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[JAFANZ]

ISTR reading that in 40d, enemies in the exterior tile adjacent fortifications were no more impeded by them than Marksdorfs on the adjacent interior tile, and also that a single layer of fortifications only provided a probability of protection.

The advice given was, IIRC, station your Marksdorfs & Ballistae behind 2 layers of Fortifications, with at least one impassable tile outside of that, which was supposed to make it nigh on impossible for enemies to get a hit on your marksdwaves.

Edit: Presumably the same advice has merit in DF2010, especially if Fortifications have only a probability of blocking shots passing through.

[Dorf3000]

I don't think that fortifications have got worse, I think that enemy archers have gotten better.  My regular soldiers can carve up a group of spearmen or axegoblins no problem, but they bleed out and die when they meet archers, even with armor.

Even in 40d, fortifications were nothing for Elite archers.  I had one local gob leader shoot through fortifications 20 tiles away and turn my dwarves to pincushions.

[rmunn]

I don't think that fortifications have got worse, I think that enemy archers have gotten better.  My regular soldiers can carve up a group of spearmen or axegoblins no problem, but they bleed out and die when they meet archers, even with armor.

Shields will solve this. Train up all your dwarves, even your marksmen (I seem to recall that crossbows count as one-handed weapons, so you can use a shield with them) to a high Shield skill and they should be fine. Use a Danger Room filled with 1x upright wooden training spears, connected to a repeater, and your dwarves should be Legendary shield-users in no time.

[Zaik]

I don't think that fortifications have got worse, I think that enemy archers have gotten better.  My regular soldiers can carve up a group of spearmen or axegoblins no problem, but they bleed out and die when they meet archers, even with armor.

Shields will solve this. Train up all your dwarves, even your marksmen (I seem to recall that crossbows count as one-handed weapons, so you can use a shield with them) to a high Shield skill and they should be fine. Use a Danger Room filled with 1x upright wooden training spears, connected to a repeater, and your dwarves should be Legendary shield-users in no time.

I can't say for sure, but i believe that crossbows are one handed in the sense that marksdwarves with no ammo end up macedwarves(or hammer, i can't remember)

[Darkcrystal]

You can do what I do and make archer towers and walkways 1z level above where you think enemies will pass through. Anything that aren't archers that come through that area is when you should put your archers on the tower and shoot them down. When there are enemy archers though I think having a separate trap to take care of them would be much better. I suggest making a maze that forces enemies to walk through it which will not only slow them down while you prepare for them coming but you can also fill it with traps and the like to take out enemy archers that you don't want to mess with. The thing is knowing when and where to put your archers so they can do maximum damage with minimum threat to themselves.

[Vastin]

Marksdwarves and their opponents can certainly shoot through fortifications. The chance of the shot passing through successfully probably affected by the range to the fortification and the shooter's skill, with an adjacent shot passing through with little or no skill.

I usually have my dwarves shooting from at least one z-level up, and they get metal shields - they don't seem to have much problem using crossbow/shield. Enemy archers can be dangerous, but my dwarves generally have the upper hand, if you will.

Lets be honest, the fortifications are there to keep the accursed goblin lashers out. As long as they can be kept at bay, I can deal with the gob crossbowmen, bronze colossi and so on.

[Hyndis]

I've even managed to take down a bronze colossus entirely with marksdwarves.

Its doable! If you have enough ammo.

Took over 10,000 rounds of ammunition to drop it for good. 

[Sheb]

Another solution is to out-shoot the Marksgobs. You juste need at least 40 Elite Markdwarves, and they won't be able to shoot more than one bolt.

[Hyndis]

Another solution is to out-shoot the Marksgobs. You juste need at least 40 Elite Markdwarves, and they won't be able to shoot more than one bolt.

The hail of iron bolts approach works very well. Fire enough bolts and you can even use wooden or bone bolts! The sheer weight of fire will kill anything anyways.

[Sheb]

There is no kill like overkill.

[Nikov]

The sheer weight of fire will kill anything anyways.

God I love military terminology in game discussions. So, do you guys deploy your marksdwarves for flanking or frontal fire against an attacker? I usually have overlapping flanking fire covering the gate.

[iceball3]

ehh... even though i haven't gotten a fort far enough, i do plan on isolated towers with baitguard dogs at the base.

[Sheb]

I strongly suggest a network of watchtower with tunnel connecting them, stockpile of ammo in every single one of them, 2-tile moat of magma, a few z-level tall and 2 rows of fortifications. May not be that effective, but look really nice.

[Valkyrie]

My problem with remote watchtower is the loot - you wind up with goblins corpses, and their piles of clothing and iron, spread far and wide across your defensive networks, often with most of it near the farthest parts (ie the first watchtower the goblins would encounter).  That makes cleanup (whether it be dumping to magma, or stored into stockpiles) a much riskier and more prolonged affair.  Since goblin clean-up is usually the most time-intensive activity for a mature fort (for me, at least), it's a major problem with the otherwise rather nice watchtower design :/

[Hyndis]

My problem with remote watchtower is the loot - you wind up with goblins corpses, and their piles of clothing and iron, spread far and wide across your defensive networks, often with most of it near the farthest parts (ie the first watchtower the goblins would encounter).  That makes cleanup (whether it be dumping to magma, or stored into stockpiles) a much riskier and more prolonged affair.  Since goblin clean-up is usually the most time-intensive activity for a mature fort (for me, at least), it's a major problem with the otherwise rather nice watchtower design :/

Yup. A solution to this problem I've found is to make the kill zone very small, yet extremely intense. 30 marksdwarves with huge stockpiles of ammo all in the same place will result in a hail of crossbow bolts. I don't think anything except for a BC will be able to survive that.

The kill zone is also on top of retractable bridges. For cleanup I simply pull the lever, and dump all goblin corpses and intact bolts onto the Z level below where cleanup can be done in perfect safety.