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[Yiab]

I was wondering whether or not it is possible to create a zone (or something else that covers a specified area) where, whenever an item enters that zone it is automatically forbidden.

Basically, I'm training seige operators by sticking a catapult in my main stone storage area and setting it to just keep firing the stones down a hole. I want to keep the stones from being re-collected until I tell the catapult to stop firing. What I've done before is just lock the door to the drop zone while the catapult is firing, but my dwarves eventually stopped collecting stones from outside the drop zone, since they just kept picking and cancelling tasks from inside it. I've tried fiddling with the forbid orders (forbid used ammunition), but this doesn't seem to apply to catapult stones. I've also tried just telling dwarves to not pick up minerals, but then I start running out of stones near the catapult itself.

Does anybody know of a good solution to this dilemma?

Alternately, can I be guaranteed that a stone fired from a catapult which hits a wall and drops onto a dwarf's head one z-level below will never injure said dwarf? If so, this isn't really a problem at all and I can just facepalm from stupidity.

If it's relevant, I'm using 31.03.

[aurixdarastrix]

As of my experience, hitting a wall causes a catapult round to change from a projectile to an object, and falling objects are harmless.  So, don't worry about it. 

[Hyndis]

Do you have projectiles forbidden?

If so then all things thrown will be marked forbidden.

If you turn it off then haulers will instantly be assigned to grab all bolts fired, even in the middle of combat so it can have drawbacks.

If you make it so that projectiles are not auto-forbidden then you don't have to bother to reclaim. Just set up your catapults and fling rocks against a wall with a drop adjacent to the wall so that all rocks will be automatically quantum stockpiled. You can even build multiple Z levels of catapults to speed up the process. I recommend just leaving the door unlocked so that it take care of itself. They will tend to grab the closest stone to the location of the dwarf at the time he accepts the job, so if you make the quantum stone stockpile near one edge of the map you can encourage your dwarves to automatically move all stone on the map into that quantum stockpile.

[Yiab]

I do have projectiles forbidden, stones fired from the catapult are not being forbidden.

Also, I'm wary of falling stones since an artificial cave-in consist of falling stones, too. That said, I've left the doors open and haven't had a death report from it yet.

[Starver]

That's very much as it should be, from past experience (variations in 2010 notwithstanding, I don't think I've done any siege engine stuff since 2010 came out, even though they were a staple part of my setup back on 40d).  Loose stones are safe, when falling, it's just stone that was originally (right up until it lost all external support) construction or bedrock which prompts the whole cave-in fuss, not loose materials.  (Assuming I've not forgotten an exception, or am just plain out-of-date.)

But I was going to suggest that if you didn't (for any other reason) want tasks to stones to be considered and a door didn't seem be cutting it, perhaps construct a wall in that spot for the duration?  OTOH, I've had instances (in 3.01/2, at least) of miners stranding themselves in shafts thanks to the new channel-is-a-downramp implementation, and cancelling jobs they'd never be able to get to what with the lack of terrain (including aborting the attempt to dig their stairwell out of there because they appear to want to start at the top end!), so wouldn't put it past DF's job-choice algorithm to falsely ignore a wall while seeking appropriate employment possibilities...