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[Melting Sky]

I am curious how dragons interact with fortifications. I imagine dragon fire can pass through fortifications. I also imagine it will probably melt said fortifications with repeat exposure regardless of what they are made of.

Will a dragon target enemies on the other side of fortifications only if it is standing right next to the fortification or does it use them more like a master marksman where it can fire at enemies through fortifications even without standing right next to them?

I've never seen what happens when a dragon melts stone. Does it become a puddle of 7 deep magma that then spreads after it is created?

[neblime]

constructed walls (and I believe floors) at this stage can never be set on fire or melted or anything like that, sadly. 
Once I had a wooden tower above my fortress for marksdwarves to shoot at the goblins or w/e and when a dragon showed up I thought I was doomed.. but no nothing set on fire and 2 bolts bought him down to be hacked at for a few weeks by the militia.

[Melting Sky]

constructed walls (and I believe floors) at this stage can never be set on fire or melted or anything like that, sadly. 
Once I had a wooden tower above my fortress for marksdwarves to shoot at the goblins or w/e and when a dragon showed up I thought I was doomed.. but no nothing set on fire and 2 bolts bought him down to be hacked at for a few weeks by the militia.

Thanks, that makes my design simpler but inherently less awesome. It would be great to have a magma arroyo system built around my dragon's fortified pill box to drain off the melting walls. Is there anybody who has much experience with how dragons interact with fortifications?

Edit: Since I haven't found anyone who has tried this yet I guess its my mission to be the one to do so. I'll report back on whether or not dragons will use fortifications properly or not.

[Melting Sky]

A note for anyone who wishes to know if dragons will properly use fortifications. They won't. I just tested it.

[BlackFlyme]

A note for anyone who wishes to know if dragons will properly use fortifications. They won't. I just tested it.

How far were they from the fortifications?

I've gotten them to fire through when they were directly adjacent to the fortifications.

[Melting Sky]

A note for anyone who wishes to know if dragons will properly use fortifications. They won't. I just tested it.

How far were they from the fortifications?

I've gotten them to fire through when they were directly adjacent to the fortifications.

Now that's interesting because I have mine chained up in a way where the three spaces it can occupy are right next to the fortifications. Trolls wandered right past the dragon and it just paced back and forth on its chain. I will have to test this again to be certain but the way I have it set up the dragon has not attacked the passing trolls.

Edit: Oh this is hilarious, this entire time it was my cave dragon I had chained up down there. No wonder it sat there like it had brain damage.

[Melting Sky]

 I'll report back once I swap out the imposter.

[Garath]

if you feel like it, but putting dragons behind fortifications is a tried and tested defense measure. As mentioned it needs to be next to the fortifications. It needs to see the creatures coming a bit since the fire has a slight 'load time' and a longer reload time. Do not keep anything you want to keep in good repair in front of a dragon. My first attempt had some traps there too, thinking to hit them with everything at once. The dragonfire destroyed everything. With the new training system, keeping dragons did become a bit more dangerous since it can revert to wild and start flaming your own dwarfs. Experiments with some way to block vision after flaming have proven ineffective for me so far - bridges etc melt. Even if the material is een dragon fire proof (nether cap?), the mechanisms usually arn't.

[Melting Sky]

if you feel like it, but putting dragons behind fortifications is a tried and tested defense measure. As mentioned it needs to be next to the fortifications. It needs to see the creatures coming a bit since the fire has a slight 'load time' and a longer reload time. Do not keep anything you want to keep in good repair in front of a dragon. My first attempt had some traps there too, thinking to hit them with everything at once. The dragonfire destroyed everything. With the new training system, keeping dragons did become a bit more dangerous since it can revert to wild and start flaming your own dwarfs. Experiments with some way to block vision after flaming have proven ineffective for me so far - bridges etc melt. Even if the material is een dragon fire proof (nether cap?), the mechanisms usually arn't.

I have a bridge blind set up but as you've pointed out the mechanisms in it aren't dragon proof. The way I have it set up, the dragon is on a chain which should keep it docile if it reverts back to its wild state but then again I'm sure at some point it will end up melting that chain. I basically have my fortress designed with a forked entrance which I open and close with bridges so I can funnel traffic which ever way I feel like. I plan to try and funnel enemies that drop FPS death trash items towards the dragon and the ones that carry decent stuff can go through my normal gauntlet of death and soldiers. I kept the two apart for friendly fire reasons. I'm playing around with the dragon not really because its super effective but rather because its neat and I just happened to have a pet dragon I needed to find a use for.

My next project is trying to figure out a way to put gila monster men to use as a means to poison my weapons but that's likely going to be a little more tricky. I have a handful of cage traps placed around the map at pinch points which have churned out a crazy number of prisoners over the years so I have a big back log of critters to find uses for.

[Hetairos]

I've never seen what happens when a dragon melts stone. Does it become a puddle of 7 deep magma that then spreads after it is created?

If you mean a stone (or gem) item or boulder, it turns into a magma glob - not a true liquid in DF sense. Add even more dragonfire and the following may happen:

[Melting Sky]

I've never seen what happens when a dragon melts stone. Does it become a puddle of 7 deep magma that then spreads after it is created?

If you mean a stone (or gem) item or boulder, it turns into a magma glob - not a true liquid in DF sense. Add even more dragonfire and the following may happen:

That's great. 

I think I am going to leave a variety of stuff out for my fiery little buddy to flambe when he has visitors just to see what happens.