
                                        The quickest way to end a a ground castle siege is to mine underneath the walls so that they lose structural strength and collapse either on their own or to your siege weapons (see the term undermine).



                                        All your attackers need to do is simply build a siege weapon that can reach the castle (cannonballs could go pretty far, as could trebuchets if you don't want black powder in your world) and start blasting chunks out of it's base. Your valiant defenders are soon going to realise that they have two choices: surrender and come down alive, or don't surrender and come down with the castle when it breaks apart.



                                        If the castle base is protected by the driftrock? Even better! Any mason will tell you that if you hit a rock enough times in the same place, it cracks, usually in half.



                                        The threat of either of these scenarios would be enough to force a surrender within a few weeks.







                                        share|improve this answer












                                        share|improve this answer



                                        share|improve this answer










                                        answered Aug 17 at 9:56









                                        Korthalion

                                        557313




                                        557313




















                                            up vote
                                            1
                                            down vote













                                            Whirlwind



                                            These nobs are so proud of their flying castle now are they? They might change their mind after a magically created whirlwind that violently shakes and spins them. Since the castle is anchored to the job should be easier as the target is relatively stationary(though you'll make that change)



                                            If the driftrock obeys the rules outlined in the wiki you can start a huge fire and use the wind to channel the smoke to the flying castle. Once heat has brought the castle back to the ground you can attack them with conventional means.



                                            Economics



                                            You could also do it the financial way. Take over all the big banks. Exaggerate/lie about the trade deficits between your countries and raise tariffs to emphasise your Ground Castles First foreign policy. Convince everyone else that castling the sky is a violation of international law and institute punitive sanctions. Make speeches denouncing the attack on freedom of travel implied by weaponising the sky and embargo them. Spread rumours about 'Skyxit' separatists to spook the markets. Any trick to devalue their currency should be used. Acquiring a monopoly in a key import or export works too.



                                            This way you don't even need to lay physical siege to them, you just need to deliver the message that their princesses will soon be maids and tavern wenches in some other country.



                                            Regime Change



                                            Finally there's the CIA option. Forment unrest from within with saboteurs and agitators, throw your support behind the enemy leader's political rivals. Raise an army from within with the help of highly trained 'advisors' you'll have to put in place beforehand. When the coup is finally launched you should support it with a large conventional invasion. It's important to seize control of the cranes and the bottom hatches first so you can easily deliver reinforcements...of good will of course. After all, you only sent your army to liberate the oppressed people and restore the rule of law.






                                            share|improve this answer


























                                              up vote
                                              1
                                              down vote













                                              Whirlwind



                                              These nobs are so proud of their flying castle now are they? They might change their mind after a magically created whirlwind that violently shakes and spins them. Since the castle is anchored to the job should be easier as the target is relatively stationary(though you'll make that change)



                                              If the driftrock obeys the rules outlined in the wiki you can start a huge fire and use the wind to channel the smoke to the flying castle. Once heat has brought the castle back to the ground you can attack them with conventional means.



                                              Economics



                                              You could also do it the financial way. Take over all the big banks. Exaggerate/lie about the trade deficits between your countries and raise tariffs to emphasise your Ground Castles First foreign policy. Convince everyone else that castling the sky is a violation of international law and institute punitive sanctions. Make speeches denouncing the attack on freedom of travel implied by weaponising the sky and embargo them. Spread rumours about 'Skyxit' separatists to spook the markets. Any trick to devalue their currency should be used. Acquiring a monopoly in a key import or export works too.



                                              This way you don't even need to lay physical siege to them, you just need to deliver the message that their princesses will soon be maids and tavern wenches in some other country.



                                              Regime Change



                                              Finally there's the CIA option. Forment unrest from within with saboteurs and agitators, throw your support behind the enemy leader's political rivals. Raise an army from within with the help of highly trained 'advisors' you'll have to put in place beforehand. When the coup is finally launched you should support it with a large conventional invasion. It's important to seize control of the cranes and the bottom hatches first so you can easily deliver reinforcements...of good will of course. After all, you only sent your army to liberate the oppressed people and restore the rule of law.






                                              share|improve this answer
























                                                up vote
                                                1
                                                down vote










                                                up vote
                                                1
                                                down vote









                                                Whirlwind



                                                These nobs are so proud of their flying castle now are they? They might change their mind after a magically created whirlwind that violently shakes and spins them. Since the castle is anchored to the job should be easier as the target is relatively stationary(though you'll make that change)



                                                If the driftrock obeys the rules outlined in the wiki you can start a huge fire and use the wind to channel the smoke to the flying castle. Once heat has brought the castle back to the ground you can attack them with conventional means.



                                                Economics



                                                You could also do it the financial way. Take over all the big banks. Exaggerate/lie about the trade deficits between your countries and raise tariffs to emphasise your Ground Castles First foreign policy. Convince everyone else that castling the sky is a violation of international law and institute punitive sanctions. Make speeches denouncing the attack on freedom of travel implied by weaponising the sky and embargo them. Spread rumours about 'Skyxit' separatists to spook the markets. Any trick to devalue their currency should be used. Acquiring a monopoly in a key import or export works too.



                                                This way you don't even need to lay physical siege to them, you just need to deliver the message that their princesses will soon be maids and tavern wenches in some other country.



                                                Regime Change



                                                Finally there's the CIA option. Forment unrest from within with saboteurs and agitators, throw your support behind the enemy leader's political rivals. Raise an army from within with the help of highly trained 'advisors' you'll have to put in place beforehand. When the coup is finally launched you should support it with a large conventional invasion. It's important to seize control of the cranes and the bottom hatches first so you can easily deliver reinforcements...of good will of course. After all, you only sent your army to liberate the oppressed people and restore the rule of law.






                                                share|improve this answer














                                                Whirlwind



                                                These nobs are so proud of their flying castle now are they? They might change their mind after a magically created whirlwind that violently shakes and spins them. Since the castle is anchored to the job should be easier as the target is relatively stationary(though you'll make that change)



                                                If the driftrock obeys the rules outlined in the wiki you can start a huge fire and use the wind to channel the smoke to the flying castle. Once heat has brought the castle back to the ground you can attack them with conventional means.



                                                Economics



                                                You could also do it the financial way. Take over all the big banks. Exaggerate/lie about the trade deficits between your countries and raise tariffs to emphasise your Ground Castles First foreign policy. Convince everyone else that castling the sky is a violation of international law and institute punitive sanctions. Make speeches denouncing the attack on freedom of travel implied by weaponising the sky and embargo them. Spread rumours about 'Skyxit' separatists to spook the markets. Any trick to devalue their currency should be used. Acquiring a monopoly in a key import or export works too.



                                                This way you don't even need to lay physical siege to them, you just need to deliver the message that their princesses will soon be maids and tavern wenches in some other country.



                                                Regime Change



                                                Finally there's the CIA option. Forment unrest from within with saboteurs and agitators, throw your support behind the enemy leader's political rivals. Raise an army from within with the help of highly trained 'advisors' you'll have to put in place beforehand. When the coup is finally launched you should support it with a large conventional invasion. It's important to seize control of the cranes and the bottom hatches first so you can easily deliver reinforcements...of good will of course. After all, you only sent your army to liberate the oppressed people and restore the rule of law.







                                                share|improve this answer














                                                share|improve this answer



                                                share|improve this answer








                                                edited Aug 17 at 10:48

























                                                answered Aug 17 at 10:42









                                                nullpointer

                                                2,237420




                                                2,237420




















                                                    up vote
                                                    1
                                                    down vote













                                                    Castles are military assets that play a role in the balance of power for a region. They are strong holds that allow a small army to cast a shadow of power over a larger region. When they come under siege by a larger force they must await for reinforcements.



                                                    A floating castle becomes an asset you can move.



                                                    Cut the chain and drag the castle out of that region and you've gained power and control over that region. You don't have to way siege upon the castle and try to out wait those inside. You're battle is one of time to move the castle before reinforcements arrive.



                                                    People inside the castle would counter an attack by dropping anchors and trying to prevent their castling from being moved.



                                                    So moving the castle would be the objective of the battles. One trying to pull it away and the other trying to keep it where it is.






                                                    share|improve this answer
























                                                      up vote
                                                      1
                                                      down vote













                                                      Castles are military assets that play a role in the balance of power for a region. They are strong holds that allow a small army to cast a shadow of power over a larger region. When they come under siege by a larger force they must await for reinforcements.



                                                      A floating castle becomes an asset you can move.



                                                      Cut the chain and drag the castle out of that region and you've gained power and control over that region. You don't have to way siege upon the castle and try to out wait those inside. You're battle is one of time to move the castle before reinforcements arrive.



                                                      People inside the castle would counter an attack by dropping anchors and trying to prevent their castling from being moved.



                                                      So moving the castle would be the objective of the battles. One trying to pull it away and the other trying to keep it where it is.






                                                      share|improve this answer






















                                                        up vote
                                                        1
                                                        down vote










                                                        up vote
                                                        1
                                                        down vote









                                                        Castles are military assets that play a role in the balance of power for a region. They are strong holds that allow a small army to cast a shadow of power over a larger region. When they come under siege by a larger force they must await for reinforcements.



                                                        A floating castle becomes an asset you can move.



                                                        Cut the chain and drag the castle out of that region and you've gained power and control over that region. You don't have to way siege upon the castle and try to out wait those inside. You're battle is one of time to move the castle before reinforcements arrive.



                                                        People inside the castle would counter an attack by dropping anchors and trying to prevent their castling from being moved.



                                                        So moving the castle would be the objective of the battles. One trying to pull it away and the other trying to keep it where it is.






                                                        share|improve this answer












                                                        Castles are military assets that play a role in the balance of power for a region. They are strong holds that allow a small army to cast a shadow of power over a larger region. When they come under siege by a larger force they must await for reinforcements.



                                                        A floating castle becomes an asset you can move.



                                                        Cut the chain and drag the castle out of that region and you've gained power and control over that region. You don't have to way siege upon the castle and try to out wait those inside. You're battle is one of time to move the castle before reinforcements arrive.



                                                        People inside the castle would counter an attack by dropping anchors and trying to prevent their castling from being moved.



                                                        So moving the castle would be the objective of the battles. One trying to pull it away and the other trying to keep it where it is.







                                                        share|improve this answer












                                                        share|improve this answer



                                                        share|improve this answer










                                                        answered Aug 17 at 16:12









                                                        cgTag

                                                        1,121214




                                                        1,121214




















                                                            up vote
                                                            1
                                                            down vote













                                                            The point of sieges isn't to knock down the fortifications, it's to prevent supplies from entering the castle and forcing surrender before the population starves to death. Now if they have a year's worth of supplies that would make for a long siege, but it wouldn't be unheard of. Candia was sieged for 21 years.



                                                            Also if the only way into the castle is with a giant crane, you probably don't even need that big of an army to maintain the siege, so even a multiyear siege may not be too bad. Assuming the castle didn't have any allies that could come to it's defense.






                                                            share|improve this answer


























                                                              up vote
                                                              1
                                                              down vote













                                                              The point of sieges isn't to knock down the fortifications, it's to prevent supplies from entering the castle and forcing surrender before the population starves to death. Now if they have a year's worth of supplies that would make for a long siege, but it wouldn't be unheard of. Candia was sieged for 21 years.



                                                              Also if the only way into the castle is with a giant crane, you probably don't even need that big of an army to maintain the siege, so even a multiyear siege may not be too bad. Assuming the castle didn't have any allies that could come to it's defense.






                                                              share|improve this answer
























                                                                up vote
                                                                1
                                                                down vote










                                                                up vote
                                                                1
                                                                down vote









                                                                The point of sieges isn't to knock down the fortifications, it's to prevent supplies from entering the castle and forcing surrender before the population starves to death. Now if they have a year's worth of supplies that would make for a long siege, but it wouldn't be unheard of. Candia was sieged for 21 years.



                                                                Also if the only way into the castle is with a giant crane, you probably don't even need that big of an army to maintain the siege, so even a multiyear siege may not be too bad. Assuming the castle didn't have any allies that could come to it's defense.






                                                                share|improve this answer














                                                                The point of sieges isn't to knock down the fortifications, it's to prevent supplies from entering the castle and forcing surrender before the population starves to death. Now if they have a year's worth of supplies that would make for a long siege, but it wouldn't be unheard of. Candia was sieged for 21 years.



                                                                Also if the only way into the castle is with a giant crane, you probably don't even need that big of an army to maintain the siege, so even a multiyear siege may not be too bad. Assuming the castle didn't have any allies that could come to it's defense.







                                                                share|improve this answer














                                                                share|improve this answer



                                                                share|improve this answer








                                                                edited Aug 17 at 20:20

























                                                                answered Aug 17 at 20:12









                                                                Nick

                                                                30014




                                                                30014




















                                                                    up vote
                                                                    1
                                                                    down vote













                                                                    Take a bigger, flatter floating rock. Use chains to hold it close to the ground right below the castle, and then let go! For bonus points unteather the castle and let it float really high, so that the rock following it can gain more momentum






                                                                    share|improve this answer
























                                                                      up vote
                                                                      1
                                                                      down vote













                                                                      Take a bigger, flatter floating rock. Use chains to hold it close to the ground right below the castle, and then let go! For bonus points unteather the castle and let it float really high, so that the rock following it can gain more momentum






                                                                      share|improve this answer






















                                                                        up vote
                                                                        1
                                                                        down vote










                                                                        up vote
                                                                        1
                                                                        down vote









                                                                        Take a bigger, flatter floating rock. Use chains to hold it close to the ground right below the castle, and then let go! For bonus points unteather the castle and let it float really high, so that the rock following it can gain more momentum






                                                                        share|improve this answer












                                                                        Take a bigger, flatter floating rock. Use chains to hold it close to the ground right below the castle, and then let go! For bonus points unteather the castle and let it float really high, so that the rock following it can gain more momentum







                                                                        share|improve this answer












                                                                        share|improve this answer



                                                                        share|improve this answer










                                                                        answered Aug 17 at 20:32









                                                                        Carson Graham

                                                                        112




                                                                        112




















                                                                            up vote
                                                                            1
                                                                            down vote













                                                                            Spin it



                                                                            There are many ways of exploiting the chain, one even suggested spinning around its center by twisting the chain.

                                                                            However, I would suggest spinning around the chain base as more effective way. Get a few horses and have them pull the chain around its base, contrary to twisting the chain this would allow the inertia to gather over longer time. Given enough time the Centrifugal force would solve all your problems with any defenders.


                                                                            This also gives an easy way of demolishing the fortifications if you decided so, few hours after the defenders left the castle flying over the horizon the fortifications would follow.






                                                                            share|improve this answer
























                                                                              up vote
                                                                              1
                                                                              down vote













                                                                              Spin it



                                                                              There are many ways of exploiting the chain, one even suggested spinning around its center by twisting the chain.

                                                                              However, I would suggest spinning around the chain base as more effective way. Get a few horses and have them pull the chain around its base, contrary to twisting the chain this would allow the inertia to gather over longer time. Given enough time the Centrifugal force would solve all your problems with any defenders.


                                                                              This also gives an easy way of demolishing the fortifications if you decided so, few hours after the defenders left the castle flying over the horizon the fortifications would follow.






                                                                              share|improve this answer






















                                                                                up vote
                                                                                1
                                                                                down vote










                                                                                up vote
                                                                                1
                                                                                down vote









                                                                                Spin it



                                                                                There are many ways of exploiting the chain, one even suggested spinning around its center by twisting the chain.

                                                                                However, I would suggest spinning around the chain base as more effective way. Get a few horses and have them pull the chain around its base, contrary to twisting the chain this would allow the inertia to gather over longer time. Given enough time the Centrifugal force would solve all your problems with any defenders.


                                                                                This also gives an easy way of demolishing the fortifications if you decided so, few hours after the defenders left the castle flying over the horizon the fortifications would follow.






                                                                                share|improve this answer












                                                                                Spin it



                                                                                There are many ways of exploiting the chain, one even suggested spinning around its center by twisting the chain.

                                                                                However, I would suggest spinning around the chain base as more effective way. Get a few horses and have them pull the chain around its base, contrary to twisting the chain this would allow the inertia to gather over longer time. Given enough time the Centrifugal force would solve all your problems with any defenders.


                                                                                This also gives an easy way of demolishing the fortifications if you decided so, few hours after the defenders left the castle flying over the horizon the fortifications would follow.







                                                                                share|improve this answer












                                                                                share|improve this answer



                                                                                share|improve this answer










                                                                                answered Aug 20 at 6:43









                                                                                wondra

                                                                                41915




                                                                                41915




















                                                                                    up vote
                                                                                    0
                                                                                    down vote













                                                                                    What sort of governance does the current population of the ground kingdom have? Now assuming we are in some sort of socialist or spin of socialism (which I'm assuming we are as we're jealous of someone else's ability to form a floating city in a land supposedly devoid of any technology of notable merit, and want to take it away from them), or perhaps a very unjust king, then I would imagine it would be alright for the governance of said population to simply take things from its populace and justify it by some means.



                                                                                    Therefore I'd like to suggest this government raid every farmstead and peasant run grazing land for all creatures of the bovine species; Oxen, Auroch (assuming we'd still have them), Buffalo etc.



                                                                                    Once the countryside and all grazing land has been picked clean of all bovine creatures, we will distribute these cows to questionable market traders not under the banner of our united socialist republics and thus still in the ecstatic heights of capitalism, in all markets across the globe (assuming this is a globe and not flat, nor balanced upon the back of some sort of animal, or heaved upon the shoulder of a native deity). We will send our economical leaders (the ones we haven't killed in our quest for global socialist revolutionary supremacy, so I'm not assuming they'd be all that great really, however the large quantities of bovine creatures should make up for that) to negotiate with these market dealers, and ascertain absolutely ungodly amounts of magic beans.



                                                                                    Under the cover of darkness, with the obscene numbers gathered in our revolutionary peasant war band, we will have them all smear themselves in black so they will remain unseen, and then we will plant the entire stock of magic beans around the floating castle.



                                                                                    In the morning, when the denizens of the floating castle are yawning, they will see all beneath them devoid of life, they will assume our peasant revolt has dispersed, little to their knowledge that they now float upon a forest of giant beanstalks, with which our brave warband climbs to wreak socialist destruction upon the cloud bound citadel.



                                                                                    Once we have shown the sky fortress the errors of its capitalist ways, we shall distribute the pulpy remains of the beanstalks to the people, and install our completely legitimate government upon the heavenly throne, cast the world off of the shoulders of the deity balancing it, and cast our own form of jealous judgement upon all creature and denizen of the known world from unseemly heights, whilst occasionally having to pop our ears and catch our breath adjusting to the new unbearable altitude.






                                                                                    share|improve this answer


























                                                                                      up vote
                                                                                      0
                                                                                      down vote













                                                                                      What sort of governance does the current population of the ground kingdom have? Now assuming we are in some sort of socialist or spin of socialism (which I'm assuming we are as we're jealous of someone else's ability to form a floating city in a land supposedly devoid of any technology of notable merit, and want to take it away from them), or perhaps a very unjust king, then I would imagine it would be alright for the governance of said population to simply take things from its populace and justify it by some means.



                                                                                      Therefore I'd like to suggest this government raid every farmstead and peasant run grazing land for all creatures of the bovine species; Oxen, Auroch (assuming we'd still have them), Buffalo etc.



                                                                                      Once the countryside and all grazing land has been picked clean of all bovine creatures, we will distribute these cows to questionable market traders not under the banner of our united socialist republics and thus still in the ecstatic heights of capitalism, in all markets across the globe (assuming this is a globe and not flat, nor balanced upon the back of some sort of animal, or heaved upon the shoulder of a native deity). We will send our economical leaders (the ones we haven't killed in our quest for global socialist revolutionary supremacy, so I'm not assuming they'd be all that great really, however the large quantities of bovine creatures should make up for that) to negotiate with these market dealers, and ascertain absolutely ungodly amounts of magic beans.



                                                                                      Under the cover of darkness, with the obscene numbers gathered in our revolutionary peasant war band, we will have them all smear themselves in black so they will remain unseen, and then we will plant the entire stock of magic beans around the floating castle.



                                                                                      In the morning, when the denizens of the floating castle are yawning, they will see all beneath them devoid of life, they will assume our peasant revolt has dispersed, little to their knowledge that they now float upon a forest of giant beanstalks, with which our brave warband climbs to wreak socialist destruction upon the cloud bound citadel.



                                                                                      Once we have shown the sky fortress the errors of its capitalist ways, we shall distribute the pulpy remains of the beanstalks to the people, and install our completely legitimate government upon the heavenly throne, cast the world off of the shoulders of the deity balancing it, and cast our own form of jealous judgement upon all creature and denizen of the known world from unseemly heights, whilst occasionally having to pop our ears and catch our breath adjusting to the new unbearable altitude.






                                                                                      share|improve this answer
























                                                                                        up vote
                                                                                        0
                                                                                        down vote










                                                                                        up vote
                                                                                        0
                                                                                        down vote









                                                                                        What sort of governance does the current population of the ground kingdom have? Now assuming we are in some sort of socialist or spin of socialism (which I'm assuming we are as we're jealous of someone else's ability to form a floating city in a land supposedly devoid of any technology of notable merit, and want to take it away from them), or perhaps a very unjust king, then I would imagine it would be alright for the governance of said population to simply take things from its populace and justify it by some means.



                                                                                        Therefore I'd like to suggest this government raid every farmstead and peasant run grazing land for all creatures of the bovine species; Oxen, Auroch (assuming we'd still have them), Buffalo etc.



                                                                                        Once the countryside and all grazing land has been picked clean of all bovine creatures, we will distribute these cows to questionable market traders not under the banner of our united socialist republics and thus still in the ecstatic heights of capitalism, in all markets across the globe (assuming this is a globe and not flat, nor balanced upon the back of some sort of animal, or heaved upon the shoulder of a native deity). We will send our economical leaders (the ones we haven't killed in our quest for global socialist revolutionary supremacy, so I'm not assuming they'd be all that great really, however the large quantities of bovine creatures should make up for that) to negotiate with these market dealers, and ascertain absolutely ungodly amounts of magic beans.



                                                                                        Under the cover of darkness, with the obscene numbers gathered in our revolutionary peasant war band, we will have them all smear themselves in black so they will remain unseen, and then we will plant the entire stock of magic beans around the floating castle.



                                                                                        In the morning, when the denizens of the floating castle are yawning, they will see all beneath them devoid of life, they will assume our peasant revolt has dispersed, little to their knowledge that they now float upon a forest of giant beanstalks, with which our brave warband climbs to wreak socialist destruction upon the cloud bound citadel.



                                                                                        Once we have shown the sky fortress the errors of its capitalist ways, we shall distribute the pulpy remains of the beanstalks to the people, and install our completely legitimate government upon the heavenly throne, cast the world off of the shoulders of the deity balancing it, and cast our own form of jealous judgement upon all creature and denizen of the known world from unseemly heights, whilst occasionally having to pop our ears and catch our breath adjusting to the new unbearable altitude.






                                                                                        share|improve this answer














                                                                                        What sort of governance does the current population of the ground kingdom have? Now assuming we are in some sort of socialist or spin of socialism (which I'm assuming we are as we're jealous of someone else's ability to form a floating city in a land supposedly devoid of any technology of notable merit, and want to take it away from them), or perhaps a very unjust king, then I would imagine it would be alright for the governance of said population to simply take things from its populace and justify it by some means.



                                                                                        Therefore I'd like to suggest this government raid every farmstead and peasant run grazing land for all creatures of the bovine species; Oxen, Auroch (assuming we'd still have them), Buffalo etc.



                                                                                        Once the countryside and all grazing land has been picked clean of all bovine creatures, we will distribute these cows to questionable market traders not under the banner of our united socialist republics and thus still in the ecstatic heights of capitalism, in all markets across the globe (assuming this is a globe and not flat, nor balanced upon the back of some sort of animal, or heaved upon the shoulder of a native deity). We will send our economical leaders (the ones we haven't killed in our quest for global socialist revolutionary supremacy, so I'm not assuming they'd be all that great really, however the large quantities of bovine creatures should make up for that) to negotiate with these market dealers, and ascertain absolutely ungodly amounts of magic beans.



                                                                                        Under the cover of darkness, with the obscene numbers gathered in our revolutionary peasant war band, we will have them all smear themselves in black so they will remain unseen, and then we will plant the entire stock of magic beans around the floating castle.



                                                                                        In the morning, when the denizens of the floating castle are yawning, they will see all beneath them devoid of life, they will assume our peasant revolt has dispersed, little to their knowledge that they now float upon a forest of giant beanstalks, with which our brave warband climbs to wreak socialist destruction upon the cloud bound citadel.



                                                                                        Once we have shown the sky fortress the errors of its capitalist ways, we shall distribute the pulpy remains of the beanstalks to the people, and install our completely legitimate government upon the heavenly throne, cast the world off of the shoulders of the deity balancing it, and cast our own form of jealous judgement upon all creature and denizen of the known world from unseemly heights, whilst occasionally having to pop our ears and catch our breath adjusting to the new unbearable altitude.







                                                                                        share|improve this answer














                                                                                        share|improve this answer



                                                                                        share|improve this answer








                                                                                        edited Aug 17 at 9:20

























                                                                                        answered Aug 17 at 9:12









                                                                                        blacksalt

                                                                                        1294




                                                                                        1294




















                                                                                            up vote
                                                                                            0
                                                                                            down vote













                                                                                            At 800ft up, the defenders can't really see what's going on.
                                                                                            And their arrows are kind of useless. Longbows had a range of around 600 feet. The arrow still falls with gravity, but with only enough force to injure an unarmored opponent. Any attackers are going to have platforms held above their heads while they build fortifications.



                                                                                            So the simplest answer is to build catapults, build shelters from above, then pull the castle down.



                                                                                            Once the castle is pulled down, standard siege tactics work, my favorite, throwing dead animal heads and parts over the wall to spread disease.



                                                                                            And the best part is you don't have to bring them all the way to the ground, leave them 50ft in the air, lob disease at them, then let go and let the castle rise back up 800ft. Now they are stuck with these dead heads, they can't escape, and you just made them all sick. Maybe your troops should shield themselves from the impending aerial diarrhea and dead bodies lobbed over their own walls at your troops below.






                                                                                            share|improve this answer






















                                                                                            • I would imagine arrows used to shoot downward from a floating castle could be designed differently from arrows used for more traditional lateral combat. With the initial release velocity aimed downward, is 800ft enough for air resistance to slow the arrows to terminal velocity?
                                                                                              – Mr.Mindor
                                                                                              Aug 17 at 16:18










                                                                                            • I don't know of anyone firing an arrow out of a balloon to test it. Spear throwing might make more sense but making new spears is more resource intensive then making new arrows. So hard to say
                                                                                              – Trevor D
                                                                                              Aug 17 at 17:06










                                                                                            • Throwing dead animal parts seems a bit counter productive as the goal of a siege is to starve your opponent and you are basically just feeding them. They would have to be carrying something that will spread disease worse than all the living animals and people already cramped in there.
                                                                                              – Nick
                                                                                              Aug 17 at 20:15






                                                                                            • 1




                                                                                              Dead animals was actually the earliest form of chemical warfare historically. It definitely worked.
                                                                                              – Trevor D
                                                                                              Aug 17 at 20:42














                                                                                            up vote
                                                                                            0
                                                                                            down vote













                                                                                            At 800ft up, the defenders can't really see what's going on.
                                                                                            And their arrows are kind of useless. Longbows had a range of around 600 feet. The arrow still falls with gravity, but with only enough force to injure an unarmored opponent. Any attackers are going to have platforms held above their heads while they build fortifications.



                                                                                            So the simplest answer is to build catapults, build shelters from above, then pull the castle down.



                                                                                            Once the castle is pulled down, standard siege tactics work, my favorite, throwing dead animal heads and parts over the wall to spread disease.



                                                                                            And the best part is you don't have to bring them all the way to the ground, leave them 50ft in the air, lob disease at them, then let go and let the castle rise back up 800ft. Now they are stuck with these dead heads, they can't escape, and you just made them all sick. Maybe your troops should shield themselves from the impending aerial diarrhea and dead bodies lobbed over their own walls at your troops below.






                                                                                            share|improve this answer






















                                                                                            • I would imagine arrows used to shoot downward from a floating castle could be designed differently from arrows used for more traditional lateral combat. With the initial release velocity aimed downward, is 800ft enough for air resistance to slow the arrows to terminal velocity?
                                                                                              – Mr.Mindor
                                                                                              Aug 17 at 16:18










                                                                                            • I don't know of anyone firing an arrow out of a balloon to test it. Spear throwing might make more sense but making new spears is more resource intensive then making new arrows. So hard to say
                                                                                              – Trevor D
                                                                                              Aug 17 at 17:06










                                                                                            • Throwing dead animal parts seems a bit counter productive as the goal of a siege is to starve your opponent and you are basically just feeding them. They would have to be carrying something that will spread disease worse than all the living animals and people already cramped in there.
                                                                                              – Nick
                                                                                              Aug 17 at 20:15






                                                                                            • 1




                                                                                              Dead animals was actually the earliest form of chemical warfare historically. It definitely worked.
                                                                                              – Trevor D
                                                                                              Aug 17 at 20:42












                                                                                            up vote
                                                                                            0
                                                                                            down vote










                                                                                            up vote
                                                                                            0
                                                                                            down vote









                                                                                            At 800ft up, the defenders can't really see what's going on.
                                                                                            And their arrows are kind of useless. Longbows had a range of around 600 feet. The arrow still falls with gravity, but with only enough force to injure an unarmored opponent. Any attackers are going to have platforms held above their heads while they build fortifications.



                                                                                            So the simplest answer is to build catapults, build shelters from above, then pull the castle down.



                                                                                            Once the castle is pulled down, standard siege tactics work, my favorite, throwing dead animal heads and parts over the wall to spread disease.



                                                                                            And the best part is you don't have to bring them all the way to the ground, leave them 50ft in the air, lob disease at them, then let go and let the castle rise back up 800ft. Now they are stuck with these dead heads, they can't escape, and you just made them all sick. Maybe your troops should shield themselves from the impending aerial diarrhea and dead bodies lobbed over their own walls at your troops below.






                                                                                            share|improve this answer














                                                                                            At 800ft up, the defenders can't really see what's going on.
                                                                                            And their arrows are kind of useless. Longbows had a range of around 600 feet. The arrow still falls with gravity, but with only enough force to injure an unarmored opponent. Any attackers are going to have platforms held above their heads while they build fortifications.



                                                                                            So the simplest answer is to build catapults, build shelters from above, then pull the castle down.



                                                                                            Once the castle is pulled down, standard siege tactics work, my favorite, throwing dead animal heads and parts over the wall to spread disease.



                                                                                            And the best part is you don't have to bring them all the way to the ground, leave them 50ft in the air, lob disease at them, then let go and let the castle rise back up 800ft. Now they are stuck with these dead heads, they can't escape, and you just made them all sick. Maybe your troops should shield themselves from the impending aerial diarrhea and dead bodies lobbed over their own walls at your troops below.







                                                                                            share|improve this answer














                                                                                            share|improve this answer



                                                                                            share|improve this answer








                                                                                            edited Aug 17 at 17:04

























                                                                                            answered Aug 17 at 15:24









                                                                                            Trevor D

                                                                                            72910




                                                                                            72910











                                                                                            • I would imagine arrows used to shoot downward from a floating castle could be designed differently from arrows used for more traditional lateral combat. With the initial release velocity aimed downward, is 800ft enough for air resistance to slow the arrows to terminal velocity?
                                                                                              – Mr.Mindor
                                                                                              Aug 17 at 16:18










                                                                                            • I don't know of anyone firing an arrow out of a balloon to test it. Spear throwing might make more sense but making new spears is more resource intensive then making new arrows. So hard to say
                                                                                              – Trevor D
                                                                                              Aug 17 at 17:06










                                                                                            • Throwing dead animal parts seems a bit counter productive as the goal of a siege is to starve your opponent and you are basically just feeding them. They would have to be carrying something that will spread disease worse than all the living animals and people already cramped in there.
                                                                                              – Nick
                                                                                              Aug 17 at 20:15






                                                                                            • 1




                                                                                              Dead animals was actually the earliest form of chemical warfare historically. It definitely worked.
                                                                                              – Trevor D
                                                                                              Aug 17 at 20:42
















                                                                                            • I would imagine arrows used to shoot downward from a floating castle could be designed differently from arrows used for more traditional lateral combat. With the initial release velocity aimed downward, is 800ft enough for air resistance to slow the arrows to terminal velocity?
                                                                                              – Mr.Mindor
                                                                                              Aug 17 at 16:18










                                                                                            • I don't know of anyone firing an arrow out of a balloon to test it. Spear throwing might make more sense but making new spears is more resource intensive then making new arrows. So hard to say
                                                                                              – Trevor D
                                                                                              Aug 17 at 17:06










                                                                                            • Throwing dead animal parts seems a bit counter productive as the goal of a siege is to starve your opponent and you are basically just feeding them. They would have to be carrying something that will spread disease worse than all the living animals and people already cramped in there.
                                                                                              – Nick
                                                                                              Aug 17 at 20:15






                                                                                            • 1




                                                                                              Dead animals was actually the earliest form of chemical warfare historically. It definitely worked.
                                                                                              – Trevor D
                                                                                              Aug 17 at 20:42















                                                                                            I would imagine arrows used to shoot downward from a floating castle could be designed differently from arrows used for more traditional lateral combat. With the initial release velocity aimed downward, is 800ft enough for air resistance to slow the arrows to terminal velocity?
                                                                                            – Mr.Mindor
                                                                                            Aug 17 at 16:18




                                                                                            I would imagine arrows used to shoot downward from a floating castle could be designed differently from arrows used for more traditional lateral combat. With the initial release velocity aimed downward, is 800ft enough for air resistance to slow the arrows to terminal velocity?
                                                                                            – Mr.Mindor
                                                                                            Aug 17 at 16:18












                                                                                            I don't know of anyone firing an arrow out of a balloon to test it. Spear throwing might make more sense but making new spears is more resource intensive then making new arrows. So hard to say
                                                                                            – Trevor D
                                                                                            Aug 17 at 17:06




                                                                                            I don't know of anyone firing an arrow out of a balloon to test it. Spear throwing might make more sense but making new spears is more resource intensive then making new arrows. So hard to say
                                                                                            – Trevor D
                                                                                            Aug 17 at 17:06












                                                                                            Throwing dead animal parts seems a bit counter productive as the goal of a siege is to starve your opponent and you are basically just feeding them. They would have to be carrying something that will spread disease worse than all the living animals and people already cramped in there.
                                                                                            – Nick
                                                                                            Aug 17 at 20:15




                                                                                            Throwing dead animal parts seems a bit counter productive as the goal of a siege is to starve your opponent and you are basically just feeding them. They would have to be carrying something that will spread disease worse than all the living animals and people already cramped in there.
                                                                                            – Nick
                                                                                            Aug 17 at 20:15




                                                                                            1




                                                                                            1




                                                                                            Dead animals was actually the earliest form of chemical warfare historically. It definitely worked.
                                                                                            – Trevor D
                                                                                            Aug 17 at 20:42




                                                                                            Dead animals was actually the earliest form of chemical warfare historically. It definitely worked.
                                                                                            – Trevor D
                                                                                            Aug 17 at 20:42










                                                                                            up vote
                                                                                            0
                                                                                            down vote













                                                                                            Detach the chain from its base and reattach it to a wheel placed on a bearing that spins, with an arm to push it around. Have Conan or any sufficiently strong Barbarian to spend their days spinning the wheel, constantly rotating the now spinning castle. After a few days, stop the wheel, and watch as the extremely dizzy and unbalanced defenders fall from the sky






                                                                                            share|improve this answer




















                                                                                            • easier version: just jam a really long pole thru the links, twist it up & let it go
                                                                                              – Nathan Smith
                                                                                              Aug 18 at 23:04










                                                                                            • That was actually my original thought, but chains twist ‘weird’ - as in not predictably like rope, sometimes
                                                                                              – Celestialgranturismo
                                                                                              Aug 19 at 1:23






                                                                                            • 1




                                                                                              true. actually, I think attaching a cable 1/3 of the way up then pulling it from a safe distance & letting it go slack to bounce them around (repeatedly) would probably be easier & quite intolerable for them
                                                                                              – Nathan Smith
                                                                                              Aug 19 at 21:35















                                                                                            up vote
                                                                                            0
                                                                                            down vote













                                                                                            Detach the chain from its base and reattach it to a wheel placed on a bearing that spins, with an arm to push it around. Have Conan or any sufficiently strong Barbarian to spend their days spinning the wheel, constantly rotating the now spinning castle. After a few days, stop the wheel, and watch as the extremely dizzy and unbalanced defenders fall from the sky






                                                                                            share|improve this answer




















                                                                                            • easier version: just jam a really long pole thru the links, twist it up & let it go
                                                                                              – Nathan Smith
                                                                                              Aug 18 at 23:04










                                                                                            • That was actually my original thought, but chains twist ‘weird’ - as in not predictably like rope, sometimes
                                                                                              – Celestialgranturismo
                                                                                              Aug 19 at 1:23






                                                                                            • 1




                                                                                              true. actually, I think attaching a cable 1/3 of the way up then pulling it from a safe distance & letting it go slack to bounce them around (repeatedly) would probably be easier & quite intolerable for them
                                                                                              – Nathan Smith
                                                                                              Aug 19 at 21:35













                                                                                            up vote
                                                                                            0
                                                                                            down vote










                                                                                            up vote
                                                                                            0
                                                                                            down vote









                                                                                            Detach the chain from its base and reattach it to a wheel placed on a bearing that spins, with an arm to push it around. Have Conan or any sufficiently strong Barbarian to spend their days spinning the wheel, constantly rotating the now spinning castle. After a few days, stop the wheel, and watch as the extremely dizzy and unbalanced defenders fall from the sky






                                                                                            share|improve this answer












                                                                                            Detach the chain from its base and reattach it to a wheel placed on a bearing that spins, with an arm to push it around. Have Conan or any sufficiently strong Barbarian to spend their days spinning the wheel, constantly rotating the now spinning castle. After a few days, stop the wheel, and watch as the extremely dizzy and unbalanced defenders fall from the sky







                                                                                            share|improve this answer












                                                                                            share|improve this answer



                                                                                            share|improve this answer










                                                                                            answered Aug 18 at 2:29









                                                                                            Celestialgranturismo

                                                                                            3515




                                                                                            3515











                                                                                            • easier version: just jam a really long pole thru the links, twist it up & let it go
                                                                                              – Nathan Smith
                                                                                              Aug 18 at 23:04










                                                                                            • That was actually my original thought, but chains twist ‘weird’ - as in not predictably like rope, sometimes
                                                                                              – Celestialgranturismo
                                                                                              Aug 19 at 1:23






                                                                                            • 1




                                                                                              true. actually, I think attaching a cable 1/3 of the way up then pulling it from a safe distance & letting it go slack to bounce them around (repeatedly) would probably be easier & quite intolerable for them
                                                                                              – Nathan Smith
                                                                                              Aug 19 at 21:35

















                                                                                            • easier version: just jam a really long pole thru the links, twist it up & let it go
                                                                                              – Nathan Smith
                                                                                              Aug 18 at 23:04










                                                                                            • That was actually my original thought, but chains twist ‘weird’ - as in not predictably like rope, sometimes
                                                                                              – Celestialgranturismo
                                                                                              Aug 19 at 1:23






                                                                                            • 1




                                                                                              true. actually, I think attaching a cable 1/3 of the way up then pulling it from a safe distance & letting it go slack to bounce them around (repeatedly) would probably be easier & quite intolerable for them
                                                                                              – Nathan Smith
                                                                                              Aug 19 at 21:35
















                                                                                            easier version: just jam a really long pole thru the links, twist it up & let it go
                                                                                            – Nathan Smith
                                                                                            Aug 18 at 23:04




                                                                                            easier version: just jam a really long pole thru the links, twist it up & let it go
                                                                                            – Nathan Smith
                                                                                            Aug 18 at 23:04












                                                                                            That was actually my original thought, but chains twist ‘weird’ - as in not predictably like rope, sometimes
                                                                                            – Celestialgranturismo
                                                                                            Aug 19 at 1:23




                                                                                            That was actually my original thought, but chains twist ‘weird’ - as in not predictably like rope, sometimes
                                                                                            – Celestialgranturismo
                                                                                            Aug 19 at 1:23




                                                                                            1




                                                                                            1




                                                                                            true. actually, I think attaching a cable 1/3 of the way up then pulling it from a safe distance & letting it go slack to bounce them around (repeatedly) would probably be easier & quite intolerable for them
                                                                                            – Nathan Smith
                                                                                            Aug 19 at 21:35





                                                                                            true. actually, I think attaching a cable 1/3 of the way up then pulling it from a safe distance & letting it go slack to bounce them around (repeatedly) would probably be easier & quite intolerable for them
                                                                                            – Nathan Smith
                                                                                            Aug 19 at 21:35











                                                                                            up vote
                                                                                            -1
                                                                                            down vote













                                                                                            Carve the floating rock(s) into masts of floating sailing ships, the amount,sizes and shapes of the sails would determine how fast, and the type of ship they are.



                                                                                            Flying carpets for people as well as Djinn and Elementals.






                                                                                            share|improve this answer
















                                                                                            • 3




                                                                                              Welcome to WorldBuilding.SE Kitsune! It seems like you accidentally created multiple accounts. It's easier to keep track of all the stuff you write when you have only one account and it also allows you to keep track of your reputation, which allows you for example to comment everywhere once you pass 50. See How can one link / merge / combine / associate two accounts / users? (Anonymous / unregistered / cookie, or OpenID / registered) for information about merging your accounts. Also tour and help center might be interesting for you. Have fun!
                                                                                              – Secespitus
                                                                                              Aug 17 at 8:16














                                                                                            up vote
                                                                                            -1
                                                                                            down vote













                                                                                            Carve the floating rock(s) into masts of floating sailing ships, the amount,sizes and shapes of the sails would determine how fast, and the type of ship they are.



                                                                                            Flying carpets for people as well as Djinn and Elementals.






                                                                                            share|improve this answer
















                                                                                            • 3




                                                                                              Welcome to WorldBuilding.SE Kitsune! It seems like you accidentally created multiple accounts. It's easier to keep track of all the stuff you write when you have only one account and it also allows you to keep track of your reputation, which allows you for example to comment everywhere once you pass 50. See How can one link / merge / combine / associate two accounts / users? (Anonymous / unregistered / cookie, or OpenID / registered) for information about merging your accounts. Also tour and help center might be interesting for you. Have fun!
                                                                                              – Secespitus
                                                                                              Aug 17 at 8:16












                                                                                            up vote
                                                                                            -1
                                                                                            down vote










                                                                                            up vote
                                                                                            -1
                                                                                            down vote









                                                                                            Carve the floating rock(s) into masts of floating sailing ships, the amount,sizes and shapes of the sails would determine how fast, and the type of ship they are.



                                                                                            Flying carpets for people as well as Djinn and Elementals.






                                                                                            share|improve this answer












                                                                                            Carve the floating rock(s) into masts of floating sailing ships, the amount,sizes and shapes of the sails would determine how fast, and the type of ship they are.



                                                                                            Flying carpets for people as well as Djinn and Elementals.







                                                                                            share|improve this answer












                                                                                            share|improve this answer



                                                                                            share|improve this answer










                                                                                            answered Aug 17 at 7:52









                                                                                            Kitsune

                                                                                            1




                                                                                            1







                                                                                            • 3




                                                                                              Welcome to WorldBuilding.SE Kitsune! It seems like you accidentally created multiple accounts. It's easier to keep track of all the stuff you write when you have only one account and it also allows you to keep track of your reputation, which allows you for example to comment everywhere once you pass 50. See How can one link / merge / combine / associate two accounts / users? (Anonymous / unregistered / cookie, or OpenID / registered) for information about merging your accounts. Also tour and help center might be interesting for you. Have fun!
                                                                                              – Secespitus
                                                                                              Aug 17 at 8:16












                                                                                            • 3




                                                                                              Welcome to WorldBuilding.SE Kitsune! It seems like you accidentally created multiple accounts. It's easier to keep track of all the stuff you write when you have only one account and it also allows you to keep track of your reputation, which allows you for example to comment everywhere once you pass 50. See How can one link / merge / combine / associate two accounts / users? (Anonymous / unregistered / cookie, or OpenID / registered) for information about merging your accounts. Also tour and help center might be interesting for you. Have fun!
                                                                                              – Secespitus
                                                                                              Aug 17 at 8:16







                                                                                            3




                                                                                            3




                                                                                            Welcome to WorldBuilding.SE Kitsune! It seems like you accidentally created multiple accounts. It's easier to keep track of all the stuff you write when you have only one account and it also allows you to keep track of your reputation, which allows you for example to comment everywhere once you pass 50. See How can one link / merge / combine / associate two accounts / users? (Anonymous / unregistered / cookie, or OpenID / registered) for information about merging your accounts. Also tour and help center might be interesting for you. Have fun!
                                                                                            – Secespitus
                                                                                            Aug 17 at 8:16




                                                                                            Welcome to WorldBuilding.SE Kitsune! It seems like you accidentally created multiple accounts. It's easier to keep track of all the stuff you write when you have only one account and it also allows you to keep track of your reputation, which allows you for example to comment everywhere once you pass 50. See How can one link / merge / combine / associate two accounts / users? (Anonymous / unregistered / cookie, or OpenID / registered) for information about merging your accounts. Also tour and help center might be interesting for you. Have fun!
                                                                                            – Secespitus
                                                                                            Aug 17 at 8:16












                                                                                             

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