In order to conduct scientific experiments and obtain accurate control data, the protagonist groups male ants, soldier ants and worker ants separately, with each group having five ants of the same kind.
The experimental methods of spears, javelins and slings set by the protagonist are to let the ants participating in the experiment use all their strength to use a soft clay pile as an attack target to see how deep the weapons can penetrate into the clay, or how much impact they have on the clay. How much damage did the heap cause.
After receiving the information package, the ants who participated in the experiment barely mastered the use of several weapons, but they were still very unfamiliar. After practicing for a long time, I was barely able to use it in a decent manner, and then I started experimenting.
Finally, the experimental results of attacking stationary clay targets showed that male ants and soldier ants performed significantly better than worker ants when using these weapons that require force from the forelimbs. After all, male ants and soldier ants are larger than worker ants, and the muscles of their six limbs are relatively thick.
Attacking the clay target was the first experiment, and the second was a live experiment.
In the past few days of fighting against the invasion of the parasitic ant army, the southern fortress captured a group of parasitic ants.
The original mature thread-parasitic fungi on these parasitic ants have been killed, but the new hyphae have not yet matured. After having their six limbs cut off and their pincers cut off, these prisoners were no longer a threat for the time being and were suitable as experimental subjects.
The second experiment was conducted using these living targets. The three groups who received the order took turns to step forward and use three weapons to attack the immobile prisoners.
When using spears and javelins, neither male ants nor soldier ants are able to penetrate the hard carapace on the enemy's back. Even the ceramic spearheads often break. Only when they hit the gap between the carapace can they cause damage. The worker ants cannot break the defense even if they stab at the gap.
From this point of view, there are still many problems with pottery spearheads, which are far less useful than pottery knives. In order to enhance the piercing ability, the spear head must be made thin and long, but in this shape, the ceramic spear head is easily broken. However, making a short and thick spear head that is not easy to break will weaken the armor-piercing ability.
The protagonist also experimented with letting male ants ride on fly mounts and use spears to attack enemies hanging from shrubs while flying at high speed.
The flying knights were like knights in the Middle Ages, holding their long lances horizontally and inserting their weapons into the target's body accurately and ferociously while moving at high speed.
Under the high-speed thrust, the ceramic spearhead easily tore through the originally solid ant carapace. The spearhead penetrated deeply into the flesh, then broke and shattered, causing greater secondary damage to the target's body.
Because the impact is too strong, in order to prevent the flying knights from being harmed, they must immediately let go of the spear after completing the thrust, otherwise they will be thrown off their mounts by the huge recoil force, even if they tie themselves with silk threads, it will be useless.
The power of the spear's high-speed thrust was so powerful that with just one impact, the prisoner who was originally full of vitality would die.
Later, they experimented with javelin throwing attacks while flying at high speed. Although the hit rate was low, once it hit the target, the damage caused was also very considerable, second only to the power of a spear thrust.
It seems that with the help of the speed of the fly mount when charging, the lethality of the spear and javelin can be greatly improved.
Experiments with slings also followed.
After further experiments on the impact of stones of different sizes, the protagonist discovered that stones that are too small (such as gravel) are greatly affected by the airflow during flight. Not only do they have no speed, but they also have no lethality. Just listen to the sound on the ant carapace.
However, stones that are too large cannot be thrown far and have no practical significance.
In comparison, rocks about the size of an ant's head can be thrown the farthest, fly the fastest, and are most powerful.
Ordinary male ants and soldier ants can easily throw a stone of this size two decimeters away.
When hitting the target's joints or abdomen, it can easily cause the joints to break and the abdomen to be penetrated. Even if it hits a hard carapace such as the back of the head, it can cause serious internal injuries.
If you change to a rounder stone, the throwing distance can be increased appropriately.
However, suitable stones cannot be found everywhere, so the protagonist experimented by firing a batch of pottery balls as a substitute, and found that they also had good results.
The performance of the trebuchet is amazing. However, when trying to let the Flying Knight experiment using a sling, a problem was discovered. When flying at high speed, due to the strong airflow, the male ants cannot rotate the catapult, and thus cannot throw the stones. It seems that the catapult has no chance to become the equipment of the flying knight.
After the experiment, the protagonist was most satisfied with the performance of the catapult. Although the original intention was to equip the Flying Knight Legion, the catapult was not up to the task.
However, catapults can be equipped in large quantities to the army, so that the Army of the Divine Envoy King will have certain long-range combat capabilities.
Thinking about how when the enemy was still relying on hand-to-hand combat and was launching a charge, and was suddenly hit by a large number of stone bullets falling from the sky, the protagonist was secretly happy - sooner or later, the damn parasitic ants would have to taste this feeling.
Spears and javelins are more powerful when used in the air and can be used as standard equipment for flying knights.
However, the ceramic spearheads of spears and javelins were still unsatisfactory, and the protagonist began to think about stone tools again.
You know, primitive humans used stone weapons. In the Paleolithic Age, hammered stone tools were used, while in the Neolithic Age, ground stone tools were popular, and a certain number of hammered stone tools were also used. At that time, weapons and tools were integrated. It was not until the late primitive era that weapons were separated from tools.
By the Xia Dynasty, there were relatively well-made different weapons such as stone knives, stone shovels, stone sickles, stone spears, and stone spears.
The reason why the protagonist did not think of using stone tools at first is because the ants are too small and weak, so it is difficult to break suitable stone pieces from large stones and then process them. Without effective processing methods, stone tools cannot be processed in batches.
However, it is still possible to make stone weapons on a small scale for use by flying knights.
In order to make these dozens of stone spears and javelins, the worker ants need to collect fragments of suitable size and shape from everywhere. Fortunately, there are many of these fragments under the weathered conglomerate and shale.
Only sharp and long stone flakes meet the needs. After these stone flakes are transported back, the worker ants need to spend a lot of time to simply grind them and slightly modify their shapes.
Afterwards, the polished stone spearhead was fixed on the wooden handle with ant glue and ant wire, and it became a stone spear or javelin.
The output of these stone weapons is too low, which is barely enough for the daily consumption of the flying knights, and cannot be equipped with the Legion of the God Envoy King.
However, the protagonist is full of praise for the performance of stone weapons. The performance of these rough-looking weapons has greatly surpassed the previous ceramic weapons. No wonder the ancients did not give up stone weapons until the Bronze Age.
