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[celem]

Its all the RNG I think that we see at work here.  My rookie with no def skills and copper armour takes 3 pages of bolts off an elite xbow goblin before bleeding out.  Xbow gob turns triumphantly and sticks a bolt instantly through the brain of a nearby candy axelord.  Some shots from bows/xbows are just massively fatal through just about any armour.  Brain and throat are weak-spots as with all weapons.  But if you dont hit the sensitive bits and you dont manage to chip bone...a crossbow bolt basically does nothing and its not unusual to have an invader crawl off map completely red and carrying half your bolts

[Agent_86]

Its all the RNG I think that we see at work here.  My rookie with no def skills and copper armour takes 3 pages of bolts off an elite xbow goblin before bleeding out.  Xbow gob turns triumphantly and sticks a bolt instantly through the brain of a nearby candy axelord.  Some shots from bows/xbows are just massively fatal through just about any armour.  Brain and throat are weak-spots as with all weapons.  But if you dont hit the sensitive bits and you dont manage to chip bone...a crossbow bolt basically does nothing and its not unusual to have an invader crawl off map completely red and carrying half your bolts

But the question presented was "does one type of bolt chip bones and pierce armor better than any other type?"

[celem]

Yeah sorry I was aiming more at the OP.  On the subject of bolt material I've always gone with copper and silver.  I understand density is good for bolts but I cant place this belief.  Its likely something I read here and therefore not proven. 

From  a RL point of view i'd agree that mass is preferable...theres a reason armor fires depleted uranium after all.  The difference is that heavier projectiles will also travel slower which needs to be factored into the FMV equation.  Its almost certainly the case however that the increased weight is going to outweigh any slight range loss.

DF view?  anything but bone or wood seems to work.  It doesnt seem like material penetration works the same for bolts/arrows as for edges/blunts.  Afterall a copper blade would deflect from steel in the hands of all but the best yet rookies can put copper bolts through it.  While the material does seem to mitigate the strike somewhat the hits seem more reliable with less material differences so I tend to use iron. 

Firstly its a good metal quality-wise so if material penetration comes into play you have that.  Secondly its even an acceptable blunt material if you are struggling for options, weapons are weapons and metal bolts just seem to do the job.

[Saiko Kila]

Its all the RNG I think that we see at work here.  My rookie with no def skills and copper armour takes 3 pages of bolts off an elite xbow goblin before bleeding out.  Xbow gob turns triumphantly and sticks a bolt instantly through the brain of a nearby candy axelord.  Some shots from bows/xbows are just massively fatal through just about any armour.  Brain and throat are weak-spots as with all weapons.  But if you dont hit the sensitive bits and you dont manage to chip bone...a crossbow bolt basically does nothing and its not unusual to have an invader crawl off map completely red and carrying half your bolts

But the question presented was "does one type of bolt chip bones and pierce armor better than any other type?"

You'd need a serious statistics work to answer that question (or maybe some debugger work instead) because in other case you'll get only anecdotal evidence. My dwarves killed so many gobbos with goblin bone arrows, and chipped many more bones, that I don't care whether they use bone, silver or steel bolts. But I can't say with any confidence that bone arrows are as good as other, because that wouldn't be scientific without a proof

[G-Flex]

Its all the RNG I think that we see at work here.  My rookie with no def skills and copper armour takes 3 pages of bolts off an elite xbow goblin before bleeding out.  Xbow gob turns triumphantly and sticks a bolt instantly through the brain of a nearby candy axelord.  Some shots from bows/xbows are just massively fatal through just about any armour.  Brain and throat are weak-spots as with all weapons.  But if you dont hit the sensitive bits and you dont manage to chip bone...a crossbow bolt basically does nothing and its not unusual to have an invader crawl off map completely red and carrying half your bolts

Sure that axelord had all of his head covered? I believe most armor leaves gaps in the face.

[Erkki]

Well,



As long as the penetrator maintains its integrity, the denser the better. Silver and copper bolts should work the best against gobbos(mainly leather and copper armor), while bronze/steel might be better against the humies - but whether its economically worth of it is debatable. Especially as the experience of the marksdwarf plays a huge role, and the more he shoots the more exp he gains.

[Jimlad11]

deleted

[Syrup Roast]

Then again, my approach seems to be "quantity over quality". 

Urist McMarksdorf: Our bolts shall blot out the sun.
Dusnu McGoblin: Then we shall die in the shade!

[G-Flex]

As long as the penetrator maintains its integrity, the denser the better.

One problem: That approximation assumes that all other factors are equal. This is almost never the case.

[FrisianDude]

Silver is actually one of the best bolt materials (not sure about copper), I believe because of the greater mass.

IIrc, copper is in mass secondary only to silver. (If you only count weapon-metals, of course. )

[lanceleoghauni]

So that explains why my marksdwarves are so badass, I embarked over a huge pile of galena and have been making their bolts out of silver.

[GuudeSpelur]

Especially if you funnel enemies a little.  Massed marksdwarves then rock even more as bolts that miss their target hit his mate

Indeed. If a bolt misses its primary target it will still continue to fly downrange, meaning if there are a whole pile of goblins every single bolt will hit something.

Massed marksdwarves can be extremely dangerous even when entirely unskilled. While they may not be able to kill all invaders, the survivors of the hail of bolts will be too crippled to fight, and the novice marksdwarves can finish the helpless goblins off in melee.

And this is the reason massed archers were so effective IRL.  Footsoldiers had to be (at least somewhat) skilled, while archers just had to be able to fire arrows in the general direction of the enemy horde.

[Number4]

If I have enough metals, silver it is. However I've used bone bolt spam as well, with decent success. I'll draft most of my idlers and give them a simple crossbow, they're bound to hit SOMETHING. If the enemy brings master bow/crossbowmen, avoid.

[Crazy Cow]

From experience, marksdwarves alone aren't very good at defending your fortress unless the enemy can't get to them. What I do, if I use
marksdwarves, is add hazards that make crossbows more deadly; things like long drops and magma work wonders. Also, using the marksdwarves as a first-strike thing to soften up enemies before your real military hits them works well enough.

EDIT:
Running arena tests to see if density does effect bow damage.

[Erkki]

Especially if you funnel enemies a little.  Massed marksdwarves then rock even more as bolts that miss their target hit his mate

Indeed. If a bolt misses its primary target it will still continue to fly downrange, meaning if there are a whole pile of goblins every single bolt will hit something.

Massed marksdwarves can be extremely dangerous even when entirely unskilled. While they may not be able to kill all invaders, the survivors of the hail of bolts will be too crippled to fight, and the novice marksdwarves can finish the helpless goblins off in melee.

And this is the reason massed archers were so effective IRL.  Footsoldiers had to be (at least somewhat) skilled, while archers just had to be able to fire arrows in the general direction of the enemy horde.

Exactly the opposite, any mob could be (and was) armed with pikes, given minimal training and then used as infantry, when mastering a bow took a lifetime. But archers firing from BEHIND that line of pike-armed infantry would not only kill unprotected infantry(even if the hit ratio was horrible, by modern standards), it could also get the cavalry, would cause disorder and most importantly pin the enemy down(even if they were protected) and dent their fighting morale, as they couldnt fire back. Fire and mobility, since the ancient times.