23a:Crossbowman

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v50.14 · v0.47 · v0.34 · v0.31 · v0.28 · v0.23.130.23a This article is about an older version of DF. More Info · V

Dwarves or other creatures armed with crossbows deal "pierce" damage from a long distance. A Dwarf Crossbowman, or marksdwarf, will usually open fire at a distance of 20 tiles or so from their target, but a bolt may carry 30 or more*. While also doing decent general damage, a bolt does a fine job at piercing the internal organs of a creature, which can possibly cause organ failure and instant death, unconsciousness or crippling of any size target. This is of limited use against creatures without internal organs, such as magma men. Occasionally a bolt will get stuck in a target; the only known use for this is that a wrestling dwarf may grab the bolt and twist it in the wound.

A marksdwarf who is forced into melee will use the hammerdwarf skill to bash enemies with their crossbow. If you'd prefer your marksdwarves to reload instead of going into melee combat, you can go the military menu, view their squad, and then toggle c to tell them to stay close to their station. This will cause them to go and collect bolts, then start shooting again, instead of either standing in place because they don't have a path to the enemy, or running out to smack the enemy with their crossbow.

Immigrating marksdwarves bring their own crossbows and 30-40 bolts. Immigrating trappers often arrive with Novice Marksdwarf skill, though will only bring a crossbow and bolts if they also have ambusher skill.

Training

Increasing Crossbowman skill requires firing upon a target (hitting is not required), with "live targets" granting much more experience than an archery target. The difference is huge, on the order of ~67 bolts fired (~7.5 experience/shot) in practice vs 17 bolts fired (30 experience/shot) against live enemies to achieve novice rank. Higher skill grants better accuracy and higher rate of fire. An archery range is only used by military dwarves that are off duty, and they will only use wood or bone bolts during practice.

Known issues

Training marksdwarves can lead to a number of problems. Marksdwarves only train with bone or wood bolts. They need individual archery ranges of adequate size (3 tiles minimum) set up. Any activated military will only practice if they are "standing down" (not "on duty"), which can be toggled only in the military screen, and then by viewing any member within a squad and giving that squad orders - the entire squad will have the same orders, whether that squad has 1 dwarf or dozens.

Marksdwarves will not equip bolts and practice (or fight) with bolts if they are carrying items in hand (as checked via view inventory). Items get in hand if the marksdwarf has been wrestling, a frequent Cross-training exercise.

V · T · E Skills
Miner	Miner
Carpenter	Bowyer · Carpenter · Engineer · Wood cutter
Mason	Engraver · Mason
Trapper	Ambusher · Animal caretaker · Animal dissector · Animal trainer · Trapper
Farmer	Brewer · Butcher · Cheese maker · Cook · Dyer · Grower · Herbalist · Lye maker · Milker · Miller · Potash maker · Soaper · Tanner · Thresher · Wood burner
Fisherdwarf	Fish cleaner · Fish dissector · Fisherdwarf
Metalsmith	Armorsmith · Furnace operator · Metal crafter · Metalsmith · Weaponsmith
Jeweler	Gem cutter · Jeweler
Craftsdwarf	Bone carver · Clothes maker · Glassmaker · Leatherworker · Stone crafter · Weaver · Wood crafter
Mechanic	Mechanic
Military	General Armor user · Shield user · Wrestler Dwarven Axeman · Crossbowman · Hammerman · Maceman · Spearman · Swordsman Other Blowgunner · Bowman · Knife user · Lasher · Pikeman
Other/Peasant	Adamantine extractor · Adamantine smelter · Adamantine weaver · Adamantine worker · Building designer · Operator · Thrower
Unused	Alchemist · Druid