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Author Topic: Ballista/catapults  (Read 1938 times)

CivBesch

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Ballista/catapults
« on: January 14, 2018, 12:02:43 pm »
Studying the DF-Wiki, there is some confusing information:

1 paragraph says:
Siege operators are "civilians", and as such they will run in fear if enemy units come too close to them. "Too close" varies somewhat, but may be as far as 10 tiles.


A few paragraphs farther is says:
Siege operators are civilians! They will drop their work and run if the enemy comes too close, which is around 20 tiles

How many tiles away is really safe?

Does placing them behind a fortification prevent the 'running away'?
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Orkel

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Re: Ballista/catapults
« Reply #1 on: January 14, 2018, 12:03:27 pm »
Fortifications don't help, they can see the enemy through them = they get scared and run.
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They Got Leader

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Re: Ballista/catapults
« Reply #2 on: January 14, 2018, 03:34:30 pm »
In my experience, the Ballista Battery set up shown the page works well for first level of defense. Civilian dwarves do run when enemies are close, but I can't tell you when that is.

The wiki page does say: "The most effective way to ensure that your operators won't run off is to lock them in with the siege engine during the moment of truth", which should keep them from running.

Also, note the bugs section. Ballistae may not be the best idea, as they are either non-lethal or can cause the game to crash!
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Quote from: Urist McDwarfFortress
You do not understand the ways of Toady One. He is not a business, he's just a guy trying to make a fun game. He's invited people to come along and experience the journey with him (and help him test it out as he goes along). At the end of the day, I don't think his main goal is to sell Dwarf Fortress, its just to create the best game possible.

feelotraveller

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Re: Ballista/catapults
« Reply #3 on: January 15, 2018, 06:17:04 pm »
Not sure on the 'safe' distance but 16 tiles springs to mind (perhaps mistakenly).  There has been a discussion of it on the forum in the last couple of years though...

One way to mitigate problems with civilians fleeing is to train them in 'discipline'.  Beware it can also have untoward consequences!

Killing multiple goblins wiht a single bolt can't be wrong.  That said the effectiveness of siege engines is generally low but they are great fun to play with.  :)

(The crash bug was confirmed as fixed in 44.02 presumably as part of the wear/weapon trap fix.)
« Last Edit: January 15, 2018, 06:19:09 pm by feelotraveller »
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They Got Leader

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Re: Ballista/catapults
« Reply #4 on: January 17, 2018, 04:04:28 pm »
The bug has been marked as resolved but not taken off the wiki page. That's a clerical error on my part for not catching it. Thank you!
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Quote from: Urist McDwarfFortress
You do not understand the ways of Toady One. He is not a business, he's just a guy trying to make a fun game. He's invited people to come along and experience the journey with him (and help him test it out as he goes along). At the end of the day, I don't think his main goal is to sell Dwarf Fortress, its just to create the best game possible.

CivBesch

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Re: Ballista/catapults
« Reply #5 on: January 18, 2018, 12:16:34 pm »
Thanks for all the help. I think I'll go for closing them inside the place where the ballistas are. :D
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