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[Shurhaian]

Right, so. This time around, I planned, from the moment I struck the earth, on having a defensible entrance. There is only one way into my fortress(unless something knocks down walls - there ARE a few of those that I need to consider). It's down a screen-wide passageway, with drawbridges at the end where it forks, sealing off the entrance, and one closer to the door. At the end of that entranceway, where it turns into a T junction, there are fortifications carved, facing the entrance hall.

First defense: Ballistae. I've had a dwarf get fairly skilled at siege engineering - no masterwork parts yet, but he does have a ballista set up from exceptional parts. I had a few catapults set up in another room for training, and have legendary operators.

Problem is, they were too timid, and now refuse to run up and shoot even though the (melee-only) goblin siege is safely on the other side of the fortifications.

Second line of defense: Marksdwarves... and here's the problem: They flat-out refuse to get ammo and shoot. They just... stand there, behind the fortifications. There's PLENTY of ammo available - tons of bone bolts built up from smaller incursions - and each of them has a crossbow and quiver, but they refuse to get ammo. They don't move AT ALL - they just stand there in the guard post, doing nothing.

Any suggestions? I'll try making metal  bolts, but it seems odd that they won't use what's available.

[Axe27]

Go to the military menu, select their squad, press (v) and then (t). When enemies attack, you'll have to go back and press t again in order to get them back on duty.

[yaklin]

for the ballistia operators they are running because they see the goblins it doesnt matter that they cant get to them
for the marksdwarves the problem might be that you have them set to chase opponents which i heard messes with them getting ammo

[Shurhaian]

First off, I know why the civvies ran; it's a pain that they couldn't squeeze one shot off first, but I get it, and I know why they're not getting back to their stations.

As for the marksdwarves, I have toggled them between off and on duty. I've now turned them off Chase, stationed them in the ammo stockpile, and, again, flipped between on and on duty. They just stand there staring at the goblins, inactive, no matter what I do.

[Smew]

Also, nothing in the game can destroy constructions(b>C) except your own dwarves, when you order them to do so with d>n.

[Shurhaian]

Good to know.

The only way I wound up breaking the stalemate was by drafting my animal trainers, stationing them nearby, lowering the drawbridges, and then sending them in. Only after all the goblins were dead did the marksdwarves(well, recruits; I brought them in on realising that my ballistae weren't going to kill a single one) shake their paralysis.

Bah.

[sonerohi]

Firstly, walls can't be knocked down. Secondly, all civilians, including one who perform militiary-like duties, will shit their pants at anything that isn't another dwarf or a merchant. Groundhogs included.

[Skelodwarf]

Is... Is that... a... A Kitten? An untamed kitten? AHHHHCHAGHAHSDGAJDFKSGERGFGRLGLRGRLBRGBRLGBRLGBRHSHSHSHSSSSSHH.

(Scream, Run, Trip, Fall, Hit's Head, More GLBGRGLing, Chokes, Foamy Mouth, Dead)

Yeah, this seems covered. I really wish they would make Siege Operating a military task.

[Opirian]

Gobbo's would be dead so much faster if siege operators didn't run at the sight of em.

"Is that a gobbo? it sure is, oh lookey this ballista is pointed at him"
*whatever sound a ballista makes*

[Daki]

I'm not sure if siege operators run on sight like they do from other animals(bloody skeletal mountain goats).
I've had an aboveground fort with a sqare-tower-like compound around the main entrance.Each side of the wall had several ballistae behind it.So when a siege came,I would ready the machines,and,when the gobbos came closer, skewer them through. My siege operators ran only when gobbos came within 10-20 tiles of them. So I believe that distance is important here,not only line of sight.

[Stromko]

Firstly, are your marksdwarves able to train correctly when off-duty, as in firing wooden and bolt bolts at a designated archery range? If so, then they do operate as marksdwarves and should shoot enemies. If NOT, then they're probably carrying some random bit of crud in one or both hands from wrestling practice, and this item needs to be Dumped so that they'll start using their crossbow. Apparently it checks to make sure they have both hands free before it lets them use crossbows, until then they'll use their designated crossbows as hammers for both sparring and combat.

Second question, would they have been able to path to the goblins to fight in melee? If they were 'paralyzed' during the siege, they might've been stuck on melee mode (this isn't something you choose, just an AI thing) and refused to budge until a path to the fight opened up.

I once had an issue with my marksdwarves not firing, when in the past they had done so with no issues. They had ammo and everything, but on their towers I'd built Walls then turned them into Fortifications by engraving. I built them first as Walls because Walls have ceilings. Turns out the goblins were sort of coming in from 1 z level ABOVE along the sloped canyon (my latest fort is a natural stone tower carved from the earth), and the marksdwarves would've had to shoot through the ceiling. Removing the walls and replacing them with directly-built Fortifications helped, as there was then no ceiling to block the shots.

That example probably has nothing to do with this, but it does show a case where building Fortifications is better than building walls and fortifying them after.

On that same fortress I later had issues with marksdwarves being just a few squares short of being in range, which also resulted in them not shooting. They didn't freeze up or anything though, they didn't really respond to the gobbos at all since they were too far away.

[Shurhaian]

The marksdwarves have practised just fine between sieges. There's plenty of ammo for them to be had. But whenever the siege gets there, they just... refuse to move until all the goblins in LOS are dead, whether or not there's a path. (The only path would take them away from the goblins and through a stairway in back.)

This is getting really fecking annoying. Another siege. The operators couldn't be bothered getting to their ballistae, so I got one shot off(which went through the fortifications, then hit the nearby wall rather than going down the corridor; masterwork parts, legendary operator, and it screws up) before the goblins got too close. And again, the marksdwarves do NOTHING.

I'm tempted to write them off as useless, but I just can't make steel fast enough to outfit the fortress guard, royal guard(stupid nobles), AND regular soldiers.

[Stromko]

Are the marksdwarves on the same Z level as the invaders? I'm thinking maybe they're standing still and firing off their whole supply of bolts, thinking they have a clear path of fire when they do not?

[Shurhaian]

The marksdwarves are most definitely on the same level and most definitely do have a line of fire.

Code: [Select]

**********___=...
.............=...
........g....=.M.
.............=...
**********___=...
* = wall
. = floor
_ = drawbridge
= = fortification
g = goblins
M = marksdwarves

Past the drawbridges is the fortress proper, and the access to the room with the marksdwarves involves going down one level, through the tunnels, and up in a room behind the one where the marksdwarves(and archery targets, for what it's worth) are.

As soon as the goblins are all dead, the dwarves unfreeze and, if standing down, go get ammo.

I'm also noticing something: I saw it said that they carried one stack of bolts in quiver and another in hand when practicing, but I've never seen them do this. Will they only put metal bolts in quiver or something?

ADDENDUM: I have definitely seen them shoot through it, the problem was that the marksdwarf in question only had one bolt(and for this reason, I've set the game to forbid fired ammunition again), so it certainly isn't an LOS issue. Best I can think of is that the dwarves are getting stuck in pathfinding - they want to get to the goblins, but the only path to do so takes them out of combat range, so they go back toward the fortifications... well, maybe not that; this happens even if I station them in the ammo stockpile. But they seem to not want to leave combat range, even to get ammo.

Which, for marksdwarves, is a bit silly. Especially if there are melee dwarves, getting ammo is a perfectly reasonable thing for marksdwarves with empty quivers to do.