40d Talk:Siege engine

The fact that siege engines only hit things in their same z-level is probably going to change in a new version (or it may have already, I haven't checked the newest version that came out the 16th). Someone may want to make a note of it.

catapults don't always destroy ammo when shooting (0.27.169.33b)

I have a couple of catapults to train my siege operators. After a while I noticed dwarves going far away from fortress to pick up stone. It turned out that the stones after being fired from catapult just fall on the ground. The ground is mostly sand - may be this is the reason.--BlackboX 22:56, 24 November 2007 (EST)

I've investigated this a bit further in my newest fortress, and apparently any shot that hits the edge of the map, from a ballista or catapult, falls to the ground undamaged and can be recovered. While this is particularly useful for ballistae as it means the three metal bars going into each arrowhead aren't consumed when the bolt is fired, it also means haulers will run out of the fortress all the way to the map edge to recover the used ammo. Catapult shots that hit a wall destroy their ammo as before, I am about to test wether the same is true for ballistae. --TangoThree 13:15, 28 November 2007 (EST)

Just tested it, ballista arrows impacting a wall are destroyed like catapult shot. Also, ballista arrows stay within the Z-level on which they were fired as far as I can tell, but catapult shot will drop as it reaches the end of its arc and I have seen it hit targets on lower z-levels. I am not sure if these shots were aimed at the slugmen who got splattered because I was simply firing stone out of my fortress to train siege operators, but they were a couple of z-levels down by the map edge the catapults were firing towards. --TangoThree 13:21, 28 November 2007 (EST)

I've seen catapult shots disappear at the edge of the map. I'm not sure what the maximum range is on a catapult. --Strangething 18:22, 10 June 2008 (EDT)

Minimum Shooting Range

I had several shots (> 30) fired upon a group of goblins by a legendary siege operator, but all stones flew over them and hit an area behind them. The distance was 30 tiles (+- 4).

I am on 27.176.38b Drahflow 09:33, 2 March 2008 (EST)

Quality of parts that the catapult was made of? If it wasn't exceptional or masterful, it should have been expected. --Tomato 13:29, 15 March 2008 (EDT)

Fear Threshold

Does anyone know the distance needed to keep civilian dwarves from running away? It would make building fortifications much easier. --Strangething 18:22, 10 June 2008 (EDT)

ballista's not so deadly.

it seems that ballesta's arent an instant kill anymore. they do however stil blow away most of their targets body...