Quote Originally Posted by factotum View Post
I'm pretty sure Julio's statement in the very next panel is a lampshade on the fact the *won't* have the defences rebuilt: "It's not like they're gonna get invaded before they can repair it, you know".

Having said that, we know they did have some functioning catapaults during the attack:

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0451.html

I suppose it's possible the delay to firing the catapaults Redcloak is talking about there is because they were having to do a fast repair job on them and only just finished?
You can see that Julio's pirates destroyed two catapults on the way in, and there were at least three firing at his ship. If the third surviving catapult was the only one left, it means that Azure City's static defenses were reduced to a third of their normal capabilities. Why that last catapult did not fire sooner is anyone's guess. Maybe the crew was trying to get a better aim on Redcloak.