As you can see, instead of using X’s, I only have a zig-zag pattern. That was because I wanted to see if I could “trick” the system. In a tower like the one above, the four legs are in compression. When the load is applied perfectly vertically, the rest of the members have no load until the legs begin to twist or bend.

Because the legs are square pieces, they have equal resistant to bending in all directions. The X’s only serve to break the main legs into smaller sections, which increase the strength.