Converting My Fake Ballista Into a Real Ballista! - Trailmakers Gameplay

Welcome to another episode of Trailmakers! Today I am fixing the terrible error I made in the last trailmakers video where I built a ballista using suspension to launch the bolt. Turns out it wasn't really a ballista, but a slingshot. In order to be more like a real ballista, It's not the string that needs to bend, but the bow itself. So today I am correcting that mistake to see if this alternate firing method will be an improvement on the slingshot method.
Suspension Ballista: • I Reinvented My Old Ba...
Tons More Trailmakers: • Is the World Ready for...
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About Trailmakers:
In the toughest motoring expedition in the universe, you and your friends will build your own vehicles to cross a dangerous wasteland. Explore, crash horribly, use your wits to build a better rig, and get as far as you can with whatever spare parts you find on your way.
Welcome to the Ultimate Expedition!
Journey over grueling mountains, hazardous swamps, and bone-dry deserts on a distant world far from civilization - it is just you, your fellow adventurers and the amazing, jet-powered hover-buggy you built yourself. Explore, crash your vehicle, build a better one, and get as far as you can with whatever spare parts you find along your way.
Trailmakers is about building very awesome vehicles and machines, but you don’t need an engineering degree to get started. The intuitive builder will get you going in no time. Everything you build is made from physical building blocks. Each block has unique features like shape, weight and functionality. They can be broken off, refitted and used to build something new. Individually the blocks are fairly simple, but combined the possibilities are endless.
Expedition Mode is the challenging campaign mode of Trailmakers. You are competing in an off-world rally expedition with only a few building blocks to get you started. You must build, tinker with and rebuild your machine to progress. Journey through a big world, overcome deep gorges, angry wildlife and dangerous weather to progress and find new parts that will juice up your machine. The world in Expedition Mode will test your survival skills and ingenuity.
Sandbox Mode is where you want to head for an unrestricted, sandbox, vehicle-building experience. Here you can build anything you can dream of, and play around with it in the world of Trailmakers. It is a great place to test out crazy machines, and experiment with the physics engine. With tons of different blocks, hinges, thrusters and interactive vehicle parts - the skybox is the limit.
Trailmakers is even more fun if you play it with other people. Build cool vehicles and compete in mini-game modes with your friends or other Trailmakers online. Build a helicopter, send it to your friend, and shoot them out of the sky. Put two seats on a tank, and let your friend control the turret. As we get further in Early Access development Expedition Mode will also be adapted to multiplayer.
Learn more about the game on www.playtrailmakers.com #scrapman #trailmakers

[@praisethyjeebus]

You could try tuning the strength/stiffness of the suspension or hinges such that the inner most ones are stiffer than the outer most ones, much like how a bow tapers further from center.

[@alkestos]

Yes! This!

[@partyttvb2513]

@@meaghan4601 why

[@nibnob7507]

Dude this is actually smart haha, he totally should.

[@lillie3029]

@@partyttvb2513 its a bot

[@lillie3029]

@@partyttvb2513 they joined 12 hours ago and have a lot of comments on this channel

[@Hadeks_Marow]

The problem is the under-railing/guide-railing. It creates too much friction. You should have went with the opened V shaped design from your last one, that was the whole reason you went with the grabby arms the first time. Also, the gap for the arrow isn't wide enough. The back wings sometimes clip it which is why it gets caught up from time to time.

[@redacted8181]

EXXACTLY, BRO IM DYIN OVER HERE XO

[@Barefoot_Bubba]

Yesss

[@endymionselene165]

Funny thing is the first attempt is a slingshot and the second one was a crossbow. And now a ballista is not a crossbow, they are just similar to them. A ballista has two arms sticking out of two rolls of rope and said rolls of rope is then twisted by the drawing of the string to create tension. So making a true ballista is most likely impossible to do so in this game. A show I remember watching a few years back had an updated ballista, that used spring steel instead of rope for the tension or is that torsion, I forget sometimes.

[@steveg4jan]

Its torsion and thats not a ballista thats a roman weapon called the scorpian

[@Luziferne]

Its Torsion and thats what differentiates a giant crossbow, or Arbalest, from a Balista. A Balist was basically a Box that had rope slung between top and bottom side and that was twisted as hard as possible with a lever stuck between the ropes. One side clockwise, the other counterclockwise and then the ends of the levers are connected with a rope to keep that tension. And when you pull the connecting rope back and release it again, thats is how the energy is stored and transferred to an arrow/big bolt I think in trailmakers one would have to use some of the rotating servos, but if they are strong enough for it? don't know tbh

[@flashlp3001]

I don't know but he made a -reverse bow- something!

[@blacknred1215]

Yep

[@thefaulnt3562]

Shh don't tell him he still did not make a ballista

[@apersunthathasaridiculousl1890]

“they’ll worship me as a god.. or burn me as a witch” -scrapman

[@SunilNmb]

Deep....

[@izukumidoriyav.d3216]

18:06 **Scrapman** - "I'm not even driving right now, like this is... This ballista has got a mind of it's own" **Ballista** - *'Just dies'*

[@spaghettiwaffles]

So I made my own realistic suspension ballista after the last video and this is what i found: First, having more suspension only means more power if you pull it back far enough. It’s a lot less stable when you pull it back further, but it also launches the bolt exponentially further. it’s a bit of a trade-off. I personally went for more power and less stability, and I got a nice balance between launching the bolt all the way to the horizon and the ballista not shattering every time you try to fire Second, to make the arrow fly straighter, you can put a helicopter engine and a logic gate set to toggle on the arrow to make the arrow infinitely spin after releasing, which works better to stabilize the bolt than even powered fins do Third, you can reduce a lot of the weight on the string if you use the detachable blocks themselves as the hook that holds the string back Finally, having aerodynamic arrows significantly increases the distance it flies, so you may want to add a wedge or cone to the front of the bolt If you want to look at my design to see how it works and what it does differently I did put it on the workshop; the better version is called “Suspension Ballista MK2” by TheAutumnDryad Edit: also, the part of the bow that flexes is called the arms.

[@ProjectNoDarkNight]

6:20 Front of ballista: Alr ima go cya Back of ballista: Oh ok Scrapman: *heaheaheahea*

[@apersunthathasaridiculousl1890]

in memory of the front of the ballista… he won’t be forgotte-….. who we talking about?

[@creepty4359]

Lol the the hehehehehe translates into ridiculous lol

[@Yull-Rete]

Fyi, the funny-looking bending of the bow you were getting was due to the steering hinges on your string having 100% strength. An actual string would have 0%, and maybe need to be pulled farther back.

[@Hadeks_Marow]

Lots of great tips in the comments. Yours was definitely one of them. This is the one episode that deserves a re-visit.

[@teresaellis7062]

That was the funniest series of non-explosions I have seen in a while. I'm tellin' you man, computers are out to get us. 😂

[@ProjectNoDarkNight]

Correction: Re-using an old video idea so I can make myself suffer more!

[@apersunthathasaridiculousl1890]

*suffer for us billy*

[@TheBillykurtz]

@@apersunthathasaridiculousl1890 NO!

[@TheForevener]

"Hello and welcome to the Slingshot Channel. My name is ScrapMan and I would like to take you on the strange journey to the wonderful world of suspension-based launchers"

[@bonerbeats]

ScrapMan: puts out a video today Me: Screaming inside waiting for 7 a.m. (I'm in Indiana) *Timezone*

[@beaconblaster33]

you're literally below me

[@royalphrog]

7pm 😑

[@apersunthathasaridiculousl1890]

he uploads at 7:00 AM for me to tho

[@tacostupid2240]

8pm

[@creepty4359]

For me is 7:15 pm

[@adibbarrirulyanto736]

Half a year and 82 days of asking scrapman to do : we searched for "normal" on the workshop for perfectly normal creations!

[@apersunthathasaridiculousl1890]

dæys

[@apersunthathasaridiculousl1890]

@ZA HANDO *XP*

[@quackin12152]

Please do this

[@royalphrog]

Yesterday was day 80??

[@adibbarrirulyanto736]

@@royalphrog 81

[@ADonutMan]

Gotta love "provide realistic physics simulation" line in both trailmakers and sm descriptions

[@dr.hammersonph.d1921]

“Maybe instead of making giant crossbows, they should of made giant ballistas.” Scrapman, YOU just made a giant crossbow lmao

[@royalphrog]

Shoot a Wedge block in scrap mechanic at hyper sonic speeds!

[@apersunthathasaridiculousl1890]

SM needs destruction models so we can show the true power of a wedge

[@quackin12152]

@@apersunthathasaridiculousl1890 ah yes

[@frogsecretaryofswamp452]

I think the hinge version is more powerfull for the cost off consistency

[@royalphrog]

Powerneek, u r commenting now

[@Rand0mSituation]

Personally i think consistency is more important than power I would rather have the ballista shoot and hit the target instead of the arrow flying off and exploding something else

[@user-ve5ei2xe8h]

Jörg Sprave would be proud of you! Btw.: actual ballistas didn't build up power trough the Flexing of the arms like a bow or crossbow (or this here weapon) do, but rather by having huge torsion springs (made of rope and horse hair) at the root of the arms, whilst the arms themselves more or less remained stiff.

[@robert_waltuh]

Definitely would like to see this medieval siege weapons in multiplayer. Maybe a castle siege where each player shoot one volley at a turn?

[@sparking023]

First of, I never thought ofthe possibility of a Siege Slingshot. Second, all we need now is a trebuchet to complete the Siege Weapons collection

[@Milamberinx]

There certainly wasn't anything stretchy enough in ancient and medieval Afro-Eur-Asia. If anyone had bothered to cross the Atlantic and establish a trading relationship with the Olmec people it might have been possible... but pretty expensive.

[@adrianholder7595]

dude, we need multiplayer plane wars again, and bring mumbo

[@apersunthathasaridiculousl1890]

like dogfights? i’d rather have something more unique

[@18IMAMGODINA]

Tension in ballistae comes from twisted rope and a lever placed in the rope , catapults (onager's/mangonel's) work on same principle just the way projectile is flung is different

[@madcuzbad09]

I remember the good ol' days (aka 2018) when I would have your videos playing on my phone and playing trailmakers on my Xbox

[@franciskurian9392]

Day 29 of asking scrapman to do a blueprint Olympics You are only allowed to use the vehicles that you have already saved (scrap mechanic)

[@maratby4364]

pretty sure he already did that workshop olympics or something

[@fr3shy532]

7:56 trailmakers looking at this video be like: HMmmm should we fix this? Trailmakers boss: Nah it's perfectly fine it's "rEaLisTic"

[@clarkllarena]

Suggestion. mix the steering hinge with the suspension. pretty much how a composite bow is made, two materials, the back of the bow is made with a material that is good under tension(steering hinge) and the belly of the bow is made with a material that is good with compression forces(suspension)

[@baerwitfone3396]

6:25 i love that laugh

[@Hellireptile]

Everyone gangsta until Scrapman finds a way to simulate tape in Trailmakers and makes a sticky loop.

[@kidinferno9077]

Lmfao 18:06 Balista says "Gotta go, my people need." me then checks out.

[@lapoudrerouge7671]

I think why the ballista is less powerful it's because on the slingshot, the force is directly applied to the projectile but on the ballista, the “ropes” actually take some forces from the suspension. It makes the suspensions bend less than the slingshot version, even if you're pulling the same distance. (don't know if I'm clear...)

[@specter_8885]

Ballista wars? destroy the enemy castle with your bolts while being simultaneously shot at by your enemy.

[@aymenx5009]

I think the stability of both launchers would increase drastically if the hook was removed and the pistons were attached directly to the same piece the arrow was attached to.

[@beaconblaster33]

when scrapman hasn't noticed the 1*4 wedge sticks to the suspension yet

[@specter_8885]

oh wait oh god

[@lonestonegaming6316]

Been watching since you played scrap mechanic with derf back in the early days. Loved watching every vid since. Keep it up! You are amazing.

[@killerofstuff6509]

I think the problem is that the timing is wrong for the hinge ballista. Its inconsistency is due to the arrow colliding with the "string" before it actually reaches the furthest point. The slingshot was fined-tuned a lot and the timing is very precise.

[@teow2373]

i feel like using the suspension string as a tank tread would look cool

[@riddle9064]

I like the concept of unpowered steering drive lol. That was actually cool even though it wasn't what you meant to happen 7:54

[@plotwist4513]

i cant stop laughing when you try to hit the towers especially the one that sticked

[@oriontherealironman]

A siege weapon Multiplayer Monday would be awesome. Have a castle surrounded by a wall and whoever has the fastest time getting through the wall wins. Could be in Scrap Mechanic or Trailmakers

[@hydracobaron9013]

Scrapman, you might wanna check how a ballista works... Rather than having the suspension be the hooks to the strings, have them be the strings, and make the base a rigid hook.

[@aaroningram2953]

I think you just figured out how to power a car with steering hinges and a bow string😂😂 thats amazing

[@shonmamontov7593]

Ballista nerd here, unlike a bow or crossbow, the launching power is not stored in the shaft of the ballista but in the string. In old ballistas, they would coil the strings around together to build up tension. In a bow/crossbow, however, the bending of the wood is what gives it that power since a rope at that scale would either snap the string or would not provide enough force. So your original slingshot based design was more accurate. Whoever suggested this was a fraud :P

[@hussainshahil5812]

The shooting at the towers is like you are the only one in a race but you still came second

[@prodragongamer124]

16:31 every one faces goes like scrapman face >:0

[@philip-antoinechevalier5855]

Man, we just started a robotic project at school and this time around, we need to shoot a ball as far as possible. I think I've gotten my idea... Anyways, great video as always!

[@undunsun]

I love glitches in games so much so I laughed so hard

[@lividnooblet]

For the next build can you try a trebuchet? That would be epic!

[@fr3shy532]

6:23 bro my man went from this: 😡 to this: 😂

[@jthecross7764]

Idea: modify that ballista to fire some small airplanes and ride them Another idea: make the ballista multishot from minecraft(fires 3 arrows in front, one straight and the others go off to a 45 degree angle from the original straight arrow) those would be cool

[@apersunthathasaridiculousl1890]

make a reverse crusher on trailmakers using magnets, or make a long whip of death

[@mrflyer68]

You know what is the best siege weapon? A Rocket powered Arrow

[@pugz3230]

The tension doesn't come from the bow in a ballista; that is a lie. Crossbows get tension from the bow. The tension on a ballista comes from torsion springs attached to each side of the bow. Look up a ballista on wikipedia.

[@Glocktopus42]

Ohhhhh yeahhh back at it again!!

[@crustybomb115]

one thing iv noticed in both builds is that you dont have a good BASE to anchor your weapon onto for stabillity, instead you have a physics glitch on wheels that makes it extremely difficult to aim...

[@baconsking930]

You need to make a multiplayer Monday challenge like the one we’re you make a engine less vehicle like the one in scrap mechanic but make it on trail makers trying to use the game physics

[@seemlyred_x8705]

Are we not going to mention that he kept calling his old ballista of fake one when it was more like a crossbow

[@bahrid0563]

But crossbows also use the bow for tention and not the string dont they?

[@theb4021]

Well I don't know but the "crossbow" one is pretty realistic It has the consistency

[@corrupticecubes418]

Change the positioning of the suspension so that a layer is ontop, a layer is on bottom, and the third layer is on the front of the wedges so that the rods being pulled back are actually in the middle and not compressing the suspension.

[@trailsgod751]

The dart need the same path of fins as on the back onto the front and it needs 4 more dynamite right behind the first dynamite in a plus pattern and the fins need to be powered

[@josevarghese4843]

Terra Tech Gameplay? It has had a few updates

[@apersunthathasaridiculousl1890]

it did? i thought that game was dead

[@AraticTV]

Oooo

[@HalfWolf2]

I mean, the way a real real ballista worked was it had a solid frame and the tension came from axles holding the arms on, they used twisted rope as a rotational spring

[@kurosumomo]

Create a replica of SpinLaunch in the game, they are slinging rockets into space with centrifugal force.

[@pranitrock]

We don't hold a paper plan at the end while launching we hold the paper plane close to the middle and that gives it the proper trajectory and force. Please put your arrow attachment in the center of the arrow. You will see the difference.

[@TheDawgMiner]

Explosive launching Trebuchet

[@jagerbomb5892]

I think a cool/funny idea would be two Vs two ballista tower war. Also, aren't there connections that connect and release without having as much friction, or I guess direct contact as the claw? Idk how to put it into words (I dont play unfortunately)

[@filval387]

I think the lack of precision may be due to the opening, the slingshot has a bigger opening for the arrow while the ballista has a smaller one that the arrow sometimes hit

[@igo580]

Now it is time to make autoreload slingshot tower!!!

[@poopeethegreati.2552]

Video idea: Try to make a projectail so fast that it goes through the 1 block thick wall

[@aelsi2]

ScrapMan, you've made a crossbow, not a ballista.

[@datbubby]

Nice Trailmakers :D

[@flashlp3001]

Trailmaker challenge: in-tension You need to make a car or flyer but it's only powered by the tension...

[@SonOfmowgef]

I can't help but think, do thrusters continue to work when they're not attached to the main contraption? Because I'd love to see a 'rocket' powered version of something like these. I mean that I'd like to see the ammo be 'rocket' powered, not main contraption.

[@ledocteur7701]

you need some kind of ways to have them stay active, but it's relatively easy to do. (with an altitude sensor for exemple)

[@Moetastic]

The slingshot ballista has 2 hinges on it, while the new ballista has 4 hinges. I think that might have an effect on the power.

[@rykerstayton9577]

The one layer steering hinges was better than all others

[@sherlockholmes3317]

Welcome to the 20th baliata video .That's why yesterday there was no video cuz he was preparing the balista.Cant wait for him to finish Hot wheels .I bet that he will have nothing to do but balistas then .

[@loveless666snow]

These are my favorite videos!😋

[@danhinchliffe7622]

The "wood bow part" is called a limb if I remember correctly.

[@nathanwilbrink2444]

The suspension is turning because you pull from above the suspension and you would probably get more consistency if you placed an extra pipe on the bottom

[@cricui]

#Idea make a vehicle (that you can at least moderately control) that moves only with the tension glitch that makes the ballista have a mind of there own and just move by themselves (this one will be pretty hard)

[@techthecyborg1723]

You have remade the catapult. you have made a giant sling-shot, you have made a ballista, but can you make the Bo hiya (the old Japanese version of the firework launcher), the hwacha, the trebuchet, the battering ram and even a catapult/trebuchet for a shipping container?

[@dextardextar]

It's your bolt's fins colliding with the frame when you draw it back causing pullback issues.

[@froginabucket6761]

Great video keep up the good work

[@JoeMama-me5wp]

You should try to make a new ballista but it has a magazine so you would need a new way to attach the arrow and the " string " multiple times

[@fabioaliverti5020]

The arrow touch the ejection part make it bigger 👍🏻 cause when u pull back, the arrow go down and touch a bit the V shape of the front

[@crimzonplays1134]

Whoever called the Origibal design a "Fake" clearly doesn't understand how real Ballistas work. Yes, the bow arms flex, but the string flexes far, FAR more.

[@arktiktree9097]

I think this ballista is inconsistent because "feathers" of your arrow collide with the front of the ballista when you launch

[@lechking941]

*the moment i saw the hindges pulling you i saw my lord from space engineers reapear* HAIL TO LORD KLANG!

[@ethanheska7044]

casual piece flying at 18:05

[@dericknewton9552]

Is this proof that the Renaissance just needed suspension.. lol 😆

[@DG3_Official]

When being pulled from the inside the tension is more immense than the slingshot version and because of the way your pulling the sling shot version in real life that would cause it to snap in half on shooting and could shoot the dart backwards the reason ballistas are good is because of power and accuracy between slingshot being inaccurate to catapult being inaccurate but more powerful the ballista solved both of these and made it easier but a bit more dangerous because the tension on ballistas can cause its bullet to fly backwards or the bow string will snap and the bullet will fall midway or break from the snap and not work properly in air

[@kingquokka1934]

Maybe add detachable anchor blocks so the creation doesn’t move from the tension.

[@SneakyTogedemaru]

I'd say it's worth a try to put new tension string on old base, maybe it won't hit sides any more

[@garagebandguy2793]

You should try and make a rail gun next 🤣

[@QTASTIC]

Next video: creating a tri-bow triple arrow firing ballista xD

[@Trevinator1990]

on the new version, the nock is not centered in the limbs like the first one. could be causing some irregularities and lower power.

[@redbusters1460]

what abeout both the bow flewes, and the string too, like a slingshot + ballista? will it be twice the power?

[@takumi9696]

The hinge version of ballista is more power full than the suspension version

[@stevena2160]

As long as you put "balista" in the title I'm watching

[@tryingtomaybemakestuff]

I think it is still attached of the wedge blocks and that the only reason it worked better was because there were less things attached to keep it in place

[@arthurting1857]

the thing that bends when you pull the string i believe are called limbs

[@__-sp5fq]

Pushing action in game works less because game is trying to process how all of it would interact and expand while pulling action just has object return to previous position, less power… plus other minor factors like tension strength and release timing