Bay 12 Games Forum

A few questions:

a) Is there a way for marksdwarves be made to use another weapon along with their crossbow and use it instead of crossbow-bashing? My tests say no so far.
b) What's a good material for bolts? Does weight need to be balanced with edge for better momentum and thus perhaps deeper penetration, or is it only the edge that goes into the calculation?
c) What's the best kind of enemy to supplement marksdwarves, which tend to cripple more than kill? I'm thinking warhammers, because they penetrate armor very easily and a blow to the head of all but the largest enemies will usually kill instantly or shatter the upper spine, leading to suffocation. Since the enemies will most likely be unconscious, the head will be open for a strike.
d) Is movement speed tied to firing speed, and if so, is it enough to warrant leather over full armor?
e) Does bolt or crossbow quality matter at all? Being the densest crossbow-making material, is copper the best option for making Xbows?

Just embarked in a taiga and I see a bunch of great fiend spider silk webs lying around. Should I be... worried?

EDIT: Also, how do you guys set up FD? With all the species generally, or by picking a few? I've got all the bonus/challenge/basic enemies in game and Dwarven civs don't always survive even in a short worldgen of 99 years.

What about in adventure mode? Can they get stuff from their lairs?

I think the most concise answer is that Dwarven religion just hasn't been implemented yet-- although vampire cults will feature in the next update, which might provide a framework for religions if applied similarly on a larger scale, with multiple deities available to worship instead of one figure. Maybe monotheism will come up too, who knows? Holy wars, schisms, and reformations would be interesting. Since each species' religion will likely conflict one another (eg. ascribing certain events to different gods/demons), religious wars would be especially likely.

It would also be nice to see the occasional atheist/agnostic/skeptic/differently religous (had a revelation?) civ member (prevalence would likely rely on the social and scientific advancement of the civilization, because he might get killed in some cases, eg. Socrates' execution), who might be hated by more devout members. Perhaps, like Socrates, he could attempt to spread his reasoning and would come under the aggression of the priests. Maybe he'd suffer assassination attempts or something? Oppressed and with nowhere to hide, he'd start a subversive cult and eventually catch the favor of the civilization's leader, eventually turning the tables and beginning to persecute the previous religion, such as Theodosius I condemning the pagans after officially adopting Christianity as the state religion. The neighboring civs who were still of the old religion would turn on the new establishment, splitting the empire apart and ending an age of legendary leaders!
...Bah, I've rambled for a while. Doubtful that all of this will ever-- oh who am I kidding, Tarn and Zach think of everything.

(And don't forget the Dwarven philosopher's most potent argument, "Why would a perfectly good, omnipotent Elven god allow us to flood forests with magma?" Elven nature-gods are a fallacy, I tell you!)

Decorations technically don't exist. An adamantine spear studded with adamantine is the same, performance-wise, as an adamantine spear without it. The artifact quality multiplier helps a great deal, of course.

Smashed in a bandit captain's head with his own severed left arm. I think I'll make it my new weapon.

Ah! Was she night-creature'd maybe? Or do your giant metal humanoids not get that sort of thing?