v0.31 Talk:Siege engine

Ballistas

>Ballista arrows are not as powerful as before. They can now glance off ordinary clothes. Were you using wooden ballista arrows, or metal ones, or both? -Derigo 11:36, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Iron ballista bolts bruise human macemen through mail shirts. It's nowhere near as lethal. --24.162.158.234 23:01, 11 June 2010 (UTC)

I tested iron bolts against some elephants, only managing to bruise the muscle. Fired from normal ballistae by legendary operators.--Passive Fist 06:46, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

Same result with steel bolts.--Passive Fist 08:22, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

As of .12, an operator launched a steel ballista arrow through three mounted goblins, leaving the goblins untouched and the mounts seriously injured but not lethally. This was with standard quality parts, well-crafted arrowhead, and a Professional operator. Perhaps better ballista and missile perform better? Uzu Bash 23:13, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

I'd like some discussion not just here, but results in the main wiki article under a heading like *Ammunition* re: arrows, arrowheads, combinations and strengths.– unsigned comment by Pathaugen

Good idea! Howzabout you get us started, say by referencing Metal, checking out Armor, and above all, performing ‼SCIENCE‼. Just off the top of my head, I'd suggest that:

• Ballista arrows are an "edge"-type attack. Material is therefore more important than mass.
• Arrowhead material (but not shaft material) influences penetration - same-material armor typically defeats same-material spears, but the increased mass of the arrow makes up for some of that.
• Arrow quality further influences penetration - even treetrunk-arrows need to be sharpened properly.

But of course these should all be tested before being added, say by somebody who cares more about the performance of their ballistae beyond "AHAHAHAHA, I'M LAUNCHING TREE TRUNKS AT THE GOBBOS!". --DeMatt 22:22, 9 November 2010 (UTC)

Noted today that ballista bolts fired on a z-level above ground level will fall unharmed when striking the screen-edge (unlike those fired at ground level which leave the map). Not sure where that is relevant, but is interesting - celem

This page currently states Siege engines can be made to face any cardinal direction, but they cannot be moved after placement. Being that Ballistas can be rotated to any cardinal direction I feel this is slightly misleading. Maybe if the two sentences were separated so it doesn't imply that Ballistas cannot be rotated without deconstructing them. Or is it just me? --Sveden 16:54, 21 September 2011 (UTC)

Catapult

Trying to kill Titan with catapult. Titan stands outside and patiently waits when i open entrance bridge, catapult is located opposite him and shoots through carved fortifications. Operator shoots stones, but all of them pass through the square where titan is standing and land to mountain slope three times further. Is it because operator miss his target, or he just can't recognize a titan as a target and shoots just for fun? Never used catapults before, but now i short of wood and can't spend it on ballista arrows. Am i doing right? Peregarrett 11:21, 2 July 2010 (UTC)

The visible trajectory isn't a reliable indication of accuracy. So yeah, you're doing it right, but poor accuracy can still send the stone right through the target's tile without hitting. Uzu Bash 23:15, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

Catapult friendy fire?

The article says, "a stone launched from a catapult cannot harm dwarves or tamed animals." However, I am pretty sure that my catapult operator killed a kitten and a pump operator with a stone. They were both killed by "spinning talc". It was two separate shots. So be careful where you fire your catapults!

Operator defenses

Simple way to stop your operators from cutting and running when the enemies approach within 10 tiles. Place hatches across the corridor 11 tiles from your weapons, set to open when the training range drawbridges drop. Or when pressure plates are tripped by ambushers. The enemies can't get to them, but the siege engines far out range the distance.

20 seems to be the flee range, not 10.

Code

I was looking for the code for the ballista as I wanted to create a cannon that would take up a 1X2 space and shoot, well, cannon balls. It would be built of metal cannon parts, so as to balance it with the wooden seige weapons. Does anyone know where I can find the base code for the ballista? I cannot find it in the raws.