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[Meph]

I searched, could not find anything related with the tags siegeammo, siege_ammo and ballista bolt, so here we go:

Normal ammo in the game has values assigned, like this:

Code: [Select]

[ITEM_AMMO:ITEM_AMMO_BOLTS]
[NAME:bolt:bolts]
[CLASS:BOLT]
[SIZE:150]
[ATTACK:EDGE:5:1000:stab:stabs:NO_SUB:1000]
[ATTACK_PREPARE_AND_RECOVER:3:3]
They have an attack, blunt or edged, a velocity, a verb, a NO_SUB value for "hits him/her with it's NO_SUB" and two number about how large the contact area and how deep the cut will be.

Siegeammo, aka ballista bolts only have this:

Code: [Select]

[ITEM_SIEGEAMMO:ITEM_SIEGEAMMO_BALLISTA]
[NAME:ballista arrow:ballista arrows]
[CLASS:BALLISTA]
Suggestions: Add values to siegeammo, so it can be modified like any other ammo type. Modders will be able to create weaker and stronger versions, different races can load their ballistas with different types of siegeammo. Shoot a tree-trunk, a steel-tipped bolt, a bunch of bolas/whips, a casket full of totems, do as you like.

That's it.

[Blastbeard]

I'm for it, +1.

Just about everything to do with siege engines has needed an update for the longest time now, modifiable ammo is probably somewhere on the list. Something just isn't right when a minecart filled with silverware can do more damage than a purpose-built weapon of war.

Being able to modify how the ammo behaves would be neat too. We should be able to define that the ammo pierces through creatures in its line of fire as they do now, or other effects, such as splitting off into multiple smaller projectiles. Although that example might be a little anachronistic, having the effect of a minecart shotgun in a smaller package with less setup would make siege engines all the more appealing.

Perhaps projectile behavior would be better defined by the siege engine firing it, but that would require having the siege engine itself be modifiable in the first place. On the other hand, if such properties were defined by the ammunition, individual emplacement would become far more versatile, being able to adapt to various situations by simply changed the ammunition fired. That's assuming some sort of stockpile issue doesn't prevent dwarves from using different kinds of ammo for some reason. By which I mean some sort of stockpile issue would probably prevent dwarves from using multiple types of ammo in the same siege engine.

TL;DR = Any change would be good change when it comes to siege engines. They're old, it shows, and it's past time to give them some love.

[StagnantSoul]

Customizable siege weapons would be good too- what ammo they take, how much of it they take, any prerequisites for firing, firing types and such. Though

[Witty]

I'd rather have siege weapons as a whole get a much needed overhaul first.

[Meph]

The difference is in the code behind it. A complete overhaul of siege engines means a complete developement cycle, an entire update just focused on that.

Adding an already existing system for item A to item B takes one day. Code, test, fix, text, release, done.

[Featheredragon]

I searched, could not find anything related with the tags siegeammo, siege_ammo and ballista bolt, so here we go:

Normal ammo in the game has values assigned, like this:

Code: [Select]

[ITEM_AMMO:ITEM_AMMO_BOLTS]
[NAME:bolt:bolts]
[CLASS:BOLT]
[SIZE:150]
[ATTACK:EDGE:5:1000:stab:stabs:NO_SUB:1000]
[ATTACK_PREPARE_AND_RECOVER:3:3]
They have an attack, blunt or edged, a velocity, a verb, a NO_SUB value for "hits him/her with it's NO_SUB" and two number about how large the contact area and how deep the cut will be.

Siegeammo, aka ballista bolts only have this:

Code: [Select]

[ITEM_SIEGEAMMO:ITEM_SIEGEAMMO_BALLISTA]
[NAME:ballista arrow:ballista arrows]
[CLASS:BALLISTA]
Suggestions: Add values to siegeammo, so it can be modified like any other ammo type. Modders will be able to create weaker and stronger versions, different races can load their ballistas with different types of siegeammo. Shoot a tree-trunk, a steel-tipped bolt, a bunch of bolas/whips, a casket full of totems, do as you like.

That's it.

I am completely behind this too. Most of anything I would love to be able to change is related to weaponry. In fact I am planning to develop a crossbow mod, however anything combat related is kind of useless until... THINGS ACTUALLY ATTACK US! Until sieges are fixed and more ways for your fort to get attacked happen... well until then DF kind of sucks. Until then I will just continue making real crossbows.

Also single square or two square ballista to represent field ballista would be nice for firing light javelins, maybe make it able for siege engines to fire weapons or plain ammo (Is the separate .txt file fore siege ammo even necessary?), larger siege ballista could also fire stones. Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polybolos.

[Meph]

If you want to create a ranged-weapon mod, please use dfhack. There are many great scripts, that result in syndrome-induving ammo, projectiles that run scripts on impact, a siege-engine plugin for dfhack, custom ammo for those, etc.