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[Dorfus]

Yoohoo. Quick question - marksdwarves gain skill by shooting, not by hitting, according to the wiki; if I put a goblin surrounded by 6-depth fortifications and station my marksdwarves to shoot at him with 'combat' bolts set to be my training bolts, will they keep gaining skill despite probably only ever hitting fortifications? Or do they only gain skill per shot when training?

As an aside - has toady optimised some stuff? I stopped playing about half a year ago and I've come back to find a 120-dwarf fort running at a solid 60 fps, as opposed to the mighty 5 of before.

[Dorfus]

Just tried it and it doesn't work. Marksdwarves won't shoot through 2-tile thick fortifications, even when standing directly in front. Putting one at a distance and behind fortifications might work though. I'll try that.

[Addict]

hey dude,

That is a good idea, let me know what happens. I'm all for marksdwarf stuff.

If that doesn't work, you should just capture a bunch of creatures/kobolds/goblins/elfs/ect and use them as live targets anyway. ; D
I find in general it increases their marksdwarf skill a lot faster than archery range shooting.

[Nil Eyeglazed]

Just tried it and it doesn't work. Marksdwarves won't shoot through 2-tile thick fortifications, even when standing directly in front. Putting one at a distance and behind fortifications might work though. I'll try that.

It's probably related to their skill level, actually.  Dwarves with low skill can only shoot through adjacent fortifications; dwarves with high skill can shoot through distant fortifications.  I don't believe that fortifications reduce chance of hitting, however.

Better marksdwarf training involves finding something invulnerable to bolts-- a good FB, a bronze colossus, an undead horde overseen by a necromancer, something like that.

EDIT: You could also consider something like the bolt farm (used in previous versions to turn stacks of adamantine bolts into single bolts for melting purposes).  Here, you have a setup such that LOS to the target is blocked before bolts can reach it (but after the bolts are fired).  It requires a bit of fiddliness and a bit of mechanics to make it work right.

[Dorfus]

I'm doing some testing and it seems that height distance affects accuracy. In theory having them shoot at a goblin enclosed in a 10x10 area from about 6 levels should result in a fair few misses. Usually when I play with mechanics someone gets drowned.

[Sutremaine]

I don't believe that fortifications reduce chance of hitting, however.

Fortifications are walls to sub-Elites and open space to Elites.

If you can catch a goblin squad leader in a cage they make pretty good target practice because their defensive skills are good and will only get better as they survive. Maybe something like this would work out:

Code: [Select]

+++++++
+.....+
+.vvv.+
+.v+v.+
+.vvv.+
+.....+
+++++++

The goblin gets dropped in from above, falling a single level to prevent a truly unfortunate accident, and then gets to practice his or her dodging skills. The dry moat prevents escape, and the ramps allow the goblin to dodge all over the place.

I once tried a very rough version of this by opening a cage somewhere the goblin could make a run for the map edge. I counted about six dozen of the various 'bolt didn't hit' messages in the combat log. So perhaps a repeater forcing the goblin to move in a rough circle would be better, as dwarves don't know how to lead a shot.

[crossmr]

marksdwarf is fixed, so do you really need this now? just set up an archery target. My guys practice just fine using that.

[Mr. Palau]

Yoohoo. Quick question - marksdwarves gain skill by shooting, not by hitting, according to the wiki; if I put a goblin surrounded by 6-depth fortifications and station my marksdwarves to shoot at him with 'combat' bolts set to be my training bolts, will they keep gaining skill despite probably only ever hitting fortifications? Or do they only gain skill per shot when training?

As an aside - has toady optimised some stuff? I stopped playing about half a year ago and I've come back to find a 120-dwarf fort running at a solid 60 fps, as opposed to the mighty 5 of before.

yes I believe that optimization was included in the Valintine's Day release.

[Sutremaine]

marksdwarf is fixed, so do you really need this now? just set up an archery target. My guys practice just fine using that.

Live training is quicker and does the thing you want them to be doing anyway.

[vertinox]

Question... When I stick a goblin behind a fortification and tell a crossbow dwarf to kill it, they say can't reach the animal. How do you get the dwarf to kill it?

[Sutremaine]

Where is the fortification in relation to the goblin and dwarf? If a creature can be fired upon, it should happen automatically. The dwarf needs to be right next to the fortification if its not an Elite Marksdwarf.

[Flying Dice]

The best type of marksdwarf target is a giant sponge.

[vertinox]

Where is the fortification in relation to the goblin and dwarf? If a creature can be fired upon, it should happen automatically. The dwarf needs to be right next to the fortification if its not an Elite Marksdwarf.

So I should make a burrow right next to the fortification and assign them to defend it?

[Fredd]

Defend burrow is a great technique. They will rush to get within range of the target if they can see it. If the burrow is next to the fortification, more the better.
 Early on in a fort, assigning dwarfs hunting labors in a safe biome is a fine early training technique. Only produce enough material specific bolts to allow them to hunt, when you are about ready to transfer them to a squad, stop making those bolts. When they run out, remove the hunters allocated bolts from equipment screen, remove their hunting labors, assign to a squad, start producing bolts again, and assign them to the squad.
 Beware trying to recycle metal bolts for melting, if its the type you use for CT. When you designate them to melt, then reclaim them, if the archers fired them, it will show up the ammo screen as assigned, but forbidden, since they are destined to be melted.  Badddd
 Unforbidding bone/wood bolts from a range catcher is okay, but takes longer for them to restock the quiver. To get them to go to archery more, remove their hauling jobs, assign them a job that is rarely needed, but still gives them a job. Assign them to the active schedule, but remove the train order from each month(Which is train by default, basically demonstrations, not archery practice). It makes them go practice more, than the Inactive schedule.
 When the marksdwarves get really skilled, you need to micromanage the available bolt supply somewhat, because the will go through alot at archery practice. Occasionally make just enough bolts to keep them from getting ready, and have a large enough supply for combat ready for them. After a battle, they will use the remainder to target practice with, when that supply runs out, remove that allocation, make a small supply of practice bolts, add them for use. Once they are gone, add metal bolts to it that you made for times of trouble