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Author Topic: Effectiveness of Fortifications vs Ballista and Bows...  (Read 1994 times)

tp12

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Re: Effectiveness of Fortifications vs Ballista and Bows...
« Reply #15 on: April 28, 2009, 04:01:46 pm »

i read that ballistas and catapults could fire up and down z-levels...is there a conclusive answer on that one?
Yes there is, it's (unfortunatly) no they do not.
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Untill recently, before stocks ran out, it rained cats and dogs in my fortress...

zooeyglass

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Re: Effectiveness of Fortifications vs Ballista and Bows...
« Reply #16 on: April 29, 2009, 04:07:54 am »

thank you and damn. poor urist mcballistamaniac is fairly useless now...
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It is a total pain in the butt, but you gotta do what you gotta do if you want that upright candy weapon.
Your suspicions are nothing more than superstition

Albedo

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Re: Effectiveness of Fortifications vs Ballista and Bows...
« Reply #17 on: April 29, 2009, 05:55:25 am »

pfft - not at all.  Just requires some forethought, to create a good killing field.  You can do that.
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tp12

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Re: Effectiveness of Fortifications vs Ballista and Bows...
« Reply #18 on: April 29, 2009, 10:38:43 am »

also, watching goblins/elves/nobles scatter themselves backwards over a wide area is really fun to watch.
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Time Kitten

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Re: Effectiveness of Fortifications vs Ballista and Bows...
« Reply #19 on: April 29, 2009, 01:11:44 pm »

Several notes from my experience.

Raising the fortifications up just prevents goblins from being adjacent... actually, keeps them a step away and a step down, which is like two spaces, giving a more than minimal fortifications advantage.  So, a line of vertical grates or bars or a channel would do the same thing in front of your fortifications.

Next, it seems that fortifications don't block bolts or arrows, but make for a harder to hit roll against whatever is on the other side, and since siege weapons don't discriminate by target, just smashing whatever happens to be in front, they are unaffected.

It seems siege ammo does descend Z levels, but only as it falls naturally.  So if you have a wide field of fire to cover at a specific it may be feasible to use it as such, without your operateers ever getting a line of sight, though I've not tested any of those principles.

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