Dwarf Fortress Wiki - User contributions [en]

40d Talk:Marriage

2008-04-15T21:26:20Z

Cim:

out of 5 marriages in my fortress so far, 5 involved a man and woman, and 5 'decided to forego marriage celebrations'.
please post results from your fortress, and I'd also like to know what kind of celebrations they do undertake. [[User:Twiggie|Twiggie]] 13:27, 15 April 2008 (EDT)
: Of mine, 3 of 3 (in 2 different fortresses) have celebrated. The celebration is a party at a (probably random) dining room / zoo/ statue - both of the couple get Attend Party for a while, as do at least some other dwarves. Are you perhaps not defining anywhere for them to hold a party? (I also remember reading on the forums that they wouldn't celebrate in the first year, as with any other party, though I can't find that now) - [[User:Cim|Cim]] 17:26, 15 April 2008 (EDT)

40d:Marriage

2008-04-15T21:22:37Z

Cim: They definitely celebrate sometimes

Dwarves will get married occassionally. It is unknown if Dwarves will involve in same-sex relationships. Dwarves will sometimes celebrate marriages, but not always (it is unknown under what circumstances they do)
[[category:Stub]]

40d Talk:Count

2008-03-27T12:09:40Z

Cim: A bit more on the requirements for Count

I got a baron, then five immigrants later in the same wave, he became a count. I also happened to save right beforehand. I'll play with it a bit, figure out exactly where the promotion happens, and what changes to cause it. --[[User:Bobson|Bobson]] 14:04, 11 January 2008 (EST)
: To get the count, you need to have had at least 110 population at some point, and exported wealth greater than 18000 (possibly as high as 34000 - I exported a lot to those caravans...). Normally the exported wealth threshold will be met first. You don't need to have a population of 110 at the time - my current fortress got up to 110, lost a lot of people to a siege and went back down to 87, and only after that crossed the export threshold. At that point the Baroness got promoted to Countess. --[[User:Cim|Cim]] 08:09, 27 March 2008 (EDT)

40d Talk:Noble

2008-01-06T01:12:14Z

Cim: /* Not 100? */ Count at 110?

Added the dungeon keeper noble. He just showed up at my fort in year 1053. --[[Idles]]

I'm "fixing" the change, "16:59, 31 October 2007 Lightning4 (Talk | contribs) (1,934 bytes) (→Appointments - Isn't called bookkeeper, at least when the fortress is new.)", because in my forts it IS called bookkeeper when the fortress starts. Other edits have backed me up, suspect editor was confused--Please discuss this here? --[[User:Sowelu|Sowelu]] 15:09, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

:I apologize, I was indeed incorrect. You do start with a Bookkeeper, which in very short order can be upgraded to a Treasurer. Unsure of requirements, possibly only requires 20 dwarves like the sheriff. My fortress has one and I haven't even done anything besides changed who had bookkeeping and set it to higher priority (did not build study yet). That's probably what got me confused since the bookkeeper upgrades very quickly. [[User:Lightning4|Lightning4]] 18:11, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

::Yeah, 20 dwarves sounds accurate enough to put in there. He didn't turn when I had only 17. --[[User:Sowelu|Sowelu]] 18:14, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

"Your original expedition leader will be the fourth dwarf down in the starting screen(the one in the middle)." This does not seem to hold true; I have a newly-developed habit of making the last dwarf on the screen (used to be my designated hauler-peasant) into the administrator, with all the social skills for filling the four starter noble roles. He gets auto-assigned to all four administrative positions; I'm thinking that instead of being fixed or random, the starting assignment is based on social skills. --[[User:Alfador|Alfador]] 00:29, 1 November 2007 (EDT)

I had a Philosopher show up last night. I'm unsure of the requirement to get him; the only really notable thing that had happened was I got over 100 dwarves. I'm adding him to the list of Nobles, though, since I can confirm he still exists in the new version. I also divided the page structure between Appointed and Immigrant nobles, since the current header was misleading (Dungeon Master and Philosopher cannot be appointed). --[[User:Zurai|Zurai]] 20:55, 10 November 2007 (EST)

I had the king show up tonight. "The King arrives, dressed as a peasant." I have no idea what the requirements were. I missed the 1051 and 1052 dwarf caravans due to prolonged sieges, and had no immigrants those years. 1053 I had the caravan; a season later a wave of immigration brought my total dwarves up to 37. In the spring the king arrived, along with enough others to bring the population to 63. At that time I was notified that the Captain of the Guard position was available. Only thing I can think is that I hit adamantine during the siege years, and mistakenly built a number of ridiculously valuable adamantine objects. (Door, Coffin, etc.) This has raised my fortress value to 1.3 million. Is 1 million value perhaps the trigger? I have no coins, and no nobles other than the starting 4 positions. I did not appoint a sheriff. [[User:Doctorlucky|Doctorlucky]] 04:15, 15 November 2007 (EST)
:In the last version, hitting adamantine without proper requirement for the king triggered the reaction of having the king arrive dressed as a paysant. Maybe it's the same here. --[[User:Eagle of Fire|Eagle of Fire]] 04:20, 15 November 2007 (EST)
== What determines expedition leader? ==

There are a number of situations to test out:
* No social skills on any dwarves
** ''Probably random, possibly based on the Dwarf's thoughts and preferences''
* Majority of social skills on one dwarf (various positions in start order)
** ''Test case 1: only one dwarf has social skills - gives that dwarf as leader and all positions''
* Social skills spread between multiple dwarves
** Is there any weight on which skill determines the leader?
--[[User:Shagie|Shagie]] 01:25, 1 November 2007 (EDT)

:Is the first point certain? In my current fortress, I didn't assign any social skills to any dwarf, and I'm pretty certain that the dwarf that ended up expedition leader was the seventh in the list. --[[User:Peristarkawan|Peristarkawan]] 02:28, 2 November 2007 (EDT)
::In my current fort I assigned no social skills and the first dwarf in the list, one of my miners, is the expedition leader. --[[User:Moller|Moller]] 02:40, 2 November 2007 (EDT)
:::Might be randomised then, I started three new fortresses for the test and each time it was the same so I made an assumption. Obviously this isn't the case can you two check what thoughts/prefs you have for those so we can look for some leadership criteria. --[[User:Shades|Shades]] 08:10, 2 November 2007 (EDT)
::::It's almost always been the first dwarf for me (assuming no one had leadership skills), but I could have sworn one time it assigned someone else. Maybe it defaults to the first dwarf on the list but can sometimes choose someone else under certain conditions. [[User:Rpb|Rpb]] 22:29, 10 November 2007 (EST)
:::::Perhaps the first dwarf didn't get it because of negative preferences? Some dwarves have a line in their thoughts/prefs that reads something like "X prefers to let others take leadership roles". [[User:Tocky|Tocky]] 11:04, 11 November 2007 (EST)

==Room requirements==
Maybe something about the nobles requiring better rooms and how to build them? --[[User:Mizipzor|Mizipzor]] 15:15, 4 November 2007 (EST)
:Found it in [[room]]s, adding a link. --[[User:Mizipzor|Mizipzor]] 15:34, 4 November 2007 (EST)

== Not 100? ==

I just received migrants. My population went from 76 to 100, and my settlement went from a village to a town. No nobles arrived with the migrants. [[User:Geekwad|Geekwad]] 17:14, 18 November 2007 (EST)
:Still a town at 108
:Another wave, and we're a city at 111 (migrants still incoming)
::My population went from 101 to 126 in one wave. A Baroness arrived at the same time and turned my settlement into a Barony. Shortly afterwards, my settlement turned into a County (125+ dwarves?). Then Baroness upgraded into a Countess. Baron consort upgraded to a Count Consort.--[[User:Slumber|Slumber]] 16:49, 19 November 2007 (EST)
::Next immigration wave, my pop hit 138. Nothing happens. Then next immigration wave, my pop hits 141, the Countess upgrades to Duchess and the Count Consort upgrades to Duke Consort. Also, "Incoming King" is the top line on the Nobles screen. When you select it, it shows you what you need to achieve in terms of 1. architecture value (15000) 2. road value (5000) and 3. offerings value. (5000). I'm not sure what criteria triggers the King as it happened at the same time as my Duchess. I did just hit 200k exported wealth. Conincedence? --[[User:Slumber|Slumber]] 10:27, 20 November 2007 (EST)
::Another wave, jumped to 161 pop, and some more nobles, a Duke and his Duke Consort. Now I have both a Duke and Duchess!--[[User:Slumber|Slumber]] 14:06, 20 November 2007 (EST)
:I was made a city and a barony at 110, and promoted to county almost immediately after. No new immigration happened, and I hadn't reached the 120 mark yet. [[User:Rpb|Rpb]] 16:27, 24 November 2007 (EST)
:The last immigration wave brought me from 98 to a total of 124 including baron/consort, tax collector and hammerer. It is now a City and a Barony. I'll watch out if it changes on the first immigrant from the next wave.I currently have over 500k created wealth and 17000 exported.--[[User:Another|Another]] 16:05, 24 November 2007 (EST)
:One child is born and now my total population is 125. Still a City and a Barony.--[[User:Another|Another]] 09:23, 25 November 2007 (EST)
:My fortress was upgraded to County when the caravan left the map and my exported wealth leaped from 17k to 26k. The trigger for the County must be either 20k or 25k exported wealth. --[[User:Another|Another]] 12:47, 25 November 2007 (EST)
::Baron arrived during an immigration wave going from 88 to 112 dwarves, and upgraded to a Count not long after arrival but ''not'' immediately either (perhaps as the population went over 100?). Exported wealth was probably around 50k at the time. Now at 119 (and 80k exported) and not yet a Duke. Looks like there's a combination of factors involved. [[User:Cim|Cim]] 11:10, 14 December 2007 (EST)
:Upgrade of the fortress to Duchy was at exactly 140th dwarf from an immigration wave. "The Incoming King" included. Total created wealth - 950k, total exported - 30k.--[[User:Another|Another]] 16:37, 1 December 2007 (EST)
: My Baron arrived in the immigration wave that took me over 100 (I had peaked at 96 previously) but this was also the season where I crossed the 50,000 threshold on exported wealth. I actually went from 48,000 to 62,000 over the course of the year, and the baron arrived in the Spring, I did have an immigration wave after crossing 50,000 in the fall. Almost immediately after my baron arrived, he was promoted to count. My population is 119. --[[User:Mitchy|Mitchy]] 16:41, 3 January 2008 (EST)
:At exported wealth 45k, my Baron promoted to Count at the 110th immigrant. (Baron arrived in the first immigration wave after getting 80 population, can't remember what exported wealth was then) [[User:Cim|Cim]] 20:12, 5 January 2008 (EST)

== Queen As Peasant ==

I had dug out some raw adamantine, not done anything with it, and I got a notification that 'Your ruler has arrived disguised as a peasant.' At the same time, my Dungeon Master arrived. I don't have an announcement in the log about the Queen, but I do about the DM. I'm treating her like it's legit, what's the deal?

40d Talk:Noble

2007-12-14T16:10:02Z

Cim: /* Not 100? */

Added the dungeon keeper noble. He just showed up at my fort in year 1053. --[[Idles]]

I'm "fixing" the change, "16:59, 31 October 2007 Lightning4 (Talk | contribs) (1,934 bytes) (→Appointments - Isn't called bookkeeper, at least when the fortress is new.)", because in my forts it IS called bookkeeper when the fortress starts. Other edits have backed me up, suspect editor was confused--Please discuss this here? --[[User:Sowelu|Sowelu]] 15:09, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

:I apologize, I was indeed incorrect. You do start with a Bookkeeper, which in very short order can be upgraded to a Treasurer. Unsure of requirements, possibly only requires 20 dwarves like the sheriff. My fortress has one and I haven't even done anything besides changed who had bookkeeping and set it to higher priority (did not build study yet). That's probably what got me confused since the bookkeeper upgrades very quickly. [[User:Lightning4|Lightning4]] 18:11, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

::Yeah, 20 dwarves sounds accurate enough to put in there. He didn't turn when I had only 17. --[[User:Sowelu|Sowelu]] 18:14, 31 October 2007 (EDT)

"Your original expedition leader will be the fourth dwarf down in the starting screen(the one in the middle)." This does not seem to hold true; I have a newly-developed habit of making the last dwarf on the screen (used to be my designated hauler-peasant) into the administrator, with all the social skills for filling the four starter noble roles. He gets auto-assigned to all four administrative positions; I'm thinking that instead of being fixed or random, the starting assignment is based on social skills. --[[User:Alfador|Alfador]] 00:29, 1 November 2007 (EDT)

I had a Philosopher show up last night. I'm unsure of the requirement to get him; the only really notable thing that had happened was I got over 100 dwarves. I'm adding him to the list of Nobles, though, since I can confirm he still exists in the new version. I also divided the page structure between Appointed and Immigrant nobles, since the current header was misleading (Dungeon Master and Philosopher cannot be appointed). --[[User:Zurai|Zurai]] 20:55, 10 November 2007 (EST)

I had the king show up tonight. "The King arrives, dressed as a peasant." I have no idea what the requirements were. I missed the 1051 and 1052 dwarf caravans due to prolonged sieges, and had no immigrants those years. 1053 I had the caravan; a season later a wave of immigration brought my total dwarves up to 37. In the spring the king arrived, along with enough others to bring the population to 63. At that time I was notified that the Captain of the Guard position was available. Only thing I can think is that I hit adamantine during the siege years, and mistakenly built a number of ridiculously valuable adamantine objects. (Door, Coffin, etc.) This has raised my fortress value to 1.3 million. Is 1 million value perhaps the trigger? I have no coins, and no nobles other than the starting 4 positions. I did not appoint a sheriff. [[User:Doctorlucky|Doctorlucky]] 04:15, 15 November 2007 (EST)
:In the last version, hitting adamantine without proper requirement for the king triggered the reaction of having the king arrive dressed as a paysant. Maybe it's the same here. --[[User:Eagle of Fire|Eagle of Fire]] 04:20, 15 November 2007 (EST)
== What determines expedition leader? ==

There are a number of situations to test out:
* No social skills on any dwarves
** ''Probably random, possibly based on the Dwarf's thoughts and preferences''
* Majority of social skills on one dwarf (various positions in start order)
** ''Test case 1: only one dwarf has social skills - gives that dwarf as leader and all positions''
* Social skills spread between multiple dwarves
** Is there any weight on which skill determines the leader?
--[[User:Shagie|Shagie]] 01:25, 1 November 2007 (EDT)

:Is the first point certain? In my current fortress, I didn't assign any social skills to any dwarf, and I'm pretty certain that the dwarf that ended up expedition leader was the seventh in the list. --[[User:Peristarkawan|Peristarkawan]] 02:28, 2 November 2007 (EDT)
::In my current fort I assigned no social skills and the first dwarf in the list, one of my miners, is the expedition leader. --[[User:Moller|Moller]] 02:40, 2 November 2007 (EDT)
:::Might be randomised then, I started three new fortresses for the test and each time it was the same so I made an assumption. Obviously this isn't the case can you two check what thoughts/prefs you have for those so we can look for some leadership criteria. --[[User:Shades|Shades]] 08:10, 2 November 2007 (EDT)
::::It's almost always been the first dwarf for me (assuming no one had leadership skills), but I could have sworn one time it assigned someone else. Maybe it defaults to the first dwarf on the list but can sometimes choose someone else under certain conditions. [[User:Rpb|Rpb]] 22:29, 10 November 2007 (EST)
:::::Perhaps the first dwarf didn't get it because of negative preferences? Some dwarves have a line in their thoughts/prefs that reads something like "X prefers to let others take leadership roles". [[User:Tocky|Tocky]] 11:04, 11 November 2007 (EST)

==Room requirements==
Maybe something about the nobles requiring better rooms and how to build them? --[[User:Mizipzor|Mizipzor]] 15:15, 4 November 2007 (EST)
:Found it in [[room]]s, adding a link. --[[User:Mizipzor|Mizipzor]] 15:34, 4 November 2007 (EST)

== Not 100? ==

I just received migrants. My population went from 76 to 100, and my settlement went from a village to a town. No nobles arrived with the migrants. [[User:Geekwad|Geekwad]] 17:14, 18 November 2007 (EST)
:Still a town at 108
:Another wave, and we're a city at 111 (migrants still incoming)
::My population went from 101 to 126 in one wave. A Baroness arrived at the same time and turned my settlement into a Barony. Shortly afterwards, my settlement turned into a County (125+ dwarves?). Then Baroness upgraded into a Countess. Baron consort upgraded to a Count Consort.--[[User:Slumber|Slumber]] 16:49, 19 November 2007 (EST)
::Next immigration wave, my pop hit 138. Nothing happens. Then next immigration wave, my pop hits 141, the Countess upgrades to Duchess and the Count Consort upgrades to Duke Consort. Also, "Incoming King" is the top line on the Nobles screen. When you select it, it shows you what you need to achieve in terms of 1. architecture value (15000) 2. road value (5000) and 3. offerings value. (5000). I'm not sure what criteria triggers the King as it happened at the same time as my Duchess. I did just hit 200k exported wealth. Conincedence? --[[User:Slumber|Slumber]] 10:27, 20 November 2007 (EST)
::Another wave, jumped to 161 pop, and some more nobles, a Duke and his Duke Consort. Now I have both a Duke and Duchess!--[[User:Slumber|Slumber]] 14:06, 20 November 2007 (EST)
:I was made a city and a barony at 110, and promoted to county almost immediately after. No new immigration happened, and I hadn't reached the 120 mark yet. [[User:Rpb|Rpb]] 16:27, 24 November 2007 (EST)
:The last immigration wave brought me from 98 to a total of 124 including baron/consort, tax collector and hammerer. It is now a City and a Barony. I'll watch out if it changes on the first immigrant from the next wave.I currently have over 500k created wealth and 17000 exported.--[[User:Another|Another]] 16:05, 24 November 2007 (EST)
:One child is born and now my total population is 125. Still a City and a Barony.--[[User:Another|Another]] 09:23, 25 November 2007 (EST)
:My fortress was upgraded to County when the caravan left the map and my exported wealth leaped from 17k to 26k. The trigger for the County must be either 20k or 25k exported wealth. --[[User:Another|Another]] 12:47, 25 November 2007 (EST)
::Baron arrived during an immigration wave going from 88 to 112 dwarves, and upgraded to a Count not long after arrival but ''not'' immediately either (perhaps as the population went over 100?). Exported wealth was probably around 50k at the time. Now at 119 (and 80k exported) and not yet a Duke. Looks like there's a combination of factors involved. [[User:Cim|Cim]] 11:10, 14 December 2007 (EST)
:Upgrade of the fortress to Duchy was at exactly 140th dwarf from an immigration wave. "The Incoming King" included. Total created wealth - 950k, total exported - 30k.--[[User:Another|Another]] 16:37, 1 December 2007 (EST)

== Queen As Peasant ==

I had dug out some raw adamantine, not done anything with it, and I got a notification that 'Your ruler has arrived disguised as a peasant.' At the same time, my Dungeon Master arrived. I don't have an announcement in the log about the Queen, but I do about the DM. I'm treating her like it's legit, what's the deal?

40d:Siege engine

2007-12-01T18:48:53Z

Cim: /* Using Siege Engines (simple) */ ammo can survive in some cases

'''Siege engines''' include the '''catapult''' and the '''ballista'''. Both are formidable weapons of tremendous range (more than a screen-width) and capable of dealing out horrendous damage. A ballista arrow means immediate death to each and every common creature in its path and will severely injure even a dragon.

==Building Siege Engines==
In order to build a siege engine, you first need to produce three catapult or ballista parts in the [[Siege Workshop]]; you may then build the respective siege engine like any other building. Both tasks require the "Siege Engineering" labor and use the "Engineer" skill. It is not known whether the skill of the dwarf assembling the siege engine has any effect, but the quality of the parts certainly has: siege engines put together from masterpiece parts have a much higher rate of fire and accuracy.

The assembled siege engine is, effectively, a 3x3 building. It cannot be moved about other than by taking it down and re-assembling it at the new site. Siege engines do not impede movement, though, so you don't have to worry about building them in a corridor.

==Using Siege Engines (simple)==
{{key|o}} will let you change the orientation, whether the siege engine is pointing up / down / left / right. This takes effect immediately, it does not require a dwarf to come and turn the engine.

{{key|f}} toggles the current status between:
*Not In Use: Dwarves with the Siege Operator job will reload unloaded engines and leave them unattended.
*Prepare to Fire: Siege Operators will load the engine and remain stationed for further commands.
*Fire at Will: Siege Operators will fire and load normally.

The dwarves will (re-)load any siege engines that are not currently loaded; there's no way to prevent this short of disabling the labor on all dwarves. Ballistae require ''ballista arrows'' (made from wooden logs at the siege workshop, optionally tipped with metal ''ballista arrow heads'' made at a forge). Catapults use simple [[stone]] as ammunition.

Ammo is usually destroyed upon being fired, unless it falls a z-level (this may be a bug).

########
CCC..._#
CCC..._#
CCC..._#
########

The channel at the end of this firing range preserves the stone. For catapults there is usually so much spare stone that this is not necessary, but it could be used for fast stone transport, or simply to set up a self-contained training area. A similar effect can sometimes be observed when firing a catapult over bumpy ground outside.

==Using Siege Engines (advanced)==

===Safety Warning===

'''Ballistas will kill anything in their path!''' Ballista arrows appear to hit any units in any square that the head passes through. They are incredibly devastatingly dangerous weapons, and should never be used with friendlies anywhere in their cone of fire, including the space the ballista arrowhead occupies when loaded on the engine. Always designate a restricted traffic cone for a dozen or so tiles along the firing arc and keep dwarves out of the area.

Surprisingly, catapults are relatively safe. Catapult operators will target enemies (and wild animals) if there are any in their field of fire. If not, they will loose the shot in a high arc that misses everything. It is perfectly safe to operate a catapult in the cave: just point it at a nearby wall of solid rock. A nice side effect is that this will in due time clear the whole area of stone.

Using catapults to shoot into the open may provide some meat: as said above, the operators will target animals if there are any. However, elephants don't take nicely if you slay some of them. You also have a slight risk of killing your own dwarves or caravan escorts if they happen to be hunting the selfsame animal (and hence is close to it).

===Placement===
Siege engines can almost only shoot at targets right in front of them on the same Z-level. The target may deviate only slightly, as the field of fire is about 20-30 degrees wide. Because of the huge blind spots, it is advisable to prepare the position so that the enemy will be channeled through the field of fire.

Siege operators are civilians! They will drop their work and run if the enemy comes too close.  You should therefore place the engines behind a moat that will keep the enemy at a safe distance, or shield access to their location in some other fashion.

Siege engines can shoot through [[fortifications]]. As fortifications appear to provide some protection against incoming bolts and arrows, it's usually a good idea to protect the siege engine in that way. The siege engine only needs a one tile wide fortification to shoot out.

===Skill and Quality===

The quality of the siege engine parts affects the engine's accuracy and reload time. It is not known whether the siege engine itself also can be of a certain quality. The quality and material of the ammunition (in case of ballista arrows) affects the damage and possibly accuracy as well.

The only way of obtaining high-quality siege engine parts is to have them made by a trained engineer; the only way to train an engineer is to make parts or ammunition. Assembling and disassembling siege engines does not train the engineer skill. Dwarves will occasionally produce masterpieces long before reaching [[Legendary]] skill level, but be prepared to waste hundreds of logs until you have three masterpiece parts. Bringing an engineer to [[Experience|Proficient]] level (the highest you could buy when starting a new fortress) will take about 120 logs. Becoming Legendary requires the wood of 600 trees.

The operator skill may affect accuracy; it certainly affects reload time. It will take a whole month for an unskilled dwarf to load a catapult; a Legendary operator with nearby ammo will get several shots at a running enemy.

Operators are best trained on catapults, as these require nothing but cheap stone for ammo. It is recommended to have a number of dedicated operators that will follow no other line of work, and enough catapults for all of them to play with. As they're often going for a drink or sleep, you may get along with three catapults for four operators, and even two pieces would go a long way. Since the dwarf must hold the heavy stone in his inventory during the entire loading procedure, dwarves that have increased their strength statistic load catapults much more rapidly than others, making them good candidates for operator duty. You should start training early: it can take one year for an operator to become Proficient, and two more years until he finally reaches Legendary level; by then he will have spent 300 rounds.

Loading ballista arrows seems to be much faster than loading catapults, probably due to the much lighter weight of the projectile.

An alternative approach is cross-training any highly-skilled dwarves who aren't doing anything useful at the moment. With a couple levels each in strength and agility, a decent-quality catapult, and an ample supply of ammunition nearby, a dwarf can become a Legendary siege operator within a few seasons at most, giving more flexibility in defense and several more levels for the fortunate dwarf. Rotating Legendary miners out to siege-operation and then to stone-hauling duties sets up an efficient cycle.

===In Battle===

Ballistas hit any unit that the ballista arrowhead passes through. This makes them an order of magnitude more effective in combat than catapults, which fire in an arc that hits only a few tiles per shot and is nearly useless against anything smaller than a troop of goblins.

A siege engine you want to use for actual defense should be not set to fire at will, as this likely means that it's not loaded and ready at the time you actually need it. You should train your operators on other pieces.

When the time comes, switch off all training engines and set all of the ones you'll be using to prepare to fire so the operators will be on-station; if some of them are currently not loaded, designate them to be disassembled so to prevent your operators from loading the training weapons instead of firing the real ones.

Remember, operators are civilians. They do not care that the fortress is at stake: hunger, thirst and sleep always go first. That's why you trained more operators than you actually need; that's also why you disabled all other work that might distract them. The most effective way to ensure that your operators won't run off is to lock them in with the siege engine when the time comes.

[[Category:Buildings]]
[[Category:Fortress_Defense]]

===The Hopoate Doctrine===

Forums user John Hopoate has written this guide to the effective construction and operation of siege engines:

Please bear in mind that this is VERY long term stuff (10 years). Only by having highly trained siege operators and high quality siege weapons can you shoot accurately.

* Download LabourDF from here:

http://dwarf.lendemaindeveille.com/index.php/Utilities#LabourDF

* Start off with two miners and a woodcutter trained to proficient siege engineer status (the latter costs many starting points so choose your other starting gear and stats wisely)

* After your fortress has about 50 dwarfs, build a siege workshop, place it at the front of your fort near the battlements and designate a custom stockpile within the battlements that can take only ballista arrows. Designate another custom stockpile that can take only regular stone.

* Give your woodcutter dwarfs a custom name (like WOOD) and set their job orders to exclude siege engineering. Change the job orders of your siege engineer dwarf to nothing but siege engineering.

* You'll need wood, lots of wood.

* Get the siege engineer dwarf to build 18 catapult parts, place them inside behind fortifications (which catapults CAN shoot through), designate a custom stockpile of regular stone within the battlements.

* Train six dwarves to legendary status with mining or another fast-training skill, their high attributes are absolutely necessary for siege operating. All operators should have no job orders other than their stat-training and siege operating. When there is no mining to be done, set six catapults to "fire at will"

* After the catapult parts are done, get the siege engineer dwarf to build about 100 wooden ballista arrows, don't bother with metal arrowheads as they'll use 3 pieces of bronze each and that certainly adds up.

* Now that his skill is at a high level, your siege engineer dwarf should be able to build superior quality (*) siege engine parts with about a 75% success rate. Build about 40 catapult parts and 40 ballista parts.

* Build ten catapults and ten ballistas with a MINIMUM of superior quality (*) components in an alternating sequence along your well stocked battlements. Chasm any inferior components.

* By this point your miners/operators should be at a high level of skill, possibly legendary. This gives your superior quality weapons a devastatingly high rate of fire and awesome accuracy.

40d:Table

2007-11-24T18:17:42Z

Cim: Actually, probably better on the furniture page, and with the right number.

A '''table''' is a piece of furniture necessary for dwarves to eat [[food]] in comfort. They can be made from a wide variety of materials, including [[wood]], [[stone]], [[metal]], and [[glass]]. Tables can be extended to define a [[dining room]]. They should be used in conjunction with [[chair]]s.

40d:Table

2007-11-24T13:12:03Z

Cim:

A '''table''' is a piece of furniture necessary for dwarves to eat [[food]] in comfort. They can be made from a wide variety of materials, including [[wood]], [[stone]], [[metal]] (2 bars required), and [[glass]]. Tables can be extended to define a [[dining room]]. They should be used in conjunction with [[chair]]s.

40d:Ambusher

2007-11-23T13:28:49Z

Cim: My latest hunter immigrated with steel bolts. Probably still safe to say metal.

{{Skill
| color = #070
| skill = Ambusher
| profession = Ranger
| tasks =
* Related with [[Hunting]]
}}
Dwarves assigned to hunt automatically use the '''ambusher''' skill while hunting outside of the fortress, allowing them to sneak silently upon their prey. Dwarves using the ambush skill move [[Speed|slower]], but cannot be seen by enemies.

As an ambusher gets closer to his prey, there is a greater and greater chance he will be spotted and stop ambushing. The ambusher's chances improve as her skill improves.

[[Immigration|Immigrating]] hunter dwarves start with this skill. They come equipped with a set of [[armor|mixed chain and leather armor]], a full stack of [[Bolts|metal bolts]], and a [[Crossbow|crossbow]]. Starting dwarves with this skill get free leather armor.

In [[Adventure Mode|adventure mode]], ambusher is skilled up by {{key|S}}neaking and walking about. This will greatly reduce your [[speed]] just as it does in dwarf mode, but will cause hostile creatures not to attack you. Until you un{{key|S}}neak or someone spots you, you will gain a small amount of experience in ambushing with every step. Presently, smashing a creature's skull in with your bare hands does not count as being spotted, so the best way to tell if you're still sneaking is to check your speed in the bottom right of the screen. A peculiarity of {{key|S}}neaking is that you are (almost ?) always spotted whenever you are standing next to a creature, even if that creature is unconscious or has both eyes ripped out, and never spotted in any other case.

[[Category:Jobs]]

40d:Ambusher

2007-11-22T17:28:40Z

Cim: Mine (33b) started with a bismuth bronze crossbow when they immigrated.

Dwarves assigned to hunt automatically use the '''ambusher''' skill while hunting outside of the fortress, allowing them to sneak silently upon their prey. Dwarves using the ambush skill move [[Speed|slower]], but cannot be seen by enemies.

As an ambusher gets closer to his prey, there is a greater and greater chance he will be spotted and stop ambushing. The ambusher's chances improve as her skill improves.

[[Immigration|Immigrating]] hunter dwarves start with this skill. They come equipped with a set of [[armor|mixed chain and leather armor]], a full stack of [[Bolts|iron bolts]], and a [[Crossbow|crossbow]]. Starting dwarves with this skill get free leather armor.

In [[Adventure Mode|adventure mode]], ambusher is skilled up by {{key|S}}neaking and walking about. This will greatly reduce your [[speed]] just as it does in dwarf mode, but will cause hostile creatures not to attack you. Until you un{{key|S}}neak or someone spots you, you will gain a small amount of experience in ambushing with every step. Presently, smashing a creature's skull in with your bare hands does not count as being spotted, so the best way to tell if you're still sneaking is to check your speed in the bottom right of the screen.

[[Category:Jobs]]