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[Fewah]

I have two squads of Markdwarves who I station 1 z-level above my main entrance. Recent had a Siege where the Markdwarves exhausted their ammo on the Goblins and sat around doing nothing afterwards.

This is despite having Ammo stockpiles in their Barracks and RIGHT BESIDE THEM.

How can I effectively set up the Markdwarves for sieges and raids to station themselves along my wall and reload their ammo when their out!

Also minor issue, but I noticed a few of them using Wood Bolts that I only have set for training in combat.

What am I doing wrong here exactly? Should I be setting a burrow up for the Markdwarves or something? Thanks

[Bumber]

IIRC, they'll go get ammo if you have them patrol between their post and an ammo stockpile (out of sight of the enemy.)

They'll use any training bolts left in their quiver, but after they've used them up they should only grab combat bolts while on duty.

Also, if you're storing your ammo in bins you're gonna have trouble. A bin that's tasked by a dwarf will block access to all other dwarves, and marksdwarves claim specific bolts and won't settle for ammo in another bin.

[Worblehat]

I didn't need to do anything special to get mine to work. I have basically the same setup, archer tower above the gate, ground floor is an ammo stockpile set to allow no bins and only metal bolts. I use the squad move command to get them up there, no burrow or patrol orders.

On the advice of the Advanced marksdwarf training guide, I don't try to use the combat/training bolt distinction. Everything is CT, and I manually forbid and unforbid to switch from using wooden training bolts to metal combat bolts.

They've been firing away at zombies for almost four months now, no problems with reloading at all. My only complaint with them is that the move order allows them to choose any space within three tiles, so I can't convince them to move from one side of the tower to the other. I don't think there's anything to be done about that, sadly.

[Bumber]

My only complaint with them is that the move order allows them to choose any space within three tiles, so I can't convince them to move from one side of the tower to the other. I don't think there's anything to be done about that, sadly.

I think "defend burrow" works. Create a tiny burrow and order them to defend it.

[Worblehat]

My only complaint with them is that the move order allows them to choose any space within three tiles, so I can't convince them to move from one side of the tower to the other. I don't think there's anything to be done about that, sadly.

I think "defend burrow" works. Create a tiny burrow and order them to defend it.

That seems functionally identical to the station command. They're up there, they shoot at things on their side of the tower, but can't be bothered to move to obtain a shot. Gotta keep staring at that view to the north, even when the zombie horde is parading around just below the south side of the tower... 

Or did you mean make four mini-burrows, one per side of the tower, and adjusting which they're supposed to defend every time a target turns a corner? That sounds like it should work; I'll try it next time the horde wanders past.

[BoogieMan]

I make my marksdwarf fortifications along single tile width tunnels with a pit in front and a solid wall behind so they have no choice but to stand right next to the fortification. You can use doors or bridges to make the outside of the fortification inaccessible if needed. Works good.

[Worblehat]

I make my marksdwarf fortifications along single tile width tunnels with a pit in front and a solid wall behind so they have no choice but to stand right next to the fortification. You can use doors or bridges to make the outside of the fortification inaccessible if needed. Works good.

That's nice, but completely irrelevant to those of us who try to use archery towers like Fewah and myself. The problems we're having are a plausible argument in favor of your approach, but they're an even better argument for "atom-smash all the marksdwarves, and just use melee dwarves plus traps & engineering for defense"... (Or "wait a second decade to try DF a third time, and hope it's finally in a playable state")

Or did you mean make four mini-burrows, one per side of the tower, and adjusting which they're supposed to defend every time a target turns a corner? That sounds like it should work; I'll try it next time the horde wanders past.

It does not work. Apparently burrows have the same 3-space leeway as any other attempt to move dwarves around.

And now I'm suffering from the same problem as Fewah in the original post. Marksdwarves stationed, out of ammo, plenty of ammo in the stockpiles, they refuse to go pick it up. I've tried ordering them to move to the stockpiles; wiping and re-creating their ammo assigments in the military screen; changing their defend burrow schedule to a squad move order. Urist McUseless1 and Urist McUseless2 refuse to do their jobs: they're idiots. 

[Loci]

That's nice, but completely irrelevant to those of us who try to use archery towers like Fewah and myself. The problems we're having are a plausible argument in favor of your approach, but they're an even better argument for "atom-smash all the marksdwarves, and just use melee dwarves plus traps & engineering for defense"... (Or "wait a second decade to try DF a third time, and hope it's finally in a playable state")

"My archery tower design doesn't work?!! Dwarf Fortress is literally unplayable!"

Well, you could use patrols like Bumber mentioned a week ago, or you could use the larger archery tower in the wiki article you linked which lets you manually station marksdwarves on two sides, or you could use "key tiles" to get your dwarves to move where you want them to, or I guess you could check back in 10 years to see if Toady has finally implemented the game as you think it should be.

[BoogieMan]

I make my marksdwarf fortifications along single tile width tunnels with a pit in front and a solid wall behind so they have no choice but to stand right next to the fortification. You can use doors or bridges to make the outside of the fortification inaccessible if needed. Works good.

That's nice, but completely irrelevant to those of us who try to use archery towers like Fewah and myself. The problems we're having are a plausible argument in favor of your approach, but they're an even better argument for "atom-smash all the marksdwarves, and just use melee dwarves plus traps & engineering for defense"... (Or "wait a second decade to try DF a third time, and hope it's finally in a playable state")

Or did you mean make four mini-burrows, one per side of the tower, and adjusting which they're supposed to defend every time a target turns a corner? That sounds like it should work; I'll try it next time the horde wanders past.

It does not work. Apparently burrows have the same 3-space leeway as any other attempt to move dwarves around.

And now I'm suffering from the same problem as Fewah in the original post. Marksdwarves stationed, out of ammo, plenty of ammo in the stockpiles, they refuse to go pick it up. I've tried ordering them to move to the stockpiles; wiping and re-creating their ammo assigments in the military screen; changing their defend burrow schedule to a squad move order. Urist McUseless1 and Urist McUseless2 refuse to do their jobs: they're idiots. 

You can still make archer towers, I often still do. Just make it shaped like a box with the middle inaccessible, and a single tile hallway going around it. As long as you force them to by right up to the fortification they work better and don't get the penalty for shooting through a fortification.

FFFFFFFFFFFF
Fs               F
F  WWWW   F
F  WWWW   F
F  WWWW   F
F  WWWW   F
F               sF
FFFFFFFFFFFF

F=Fortification
S=stairs
W=Wall
   =empty space
Even better if you dig a 2 tile wide channel around it and make it blocks/smoothed stone with a floor section a few tiles up around outer tower walls to block climbers.

Just have to compensate for AI quirks with the designs.

[Worblehat]

Loci, if you can't post something useful, don't bother posting. In general, please refrain from replying to anything I post from now on.

Boogieman, thanks, that's productive advice. Looks like the wiki article is outdated, the way it recommends the 5x5 footprint. When/if this damn siege ends I'll try rebuilding as 9x9.

[Loci]

Loci, if you can't post something useful, don't bother posting. In general, please refrain from replying to anything I post from now on.

Heh. You have no authority to dictate what or where I can post. Feel free to ignore my posts if you like.

[Urist9876]

Ammo should not be stored in line of sight of enemy.

Marksdwarves trying to get ammo go civilian during that time and get spooked.
With decent discipline they snap out of it fast and either move to the enemy again as far as possible or start getting the ammo again.

Doors or hatches between the combat and storage areas also help a lot.

Even better is to have food and drink somewhere near the ammo stockpile and lock the marksdwarves in, so they do not start to do crazy things.

An automated minecart setup, dumping the bolts on the ammo stockpile is almost required, if you are going to train multiple squads on undead in a dwarfly manner.