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[Brody]

So I have two towers opposite each other, and both are set up so they can fire at the forts approach, and at the entrance area itself. What I didn't realize is that when covering the entrance, they are aiming at each other. Will the bolts go through the second fortified wall?

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[Sensei]

I think so.
This is your best solution:

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Actually, that might not work as ballista arrows have been known to deviate from their course. This requires ingame testing!

[Brody]

Can you test fire Ballista?

[LegacyCWAL]

Yeah, you can test fire.  Just have one shoot a few arrows and see what happens.

Is the path really only four tiles across?  Because if so, friendly fire won't be a problem due to the fact that the siege operators will run away.

[Psychoceramics]

you only need a fortification in front of the center tile, where the ballista round itself leaves the engine. The rest can be walls.

Also, unless your operators are well-trained, the best place to stand if you don't want to get hit is most likely directly in front of the ballista.

[Martin]

If space permits, have only one fortification tile directly in front of the center of each ballista, and in the center of the area between the two build a 1x1 wall. The pillar will block any direct shot at the other, and any shot that goes around the wall will miss the other's fortification.

[Brody]

I hadn't thought of the operators running. I think the gap is 20 odd across, but I should prolly move the ballista back one space?

The issue with that is I have a third ballista on the right side aiming left, and I dont want to stop its bolts.

[Martin]

No, then the bolts are unlikely to clear the fortification. 20 tiles isn't very much - I doubt the operators would get any shots off at all. A bolt will travel something over 100 tiles, and ballistas tend to be more effective when you have a very long killing field and can set up your operators to fire at will, so they'll fire when the enemy is well outside of marksdwarf range and you have more opportunity for multiple hits.

If you have only 20 tiles, put some markdswarves inside instead. They'll be much more effective.

[Brody]

Well, it turns out that the bolts will go through both sets of fortification. Unfortunately Luckily, no dwarfs, cats, dogs, or mules were hurt during the testing.

[Albedo]

Fortifications have zero effect on siege engine ammo.  Your operators are in deadly peril with your current setup.

Martin is correct about timing - at most, they'd get one shot, and it would probably fall behind the target.  You need to create bowling alleys, not skeet ranges.

[Martin]

Here's part of my ballista setup (this is the 155 tile Morul hit):

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

To the left, just out of the pic is a single ballista behind a single fortification. It's centered on the 3-wide passageway. Since this shot, I've walled in that center section and left openings with a pair of 3-wide drawbridges to let in caravans. At the end of the passageway (where the exploded orc is), those ramps lead up to the surface.

This arrangement allows me to close up that approach and funnel invaders all the way down the tunnel, letting the ballista operator fire at will the entire time. Because the invaders need to bunch up, any hit is likely to hit multiple invaders. I should warn you, though. Even with exceptional ballista parts and legendary operators, not many shots make it down the center, though they can reload quickly (stockpile is immediately behind the ballista).

Directly above the trade depot is a room with fortifications where marksdwarves can stand and shoot down on invaders. This allows them to mop up anyone before they get too close to where the ballista operator might get scared and run off, and being a z level higher, they're out of harms way from the ballista.

[Jurph]

I've built - but never had occasion to use - the following setup:

Yes it's tiny; open it in Paint to get a good look at it.

Green are ballistae, black is walls, red is the danger zone.  Brown and blue are a drawbridge and moat.  It's pretty similar to Martin's setup except that it doesn't have any way to put an orc into low-earth orbit.  The outer walls are staffed with marksdwarves to help discourage infantry charges, and the bunker is only accessibly from underground, so retreating siege operators don't flee to their death.

[Toksyuryel]

Yes it's tiny; open it in Paint to get a good look at it.

Or use the Image Zoom extension for Firefox

[QuakeIV]

Or the magnifying glass function for MS mouse.