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[Albedo]

Catapults are not "completely useless", your limited experience notwithstanding.  But they are not the preferred weapon for every purpose, and certainly have some drawbacks, ones that not everyone can see past.

Feel free to read the wiki on "siege engine" and become enlightened.

[loopoo]

I only use catapults from training. I have a setup like this:

W_+C W= Wall _ =  Channel + = Floor C = Catapult

That means they can instantly retrieve their rocks and never run out of ammo to use for training, if there's a way into the channel...

Also, when I said 5 z level high towers, the 5th z level is the roof, so they are on the 4th z level. This works perfectly with my 3 tile wide ditch that surrounds my fort, I ALWAYS have the 3 wide ditch, makes me safer and it's great for when I start out to erect a quick defense. That means, my archers can shoot on the 4 tile, which is where enemies would be if they tried to get right up against the walls.

Also, as Albedo said, a sharp L turn is great. It stops your soldiers being turned into pin cushions by enemy bowgoblins. I tend to make a compound where the enemies will come in, that has 2 entrances. The main entrance is where the enemy will funnel through to get into my base, and then there is a second entrance that is blocked up, which has my soldiers behind. This entrance is usually farther out, so once the bridge is opened, my soldiers come pouring out and sandwich the enemies, stopping any from retreating. That has the marksdwarves shooting from the front, and the soldiers slashing at the back. Works every time

[yuhhaur]

What wrong with the bridges? I favour the use of bridges in building the fort/castle since it adds more realism to the building. I make it runs across a 3 tile wide channel:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

║inside║   ║wall ║
╚═════╝┌─┐╚═════╝
........│ │.............
........│ │.............
........│ │.............
        └─┘ outside

[AtomicPaperclip]

Catapults are not "completely useless", your limited experience notwithstanding.  But they are not the preferred weapon for every purpose, and certainly have some drawbacks, ones that not everyone can see past.

Feel free to read the wiki on "siege engine" and become enlightened.

You just assume I've never read that?

I just use them for attribute training

[Haedrian]

What wrong with the bridges? I favour the use of bridges in building the fort/castle since it adds more realism to the building. I make it runs across a 3 tile wide channel

I don't really like bridges, since I build them all the time. Now I went for both to be honest - a gate out of bars, and a bridge - looks pretty nice I think

http://mkv25.net/dfma/map-6177-boardsquare

[loopoo]

I use the exact same method as Yuhhaur, but depending on the entrance (My Main one or side entrances) i'll have the entrance guarded by 5 x 5 towers, but with not so important entrances used in time of peace, I use 3 x 3 spaces. When I say 5 x 5 or 3 x 3, that's floor space, so then add the walls on the sides and you got my towers :p

[Exponent]

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.

A roof unfortunately won't do any good.  The order should techinically read "All dwarves stay underground", and an artificial roof does not make the space under it subterranean.  But since there does exist the other option of allowing military outside, it doesn't matter too much in this case.  Siege operators would be a problem, though, since they aren't military.

[Scruga]

 A roof does make the place inside and counts when the all dwarves stay inside order is given.

[Albedo]

Constructed roofs seem to work fine for me for these purposes.

You just assume I've never read that?

I just use them for attribute training

I have found that catapults are completely useless

Sorry, I thought you said what you meant the first time.

[Exponent]

Constructed roofs seem to work fine for me for these purposes.

Really?  Hmm...  Maybe I'll have to retest it again when I get a chance.  I could have sworn it wouldn't work, though.  Huh.  My apologies if I'm throwing out erroneous information.

[Scruga]

Constructed roofs seem to work fine for me for these purposes.

Really?  Hmm...  Maybe I'll have to retest it again when I get a chance.  I could have sworn it wouldn't work, though.  Huh.  My apologies if I'm throwing out erroneous information.

No problem, we all make plenty of mistakes ;P