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[Sutremaine]

I've been working on a way of using highly-trained marksdwarf civilians without having to go and reenable their jobs afterward. Here's the setup.



First I created a burrow encompassing the outer walkway, plus beds / booze / food, plus the ammo stockpile. Then I made an alert with only this burrow active. Most of the dwarves did indeed hang around by the doors (there was a squad of ogres to the north west, which would have kept them there for a while anyway), but some of them worked their way to the bottom end and started plinking at the goblins loitering by the gate. It took about a week of firing for the siege to break.

One annoying side effect was the sudden rush of unpastured animals despite the three pet-impassable doors that usually keep them confined. This was remedied by making another burrow within the grazing area and ordering everyone there after the siege was broken. More doors would have encouraged a better spread, and replacing the floor with up stairs and making the burrow two stories would prevent clustered dwarves having to lie down and take the associated speed hit. I'm not sure if they'll think to leave for more bolts when they run out.

The enemy took surprisingly few casualties before giving up. One squad of ogres and half a dozen non-leader goblins went down, leaving two fully functional squads and most of two other squads. Oh well, less cleanup for me.

[Girlinhat]

I don't entirely follow.  So, when you activate the alert, your entire fort goes to stand around the fortifications?  God help you wen an elite goblin bowman shows up...

[Jimlad11]

deleted

[Sutremaine]

Never mind the bad thoughts, this is purely for my benefit. Everyone is at least Accomplished now, so at either this level or the next one any dwarf who earns crossbow XP gets their labours wiped.

God help you wen an elite goblin bowman shows up...

I do check enemy squad composition first.

[VerdantSF]

I've never gotten to the point where my marksdwarves take on elite goblin bowmen.  Is it true the bowmen can shoot right through fortifications?  Do the fortifications help at all?

[Pan]

Elite bowmen completely ignore fortifications, from what I see. And their very accurate.

A legendary marksdwarf vs an elite gob bowman has a disadvantage for the home team- human shields (no marksdwarf mothers and their baby jokes please). The enemy has goblins nearby absorbing the fire while the elite bowman takes it's time with the marksdwarf. So while legendary marksdwarves are good, they are not smart enough to difference between those that shoot back and those that don't. Talk about priorities...

 I have a large room at the entrance (turn right after the end of the ballista battery corridor), 2 z levels high. The top z level has fortifications the marksdwarf shoots. When elite bowmen show up, I retreat the bowmen and retract the drawbridge that conceals the war animal pit (like in Ridley Scott's Gladiator, where the tiger pops out of an opened hatch). Amidst the confusion, I send the marksdwarves back up again, and the melee squads in. Works everytime, if you don't mind war animals doing their jobs - dying.

[shadenight123]

unleash the dog horde.
unleash the cat horde.
unleash the bunny horde.
than, maybe, unleash your dwarves.
only if you're sure there's enough meat shields...
do goblin archers or crossbowers eventually finish their ammo?

[Pan]

Check their quivers.

I would rather not waste too many animals, so war animals only. Too many animals make it hard to clean up.

[Sutremaine]

do goblin archers or crossbowers eventually finish their ammo?

Eventually. I'll have to check next time I see some ranged attackers, but I don't think they're limited to 24+a stack in their quivers as dwarves are. If an elite shooter is as accurate at the edge of their range as they are when right next to an enemy, then it may be worth giving them something to pump bolts into. Only one bolt from a particular crossbow can be in the air at a time, so the less time a target has to bleed between bolts the better. Instakills won't be affected either way.

[shadenight123]

point is, if they do not finish them...why not encasing them in towers high in the sky with floodgates to turn down, and use them as infinite ammo turret against colussus and forgotten beasts?
*mumbles about how it could be possible, then remembers cages!*