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[Eugenitor]

Having a lot of marksdwarves is like massing marines in Starcraft. They WILL gun down whatever they see, especially if you've made them melee-proof through fortifications. Bronze and steel bolts will penetrate almost anything.

Switzerland has terrain akin to the worst parts of Afghanistan, and an actual technological base. It's almost impossible to move heavy equipment through that country, particularly when the locals don't want you to; the German commander knew he'd be eating nothing but losses and sniper fire for no profit.

Goblins, however, are not quite so smart, which is why a goblin invasion against a Swiss-style fort is likely to greatly please Armok.

[zagibu]

Actually, the "reduit-tactics" as they are called in Switzerland (guerilla war in the mountains) are pure fantasies. Sure, Switzerland did have a lot of bunkers in the mountains, but where do you think resources would have come from if an enemy conquered the lowlands? They'd just sit there for a few months and let the Swiss starve in their "reduit". An army is nothing without a proper supply-chain.

It's true, though, that even today, every healthy Swiss man has to serve at least 260 days in the army. They are spread out over some years, usually over 7 to 10, and during this "active duty" phase, he also has to prove his marksmanship skills by scoring 50% or higher in a standardized shooting range test (300m distance) every year. We don't have our ammunition at home anymore, though, only the rifle. Somehow the non-armed populace got the idea that weapons kill people. It's pretty easy to get ammo, if you really want, especially at those occasions you have to prove your skills (you just buy more practice shots than you need).

To be honest, though, I don't think our militia would stand a chance against professional soldiers. I'm sergeant, and I can tell you that there is maybe one out of five Swiss soldiers that would not shoot himself, shoot his friends, sit down and cry or run home in a real battle situation. I'm not sure I'm not one of the other four myself.

[Jake]

@Urist Imiknorris: Huh, that's weird. I could have sworn they had an EDGE tag the last time I was in item_weapon.txt
Either way, lasher spam is a bit too close to an exploit for my liking, and in any case I'd like a balanced force; slashing, stabbing and bludgeoning weapons should all have their uses once combat is properly rebalanced.

The order of battle I'm leaning towards at the moment is one or two hammer and/or mace squads backed up by a mixture of swordsdwarves and axedwarves. If I understand the mechanics correctly, blunt weapons can't kill outright very quickly but they've got the highest chance to stun or knock unconscious, so I'll use the hammerboys as shock troops and hopefully knock a few enemy troops senseless to be mopped up afterwards.

@zagibu: If your description of the Swiss militia is remotely accurate, I think keeping the ammunition locked up is a pretty good idea, and I'd make them hand their weapons back in so their platoon sergeant could keep an eye on them as well.

[ThrowerOfStones]

I was actually planning on training up my entire current fort to take on the HFS...

[JAFANZ]

@Urist Imiknorris: Huh, that's weird. I could have sworn they had an EDGE tag the last time I was in item_weapon.txt
Either way, lasher spam is a bit too close to an exploit for my liking, and in any case I'd like a balanced force; slashing, stabbing and bludgeoning weapons should all have their uses once combat is properly rebalanced.

According to the wiki there're 2 types of "Lash" weapon, 1 is Blunt, & 1 is Edged. I don't recall what weapons they were though. (Strangely the Edged weapon was listed as having 10 times the contact area of the Blunt one, I assume the latter is the one that ignores armor).

[Urist Imiknorris]

Yep. The edged one is the scourge, a gobbo-made weapon.

[breadbocks]

@Urist Imiknorris: Huh, that's weird. I could have sworn they had an EDGE tag the last time I was in item_weapon.txt
Either way, lasher spam is a bit too close to an exploit for my liking, and in any case I'd like a balanced force; slashing, stabbing and bludgeoning weapons should all have their uses once combat is properly rebalanced.

According to the wiki there're 2 types of "Lash" weapon, 1 is Blunt, & 1 is Edged. I don't recall what weapons they were though. (Strangely the Edged weapon was listed as having 10 times the contact area of the Blunt one, I assume the latter is the one that ignores armor).

Aye. Whip is the blunt supersonic hammer, and scourge is the edged Yultobian Whip Dance whip.

And Jake, how is a SUPER SONIC HAMMER not dwarfy?

[Jake]

Jake, how is a SUPER SONIC HAMMER not dwarfy?

A cogent point. I shall ponder this further while I wait for the next couple of releases.