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[Mohawk_Bravo]

So I'm playing my latest fortress to have a better defense system, as the last few have fallen prey to raids and sieges leaving only one or two dwarves alive. My last fortress, I used the multiple entrance strategy, where in the second entrance was longer and had a bridge, and the quick entrance was trapped (to exploit goblin artificial stupidity). The problem was, that my stairwell was near the trade depot,which was in front of the main entrance and allowed goblin bowmen and crossbowmen to kill any wanderers who walked by.

This time, my plan is to build a trade depot on the surface, with a wall all around. On the north side, I plan to build a bridge for a gate. On either side of the gate, I plan to make a two level 'tower'. On the first level, I want to leave fortification on the north side, so that marksdwarves can fire through the fortification. Upon reading about fortifications, I figured I should build a second level. I want to place some Ballistas on the second level, in order to take out any major threats sieging my gate. Now, since fliers can fly over fortifications, and the Ballista would be on the second floor, should I place fortification in front and a staircase so dwarves can get up to load them? Or will fliers simply fly over the second wall of fortification and use the stairs to get in?

Most importantly, however, can a Ballista target an enemy on a level below, as in the ground in front of my fort? Or would they only be able to target above that (which would effectively make them useless. Also, when building a moat to protect my fort, should I use channels from the nearest water source? Or is there a better method for building moat.

As always, thanks in advance.

[Garath]

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Ballista

Both catapults and ballistae aim and fire only along one z-level. While ammo from both may drop down z-levels, they do no damage to creatures there. This also means that no "head room" is necessary - ammo just flies out, never up.

lastly, siege engine operators are civilians and will run from any threath they can see

[rhesusmacabre]

Ballistae are usually more hassle than they're worth. To answer your questions:

They are loaded and fired by civilian dwarves with the "siege engineering" job enabled. This means that, yes, they require access but also that they tend to run away when they see the enemy. This means they're best placed at a distance to counter this, or used by blind dwarves. As with any fort, it's up to you whether you want to expose it to the sky. Flying troops rarely present much of a threat.

Crucially, ballistae cannot fire across z-levels, rarely hit anything, and when they do don't do much damage.

Dry moats are simpler, and usually better. They prevent aquatic mounts (giant toads, cave crocodiles etc.) from getting across. If you prefer to have water, pumping it along a channel is the best way to move it from a source on the same level.

[Garath]

Ballistae are usually more hassle than they're worth. To answer your questions:

They are loaded and fired by civilian dwarves with the "siege engineering" job enabled./snip/

siege operating, as I said before. Siege engineering is for making and assembling the parts

[Mohawk_Bravo]

Thanks guys. I've decided to abandon my Ballista idea, and instead just equip a squad of marksdwarves to occupy the two 3x2 rooms I placed next to my draw bridge. I built beside the river, and simply channeled around the walled surface level. The only problem I'm running into now is that the river freezes during winter. To compensate, I want to build some sort of retractable barrier that I could place to activate when the bridge was down, blocking enemies from walking over the ice into my fort. What would be a possible solution for this?

Also, when reading the wiki, I read that the bridge would create a 'wall' when retracted, but it just seems to diseapear. Am I doing something wrong?

As always, thank you in advance.

[i2amroy]

Also, when reading the wiki, I read that the bridge would create a 'wall' when retracted, but it just seems to diseapear. Am I doing something wrong?

By default bridges will be set to "retract" when you build them, meaning that they will disappear instead of being raised. If you check the options when you are building the bridge there should be some buttons you can press to set the raising direction (I believe it's u,k,h,n, but I might be wrong, can't check right now). If you set the direction to be raised then the bridge will make a wall along that edge instead of just disappearing.

[Rafe]

lastly, siege engine operators are civilians and will run from any threath they can see

I notice some of the LP's i see tend to build keeps with ramparts and elevated bowmen. When i realized there were ballistta i thought it would be cool to use the lower levels as a means to funnel enemy toward siege emplacements(long corridors with ballistta at the end of them) but after reading some of that wiki both siege devices seem worthless.

Is toady planning to address this?

[Garath]

possibly

It'll probably be in an arc to make sieges more interesting. scaling walls, digging tunnels, updating other siege equipment. Currently, well, noone actually uses them much, so I don't think it's high priority

[Triaxx2]

Mostly it's a matter of them only firing in straight lines, and having to build things that force the enemy into those straight lines. Walls, paths which send them walking straight into the lines of fire. You can stack the pathing, so the enemies have to go up or down to enter your fort.

[slothen]

WHen made from metal, ballista bolts do lots of damage, and can damage multiple targets.  However, they are extremely inaccurate.  Having siege operators that are +5 legendaries with masterwork ballista parts and ammo does not seem to improve accuracy.

[Rafe]

WHen made from metal, ballista bolts do lots of damage, and can damage multiple targets.  However, they are extremely inaccurate.  Having siege operators that are +5 legendaries with masterwork ballista parts and ammo does not seem to improve accuracy.

Sounds like siege weapons are totally broken and just not worth it.

[Garath]

like I posted in various thread, a "siege training setup" with catapults actually makes a decent defence now, as long as you don't expect direct damage. Stones hit a wall and drop down, hopefully on sieger.