Meliva wrote:Jack Roberts wrote:Meliva wrote:pretty sure the Vikings would be able to figure out what was killing them would probably be the big metal object making loud sounds and smoke a few men are standing next to that coincidentally started making said sounds and smoke around the same time they started dying. Not exactly a hard thing to figure out. Then once they figured that out, they would probably then rush said cannon and butcher the men manning it. And depending on distance, and how good a crew was manning it the crew might be able to shoot out a second, maybe a 3rd shot. Definitely no more then 4.
Firstly if it's on a ship, they can't rush them, and secondly, by the time they would have they figured it out they'd be dead. Also, it's impossible to suggest that such a primitive people would react to something so deadly as a cannonball ripimg them and their ship apart with such confidence. I personally think they'd be too shocked to do much at that point. They may have been smart for their time, but they'd be too dumbfounded to understand what was happening.
If its on a bloody ship, then they would know where it was coming from instantly-the other bloody ship-ESPECIALLY when they hear the sound coming from the ship, see the smoke from the ship and see the men on the ship interacting with the cannons. So they would figure it out more or less instantly after the first shot. And this is assuming they were not already heading to the pirate ship to board and pillage it. And again, vikings had the belief that if they are to die they WILL die-whether they run or fight. So like most people, if your dead no matter what, why not go down fighting. And survival instints would prevent the mfrom just doing nothing. If a 25 foot tall purple 5 armed alien came down and ate my brother i would be incredibly shocked, but I wouldn't stay that way for long, especially when i think its coming for me next-im either going to try to run away, or go down trying to kill my attacker-basic survival instincts.
By the time the Vikings had sailed there ship toward the pirate ship, they would have lost most of their numbers, and their mast, disabling them. They'd mostly be dead, so rowing isn't an option. Also, pirate sloops are quicker and more maneuverable, so they wouldn't be able to get close enough.