Talk:Ballistica/@comment-129.234.252.67-20131017093348

In the trivia section: However, the ballista was much earlier than medieval (the Romans had very good ballistas), and they weren't crossbows. Ballistas are powered by torsion (twisted sinew mostly), whereas crossbows are powered by the tension/compression of the limbs. They are very similar though, and DE can be forgiven for naming it in this way (if the limbs bend it's a crossbow, if they don't then it's a tiny ballista).
 * 'Name is likely based off of the medieval siege weapon, the Ballista, due to both being related to crossbows and the similarity in the names.'