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[Rominus]

I had set up a line of fortifications on the fort side of my drawbridge, to allow my Marksdwarves to shoot out at invaders.  It worked fine until the goblin crossbowmen showed up; apparently every last one of them is an epic shot, since they slaughtered my Marksdwarves right through the fortifications. 

So if sieges regularly come with fortification-immune archers, what use do fortifications have?  I've read a lot of posts with people talking about archer towers and raised, fortified platforms, but I can't see how this would even work. 

I ended up replacing the fortifications with walls and will have my Marksdwarves just stand behind my melee squads, but I'd really like to have a more specific archery defense setup.

[Zsword]

The usefullness of fortifications scale inversly with the enemy archer skill ratings, so, high level bowmen/crossbowmen, won't care about them, but most of the trashier, inexperienced goboes, won't be able to do much to them.

Edit: So put things in a maybe more accurate light, normally, no Fortifications are fantastic, but when Goblin Legolas Rolls around with his Fully Automatic Sniper rifle, well, not a fuck is given. Odds are, the 'goblin bowmen' that wrecked your force, was mostly lowbies who didn't do jack, while an Elite, with his super top level speed just mowdowned your forces.

[olopi]

my dorfs dont even use fortifications, even if the enemies are standing right beforethem -.-

[Naryar]

Train your marksdwarves in shield user and give them shields.

[GhostDwemer]

Skill determines how far away from the fortifications enemies can be and still shoot through them. Anyone can shoot through fortifications if they can walk right up to them. Are your fortifications on the ground level, or are they at least one z-level up? Do you have a moat surrounding your fort to keep enemies at a distance from your walls?

[NonconsensualSurgery]

Nonelite crossbowmen (not flashing) can only fire through if they are standing right next to the fortification. Add a moat or have them fire from an elevated position and this won't be a problem.

The elites? They usually slaughter your crossbowmen like ducks, even if they have shields and heavy armor. Pull back and rely on other modes of defense, or deplete their arrow supply with livestock.

[Rominus]

I do have a 4 tile wide moat, and the goblins were shooting from about 3 tiles back from the edge, so it doesn't seem like them being too close to the fortifications was the problem.  Shields are already equipped too (not that my dwarves had much skill with them.)

Does adding a z-level really make much difference?  I've tried it in previous forts and it didn't seem to do much.

[nightwhips]

The z-level difference only prevents non-elite goblins from hurting you.

The main point is that any time you see an elite ranged attacker, you have to resort to a different defense. Your marksdwarves are useless in that case. It doesn't render them useless, always, it just means you have to invest in multiple defenses. They're not an IWIN button.

I suspect that one of the above posters is right - a single elite goblin archer probably shot your guys up. It's happened to me.

[GhostDwemer]

According to the wiki, accomplished or better bowmen can shoot through fortifications from a distance. Adding a z-level just helps increase distance, crucial if you don't have a moat. Sounds like you got hit with an elite bowman. They'll shoot you through the eyeslits of your helm, fortifications are nothing to them. Literally: it's all or nothing. Either they can't shoot through fortifications, or they totally ignore them.

[Flying Dice]

Of course, the problem can be dealt with by turning all of your marksdwarves into little dwarven Lego Lasses. You might lose some while they mow down the trash, but they'll still beat a legendary marksgobbo if they're all legendary. Or use a legendary dodger/shield user/weapon user; they tend to matrix even against legendary archers.


And as above: Fortifications act as open space for high-skill archers and as solid walls for low-skill archers who aren't right next to them.

[nenjin]

Something else I noticed too. It's a bad idea to make a long, unbroken line of fortifications, because to elite goblin archers there might as well be nothing there at all. Break up the fortifications with walls, and keep the # of fortifications between walls small, like to 2 to 3 tiles. This means that goblins will sometimes have to attack you from angles or head on to get a shot in, while your marksdwarves can have a pretty good angle of fire from the same position.

[Vehudur]

Either train your archers up to legendary and also make them legendary armor user / shield user / dodger or put a drawbridge in front of your fortifications (on YOUR side of the moat) that you can raise in the case of an elite goblin archer.

Alternatively, build an atom smasher in a hallway that they have to travel through first and atom smash the elite goblin archers.

[kaijyuu]

For the machinegunner archers, one thing I've always wanted to try but never got around to was a dual wielding shield squad. They should be able to close the gap with much less risk of getting shot in the face, while your axe/sword/marksdwarves come in later and deliver killing blows.

[Girlinhat]

Dual shields will deflect attacks about twice as often.  If you've got them also good at dodge and agility, they'll rush through enemy archer fire like you wouldn't believe.  Steel armor and dual copper shields (for weight in shield bashing, not much but every bit helps) can be surprisingly dangerous.

[Hyndis]

I use a blob of massed marksdwarves. What they lack in accuracy individually they make up for it in sheer massed firepower. Even if a marksdwarf gets hit, armor will probably save them, and the other marksdwarves will move up, blocking fire for the injured dwarf, acting like a wall of beard and steel for the injured dwarf.

When they exhaust their ammo they then charge up and club the survivors to death. By the time 60+ marksdwarves exhaust their ammo there isn't much left of a siege. The survivors by that point are slowly crawling away and are helpless in melee.