How (and with what) would you suggest fighting a bronze colossus? I’m asking because, on one of my previous adventures, I was tasked with taking one down (this was only my second quest -the first one involved a dragon that turned out to be extremely easy to kill). After reaching the colossus’s shrine, I engaged the colossus which proceeded to wipe the floor with the other members of my party (only the legendary dodging skills I had gained as a disciple of Master Limulus saved me from the same grisly fate). Anyways, I hacked at it with my long sword, gaining serious skill points but still unable to make a dent in it. Eventually, I lured it to a stream where I intended to take advantage of it’s weakness to water. At this point it began to flee from me and fled upstream, eventually managing to dive below a brook. I gave chase...
And I drowned.
Any tips on what to do if I ever get in such a situation again would be much appreciated.
Since 34.11? the pretty common vanilla DF weapon suggestion that many of us have used is the steel pick. It has a decent 100 contact area and a nice 2K momentum. Or steel battle axe, which is almost as good. Presuming the dwarven civ(s) in your world have steel you could trade for one of these, rob a poor dwarf, or perhaps find one in an item stash.
A bit different than what others here have suggested:
a bronze colossus has a skill level of zero (dabbling skill) and cannot learn; this means it doesn't have to be reserved for end game characters. You need to be able to successfully
roll-to-dodge/block versus a level zero, so conservatively say level 6 would be good enough for your shield user and dodger.
The combat roadmap I follow for everyone save for critters with semi-nonnegotiable special attacks (web/paralyze/blind/curse) is:
1. Remove critter ability to stand. Spam lower limb damage for critters with lower limbs or to lower body for snake like critters.
Removal of ability to stand = remove charge. Remove charge = remove opponent's ability to cause stun. Stun debuffs you by 50%. And as Cathar mentioned, grounding them like this drops their movement speed from the 1K walking to .323 on the ground.
A thing that is still likely true is (you) the standing unit vs (them) the grounded unit = 2X momentum to your attacks. To achieve grounding,
the preferred, safety first spam method for any opponent is multi-attack combo (quick attack + dodge away) to either the foot, lower leg or upper leg. You prioritize the smallest consequential body part as this reaches cumulative damage fastest. So foot > lower leg > upper leg.
Why quick attack + dodge away is so useful is that this uses the lowest tick count attack *and* places you 2 tiles away from your attacker as you are no longer on adjacent tiles — there is one empty tile between you and your opponent. It works well versus strikes and
is magical versus successful grab attacks. 2. Debuff. Spam lower body damage if critter can suffer nausea.
Nausea is your 50% debuff to them.3. Choose quickest method of causing death. For an inorganic like a bronze colossus, this is more often than not cumulative damage. Yes you can lop off its head or perhaps bisect its midsection, but this is very RNG driven.
So for fastest route to cumulative damage as mentioned, you choose the smallest consequential body part, but with the highest hit%, which for colossus is lower body. More or less, spam lower body damage. The higher your weapon skill will increase not only hit rate but damage output. And with RNG lottery kill shots, high skill increases their likelihood as well.
Though if you do get a good headshot, might as well take it. Head is smaller than lower body = ir's easier to exceed the cumulative damage threshold, but as it is a smaller body part, it will also often be harder to hit.
Hope this helps.