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40d:Crossbow
(This article also covers bolts and quivers for completeness' sake.)
Crossbows are the only ranged weapon that dwarves can carry. A dwarf will open fire at a range of about 20 tiles, but the bolts may travel further and hit something by accident. Crossbows can fire at targets on higher or lower z-levels; doing so hurts the range slightly, even when firing from higher to lower levels. There seems to be a "line of sight" rule, of about a 1:1 ratio (height difference to distance from edge of level) but the exact formula is not known.
A bolt does a fine job at piercing the internal organs of a creature while also doing some damage to outside parts. This is of limited use against creatures without 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.
Crossbow usage
Once you tell a dwarf to use a crossbow (either from the military/weapons sub-menu, or by viewing the dwarf and accessing the soldiering sub-menu), he will pick it up if he has either the hunting skill enabled or if he is in the military. He will then pick up a quiver and bolts, preferring metal bolts if available. A dwarf can carry one stack of bolts in his hands, and one in his quiver.
When in range dwarves use crossbows to fire bolts. If they are engaged in melee they will use the crossbow as a club, using their hammerdwarf skill.
Dwarves often do not return to base and pick up more bolts if they run out if there are enemies nearby instead choosing to enter melee.
Construction and quality
Crossbows can be constructed from wood, bone or metal. Wooden and bone crossbows are created at a bowyer's workshop; metal ones at a metalsmith's forge using the crossbow-making or weaponsmithing skills, respectively.
The quality of a crossbow is added to the marksdwarf/ambusher and hammerdwarf skills. The material used in construction of a crossbow does not affect the damage done when firing, but does affect the damage done when it is used as a melee weapon.
Related information
Bolts
Bolts are used by crossbows and crossbow traps. Making bolts from wood or metal gives a stack of 25 whilst making them from bone gives a stack of 5*number of bones.
Metal bolts are created at the metalsmith's forge and require weaponsmith skill. Wood and bone bolts are created at the craftsdwarf's workshop and require woodcrafting and bone carving skills, respectively. The material and quality[Verify] of the bolts affects the amount of damage done.
If you decorate a stack of bolts, the same decoration will be applied to every bolt in the stack simultaneously. In other words, decorating a stack of 10 bolts will produce 10 times as much wealth as decorating a single sword, even though it takes the same amount of material. This can be considered as an exploit because doing so increases the value of a fortress by a ridiculous amount.
In adventure mode, bolts can also be thrown for about the same results as firing them, except that it uses the thrower skill.
Quiver
A Quiver is an item used to store bolts or arrows. It is worn on the body, like a backpack.
Quivers are made of leather at a leatherworks. Dwarves equipped with a crossbow will automatically wear quivers if they are available, and carry a stack of bolts in it. This allows a dwarf to carry one extra stack of bolts, typically bone or wood training bolts in the hand, and metal ones in the quiver.
Invaders, merchants, and migrants often have silk and cloth quivers, even though you can't make them yourself.
In adventure mode, a quiver can hold any number of arrows and bolts.