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Author Topic: War dogs suck  (Read 11819 times)

Zaerosz

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Re: War dogs suck
« Reply #30 on: November 22, 2010, 04:14:11 am »

War elephants suck. I ended up training like 20 of them, and then I unleashed them upon a squad of goblin lashers and the elephants were pretty much decimated without killing a single one.
There's your problem.
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oso

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Re: War dogs suck
« Reply #31 on: November 22, 2010, 04:47:31 am »

Puppy bomb!  All dogs+cage+lever, off-main entrance in a diagonal niche (for buildng breakers).I thought everyone did that with wardogs after the first elf caravan (if anything good comes)!

.... do you mean to tell me that building destroyers cannot break things from a diagonal angle?!
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Alastar

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Re: War dogs suck
« Reply #32 on: November 22, 2010, 05:33:59 am »

War elephants suck. I ended up training like 20 of them, and then I unleashed them upon a squad of goblin lashers and the elephants were pretty much decimated without killing a single one.
There's your problem.

While I really wish whips and scourges would get a crude fix (size reduced to 'size of the business end, i.e. before there's any slack') until the game can account for the flexibility, lashers are actually a good thing to sic your elephants on: Whips don't really do any better against fleshy targets than goblin-quality edged weapons, but they defeat the finest dwarf-made armour with absurd ease.
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Encased in burning magma

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Re: War dogs suck
« Reply #33 on: November 22, 2010, 06:25:55 am »

War elephants suck. I ended up training like 20 of them, and then I unleashed them upon a squad of goblin lashers and the elephants were pretty much decimated without killing a single one.
There's your problem.

While I really wish whips and scourges would get a crude fix (size reduced to 'size of the business end, i.e. before there's any slack') until the game can account for the flexibility, lashers are actually a good thing to sic your elephants on: Whips don't really do any better against fleshy targets than goblin-quality edged weapons, but they defeat the finest dwarf-made armour with absurd ease.

Whips != scourges.

Also, when I get the time, I will try modding in war dwarves.
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Psieye

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Re: War dogs suck
« Reply #34 on: November 22, 2010, 06:50:36 am »

I'd still think that crippled dogs would be bad fighters, even if they did have good stats.


Breed a whole bunch of them. The only downside is the if you get an intelligent foe, like a goblin, by they're done with the Zerg rush and get to your military, they'll be superpowered from all the experience fighting all those dogs. Oh, and the FPS death.
1. Construct large holding pit with dropaway bridge floor directly above entryway
2. Link bridge to pressure plate in entryway
3. Suddenly, dogs.  Hundreds of them.

Even if it isn't too effective, the mere notion of showering my enemies with vicious attack dogs is enough to make me want to do this.
The trouble comes when you expect war dogs to actually kill anything (unless you rewrite their raws so teeth are made from steel not flesh or whatever it is currently). Well ok, they're useful for chasing away wildlife like Rhesus Macaques. No, the benefit is that they distract invaders and because they are smaller than dwarves I think they will never make a dwarf get on the floor so it can walk over them. Therefore, dog chaff bomb explodes, goblins are busy hacking away at them and wasting all their ammo. This gives time for soldiers to wake up, finish drinking and eating, then walk over and kill goblins that don't hit back because there's a dog to kill.
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Congrats, Psieye. This is the first time I've seen a derailed thread get put back on the rails.

Dakk

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Re: War dogs suck
« Reply #35 on: November 22, 2010, 07:12:32 am »

Dog's effectiveness only shows when they're assigned to soldiers. Since they have a tendency to bite and latch on to stuff, the enemy will be too busy trying to get his arm off the wardog's mouth, giving your axedwarves several chances to hack his limbs off. With this strategy you can beat anything but super large and powerful enemies like certain FBs, titans, and the colossus.
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Alastar

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Re: War dogs suck
« Reply #36 on: November 22, 2010, 07:43:18 am »

Whips != scourges.

And scourges are rather mediocre weapons anyway, especially with goblin-level materials. Yes, scourges shouldn't put their full weight behind each blow either and would be utterly terrible if fixed, but they're strictly inferior to morningstars as it is. Strangely, you hear few complaints about those.
For an edged weapon, scourges are surprisingly effective against armour (high speed, small contact area) but nothing special against the likes of elephants.
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Luriksen

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Re: War dogs suck
« Reply #37 on: November 22, 2010, 08:18:00 am »

i killed a lay pewter titan with the help of 40 war dogs, so they are like zerglings, swarm the enemy and they don't stand a chance. a single war dog or three can't do shit, unless they are supporting a military dwarf. but they make exellent meatshields, almost as got as a baby.
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Musashi

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Re: War dogs suck
« Reply #38 on: November 22, 2010, 08:41:39 am »

Puppy bomb!  All dogs+cage+lever, off-main entrance in a diagonal niche (for buildng breakers).I thought everyone did that with wardogs after the first elf caravan (if anything good comes)!

.... do you mean to tell me that building destroyers cannot break things from a diagonal angle?!
I can guarantee you I had a forgotten beast destroy a diagonal door, so don't get your hopes up. Or maybe it had to do with the fact there were fortifications and no solid wall?
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I don't mean to alarm you, but it appears that your Dwarves are all in fact elephants.

TheJackal

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Re: War dogs suck
« Reply #39 on: November 22, 2010, 08:43:15 am »

Whips != scourges.

And scourges are rather mediocre weapons anyway, especially with goblin-level materials.

If you mod your RAW so that Dorfs can make them, and out of platinum mind you, well.....


Also, in my current fort I have many a WAR MUSKOX and they do pretty well.
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Herbiie

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Re: War dogs suck
« Reply #40 on: November 22, 2010, 09:19:41 am »

They're god at catching thieves too. Chain a couple to your entrance (I then had a problem that when I raised my drawbridge their puppies went flying but ah well) and the thieves get stopped before they can enter :) Or as they leave.
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The once dark-grey walls are now the dark brown of stained blood. At either side of the path leading to the great granite gates is covered with the corpses and skeletons of Goblin invaders.
Some are still fresh. One is still moving.
As you approach the gate a nervous guard looses a bolt in your direction. Silence... Slowly, gradually, the huge doors screech open. Inside there is a courtyard, the floor wet with blood. Welcome to the front-line. Welcome; to Cloisteredwood.

veok

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Re: War dogs suck
« Reply #41 on: November 22, 2010, 10:45:18 am »

I once had 6 regular dogs kill my first megabeast ever -- a zombie dragon.

Though if I had temperature off at the time, that might have been in their favor...
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gtmattz

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Re: War dogs suck
« Reply #42 on: November 22, 2010, 12:31:19 pm »

IMO the best use for dogs is chained up on a narrow catwalk over a deep pit in your intrance.  Unwelcome visitors attempting to invade the fortress tend to dodge dogs, and in the process dodge right off the edge to fall and explode in a gory death at the bottom. Works well for anything that cannot fly  8)
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Trouserman

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Re: War dogs suck
« Reply #43 on: November 22, 2010, 12:51:47 pm »

Grizzly bears are notably strong, even vs armor.  Unfortunately I don't have any in my current fort....

I was rather disappointed with the grizzly bear I had.  A goblin walked up with an axe, and instantly there was a dead bear and its ear on the ground, and not a scratch on the goblin.  Later, I found a bear snout on the roof.  When my military showed up, barely out of booze camp, it was the goblin's turn to fall apart at the slightest touch.  If only I could have put that bear in armor...
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TheJackal

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Re: War dogs suck
« Reply #44 on: November 22, 2010, 01:33:56 pm »

Grizzly bears are notably strong, even vs armor.  Unfortunately I don't have any in my current fort....
If only I could have put that bear in armor...

There must be a way to mod the RAWs so you can get them in armor like this...
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Or at least make them mounts so you can have this.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

There has to be a way!
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