Alright everyone, here's my thread containing all of my contraptions and random things that I decide to make. Any advice or extra things you can think of that I could try my hand at are welcome. As of yet I am planning on making a sort-of hand crossbow to use with a shield, possibly utilizing pseudo-clips of ammo (3-5 hits a piece).
First off:
The Railbow ~This mighty beast of a crossbow is made only by the dwarves, and packs a punch. With a shoot force of 5x that of the bow or crossbow, it beats most things that are on a 1-tile wide ledge, providing an excellent method for killing creatures that wish to get into your fortress. Comes with four different types of ammunition, one to pierce most any armor, one with a larger blade to chop off tongues and limbs, a third to beat things down with the force of a warhammer, and a fourth just in case you want to have one specifically for people to use while training. More crossbow enhancements forthcoming~
[ITEM_WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_RAILBOW]
[NAME:railbow:railbows]
[SIZE:500]
[SKILL:HAMMER]
[RANGED:CROSSBOW:RAIL]
[SHOOT_FORCE:5000]
[SHOOT_MAXVEL:3000] This is just to make sure a near-weightless object doesn't go faster than the string could possibly go.
[TWO_HANDED:50000]
[MINIMUM_SIZE:15000]
[MATERIAL_SIZE:3]
[ATTACK:BLUNT:10000:4000:bash:bashes:NO_SUB:1250]
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_RAILBOW]
[AMMO:ITEM_AMMO_RAIL_PIERCE]
[AMMO:ITEM_AMMO_RAIL_SLASH]
[AMMO:ITEM_AMMO_RAIL_BLUNT]
[AMMO:ITEM_AMMO_RAIL_TRAINING]
[ITEM_AMMO:ITEM_AMMO_RAIL_PIERCE]
[NAME:spikerail:spikerails]
[CLASS:RAIL]
[SIZE:250]
[ATTACK:EDGE:5:10000:pierce:pierces:NO_SUB:2000]
[ITEM_AMMO:ITEM_AMMO_RAIL_SLASH]
[NAME:crescentrail:crescentrails]
[CLASS:RAIL]
[SIZE:250]
[ATTACK:EDGE:150:2000:slice:slices:NO_SUB:2000]
[ITEM_AMMO:ITEM_AMMO_RAIL_BLUNT]
[NAME:smashrail:smashrails]
[CLASS:RAIL]
[SIZE:350]
[ATTACK:BLUNT:10:200:crush:crushes:NO_SUB:2000]
[ITEM_AMMO:ITEM_AMMO_RAIL_TRAINING]
[NAME:trainingrail:trainingrail]
[CLASS:RAIL]
[SIZE:250]
[ATTACK:BLUNT:200:10000:stab:stabs:NO_SUB:1000]
My newest contraption is out, the hand crossbow! After doing a little research and testing myself, I concluded that 3- and 5-hit "clips" are impossible in the current release, so I settled for this. Slightly less force behind it than a regular crossbow and smaller bolts, but that's the cost of being able to use it with a shield.
~Can be used with a shield.
~Uses its own ammo, minibolts.
~Also includes a small knife attached to the crossbow to make it less completely useless in close quarters.
~Works very nicely with the exploding bolts, will give the reaction to make them if someone requests it.
for item_weapon:
[ITEM_WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_CROSSBOW_HAND]
[NAME:hand crossbow:hand crossbows]
[SIZE:200]
[SKILL:DAGGER]
[RANGED:CROSSBOW:MINIBOLT]
[SHOOT_FORCE:800]
[SHOOT_MAXVEL:1000]
[TWO_HANDED:5000]
[MINIMUM_SIZE:10]
[MATERIAL_SIZE:2]
[ATTACK:EDGE:5:1000:stab:stabs:mounted knife:1100]
[ATTACK:EDGE:200:750:slash:slashes:mounted knife:1000]
for item_ammo:
[ITEM_AMMO:ITEM_AMMO_MINIBOLT]
[NAME:minibolt:minibolts]
[CLASS:MINIBOLT]
[SIZE:75]
[ATTACK:EDGE:2:1000:stab:stabs:NO_SUB:900]
for entity_default under the dwarves':
[WEAPON:ITEM_WEAPON_CROSSBOW_HAND]
[AMMO:ITEM_AMMO_MINIBOLT]