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[Haedrian]

I'm making a castle fort, and I want to have the ability to block off the main gate from the hoards of enemies which will inevitably siege it.

So question 1 is - What happens if there's no possible path to the fortress? What will the AI do?

Question 2 is - Ignoring the possibility of using a bridge (I don't like bridges much), is there a way of blocking off the 5 square wide opening? Do vertical bars work? Obviously I want caravans to be able to enter the fortress when the gate is down

(Picture of how it looks like - still under construction - rendered with 3Dwarf)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Scruga]

So question 1 is - What happens if there's no possible path to the fortress? What will the AI do?
-Stand around, move around the leader of their squad. Kill anything outside.

Question 2 is - Ignoring the possibility of using a bridge (I don't like bridges much), is there a way of blocking off the 5 square wide opening? Do vertical bars work? Obviously I want caravans to be able to enter the fortress when the gate is down.
-I use floodgates, just make sure nothing's under it when you close it, or it'll just stay open.

[Haedrian]

Hmm, floodgates don't really adhere to the theme though

But I guess I'll use them if there's no alternative, will make them out of iron so I can pretend they're some sort of new-fangled gate.

And regarding the siege - if I were to create a bunch of stairs which lead to a -10level mining shaft, and connect it to the rest of the fort there, filling the place up with traps, will they be stupid enough to walk through it?

[Scruga]

They'll always take the shortest route. If you close the shortest but keep a longer one (filled with traps) open. They'll take that one.

[Samus1111111]

You can use vertical bars, just hook them up to a lever and you have yourself a working portculus

just keep your dwarves away if they have marksdwarves because they can shoot through the bars

[loopoo]

Yeah. Make sure to add a 3 wide ditch, made of channels. This will stop any building destroyers breaking your stuff.

I'd suggest just making your bridge out of stone, Iron is useful, and to be honest it makes no difference, aesthetically wise or usefulness wise.

Also, it's Portcullis. :p

Nice layout you have. I don't see any Fortifications though, I suggest making the towers at least 4 z levels high. This greatly reduces the damage your Marksdwarves recieve. And i'd leave the grate portcullis out, completely. It's a hassle, nothing else. If you closed it, and the enemies came right up next to you, you'd be in an annoying spot.

[Haedrian]

Allright, final design is the following -

I'm using a bridge (with ditch) and vertical bars as well.

The towers will be 4 levels high and the top level will have fortifications.

Will post updated pictures when its done.

[loopoo]

Haedrian, don't make all the top layers Fortifications...That's silly, and it looks ugly :p

Fortifications should be on the corners, and in the middles. So if you have a 5x5 tower, you should have this setup:

FWFFWF F = Fortification W = Wall

Then the same with the other sides:

FWFFWF
W       W
F        F
F        F
W       W
FWFFWF etc.

Works well, provides more defense, and looks cooler. More realistic as well.

[Haedrian]

Was only planning on making the 'outside' part of the tower fortifications - the rest can just be walls.

The outside part of the walls (which are one less level than the tower) would be fortifications too.

I don't think it'd look too bad, I kinda like the look of fortifications

[loopoo]

I don't get what you mean. What do you mean the "outside"?

[Haedrian]

[Rest of map]
----------- <- wall Fortifications
............... <- walkable perimiter
............... <- inside of wall
[Castle]

The outside is the 'face' of the wall which is in the side of the rest of the map

[Albedo]

High towers may make you feel better, but know that excessive height hurts crossbow range.  Not by a lot, but some.

Also, there is a Line of Sight rule that will cause targets to be safe if they make the foot of that tower - about 1:1 for distance:height - add something (a moat, a berm, whatever) to keep them away a bit.  Or, add a lower firing balcony as well - then you can pick and choose.

Adding walls between fortifications might (?) aid in defense against massive enemy archers, but it also limits the number of archers who can fire from the tower, and their field of fire.  I'd go with 100% fortifications, every time.

And don't forget a roof, over at least part of the archer's positions, if you're going to use the "All dwarves stay inside" order.

(There's a blueprint for a plain vanilla archer tower in the wiki, under "Defense design", and discussed step-by-step under "tower".  It can be mod'd to suit.)

As for a "realistic" gate ("realism" being a term I always cringe at in a game based on dwarfs, ahem), I'd suggest a sharp L-bend (or two) immediately after the portcullis, to prevent archer fire from entering your compound.  A short wooden drawbridge over a moat (wet or dry) would seem realistic as well, but that's your call, certainly.

[Grendus]

Each z-level counts as a single grid square I believe, meaning that a 5 level tower would reduce your archer's range to 15 squares as opposed to 20, with a 5 grid square deadzone. Essentially, your archers would be a pain in the ass to shoot but would only be able to cut down enemies who stood in the 10 square zone of death. You could use a moat to keep them at bay. Alternatively, setting up a bunch of spike traps linked to a lever in your archer's tower will cause a somewhat... ironic fate for trying to hide from your weapons.

[Jurph]

As for a "realistic" gate ("realism" being a term I always cringe at in a game based on dwarfs, ahem), I'd suggest a sharp L-bend (or two) immediately after the portcullis, to prevent archer fire from entering your compound. 

I like to place a blockhouse / siege bunker with fortifications at ground level, set up so that it's about three tiles back from the inner wall.  This lets wagons come in and turn, allows siege units to clear out approaching invaders, and gives you a place to station melee troops so that they can execute a pincer movement on the first schmucks who make it through the door.

I've never managed to have a fort last long enough that siege engines were useful, but the blockhouse was designed to have enough space inside for three staggered ballistae.

[AtomicPaperclip]

As for a "realistic" gate ("realism" being a term I always cringe at in a game based on dwarfs, ahem), I'd suggest a sharp L-bend (or two) immediately after the portcullis, to prevent archer fire from entering your compound. 

I like to place a blockhouse / siege bunker with fortifications at ground level, set up so that it's about three tiles back from the inner wall.  This lets wagons come in and turn, allows siege units to clear out approaching invaders, and gives you a place to station melee troops so that they can execute a pincer movement on the first schmucks who make it through the door.

I've never managed to have a fort last long enough that siege engines were useful, but the blockhouse was designed to have enough space inside for three staggered ballistae.

I have found that catapults are completely useless, by the time the rock gets there, the creatures are long gone.

I haven't tried ballista though.