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Author Topic: Lamplight archery posts (first "serious" fortress design brag)  (Read 2158 times)

zwei

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Presented for your critique and as my newbie brag:

http://mkv25.net/dfma/map-5349-windheated

Main features:

 * 4 "siegebreaker" Mushroom-design archery towers (with to-be-build) lampight defence points between them. Underground access, south of main gate
 * 3 "ambushbreaker" Lamplight archery posts in which crossbowdwarves have good time shooting goblins through floor. Aboveground access, north, east and west.

Minor features:
 * Path of death in NW corner of aboveground fortress. I use *plenty* of cage traps so there is no shortage of volunteers to try to pass "test" (usually, done when having ~50 subjects). Noone made it till first bend yet, i suspenct that ~100 subjects at once will jam enough traps for someone to get there.
 * Showcase of my dwarf room pattern on L3, Diming hall, offices and to-be tombs on L4

Noteworthy events:
 * Legendary miner was accused of sabotaging mandate for shell products given by his wife-mayor (which had pet turtle, none less!), shot at at party by captain of guard and bled to deah in front of his wife and kinds. So much for simple turtle.
 * Dwarves caused ecological, water-related disaster that took many years to remedy. Gods took pitty after they saw their effort and water eventually appeared out of thin air once dwarves proved that they can deal with their mess.
 * 4 ambushes were spung at nearly same time, resulting in basically minisiege. However, 14 military dwarves who were just issued new crossbows and each assigned 5 war dogs were nearby. Fun times.

Future: Waterfall in middle of Mushroom towers.

sonerohi

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Re: Lamplight archery posts (first "serious" fortress design brag)
« Reply #1 on: April 05, 2009, 02:49:14 pm »

May I ask what those pits to the nort, east, and west of your castle are? Surely those aren't the ambush breaker posts?
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zwei

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Re: Lamplight archery posts (first "serious" fortress design brag)
« Reply #2 on: April 05, 2009, 02:54:58 pm »

May I ask what those pits to the nort, east, and west of your castle are? Surely those aren't the ambush breaker posts?

Go up two Z levels. Pits are there just for fun.

Untelligent

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Re: Lamplight archery posts (first "serious" fortress design brag)
« Reply #3 on: April 05, 2009, 05:53:18 pm »

Building a castle in the middle of a swamp. Seems a bit metaphorical.

Nice fort. =D
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Katsuun

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Re: Lamplight archery posts (first "serious" fortress design brag)
« Reply #4 on: April 05, 2009, 07:12:27 pm »

That you built a moat that large using only murky pools awes me.
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nil

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Re: Lamplight archery posts (first "serious" fortress design brag)
« Reply #5 on: April 05, 2009, 07:18:33 pm »

the lamplights are a pretty slick design for that situation.  nice coverage.  i don't know if they'll detect ambushes though, that usually seems to only happen when they are directly next to a friendly unit.  also, there might be a risk in unskilled, hidden enemy archers not attacking until right below the pod--they definitely won't try to shoot through fortifications, but I don't think grates offer the same defensive advantage.  unfortunately that would be a deadly place for a squad of archers to strike from.  both of those problems could be solved by chaining some kittens up on the perimeter, though.

the mushrooms, though, are too tall.  right now height doesn't offer any real advantage.  instead it just trashes your angle of fire, eliminating any chance of misses striking a second enemy. outflanking doesn't really do any good either.  i had a somewhat similar set up in my first 3d fort, and was very disappointed.

in this version the best fortifications are those that shoot horizontally into a chokepoint (while preventing anything to stand directly on the other side of course).

btw is that moat system replenished by rainwater, or does it just stay at the same low level as when you built it? i've always figured you could use rain and a number of ponds to, say, supply a couple wells or fill a moat, but I've never seen it done.

zwei

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Re: Lamplight archery posts (first "serious" fortress design brag)
« Reply #6 on: April 06, 2009, 01:27:52 am »

That you built a moat that large using only murky pools awes me.

Well, I did botch it and had to resize moat (notice that moat is filled with grown trees - it took that long to set plan into motion), build floodgates to allow to refill ponds (as well as connect more pools) and organize bucket brigade just to get to water 2 to 3 units deep before it evaporated. Several years later, it still did not reach 7 units.

the mushrooms, though, are too tall.  right now height doesn't offer any real advantage.  instead it just trashes your angle of fire, eliminating any chance of misses striking a second enemy. outflanking doesn't really do any good either.  i had a somewhat similar set up in my first 3d fort, and was very disappointed.

in this version the best fortifications are those that shoot horizontally into a chokepoint (while preventing anything to stand directly on the other side of course).

btw is that moat system replenished by rainwater, or does it just stay at the same low level as when you built it? i've always figured you could use rain and a number of ponds to, say, supply a couple wells or fill a moat, but I've never seen it done.

Yes, it replenishes with rainwater.

And thanks for tips with towers, now i have some remodeling to be done :)