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[Albedo]

Once upon a time (ahem), one of the better ways to deal with the prize at the bottom of the cereal box (aka "fun") was with ballistas. Train up some Legendary operators with pairs of catapults tossing rocks past each other at a wall and trench, dig a map-long shooting gallery, put a 3-wide masterwork ballista-battery at the far end, pop the cork and go crazy.

And, so, taking a Siege Engineer 5 at embark was a good way to help jumpstart this.

Is that no longer a recommended strategy?

[SimRobert2001]

Nope. With the overhauls, siege equipment is no longer as weffective.

[Salmeuk]

I would also argue that the new-found prolific nature of trees makes training a legendary siege engineer less of a feat than before. I havent tried that, though, so it remains a shaky argument.

[Loud Whispers]

The only time I've ever used siege weapons was when I tried to kill a Dwarf and clear a forest. They cleared the forest well, but when I tried to kill the Dwarf, I ended up just killing all of my siege engineers while the Dwarf got off rather cleanly. I don't really recall siege weapons being more than novelties; they're like bees. Sure, they can work. But there are a lot of complications, and most of the time you're just better off using crossbows. Really you only use them because you like the awesome idea of firing walls of ballista bolts, or you've placed a quantum rock stockpile on a catapult and want to create a gatling rock launcher with your legendary siege operator.

[taptap]

Siege machines are superceded by lead minecarts. 

[Albedo]

Sad to hear.

Tho' it also sounds like the art of siege engines has become a forgotten one (if perhaps for a reason).

They cleared the forest well, but when I tried to kill the Dwarf, I ended up just killing all of my siege engineers while the Dwarf got off rather cleanly. ...

Common complaint. Like so many other Dwarfy things, you have to prepare a location properly to avoid that.

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Siege_engine#Ballista_battery

[Kishmond]

I've never used siege engines at all. It just seemed like way too much work for a very un-versatile killing machine.

[Loud Whispers]

Common complaint. Like so many other Dwarfy things, you have to prepare a location properly to avoid that.

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Siege_engine#Ballista_battery

I know that; the ballista were all facing each other with the dwarf I wanted to kill in question right in the middle. I expected the siege engineers to die AND the target Dwarf to die. Having all of them except the target die was not an expected outcome.

[Albedo]

It just seemed like way too much work for a very un-versatile killing machine.

And that is different from the majority of DF killing machines... how?

[Pirate Santa]

It just seemed like way too much work for a very un-versatile killing machine.

And that is different from the majority of DF killing machines... how?

Most machines may be unversatile, but they do kill.
Siege weapons struggle with even that.

[Pearofclubs]

It just seemed like way too much work for a very un-versatile killing machine.

And that is different from the majority of DF killing machines... how?

Most machines may be unversatile, but they do kill.
Siege weapons struggle with even that.

They really shouldn't, though. How does a wood ballista bolt glance off of clothing?
And catapults are a joke, unless you're using em to move stone...
Anyone ever try em with cinnabar or some other really heavy rock? Any better then?

[NJW2000]

Oh. I was hoping to use the siege engineer's I've been training to take on the clowns... guess I'll have to work out that bridge obsidianizing thingummy idea I had, if I can make it work.

[NW_Kohaku]

They really shouldn't, though. How does a wood ballista bolt glance off of clothing?
And catapults are a joke, unless you're using em to move stone...
Anyone ever try em with cinnabar or some other really heavy rock? Any better then?

A combination of the fact that siege weapon bolts are traveling at 10 mph, and only the bolt head's mass actually counts due to DF fisiks LOL not counting the momentum of the rest of the body colliding, only the specific part of an object that is colliding.  (Hence, "pushing" with your torso does more damage than your fist because your torso is heavier than your hand.)