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40d:Crossbow
Crossbows are the only ranged weapon that dwarves can carry. This article also covers bolts, quivers, bows, and arrows for completeness' sake.
Crossbow usage
Once you tell a dwarf to use a crossbow 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.
Crossbow skill
Interestingly, when a dwarf levels up his crossbow skill both his civilian (ambusher) and military (marksdwarf) skills go up at the same rate[Verify]. This means that an accomplished marksdwarf will be equally good at hunting animals, despite having never done it before.
Increasing skill requires a successful hit upon a target, with "live targets" granting more experience than an archery target[Verify]. Higher skill affects accuracy and 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.
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.
Bow
A bow works the same way as a crossbow, except that is uses arrows instead of bolts. Dwarves cannot equip bows, and the interface is such that they still cannot be wielded in Fortress Mode at all, even with modding. They can still be used in weapon traps, although since you can't make arrows, you will be dependent on traders and occasional spoils of war to supply you with reloads.
When firing arrows it uses the bowman skill. When attacking with melee, it uses the swordsman skill, although it's a bludgeoning attack.
Arrows
An arrow is just like a bolt but for bows. Dwarves can't handle bows, so they don't need arrows. But in adventure mode, humans and elves can use bows, so they will need arrows if they choose to use one.
Arrows can also be thrown in adventure mode for about the same results, except that it uses the thrower skill.