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[dexxy]

What is the maximum range of a crossbow? The wiki says 20 squares. But I have seen marksdwarfs shooting much longer range than this, such as about 50 squares.

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Crossbow

Also, i gave all my soldiers crossbows. I ended up with about 40 marksdwarfs and 7 elite marksdwarfs. However, the silly dwarfs had very low melee skills, even after 10 years of training. It seems they would just shoot their crossbows and hardly ever go into melee combat, so they were hopeless at melee.

One elite marksdwarf had both his arms ripped off by a giant grey langur. He didn't even go do hospital, just stayed there at the barracks training, blinking the wounded signs. If he had melee skills, maybe his arms wouldn't have got ripped off? So I made him attack something else, and he bit and kicked it to death. He was going great. Until that goblin lasher hit him in the head from behind with an iron whip. Oh well!

So maybe it's a bad idea to give all soldiers a crossbow. It stunts their melee abilities, which they might need later.

[Finn]

Hmmm, have you really seen 50 squares?  I'm not saying it's impossible, in fact if you can reproduce it you should adjust the wiki, however be careful to differentiate between how far the bolt flies and how far the target was that your dwarf was aiming at.  I don't think they will shoot at anything over 20 sqares.

[dexxy]

Hmmm, have you really seen 50 squares?  I'm not saying it's impossible, in fact if you can reproduce it you should adjust the wiki, however be careful to differentiate between how far the bolt flies and how far the target was that your dwarf was aiming at.  I don't think they will shoot at anything over 20 sqares.

Yes I've seen them shoot at targets 50 to 60 squares away. My map is 3x3 and very flat. I get them to cut down all the trees outside the wall. They regularly shoot from the middle of the map to the edge, and even get hits.

[Finn]

Well then, this should be noted.   

[dexxy]

Just saw an elite marksdwarf get a kill on a giant raven with a headshot by a copper bolt. The raven was about 50 tiles away to the east, and 15 tiles north, so that would be about 52 tiles.

[Maklak]

In 31.25 I've seen a legendary crossbow user shoot at targets about two screens away. Definietely more than 20 squares. I ordered them killed and there was nothing hostile between them, so he must have been deliberately shooting at very long range. He missed almost all the shots, though.

[Starver]

Just saw an elite marksdwarf get a kill on a giant raven with a headshot by a copper bolt. The raven was about 50 tiles away to the east, and 15 tiles north, so that would be about 52 tiles.

This

[Fredd]

Note to ponder: The maximum range of a archery range is about 30 spaces, which is slightly more than 20.

[nanomage]

I can confirm that marksdwarves can shoot much further than 20 squares, and I think the range of crossbow is technically unlimited.
However, there seem to be two different kinds of shots.
If markdwarves choose to fire on their own will, they'll pick an enemy that is sufficiently close and the bolts will indeed fly 20 or so squares.
If marksdwarves are ordered to kill something they can't path to, they'll start shooting at seemingly arbitrary chosen enemy regardless of range. I used this technique to shoot from the walls at siege squads that were partying near the borders because of no path into the fortress. The range was no less than an embark square, which is 48 tiles.

[ZeroSumHappiness]

So stick a goblin or wild animal behind a wall and order all your active marksdwarves to kill it from their station?

[Fredd]

nanomage, did your technique break up the party, and allow them to try to invade through your tunnel of death. Lately a catapult in my latest fort with its plinking lured them in?

[nanomage]

So stick a goblin or wild animal behind a wall and order all your active marksdwarves to kill it from their station?

Well I don't know what will come out of this. They will definitely not shoot into the wall though. I think they'll shoot at any enemy they have a direct line of sight to, regardless of range, or ignore your order if there's no such enemy.

nanomage, did your technique break up the party, and allow them to try to invade through your tunnel of death. Lately a catapult in my latest fort with its plinking lured them in?

The thing was I had no tunnel of death. I had a sealed fort with goblins sitting around the edges because they had no path.