Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-27425734-20170826213348/@comment-25396609-20171207022059

A proper ballista uses ammunition crafted with the same care and workmanship as a well made arrow, just many times larger. They were used primarily for destroying ships and castle walls.

As with most weapons of the time, people of the modern age often underestimate them as a brute force weapon when, much like the heavy tanks and precision rifles of today, they were finely tuned engines of war.