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[The Bard]

To make it better, set up your catapult battery 3 levels up with hatches on the second level to catch spent stone when not being sieged.

When siege time comes, pull the lever to open the hatches and drop stone death from on high, including an initial deadly crush of falling rock from the practice shots.

[Garath]

might want to reuse some of the training stones though, but yea, kind of what I had in mind

[The Bard]

To reuse, You could make the Dwarven Avalancher 4 z-levels high with catapults on 4, inaccessible hatches on 3, which can be periodically opened to drop onto hatches on 2 for reclamation.

In siege mode, both of the Avalancher's hatchways are opened to drop their full payload.

[Dorfimedes]

Don't catapults generate dust such as the kind caused by cave-ins? I haven't used them in a while, this might not be the case any more. That stuff is pretty dangerous, I wouldn't call them useless. If you can force enemies into a choke point they'll start slamming into walls, breaking bones and falling unconscious. Dat splash damage! And as someone else said, catapults can be stacked with ease, leading to very high output if you have the dwarfpower to spare. I imagine catapults would be the siege weapon of choice against undead since they don't sever parts as often, too.

I'm a little biased though, catapults are a personal favorite of mine...

[Garath]

did you actually manage to 'slam them into walls with the dust' or are you merely wishing? I've made direct hits that did no damage at all, and nearby creatures just stood and stared, maybe dodged a bit. this was in 31.25, but someone up in this thread did some tests and said nothing changed

[Sphalerite]

Don't catapults generate dust such as the kind caused by cave-ins?

I have never, ever seen a catapult generate cave-in dust, not even back in old versions.

[Loud Whispers]

Don't catapults generate dust such as the kind caused by cave-ins?

I have never, ever seen a catapult generate cave-in dust, not even back in old versions.

Doesn't stop you from modding them to explode on contact with homeotherms though >:]

[Blizzlord]

How would that be feasible?

And if it is, the DEAR GOD YES THE CARNAGE IT WILL WREAK! OH THE GLORIOUS SLAUGHTER!

[Loud Whispers]

Change the material you're firing's gas state to the temperature of the average homeotherm (10067), and you've got yourself explosive ammo. Very volatile though, so have fun.

[khearn]

I just tested ballistae and catapults - no change from previous versions.

Any knockback effects from them now? Given how often I've seen dogs get knocked back from crossbows, I'd expect a ballista bolt should send its victims flying.

[GoldenShadow]

I need to mine deeper (deepest) and set up a slade catapult.

[Mictlantecuhtli]

So, wouldn't a two-tile bridge work much better as a catapult in these versions? I haven't used siege weapons since 2d, and even then they were... rather limited in usefulness. I'm thinking a bridge loaded with anvils/bars/blocks of some sort and set to flip a certain way would be an easy way to turn most norma-size enemies into pulp, correct?

[The Bard]

Catapults still have a better rate of fire. You would have to be constantly micromanaging to keep a bridge-a-pult operating.

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Catapults still have a better rate of fire. You would have to be constantly micromanaging to keep a bridge-a-pult operating.

Rate of fire doesn't matter much when the moving object won't usually hit/do damage. So I figure 20+ bars on a bridge with good quality mechanisms linked to a lever would suffice for most defending/!!FUN!! situations, it's not like I'll be caught off-guard by a siege, now will I?

Especially if said bridge's 'loading' side had an area above that caught dumped heavy items and could be released with a seperate lever, allowing reloading to happen almost instantly and with multiple items.

[Loud Whispers]

Catapults still have a better rate of fire. You would have to be constantly micromanaging to keep a bridge-a-pult operating.

Rate of fire doesn't matter much

Quantum stockpile = Machine cannon.