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[randyshipp]

I have solved my fortification problem, but I'm totally confused.  By Armok, the military component of this game is too difficult to get into.  Sigh.

OK, I have a small squad of marksdwarves.  I want them to stand on the row of squares directly behind my wall (pierced with a number of carved fortifications) and shoot their crossbows at the besieging baddies in the courtyard below.  Pretty simple.  Here are some things I've tried:

• I tried hitting {s} to go to the squad screen, then selected this squad, then hit {k} and ordered them to kill a specific troll in the courtyard.  I thought maybe they'd find a spot from which they could shoot him and then do so.  They did not.
• I tried "stationing" them on a spot directly behind the wall, thinking they'd start shooting when they spotted the enemy.  If they did, it was sporadic and random, not aimed at any target in particular.
• I tried creating a burrow that encompassed only the one row of squares behind the fortifications.  Then I created a new alert, "Battlements."  I then set the marksdwarf squad to that alert.  In Schedule, under the Battlements alert, I set every month to "defend burrow" and specified the aforementioned Battlements burrow.  When I did this, they all instantly went to "no job" and walked away.
• Should I set them to defend the courtyard instead?

[MonkeyHead]

I use the burrow idea constantly with no problems at all. Not sure why this sint working for you.

[randyshipp]

I use the burrow idea constantly with no problems at all. Not sure why this sint working for you.

How, exactly?  You set a burrow for where you want the marksdwarves to stand, and then set them to defend that burrow?  And then they go stand there and shoot any enemy they can see from that spot?

[Christes]

I typically station them behind fortifications and they shoot at enemies in range.  I'm not sure what you mean by sporadic and random.

Though I will say that I've had lots of trouble with station marksdwarves besides thisbit.

[randyshipp]

LOL...this may not matter.  Winter just arrived.  Strangely, water that lies below a given z-level appears to FILL that z-level when it freezes, so the trolls and the rest are getting ready to walk around my walls on the frozen river and kill my whole fort.  I'm not normally interested in savescumming, but this will be an exception.

[Shogger]

If you're having trouble getting them to fire using the station command, consider this: how wide is the walkway behind the fortifications?

Dwarves need to be right next to the fortifications in order to shoot, and if you give them any room to back away, some of them will due to the stationing AI. If you only give them a one tile wide walkway behind the fortifications, they'll always be able to shoot (assuming they have weapons and ammo.) You won't be able to pick specific targets, but it's better than nothing. I prefer to let them shoot what they want since bolts are better at maiming and crippling than outright killing enemies.

I'm not sure about the burrow solution, though I will say that I have had problems where dwarves don't immediately go to their burrow when switching alerts, it seems to take a minute to kick in.

[Tryble]

The second and third methods work for me well enough, not entirely sure what the problem might be.

Maybe they're having trouble seeing the enemy with the floor in the way?  If your marksdwarves are very high up and the enemy is not very far from them, horizontally, the floor they're standing on could be blocking line of sight.

Alternatively; make certain they actually have bolts in their quivers.  The biggest pain I ever had with archers was getting them to consistently load/reload.

[MonkeyHead]

I use the burrow idea constantly with no problems at all. Not sure why this sint working for you.

How, exactly?  You set a burrow for where you want the marksdwarves to stand, and then set them to defend that burrow?  And then they go stand there and shoot any enemy they can see from that spot?

I set a 1 tile wide burrow along the length of the fortifications (which are one long unbroken chain of fortifications), and normally call it "firing point east" or suchlike. An alert called "fire east" is used to make them stand there. This burrow contains ammo, food and booze just incase. You might want to leave out booze - i have had dragons and other fire beasts ignite whole squads. I tend to leave them overlooking a chokepoint or suchlike and they rain pointy death down on enemies that come close - typical structure will be a wall arrangement that funnels enemies towards a bunker around 10 tiles back. When ordered to stay in the burrow the squad can be given kill orders for enemies outsidethier intended killzone and they do take long shots at them with pretty pleasing results.

"No Job" for soldiers tends to occur when they are off duty - no idea why this would occur if they were set to defend a burrow with all 10 soldiers needed. Now, if it said "Can not follow order", that would be a different kettle of fish...

[Greiger]

I've sometimes had it take a bit for an alert order to register with them.  It usually happens instantly, but sometimes they stop what they are doing and wait about an ingame day before reporting to station.  Donno why.

Anyway that burrows thing idea and the station with very little walking room both seem to be effective for me.  The burrow behind fortifications more so.  And I don't understand why they arent working for you.

A couple simple things to check (these are like asking folks having computer troubles if it's plugged in honestly)
*Is there a path to the marksdwarves' burrow?  No locked doors or anything in the way?  Ramps properly built?

*Are they set to protect the right burrow?  You want them defending the burrow where they will be standing.

*Is the alert on for that squad?  the [CIV] icon on the alerts screen is just for civilians, make sure there's an 'A' next to the squad name under the alert to confirm it is active.

*Do your marksdwarves have a crossbow, quivers, and bolts (or arrows if you use exotic bows)?  They should report to station without them, but it's good to check anyway.

Other than that I don't know why the burrow plan isn't working.  I use it with great success.

[malroth]

"No Job" for soldiers tends to occur when they are off duty - no idea why this would occur if they were set to defend a burrow with all 10 soldiers needed. Now, if it said "Can not follow order", that would be a different kettle of fish...

You Said "all 10 needed"  so if any one of them is off getting  a drink or sleeping or at a party they can't follow the order so the job is canceled

[SenorOcho]

My marksdwarves are never set to active, seeing how they make up the bulk of my hauler population.  In the case of an expected attack I just order them to move to the fortifications.  Haven't had any trouble with them not firing-- make sure you've got plenty of ammo, quivers, etc.

[Fireborn]

I've had similar issues.  I'm guessing it's something to do with minimum range/angle of attack.

I've gotten the "Defend Burrow" method to work with a short-range, live-practice kill-room.  Though, I never tested if it worked without the burrow also being inside the room.

But I can't seem to get the fortifications on the next z-level up to work out.

The current design in my fort puts 12 tiles between the base of the wall the archers' fortifications are on top of. [They wind their way closer.]  They've bolts, quivers, and the like... they just won't use the fortifications...  [Evidenced by the fact that while juggling orders/methods they wandered outside and shot down a few vultures.]

[Mechatronic]

I normally build a barracks for them where I need them, something like this:

WFFFFFFFFFW
W___>A____W
WWWWWWW

W = wall
F = Fortification
_ = floor
> = downward staircase
A = armour stand to make the barracks

They've got no choice but to stand directly behind the fortification. The level below I place ammo and ranges.

[Nasikabatrachus]

Have you tried giving each squad member individual station orders? I've noticed that when I station a squad somewhere, one dwarf will stand on that spot and the others will pick spots in the general vicinity of that tile. But yeah, probably the most efficient solution for you as the player is to just make the stationing area a narrow hallway.

[MonkeyHead]

"No Job" for soldiers tends to occur when they are off duty - no idea why this would occur if they were set to defend a burrow with all 10 soldiers needed. Now, if it said "Can not follow order", that would be a different kettle of fish...

You Said "all 10 needed"  so if any one of them is off getting  a drink or sleeping or at a party they can't follow the order so the job is canceled

Not so: I have observed only 6 or 7 being there while others go to sleep/eat/drink if they have to.