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Author Topic: Siege Engines  (Read 887 times)

Clotifoth

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Siege Engines
« on: October 09, 2011, 11:47:23 pm »
Does anyone use them anymore?  I'm attempting to set up ballista batteries at some point and wondering how effective siege machines are in 31.25.   How useful are they?  Are they still the epic killing machines a lá Boatmurdered, or have they been nerfed horribly much?
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Quote from: 612DwarfAvenue on November 13, 2011, 05:58:07 am
"What's the deep dark pit, that turns mining operations to shit?"  "The shaft!"  "You see this shaft is a bad mother--"
"Shut your mouth!"
"But I'm talkin' about the shaft!"
"Then we can dig it."

Miuramir

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Re: Siege Engines
« Reply #1 on: October 10, 2011, 09:54:21 am »
I've been thinking on similar lines, as I've been sketching out the concept for a fort designed to draw attackers to a Moria-inspired chasm crossing liberally covered by ballista.  The wiki is a bit vague on the actual game mechanics that affect design, and I'd appreciate details from those who have current version experience with large sieges and siege weaponry. 
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Clotifoth

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Re: Siege Engines
« Reply #2 on: October 10, 2011, 10:08:22 am »
That sounds awesome.  I believe the Wiki entry isn't 100% up to date to 0.31.25, not sure why, but it just doesn't seem correct.
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Quote from: 612DwarfAvenue on November 13, 2011, 05:58:07 am
"What's the deep dark pit, that turns mining operations to shit?"  "The shaft!"  "You see this shaft is a bad mother--"
"Shut your mouth!"
"But I'm talkin' about the shaft!"
"Then we can dig it."

MonkeyHead

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Re: Siege Engines
« Reply #3 on: October 10, 2011, 03:55:36 pm »
Wooden bolts will maim through massive blunt force trauma - broken bones, bruising, artery and nerve damage. Occasionally deflected by clothing or low quality armours. Metal bolts can make a mess of goblin sized targets, though mass for heavy and soft metal,s or sheer hardness for steel/iron.

Downsides - massive innacuracy even with high quality parts. Funnel your targets into a killzone with multiple ballistae.
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Ieb

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Re: Siege Engines
« Reply #4 on: October 10, 2011, 04:50:14 pm »
If you use ballista, I've seen best results when the entrance is a long straight path. Gives the ballista a lot of chance to hit and maim, HIT AND MAIM THEIR GUTS!

But yeah. Always make some metal-heads for your ballista arrows, otherwise they won't really do as much as you'd want. Even copper will do, but you can upgrade pretty fast by melting down all the shish-kebab goblin remains.

They work the best against siege hordes though. Ambush squads are far too small and hard to prepare for, unless you have some pre-emptive ambush squad alarm methods like chain-animals and manually put operators on standby at the end of each season.
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