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[Vicid]

Lately I've been building fortresses that require attackers to run concentric circles around a central tower with archers.  (I use dry motes on either side of the path that are several z levels deep and it is more like a spiral than concentric circles)  (I also use the bottom of these drymotes for useless refuse 

When I'm not expecting an attack I have bridges that make a direct path to this central tower.

My question is what is the best z-level for marks dwarves to be at when shooting down at attackers?  Is there a 3D sphere around a marks dwarf that determines range?  Or is it more intuitive with higher levels going farther?

Also (if you can imagine my defensive set up) what role should siege weapons play?  Any at all?

[EvilCheerio]

well, siege weapons are kinda useless for you, because in order to get any good hits off on the enemy they need to be in an enclosed straight line, the whole running in circles thing kinda screws it up

[jester]

Ive fiddled around a fair bit with seige weapons.  Catapults are fun but not useful in a practical sense (but they can be a good laugh, the odd lucky stone will kill 3 or 4 gobs).  4 Ballistas looking down the only road to your fortress manned by legendary operators however....  You do need to set things up so the gobs are herded into a long, straight path so your spiral is a bit of a bugger.  A nice long road leading to the spiral with channels would do it.  Just remember seige wepons cannot target over z levels and the operators are civis so they run if the gobs get too close.
  As for the marksdwarves, I use 3 or 4 z levels but if the enemy has no shooters ground level is better.  I have read of people usuing 7 and 8 level high towers but I figure the military need a few scars. 
  Fortifications are apparently harder to shoot through the further you are from them and the range works off veiw distance so it should be a sphere type thing. 
  Stationing the marksdwarves on the top of the tower and not having a roof keeps it outside and stops haulers from dashing into the firing line if a marksdwarf stops an arrow with his organs.
  Your setup sounds like it should gut any seige that comes in as long as your marksdwarves arnt off boozing it up/sleeping it off.  Might I suggest a sally gate (protected by drawbridge) outside the spiral so melee dwarves can get behind the gobs when they limp for safety?

jeez big post.

[manored]

I think that greater heights increase both the minimum and maximum range, and in that case putting your shooters too high mean they wont be able to shot globins that get too close. As for siege weapons, I heard they are usefull against super creatures that are otherwise hard to kill, like dragons, but I never used then myself.

[Flaede]

I've heard that a good solution to the ballista operators running away is to leave a wide impassable gap between the space  invaders will be on, and the ballista bunker. Since they're not close enough to the nasty invaders to be "interrupted", they don't run. I don't know how wide it needs to be, however, since I've never tried it. I have memories of "8 tiles" being hte magic number, but I just don' remember for sure.

[Duke 2.0]

 Hmm...

 Remember, ranged units will try to attack any opponent they see, which is a sphere around them of an unknown length. For every z-level they raise, the maximum sight range lowers because of its position relative to the sphere of vision. In all actuality, the only bonus of range is having unskilled ranged units be less accurate, or fortifications which can shield your units.

 From what I can tell, if you have circles around your entrance in the right way you can get away with a single z-level height bonus and be fine when it comes to fortifications. Also note, units farther from the edge won't be seen by units below, as opposed to on the same z-level where you need cover.

[pushy]

I think that greater heights increase both the minimum and maximum range, and in that case putting your shooters too high mean they wont be able to shot globins that get too close.

Good planning and a varied military (or traps) can mean you don't have to worry about that, though At arguably its most basic level, you'll have marksdwarves on a wall at Z+1 over the fort's entrance (Z0). Goblins get turned into pincushions as they run up to the entrance. The lucky ones that make it past the barrage of sharp metal/wood/bone sticks walk in the entrance, right into the loving arms of some melee fighters or right into a weapon trap. I have a tendency to build a small room at the entrance with forts when I get around to building an outer perimeter (before you ask, merchants go to another entrance which will always be sealed at one end, so can have little/no defences) as it keeps the little bastards in a confined area, helpful for melee combat

[Ampersand]

 Hmm...

 Remember, ranged units will try to attack any opponent they see, which is a sphere around them of an unknown length. For every z-level they raise, the maximum sight range lowers because of its position relative to the sphere of vision. In all actuality, the only bonus of range is having unskilled ranged units be less accurate, or fortifications which can shield your units.

 From what I can tell, if you have circles around your entrance in the right way you can get away with a single z-level height bonus and be fine when it comes to fortifications. Also note, units farther from the edge won't be seen by units below, as opposed to on the same z-level where you need cover.

Everything I understand about how path finding works indicates that it would not be a sphere, but a cylinder. As far as I know, Z levels are not accounted for when distance is calculated.