I am planning to make a ballista for historians to analyze and see how the physical thing actually works to learn more about the Romans and their siege machines, and why the Romans are one of the most successful colonies of the era. Their technology and intelligence are out of this world. Scientists and historians would love to get their hands on one of these ballistae. I am making the ballista from a reference photo:

Greek ballista page | Ancient greek technology, Ancient, Ancient rome

This is going to be my success criteria for the next few weeks. I am going to make this entirely out of wood, trying to replicate this photo.