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[JimboOmega]

I built a nice battery of 3 ballistas, at the end of a long hallway invaders have to travel through.

So far, great.  But even with all masterwork parts, legendary operators, and superior or better arrows, I find that they rarely stay on target as far as, say, the distance dwarves will abandon their posts from, maybe 7 tiles.

I wonder what I am doing wrong - most specifically, I wonder if I'm making some bad assumptions.  For instance, rather than firing straight, are the dwarves firing at other targets that might not be in the hallway?  Does quality of part matter less than that of arrow/operator?  Are different metal arrows more or less accurate (mine are generally silver or just wood, due to a lack of available metal)?

If any can advise me, I'd appreciate it.  I've really been hoping to land a solid hit with my ballistae, but watching all three hit the walls 5 or 6 tiles down the corridor is really disappointing.

[Naros]

Are the operators skilled at all?

At low skill, they're a bit like Lightning the blind Crossbowdwarf.

Edit: Oh, missed the legendary part of your message. Nevermind me...

[JimboOmega]

Two are legendary, the worst is, I think, "great". 

So in order to be accurate, what sort of combinations (operator+arrow) are needed on a masterwork ballista?  I noticed my legendary dwarf sending a few totally wide, but they were merely +finely crafted+ ballista arrows.  The one time the legendary dwarf fired an exceptional arrow, it was true.  But an almost perfect combination - 3 masterwork parts, legendary operator, and exceptional arrow - seems a bit overkill to get it straight.  Is that what is necessary?

[Granite26]

How wide is the hallway?

[Marthnn]

Isn't there a minimum range, and if the ennemy is closer than that the operator can't aim properly? Just something I've read somewhere...

[Sphalerite]

If the enemy gets too close, the operator will abandon his post and flee.  Siege operators are civilians, they run from enemies.

[Urist Imiknorris]

Isn't there a minimum range, and if the ennemy is closer than that the operator can't aim properly? Just something I've read somewhere...

That's for catapults.

[j0nas]

A good idea about ballistae is to use long hallways with channeled edges all around, ensuring that the arrows that veer off ends up dropping into the area below, unhurt, where they can be retrieved and reused.  That, and looong hallways to give you ample time, nearby stockpiles to allow you to shoot faster, skilled operators and (no joke) full masterwork piece ballistae..and it *might* be worth the effort.  Might.

[JimboOmega]

How wide is the hallway?

The hallway is 3 tiles wide, and the ballista are arranged to fire down all 3 tiles, in theory.  If, for instance, the southern ballista fired in a way that caused its arrow to deviate to the north, that'd be fine, but it rarely happens.

It is about 10 tiles from the front ballista to the fortifications that block it from the hallway.  I would say only about 1 in 3 bolts makes it that far, the ones further back having even greater trouble.  Even the one whose front is 16 tiles away from the fortifications is easily scared by goblins, but at that range, the shots very rarely reach the hallway.  I would say less than 1 in 10 makes it past 20 tiles.

In the rare event that the bolts do go down the hallway, they are reasonably effective, though they only cause bruises to ogres, at least at the *silver arrow* level.

Maybe it's the materials and/or quality of the arrow? 

[Urist Imiknorris]

Widen your hallway. Problem solved.

[JimboOmega]

Widen your hallway. Problem solved.

Doing so fixes nothing - the gobbos have more space to spread out over, and the traps have to be increased in number to have the same effectiveness.  The point is not to get the arrow in the hallway, the point is to kill goblins in a narrow hallway with a well-aimed bolt.

[Brandstone]

Isn't there a minimum range, and if the ennemy is closer than that the operator can't aim properly? Just something I've read somewhere...

That's for catapults.

There is a minimum targeting range for both. Although ballistae will damage anything in their path. As long as the enemy is 30 tiles away or further operators will target them, and their firing radius covers 3 tiles of width starting at about 18 tiles. Remember ballista arrows can go through multiple fortifications, so if your hallway has roadblocks you can increase the amount of time enemies are in firing range. I think I'm going to do up an example of long range siege engine use, since that seems to be a hot topic right now.

[Di]

In the rare event that the bolts do go down the hallway, they are reasonably effective, though they only cause bruises to ogres, at least at the *silver arrow* level.

Reasonably effective?? You could make 60 metal and 20 wooden instead. Wooden ones would surely tear some muscles and metal ones would shatter bones of FB.
Currently siege engines are more of expensive plaything for rich fortresses.

[Knarfle]

  I usually trap enemies on a platform more than 20 tiles away and keep firing until they're routed. I then have my melee soldiers waiting up top to counter-ambush them when I release them from the room.

[chewie]

I just created the following layout:

SSS
SSS  =The siege engine(s) (can also be a catapult)
SSS

W=Wall
.=ground
╬=Fortification

Code: [Select]

    WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
    W................╬...╬...╬
SSS ╬................╬.╬.╬.╬.╬
SSS ╬................╬.╬.╬.╬.╬
SSS ╬................╬.╬.╬.╬.╬
    ╬................╬.╬.╬.╬.╬
SSS ╬................╬.╬.╬.╬.╬
SSS ╬................╬.╬.╬.╬.╬
SSS ╬................╬.╬.╬.╬.╬
    ╬................╬.╬.╬.╬.╬
SSS ╬................╬.╬.╬.╬.╬
SSS ╬................╬.╬.╬.╬.╬
SSS ╬................╬.╬.╬.╬.╬
    W................╬.╬...╬. <--Outer Entrance
    WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.WWWWWWWW
      Inner Entrance--^
In this setup the enemy forces come from the outer entrance and have to walk through the small hallway under the fire of the siege engines to get inside of the fortress. I personally would build catapults near the walls since they always shoot straight and a ballista in the middle so it's arrows can spread and still hit the enemy. the huge distance between the enemy and the engines is so that the siege operators don't run away.

Bonus: Make it possible to seal the enemy in and let the ballista do the rest.