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[goblolo]

Has anybody tried launching objects with bridges? Do they fly well?
So now I am interested in making a dwarfpult!
At first, we must have a above-grund fort walled from outer world. Then we wait for a gobbo siege. Full of bowgobs and crossgobs. 40 bow+crossgobs for example. So if we want kill em with melee dwarves there surely will be a lot of broken legs, ripped tendons and casualities.
BUT NOT WITH A DWARFPULT!
Dwarfpult is just a bridge that raises towards the fort wall. We get our squad standing on the bridge, wait for gobbos to move to landing zone and PULL ZE DAMN LEVERRR! Assuming that flight will not be that long and that good armor will help our dorfs survive during hard landing, we will get a bunch of vicious speardwarves within the melee range of shoked gobbos.

And the question is: is it real or i've missed something in the dwarven physics?

[goblolo]

goddammit double posting!

[Eric Blank]

This idea is practically prehistoric. Players have been doing it since they had drawbridges with which to launch dwarves!

A big rule for Bay12 is to never assume that we have yet to weaponize something, after day 1 since it's implementation. You will always be let down. Always.

But, yes. Drawbridges provide two functions that can be weaponized easily and cheaply: Tossing enemies around, and smashing them into non-existence. The latter is known as an atom-smasher, and is a very efficient method of eliminating peoplegarbage. You can't really get them to safely or reliably deploy troops, though, so it's hardly worth it to try that.

It's even on the wiki:
http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Stupid_dwarf_trick#Bridge-a-pult

[goblolo]

This idea is practically prehistoric. Players have been doing it since they had drawbridges with which to launch dwarves!

A big rule for Bay12 is to never assume that we have yet to weaponize something, after day 1 since it's implementation. You will always be let down. Always.

But, yes. Drawbridges provide two functions that can be weaponized easily and cheaply: Tossing enemies around, and smashing them into non-existence. The latter is known as an atom-smasher, and is a very efficient method of eliminating peoplegarbage. You can't really get them to safely or reliably deploy troops, though, so it's hardly worth it to try that.

It's even on the wiki:
http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Stupid_dwarf_trick#Bridge-a-pult

yep, thank you for fast reply, but i think i've been misunderstood a lil (maybe because of my poor english?). The question is not to cause harm with bridge but to try to move creatures with it rather harmlessly.
Trying to figure my questions in a more strainghtforward way:
1. Is it possible to control a firing range of a dwarfpult? If if build a 10-tiles long bridge and 2-tile long, will the first one launch objects for a greater distance?
2. If we have stones, the first is lying on the 1st tile of the 10-tiles long bridge and the secong is on the 10th, will the distance travelled  be different for them?
3. What is about safe landing? Creatures like keas being shot with bolt usually break bones, get some bruises and become stunned when falling from 3-4 Zlevels. Will dwarves perform better if they are wearing some armor? And what about shields, do they help?
4. The next thing I want to ask about is poultry and other small animals (like cats). Some of them are said to get a little to no falling damage. We can modify raws to be able to train war chickens and launch them to the goblin sieges without loosing much of them upon impact.
5. And the final one: falling objects are said to harm creatures they fall on, aren't they? What if flying, enclosed into steel shell, dwarf will slam into gobbos copperhelmed head? Will it be counted as a STRIKE?

I believe there is a lot of !science! being made in  that direction, can someone post a link or describe it briefly?

[Azated]

A dwarf fired from a bridge raising is usually going to die or take severe damage.

As Eric said, it's very difficult to predict where an object goes once fired from a bridgeapult, so their use as ballistic weaponry is limited at best. A minecart filled with spears is a much better idea for a ballistic weapons system, but it costs quite alot to set up.

[goblolo]

A minecart filled with spears is a much better idea for a ballistic weapons system, but it costs quite alot to set up.

will it pour all it's content in mid-air? Will spears scatter around the area making good "shrapnel" cannon?

As Eric said, it's very difficult to predict where an object goes once fired from a bridgeapult, so their use as ballistic weaponry is limited at best.

ok, i know what kind of !science! i will be doing this weekend!

[Azated]

A minecart filled with spears is a much better idea for a ballistic weapons system, but it costs quite alot to set up.

will it pour all it's content in mid-air? Will spears scatter around the area making good "shrapnel" cannon?

I've never done it myself, but that seems to be the end result.

[goblolo]

Another bunch of stoopid questions:
what if i pour magma on the bridge then raise it? Will it disappear or will fly in arc?

Has anybody tried shooting a pile of burning charcoal to gobbos?

[Dunamisdeos]

I'm sure someone here has information on the effects of liquids on a raised bridge. I know that things like blood will just still be there when the bridge lowers, but that may be unique.

The bridge essensially fires creature in random directions when it raises. You have about a 1/10 chance of having something land somewhere safe, and a 9/10 chance of having it slam into an object and exploding.

[greycat]

A minecart filled with spears is a much better idea for a ballistic weapons system, but it costs quite alot to set up.

will it pour all it's content in mid-air? Will spears scatter around the area making good "shrapnel" cannon?

My own attempts to weaponize minecart contents (there are several more posts in the same thread) were not successful, although that doesn't prove the concept is impossible.  I simply haven't ever seen a working design for it yet.