Optimizing for Arcane Artillery

I'm a DM looking at the Arcane Artillery from Exploring Eberron. More specifically, the two that serve to amplify spells: Long Rod and Focus Staff. They increase the range and area of effect of spells cast through them, and turn single-target spells into 10ft radius effects. The downside is, they take several actions to set up, 3 to fire, and they're heavy and enormous to transport.

I like the idea of including these on battlefields the party comes across, as fun toys or side-objectives to secure, but I worry about the cheese options this could open up if the party decides to haul them off the battlefield they find it in. So, I ask: How hard can you shenanigate with a Siege Staff or a Long Rod? Let's look mostly at tiers 2 & 3.

As a basic example to get things going, I'm picturing a goliath wizard with a few points in strength so he can carry a Long Rod by himself, with a couple skeletons via Animate Dead as his artillery crew. He still needs extra time to set things up, but if he knows a fight is coming, he can set up in place without worrying too much about range. If he's doing this ASAP, he spent his 3rd level spells on skeletons, but can still do nasty things like an AoE Hold Person or Tasha's Mind Whip. If he has 4th level spells, that opens up stuff like AoE Banishment or Polymorph, or huge coverage and reach with Hypnotic Pattern.

Don't worry about it, if they figure out how to break the game with them let them do it once or twice after that the siege weapon "breaks" so they can't use it anymore, setting them off on a side quest to try and figure out how to repair it. Using Skeletons to man it is nothing to worry about because one enemy Fireball or other AoE and those skeletons are all dead anyway. 

Ok, going to necro this thread to see if anyone has carried a Long Rod into a dungeon (or seen another player do this)...?

Wondering about good ways to carry this 350 lb mounted 8' contraption. Expecting to have a Homunculus Servant and a Flying Mechanical Wonder help me load and aim this so it can be used once per turn so more concerned with the weight.

Couple of options: Tenser's Floating Disk, 4x Flying Mechanical Wonders, Broom of Flying, Draft Horse, Wagon/Chariot, etc...

Also if I cast Reduce on the Long Rod it would weigh 1/8 as much - would it still work? For about 1 battle it would be more or less handheld.

EDIT: I noticed that the full text of the book says that this requires attunement by a spells caster so the two PCs using it is not possible. I think this feature is lost since it is classified as an object and not an item.

It seems to me that the Long rod could be used by multiple spellcasters on the same turn (as long as they have enough supporters to prime/load and aim it). Their is no attunement, it is not an item that a person carries, there is no cooldown - Does this seem to be RAW?

For example, if I have two backline spellcasters and each has a pair of minions/hirelings then they can take turns using the same Long Rod with the minions/hirelings getting it ready between their turns.

If initiative order is concerning the PCs could use ready actions "launch XXX spell into the Long Rod as soon as it is aimed by XXX".

Might make it worth lugging this think into the dungeon - although it would definitely become a target!

Long Rod
ExE'24
Large object
Armor Class: 15
Hit Points: 40

A Long Rod is a more portable version of a Siege Staff, measuring around 8 feet long. Including the stand required to brace it, it weighs close to 350 pounds.

It takes 5 Magic actions to set up a Long Rod, and the same to tear down for transport. Once set up, it takes 1 Magic action to prime the rod, 1 Magic action to aim it, and 1 Magic action to fire it.

Any spell that requires an attack roll or saving throw can be cast through a Long Rod. The range is magnified by a factor of 3, with a long range of up to 6 times the spell's standard range.

The spell's area of effect is increased to 150%. If the spell normally affects a single target, it instead affects a 10-foot-radius Sphere; if the spell normally requires an attack roll, targets must instead make a Dexterity saving throw. On a successful save, the target takes half damage and suffers no other effect.

Yes, I agree DM can easily require that it be mounted to the ground. Item description says it takes 5 turns to setup so I think that already covers the setup costs.

I am contemplating putting it in a portable hole that would unfold on the wall. Can mount on a track inside the hole that allows the Long Rod to slide to the opening of the Portable Hole.