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[geoduck]

I suppose the coding would be very difficult, but it would be cool if you could build a tower, officially designate the top floor somehow as a watchtower, and then whenever a soldier is stationed in it, you gain a chance of spotting thieves and ambushes (within X number of spaces) before they actually strike. It should be limited to aboveground and actual line-of-sight, so people can't build telepathic watchpits underground somewhere..

[MonkeyHead]

Erm, correct me if I am wong, but doesnt this already exist? As in - build a stubbyish tower, fortifications on observation layer, make interior a burrow, and assign some marksdwarves there to look out for stuff?

[antymattar]

Erm, correct me if I am wong, but doesnt this already exist? As in - build a stubbyish tower, fortifications on observation layer, make interior a burrow, and assign some marksdwarves there to look out for stuff?

umm...Nut really. Actually, bu moving upwards via stairs, your downward vision range actually DECREASES!!!

[rampaging-poet]

Erm, correct me if I am wong, but doesnt this already exist? As in - build a stubbyish tower, fortifications on observation layer, make interior a burrow, and assign some marksdwarves there to look out for stuff?

It does, but it's tied to the watchman's (usually low) Observer skill and has a maximum range of three tiles in any direction.  My uninformed opinion is that preventing dwarves from panicking at the site of a groundhog thirty tiles away likely broke long-distance observation.  Having some means of spotting ambushes from farther away would certainly be useful, and a way to train Observer would certainly be nice.  Perhaps soldiers on patrol or guarding a point could have a wider box to check for opponents and slowly gain Observer skill while doing so?

[Crioca]

What we need is a lookout zone, that you could assign dwarves too, which you could set up form them to stand at as part of thier orders. Being on lookout duty would also train their observer skill.

[Draco18s]

What we need is a lookout zone, that you could assign dwarves too, which you could set up form them to stand at as part of thier orders. Being on lookout duty would also train their observer skill.

+1 to this.

[geoduck]

Yeah, that would certainly be easier to manage.

[harborpirate]

I'd be all for fixing this.

Make dwarves with long paths to enemies not fear them until they take damage.

Give creatures on higher ground line of sight bonuses.

Working watchtowers would be fantastic.

[Uristocrat]

It would be nice for sight to pass through constructions made of glass.  That way, you could make glass block floors for your towers.

[Draco18s]

It would be nice for sight to pass through constructions made of glass.  That way, you could make glass block floors for your towers.

Floor grates.  And archers can shoot through them.

[NW_Kohaku]

You might be interested in this thread on "animal-powered watchtowers", where Girlinhat noted that you could simply seal an animal that doesn't eat in a "watchtower", and it would spot creatures for you, out to their detection radius, and never need to eat.

She used windows, however, so that marksmen couldn't shoot into them, and because I don't believe there are any flying building destroyers (aside from FBs and clowns and the like) that could break into the watchtowers.

[Draco18s]

clowns

This made me giggle for no apparent reason.  I, for some reason, love how we call the demons "clowns."

[Girlinhat]

I got ninja'd.  Yeah, my sig.  Witness it and be amaze.  Also note that height does NOT change detection radius.  Detection is a 3 radius (thus 5x5) CUBE.  -3z to +3z gives a 5x5 detection box.  It's marksmen who suffer a range loss when given height, as every level above their target seems to decrease their range by 1.  This results in a diamond-shaped firing range.  Detection range is a cube, and there's been science done to back this up.

Either way, I support parts of this thread.  Namely to 1) allow an increased detection range through some skill OR mental attribute, and 2) make a safe downward sight method that cannot be shot through.  Glass bottom boats must become a reality!  Also swanky aquariums :3

[612DwarfAvenue]

+1.

[Kattaroten]

I suggested something like this a while ago, ithink... but it was more for archers to be stationed at towers and always get arrows from a special arrow bin... ithink