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[Tharwen]

I had a siege outside my walls, and I stationed a load of archers (or crossbowdwarves... I can't remember) on the wall to get rid of them...

...but they didn't! D:

They just stood there and got shot at. Is Urist McMarksdwarf usually found to exhibit behaviour similar to a lobotomised rat or was I just unlucky?

[DTF]

Did they have bolts with them?
Were they standing directly in front of the fortifications?

[Agent_86]

Usually n00b marksdwarves won't shoot at the enemy from atop your walls.  Try to capture a few gobbos and use them for live target practice.  When your dwarves gain a few levels in marksdwarfship you should be fine.

[GotIt_00]

^^

I've seen the same thing. If they're newly drafted with no practice, they just sort of stand up there and take arrows to the face for a while.

[Tharwen]

Did they have bolts with them?
Were they standing directly in front of the fortifications?

There were no fortifications. It was just a wall with some steps up to it, since it was kind of under construction.

Usually n00b marksdwarves won't shoot at the enemy from atop your walls.  Try to capture a few gobbos and use them for live target practice.  When your dwarves gain a few levels in marksdwarfship you should be fine.

Oh. Bloody un-intuitiveness...

...not that I play DF because it's intuitive, of course.

[cancel.man]

Oh. Bloody un-intuitiveness...

It's easy to swing an axe at somebody in hopes of doing some damage even you've never held an axe before... there's a big sharp end and a handle- the dumbest dorf can figure out which end should be in contact with which party.

Crossbows require loading, aiming, pulling a trigger... all manner of intricate things. And then you run out of ammo and you have to be smart enough to go get more- that means turning your back on the enemy! These are all things a newbie marksdwarf has to deal with... it's really a rough life.

Newbie marksdwarves are extremely bad at figuring out all the above. Especially getting more ammo- after they blow their load of bolts (all of which will probably miss), they tend to just stare at the enemy and catch arrows. If they can path to the enemy they'll choose to use their crossbow as a club- it's much easier than figuring out that tricky loading/aiming/firing thing- and soon you'll have hammerdwarves (with weak hammers) instead of marksdwarves and they'll forever prefer to just beat their opponent to death.

So yeah... training is pretty important for marksdwarves. There are several threads in this forum about setting up a successful archery range & marksdwarf squad.

[Lord Darkstar]

cancel.man, so what you are saying is: Newbie dwarves are just too inexperienced to use their crossbows while drunk. But give them a few seasons of drinking and shooting their crossbow, and even when they are bloato, they are still able to operate their crossbow and plink some stinking goblins.

[Arekis]

Make sure they have crossbows assigned and have ammo available.  You can check their gear assignments in the military menu and check to see if they are actually holding the weapons by going to each dwarf's inventory screen.  Make sure you have quivers.  If you go to the quiver in the inventory menu and hit 'Enter', it'll show you if there's anything in it (like bolts).  I usually leave the ammo assignments to defaults.  I also edit the default archer uniform because it has "preferred ranged weapon" or something to that effect which I replace with crossbows.

Newbie dwarves will fire at enemies if they're standing right next to fortifications, have a line-of-sight, have a crossbow, and have ammo.  Quite a few ifs.  I definitely recommend fortifications, but watch out for elite enemy archers.  They wont always pick up ammo correctly when they're out and just sort of loiter where they were stationed.  What I do in that case is give them a 'move' order somewhere nearby which jiggers their memory and they restock on bolts.  Then I assign the move order back to the fortifications.

Everything is pretty much the same w/o fortifications, but of course your dwarves don't get the protection from non-elite archers.

[Ahrimahn]

Build fortifications they keep your dwarfs safer.

[cancel.man]

cancel.man, so what you are saying is: Newbie dwarves are just too inexperienced to use their crossbows while drunk.

You got it. Not so different from real life- takes a few weekends of drinking and gunplay to get good enough to to load and fire a weapon while inebriated. .22 ammo is slippery- a lot harder to hold than a beer can for the inexperienced drunken shooter. But don't worry, with enough practice any irresponsible task is achievable

[Tharwen]

Make sure they have crossbows assigned and have ammo available.  You can check their gear assignments in the military menu and check to see if they are actually holding the weapons by going to each dwarf's inventory screen.  Make sure you have quivers.  If you go to the quiver in the inventory menu and hit 'Enter', it'll show you if there's anything in it (like bolts).  I usually leave the ammo assignments to defaults.  I also edit the default archer uniform because it has "preferred ranged weapon" or something to that effect which I replace with crossbows.

Newbie dwarves will fire at enemies if they're standing right next to fortifications, have a line-of-sight, have a crossbow, and have ammo.  Quite a few ifs.  I definitely recommend fortifications, but watch out for elite enemy archers.  They wont always pick up ammo correctly when they're out and just sort of loiter where they were stationed.  What I do in that case is give them a 'move' order somewhere nearby which jiggers their memory and they restock on bolts.  Then I assign the move order back to the fortifications.

Everything is pretty much the same w/o fortifications, but of course your dwarves don't get the protection from non-elite archers.

So the little weapon stand symbol means that they're actually wearing/holding the item? What if they go off duty? Do they keep holding on to them or put them on a rack/stand somewhere?

[Arekis]

The weapon stand symbol means that they have been assigned a weapon, but not necessarily picked it up.  You'll have to check individual soldier's inventory for that.  Note that there's two screens for viewing assignments: a general and a specific assignment screen, though I don't recall the shortcuts off the top of my head.  One will show you what the uniform has assigned, like the generic "steel crossbow" or whatever you've chosen.  The other will show the specific weapon that the soldier got assigned, for example like -copper crossbow- (which might happen if you run out of steel ones).

Check to make sure they got quivers assigned too.

I *think* they just carry their gear when they go off duty (assuming you don't disband the squad or kick them out of it).

[Mechatronic]

They carry their gear if you have them set to "uniformed" when off duty in the schedule screen. By default squads are set to uniformed, but you can change it to civ clothes.

[greycat]

So the little weapon stand symbol means that they're actually wearing/holding the item?

I take it you're using some sort of tile set.  Weapon racks are represented by a checkmark character.  What you're supposed to be seeing there is a green checkmark next to equipment when it's been assigned to a dwarf.

To be absolutely sure a dwarf's got his crossbow, his quiver, and bolts in the quiver, you should check directly.  Use (v) (i) to check the dwarf's inventory.  Press (Enter) on the quiver to check its contents.

What if they go off duty? Do they keep holding on to them or put them on a rack/stand somewhere?

Unless you changed the default settings, military dwarves will wear their uniform (which includes their weapon) 'round the clock, on duty or off.

[wuphonsreach]

m-e to check whether they've picked something up.

'P' to see exactly what they've chosen (and to optionally override their choice?). 

And use the 'v' key to inspect the dwarf and double-check.