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[Shiv]

Hey ya'll, I have a question about training marksdwarves.  A couple, actually.

For one, does distance away from the target affect skill gain rate?  I have mine one above the minimum distance (so 4 spaces; TxxD - t, target, x, space, d, dwarf) but they still gain slow as molasses.  They're pretty much in a constant supply of bone bolts (my bone carver hit legendary off bolts alone and now cranks them out like no tomorrow) but still, very slow gain rates.

Also this one kinda ties in with the above.  Why do they only train one at a time?  I've tried having the room set as one big room, and as several small rooms (which don't over lap) but they'll only train one at a time.  They all have quivers, have more than enough bone bolts, all have crossbows, and are all in the same squad (so they're all set to be off duty/train) but only one at a time will train.

Also if I make my target out of wood, will some of the bolts be recoverable or will they all just break no matter the material? 


Thanks for the help.


Edit:  Oh and hey, one off the wall question:  why are there clothes all over my barracks?  And, more importantly, why can I not dump them, move them, or do anything with them?  They're not forbidden, they ahve the dump symbol, but they just lay there 24/7.

Also, why are there socks every where in my weaponsmith's shop?  Socks and shoes, all over the place.  Stacks of them (one stack had at least 20 socks in it).  What the hell?  My weaponsmith doesn't even have an affinity for socks!

[kalida99]

Distance doesn't matter, they gain XP for every bolt they fire, they will only fire one at a time, so make multiple targets. And regardless of the material of the target bolts will still shard.

[Ampersand]

I'm not sure, but if I read the development log right, it may be possible to keep Marksdwarves from using metal bolts in training in the next version.

[kalida99]

the clothes problem, its your militarys stuff, when you give them armor they start droppin thier clothes... and since they own it, only they can move it

[Malicus]

You have to make a room from each archery target for it to be used.  It won't matter what material you make the target out of at all, though.

...though you said that you tried multiple rooms.  Is there only a specific dwarf that trains?  The others may have things in their hands from wrestling.

As far as the clothes problem, wrestlers tear the clothes off each other a lot.

Dunno about the socks, though.

[Shiv]

I'm not sure, but if I read the development log right, it may be possible to keep Marksdwarves from using metal bolts in training in the next version.

I'm not having an issue with them using metal bolts.  I'm lucky if they use them even when there's goblins afoot.  I'm having issues with getting more than one to use bolts at a time.  I have 6 targets but only one marksman will train at once.  All targets are properly placed (shooting direction, size, etc).  Do they need to be in different squads or something?



Also, why do dwarves spontaneously die sometimes?  Do they get afflictions such as heart attacks and stuff?  Old age?

It doesn't happen too often but I'll have a perfectly good dwarf (no insanity, bad mood, creatures nearby, etc) just randomly die.  The last one that it happened to was smack dab in the middle of my base and it said he had a job cancellation due to a wound, so I paused, zoomed to him, and checked on him.  He had a broken neck, a mangled heart, lung, and a bunch of lesser degree injuries (broken appendages and brown injuries).  He couldn't have possibly fallen from anything (nothing to fall from), been injured by anything (anything that had gotten down there would've been seen by 100 other dwarves first), or anything like that.  I have absolutely no idea what happened unless he just got gored by a muskox or something.

Is there only a specific dwarf that trains?  The others may have things in their hands from wrestling.

No, thankfully.  They at least take turns.  Just wish I could get it across to them that they can all play together at once; no need to share.

[Malicus]

I'm not sure, but if I read the development log right, it may be possible to keep Marksdwarves from using metal bolts in training in the next version.

I'm not having an issue with them using metal bolts.  I'm lucky if they use them even when there's goblins afoot.  I'm having issues with getting more than one to use bolts at a time.  I have 6 targets but only one marksman will train at once.  All targets are properly placed (shooting direction, size, etc).  Do they need to be in different squads or something?

You DO have multiple crossbows, right?

Other than that...  I don't know.  That's odd.  Do they always train at the same target?  Having each one defined as a room is the way to go, though, so try that again.

Also, why do dwarves spontaneously die sometimes?  Do they get afflictions such as heart attacks and stuff?  Old age?

It doesn't happen too often but I'll have a perfectly good dwarf (no insanity, bad mood, creatures nearby, etc) just randomly die.  The last one that it happened to was smack dab in the middle of my base and it said he had a job cancellation due to a wound, so I paused, zoomed to him, and checked on him.  He had a broken neck, a mangled heart, lung, and a bunch of lesser degree injuries (broken appendages and brown injuries).  He couldn't have possibly fallen from anything (nothing to fall from), been injured by anything (anything that had gotten down there would've been seen by 100 other dwarves first), or anything like that.  I have absolutely no idea what happened unless he just got gored by a muskox or something.

They CAN die from old age, but you won't see that happen much except in old forts, and I think it specifically says the death is due to old age.  I'm not quite sure what could cause damage like that, though, unless the weather is far too cold or far too hot, or they've been staying near magma too much.

[zarmazarma]

You have to make a room from each archery target for it to be used.  It won't matter what material you make the target out of at all, though.

...though you said that you tried multiple rooms.  Is there only a specific dwarf that trains?  The others may have things in their hands from wrestling.

As far as the clothes problem, wrestlers tear the clothes off each other a lot.

Dunno about the socks, though.

Really? I have all my archery targets in one room, which is marked as an archery range on every individual target, that seems to make the dwarves fire at different targets, some times standing from the same place and firing randomly at them.

[Malicus]

By "room" I mean the area that you mark as the archery range from the target.  Though what I think you described there is "missing badly", not aiming at random targets.

Oh, Shiv, make sure the targets are all set so that the dwarves are firing from some direction that they actually CAN fire from.

[Graven]

Basically, what Malicus said. And a tip from my own bitter experience - check every now and again whether their hands are free, i.e. are carrying the crossbow in one hand and nothing else (in the same hand).

And as far as I know, dwarves never use metal bolts in training. And if you want them to use metal bolts when being besieged, make bolt piles which only accept metal bolts, set them to take from your main pile, and station the marksdwarves near them. That should help.

[Spy]

Also, why do dwarves spontaneously die sometimes?  Do they get afflictions such as heart attacks and stuff?  Old age?

It doesn't happen too often but I'll have a perfectly good dwarf (no insanity, bad mood, creatures nearby, etc) just randomly die.  The last one that it happened to was smack dab in the middle of my base and it said he had a job cancellation due to a wound, so I paused, zoomed to him, and checked on him.  He had a broken neck, a mangled heart, lung, and a bunch of lesser degree injuries (broken appendages and brown injuries).  He couldn't have possibly fallen from anything (nothing to fall from), been injured by anything (anything that had gotten down there would've been seen by 100 other dwarves first), or anything like that.  I have absolutely no idea what happened unless he just got gored by a muskox or something.

Check the justice section of your Z screen. A lot of times when I get random deaths like that, its from a expired mandate sending a guard or the hammerer off to mangle some random citizen.

[Shiv]

You DO have multiple crossbows, right?

Yah, I got all that.  Targets are set up right and all that jazz.

I set them to squads of three (instead of a big one of 12) and now they'll all train in the same room, so...whatever.  They win this one.

Check the justice section of your Z screen. A lot of times when I get random deaths like that, its from a expired mandate sending a guard or the hammerer off to mangle some random citizen.

Yah, it was Justice.  I stumbled upon that screen and saw the two dwarves.  Damn, I don't even HAVE a justice system put into place.  They just decided to beat the shit out of them...oh well.  One was a peasant and the other was minimally skilled.  I'll have to get a hurry on my bismuth bronze gloves in the future (unfortunately, I can't make bismuth nor bronze where I am). 

[HammerHand]

On recovering bolts:

Dig a channel in front of your archery targets.  For some reason, when a projectile hits anything that it doesn't get stuck in, it is destroyed - UNLESS there is room for it to fall one z-level.  So if you dig a channel in front of your targets, bolts will hit them, bounce off, and land on the floor below.

Disadvantage:  Recovered bolts do not stack with other bolts.  They are simply stacks of 1.  So your Dwarves, after exhausting one quiver full of bone bolts, will pick up one bolt, run up to fire it, then run back downstairs to reload.

Unless, of course, this has all changed recently.  But I do the same thing with my siege operator training - it makes sure they don't have to go far for a new stone, and while I could use the operators to clear out unwanted stone, I could also just make it all into profitable merchandise instead of pulverized dust on the wall.

[assimilateur]

I'll have to get a hurry on my bismuth bronze gloves in the future (unfortunately, I can't make bismuth nor bronze where I am).

You should be able to avoid beatings by not having a captain/sheriff at all. Supposedly nobody will ever get punished that way. (Getting rid of your hammerer or locking him up won't help because otherwise your guards and/or captain will be able to administer corporal punishment.)


Another way of avoiding corporal punishment is to build a jail and make sure there are always cages and/or chains to go around. From what I've heard, beatings for failed mandates are only ever administered if there's nowhere to jail the so-called criminal.

[gesangbaer]

I may have missed this bit of info, but I thought I should add it here just in case someone else is an airhead like me.

My marksdwarves (not sure what version) refused to train with metal bolts, period. I wasn't able to get them to train until I made bone bolts.