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[DwarfUli]

I have a quick question. I created a 10x10 stockpile of small cut gems and placed them on the surface, in the grass. This is attracting waves of 6-9 keas at a time. I want to build two small towers near the field and station 2 dwarves on each tower with crossbows. Do I use burrows to assign each dwarf to each tower? And will they automatically attack keas as they swoop in to steal the small gems like they have been? I noticed that when keas steal items, they are able to fly up 10-20 z-levels in seconds, will average bow dwarves be able to hit them?

Thank you. I live on a sailboat, and have to pay for data as though it was the 90s...sorry if I ask things that are obvious to find out on youtube :/

Uli

[Thisfox]

I don't tend to use burrows much so I can't say if burrows will work. They might! I just don't know much about burrows, they always go wrong for me. Newfangled things _{(mutter mutter growl)} I'm old enough that I too don't bother with Youtube. The wiki has no moving parts and works fine to answer most of my questions, thank goodness.

Here are two nonburrow solutions:

• You can lock them in towers or on top of walls, just lock the door after they've gone up there and go on with your day. If there isn't much food or water or a bed in there they won't live more than a couple of months that way, but if they're well stockpiled up with the things they need a dwarf can live in a tower indefinitely. Don't forget to stockpile plenty of ammo.
• If you don't want to lock them in, put their unit in position on the tower as a station, and they'll go eat and drink and sleep when they need to. Theoretically. Or you could just get them to train there. I actually got mine training pretty much 24/7, and the training happens to be in the middle of the only entrance and exit to the fort, so they meet anything nasty trying to get in, and that works fine. Your mileage might vary.

[delphonso]

Stationing seems the best option, though whether they'll aim at rhe keas or not is tricky...

First off, marksdwarves won't shoot anything unless they're right next to the fortification (I believe Master rank allows them to shoot from a few tiles behind the fortifications, but hazy on the details). Luckily marksdwarf trains up pretty quick once you have a target, bolts, and the dwarf isn't busy. Assuming they're trained up well enough...the angle of view becomes an issue. I don't know how far up or down a dwarf can look through fortifications, but I would guess if a kea flies up 20 zeds, there's a good chance they can avoid the vision cone.

This is assuming they'll aggro on the kea thief, which I think they will if they see the kea take something. You might want to build some sort of roof around the gems to give the crossbowers some time to fill the keas with bolts. Keas are pretty small, so one good shot should at least knock them on the ground for a bit in pain.

[Mobbstar]

In my personal experience, marksdwarves actually fare quite well against flying opponents regardless of whether or not they have a tower to shoot from.  Keas in particular tend to panic and fly away, making open-air melee combat very slow, but rangers have more leeway and can shoot down keas relatively fast by simply standing at the entrance/stockpile.

Thus my advice is:  Don't over-engineer.  Don't build towers.  Simply station some marksdwarves or set a patrol order for their squadron.  See if that is enough.

PS: living on a sailboat sounds so cool

[PatrikLundell]

As previous posters have said, stationing on/in close proximity to the stockpile should be good enough. Roof/fortifications are needed to protect against actual threats (giant keas would be, if they attack), but are detrimental to a pest control function.
Setting up barracks or assigned archery targets probably works as well (and probably better, as the dorfs would get some training [with associated satisfaction] out of it).

Note that the above is based on forum posts as I rarely use any marksdwarves as all for any purposes.

[A_Curious_Cat]

There’s a problem with flying creatures not flying to a destination unless they can path to it on the ground, so locking your keas up in a tower isn’t going to work.  Also, tame birds never fly, so locking them at the top of a tower is useless.  The biggest problem with your plan, however, is that keas aren’t trainable, so you won’t be able to get any hunting keas to put in the tower in the first place!

Hope that explains things.

[Thisfox]

There’s a problem with flying creatures not flying to a destination unless they can path to it on the ground, so locking your keas up in a tower isn’t going to work.  Also, tame birds never fly, so locking them at the top of a tower is useless.  The biggest problem with your plan, however, is that keas aren’t trainable, so you won’t be able to get any hunting keas to put in the tower in the first place!
Hope that explains things.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that DwarfUli is trying to capture or tame the keas, I think that they're trying to slaughter the keas.

[Mobbstar]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that DwarfUli is trying to capture or tame the keas, I think that they're trying to slaughter the keas.

Sshh!  Don't argue with the Cat.

(I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be a joke and had a quick laugh, but perhaps it's not that obvious.)

It would be cool to have a falcon tower to remotely hunt from.

[anewaname]

For the data usage issue, consider saving useful DF wiki webpages locally on your computer.

When a military dwarf is on Active duty (at Station, doing a Patrol, Training, or Defending a Burrow), they will attack kea that come within sight. If you give the squad a Kill order, the dwarfs may not be able to path to flying kea so they will not move closer to the kea as you might want. But, Train orders are best for thieving wildlife because the dwarfs will do something productive while waiting for the live targets.

This is an example... Next to the gems, create a 3x3 barracks under a 5x5 roof (the roof protects from the rain and hides the marksdwarfs from the kea until the kea are near the ground (easier targets at close range). Then put 4 or more dwarfs in a squad, set the squad to Train at that barracks, and modify the order to "Train 3 minimum", then copy/paste the order for all 12 months. The purpose of only training 3 per month is that it gives the other squad members off-duty time during the year while ensuring some squad members are there all year.

[HungThir]

to address the "keas flying up out of the marksdwarves' view cone" issue, i would put the towers a little way back from the stockpile, not right next to it.  maybe 15-20 tiles away from the farther edge? (so, if your stockpile is 10 tiles wide, then put the tower 5-10 tiles from the near edge)

as stated already, the marksdwarves won't generally fire through fortifications unless they're right next to them (there are exceptions i'm glossing over).  so to address this, build a second wall inside your tower, such that the path inside the fortifications is only one tile wide and they can't meander.  you can build your staircases, ammo stockpiles, etc inside the inner room if the tower is wide enough, but a 7x7 exterior will get you a 5x5 patrol loop, a 3x3 inner wall, and a 1x1 staircase up the centre

dwarves obeying a "station" order will scatter randomly near the marked position, rather than standing precisely at it, so it's not very effective for archery towers.  it's more effective to create a patrol route that circles the one-tile path next to the fortifications, and schedule 2-3 marksdwarves to patrol that route

i assume your goal is harvesting keas using gems as bait, rather than protecting your gems.  if you just want to protect your gems, put them somewhere else

[DwarfUli]

Thank you all for your advice. I am starting to have some success in my kea hunting. I am mostly attracting Giant Kea by spreading a bunch of small cut gems on the grass surface in a 15x15 area. I get large waves of them, sometimes 8+. I even had wheelbarrows carried off by them. It's all really exciting and it has become an exciting part of my dorfs existence. I set up some stockpiles and am thinking off incorporating some specialized buildings for Kea hunters and their specialized needs in my next fort, or if we survive long enough, in this one. I am still learning and don't even know if I can trap giant kea and train them? That would be the next step I suppose.

[DwarfUli]

Giant Kea are not trainable but maybe I can trap them still.

[delphonso]

Not war or hunting trainable, but they should be tameable - for an egg/meat industry.