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[Roraborialisforealis]

Thankfully I've already done most of these things, though I really am hesitant to split up my five-member squads (five axes, five hammers, five crossbows).  When I get more immigrants I might create two more squads, one with two spear users, one with three, to make them spar more often.

No gobbos yet though, even with dogs posted at each entrance.

Crossbows can make good hammers (Thanks to another user of this computer, billion has been made weapon-usable..... Think silver crossbows, but harder) The only problem is training them to use crossbows. Once you are satisfied with your marksdwarves proficiency (hunting greatly speeds this,) I would start cross training them with your hammer force (Also, having the two work together in combat is a good idea as well. The hammer-dwarfs will make the enemy stand still.)

Also for consideration, every pierce attack your crossbow dwarfs are using uses up a small amount of resources. A speardwarve can do the same endlessly, and much more effectively per blow (but without the safety of SHOOTING the person.)

Swords can both pierce and slash (Their slashes are NEARLY as good as an axe, but seems to be better against armor) and can be used with a single hand (as far as I know, there is no way to force a dwarf to dual wield. Although my legendary miners have done so in combat, naked, and devastated a large armored goblin force (They ascended to the land with sword and pick in hand.......) Also. Ive found that I can get a swords-dwarf to use two full sized shields and bucklers at the same time. While hammerers and axedwarves will only ever use one of both.)

[Melissia]

Oh yes, I'm making a speardwarf squad.  But I do need marksdwarves to man (dwarf?) the entryway fortress.

[Roraborialisforealis]

Ive found if they have too good of a view of the outside fortress, they will leave it and charge the 32 goblin bowmen they were stationed to catch at the end of the choke point.... But I have found that having the archery range overlooking the entrance of my fortress leads to some... Fortunate accidents. Although I have stated that I feel archery ranges are the worst way to train archers, having the archery range you will inevitably build overlooking your entrance is just like positioning training catapults to fire through factorizations into a pit that you filled with cats. Good things happen. Every time.

[astianax]

he's right on the crossbows and hammering. that's the default melee skill set to crossbows, and a lot of the idiotic little runs seem to prefer bashing with them to shooting things with them. so, even minor training as hammerdwarves may help them survive when they forget they can shoot (although, it's prob'ly best to keep their archery skills higher, so they're more likely to use those)

and, the mention of catapults is actually a good point. you can build catapults indoors, in safe spots, pointed at a wall, with a channel beneath the wall they're aimed at (the channel is only needed if you don't want to 'waste' the stone the catapults hurl) and have them set to autofire. dwarves with the seige operator skill will keep firing those, working up their skill. and catapult stones don't hurt dwarves or their pets. somehow. they also seem to rarely hurt enemies they're flung at, but they're great for training up to ballista use. also, potentially great for moving stones from point a to point b quickly. just remember, catapults and ballistae only affect things on the same z level. which is, admittedly, a bit odd for the catapults, but easier to see for ballistae

[Roraborialisforealis]

he's right on the crossbows and hammering. that's the default melee skill set to crossbows, and a lot of the idiotic little runs seem to prefer bashing with them to shooting things with them. so, even minor training as hammerdwarves may help them survive when they forget they can shoot (although, it's prob'ly best to keep their archery skills higher, so they're more likely to use those)

and, the mention of catapults is actually a good point. you can build catapults indoors, in safe spots, pointed at a wall, with a channel beneath the wall they're aimed at (the channel is only needed if you don't want to 'waste' the stone the catapults hurl) and have them set to autofire. dwarves with the seige operator skill will keep firing those, working up their skill. and catapult stones don't hurt dwarves or their pets. somehow. they also seem to rarely hurt enemies they're flung at, but they're great for training up to ballista use. also, potentially great for moving stones from point a to point b quickly. just remember, catapults and ballistae only affect things on the same z level. which is, admittedly, a bit odd for the catapults, but easier to see for ballistae

Catapult experts seem to gain small XP boosts for doing damage. So a cat catapult pit is a very good idea. All I ever used cats for was chasim/cavern exploring anyhow!

[astianax]

never bring cats, anyway. i'd modded in a type of spider that replaces them (does all the cat stuff except adopting owners...plus you can get silk out of them) and generally use larger beasts as my cavern explorers, usually depends on what my wagonpullers wind up being. often yaks, and i always try to make sure there's at least one female in the bunch, so, if they're lucky there are several generations of cavern explorers going about by the time i decide where i want to settle in said caverns. if they're unlucky, i know what to expect, still

and, melissia, your crossbow squad as cavern explorers could work quite well, actually, if used as 'cavern rangers' from some people's ideas on cavern living. they dig tunnels just inside the cavern walls and carve fortifications in spots so the rangers can shoot wandering beasties through them without being attacked in return

[Xen0n]

For the issue of your marksdwarves going all Leeroy McJenkins on you, there's ways around that too.  This excellent thread explains a great way prevent this issue.  The gist of it is that basically you set up areas that marksdwarves can see the enemy from, but can't easily find a path to the enemy.  To prevent issues with reloading it helps to set a patrol order that passes by an ammo stockpile, ideally just nearby.

To get the most bang for your ☼ out of your catapult, make sure it's set back at least 30 tiles, but no more than 80 from the target (Since they have a max and min range), possibly with a layer or two of fortifications (since they don't affect catapults, but can help block enemy bowfire), and set a garbage dump in the centre tile of each catapult.  Then dump a ton of your heaviest stone.  This way, once you train your Siege Engineers up to Legendary, they can basically use it like a machinegun, with hardly any reload time.

That said, catapult rate somewhere in the range of stone traps in terms of damage; basically the least effective attack option you have  .  Ballistae are a totally different story.

[Roraborialisforealis]

never bring cats, anyway. i'd modded in a type of spider that replaces them (does all the cat stuff except adopting owners...plus you can get silk out of them) and generally use larger beasts as my cavern explorers, usually depends on what my wagonpullers wind up being. often yaks, and i always try to make sure there's at least one female in the bunch, so, if they're lucky there are several generations of cavern explorers going about by the time i decide where i want to settle in said caverns. if they're unlucky, i know what to expect, still

and, melissia, your crossbow squad as cavern explorers could work quite well, actually, if used as 'cavern rangers' from some people's ideas on cavern living. they dig tunnels just inside the cavern walls and carve fortifications in spots so the rangers can shoot wandering beasties through them without being attacked in return

Migrants tend to bring cats. So I let the cats be my cannon fodder AND a things I drop down caves.

[Melissia]

Honestly I just plan on closing the damn drawbridges and then having the marksdwarves move up to the top level and fire away.

Once the enemy is sufficiently hurt or depleted in numbers, the hammer/axe/spear dwarves move in, lower the drawbridges, and commence righteous slaughter.

[Roraborialisforealis]

The problem is in the newer versions Ive found that almost all the siege-ers are bound to carry bows now..... Making that strategy work a little less. Its better to send some migrants with dogs latched to them as a suicide squad to deplete their ammo first eventually.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

(the dwarves wont die till they wake up from being knocked out, to they will sit there mauling an unconscious dwarf with arrows.....)

Then engage them in ranged combat. Also. Part of the holing up thing is: You will miss alot because the goblins will strafe your fortress, So you will need to use lower grade material bolts

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

(wood bolts are worthless against goblins..... save them for elephants. The goblins have armor, so you will need at least bone to pierce it.)

Its best to have an extra heavily armored unit of hammer dwarves make the enemies stand still and break their legs while the crossbow dwarves go in for the kill.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

(Silver makes the best armor peircing hammers (These hammerers tie with candy axemen!) If your enemys seem poorly geared, use steel. Its more likely to give a catastrophic wound to an unarmored foe/bronze colossus.)

The spoilers are just explanations of how it all works, and finer details.

[Melissia]

Break's over, now to export my map with the good serene zone from my laptop onto my desktop (my laptop can't really handle DF at any respectable size of fortress).

Also gonna try out DFusion on that map...

[Xen0n]

The problem is in the newer versions Ive found that almost all the siege-ers are bound to carry bows now..... Making that strategy work a little less. Its better to send some migrants with dogs latched to them as a suicide squad to deplete their ammo first eventually.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

(the dwarves wont die till they wake up from being knocked out, to they will sit there mauling an unconscious dwarf with arrows.....)

Then engage them in ranged combat. Also. Part of the holing up thing is: You will miss alot because the goblins will strafe your fortress, So you will need to use lower grade material bolts

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

(wood bolts are worthless against goblins..... save them for elephants. The goblins have armor, so you will need at least bone to pierce it.)

Its best to have an extra heavily armored unit of hammer dwarves make the enemies stand still and break their legs while the crossbow dwarves go in for the kill.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

(Silver makes the best armor peircing hammers (These hammerers tie with candy axemen!) If your enemys seem poorly geared, use steel. Its more likely to give a catastrophic wound to an unarmored foe/bronze colossus.)

The spoilers are just explanations of how it all works, and finer details.

While ranged enemies can be problematic, fortifications generally work very well.  As long as the gobbos can't walk right up to the fortifications (Due to the fortifications being on the second floor, or having a moat etc.) then you only have to worry about Elite Bowmen (they ignore fortifications), and at most you can get 1 of those per squad in a siege/ambush. 

[Melissia]

Hm.  Would having the marksdwarves on the third floor harm their accuracy?

Because I just realized that the second floor is ground level to the hill behind it lol... just one of the four facings, but it's enough to potentially cause problems.

[Melissia]

Okay, creating a new world to test out my usage of DFusion.  This may take a while, because I'm also trying other new things out:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Xen0n]

Hm.  Would having the marksdwarves on the third floor harm their accuracy?

Because I just realized that the second floor is ground level to the hill behind it lol... just one of the four facings, but it's enough to potentially cause problems.

The ground level hill shouldn't be a problem for your fortification unless some part of the hill actually touches the fortress, giving a method for a goblin to walk right up and press his face against the fortification (Fortifications don't care if you're a dwarf or a goblin, they just add a chance to block a projectile depending on how close you are to it.  Standing right next to it gives no penalty).  In that case as long as you channeled out a 1 tile gap between the hill and fortress walls and removed ramps so there's no way for an enemy to 'touch' the fortifications, you should be fine.

As for being on the third floor/different heights, currently bows have a set distance in tiles they can travel (20, for bow and crossbows, I believe).  So you can hit someone whose at the same level as you from 20 tiles away, and can hit someone on the level above/below you from 19 tiles away etc.  That means for every level above ground you place your archers, it reduces their range by 1 tile.  Also, I think you have a 'blind spot' for archers, where they can't hit anything that is at a certain angle below them, e.g.

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