Dwarf Fortress Wiki - User contributions [en]

Faction

2022-02-08T03:32:11Z

72826: /* Undead and night creatures */

{{Quality|Exceptional|16:20, 8 September 2013 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
'''Factions''' govern how [[creature]]s will react in each other's presence. The world is full of dangers for your unfortunate dwarves, and it seems that nearly everything is trying to kill them; fortunately, said dangers are also hostile to each other most of the time. Confrontations between such opposed factions happen in both fortress and [[adventurer mode]]; the wise player will see to it that they weaken each other instead of ganging up against one's fort or adventurer.

In the [[object testing arena]], each creature created can be tied to a faction (referred to in-game as a "side"). Creatures will be friendly to other creatures within their faction, and will be hostile to any other creature. There are a total of 99 factions, and an "independent" option which is hostile to all other creatures.

==Faction relative hostility==

The table below shows the behavior of different factions when confronted:

{| class="wikitable"
|- bgcolor="#dddddd"
|
| '''[[Dwarf|Dwarves]]'''
| '''[[Elf|Elves]]'''
| '''[[Human]]s'''
| '''[[Goblin]]s'''
| '''[[Kobold]]s'''
| '''[[Necromancer]]s'''
| '''[[Undead]]'''
| '''[[Surroundings|Wildlife]]'''
| '''[[Animal people|Cave civs]]'''2
| '''[[Semi-megabeast|(Semi-)]][[Megabeast]]s'''
| '''[[Demon|HFS]]'''
| '''[[Werebeast]]s'''3

|-
| '''Dwarves'''
|style="background-color:#cfc"| Friendly
|style="background-color:#cfc"| Friendly1
|style="background-color:#cfc"| Friendly1
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile1
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile

|-
| '''Elves'''
|style="background-color:#cfc"| Friendly1
|style="background-color:#cfc"| Friendly
|style="background-color:#cfc"| Friendly1
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile1
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#cfc"| Friendly
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile

|-
| '''Humans'''
|style="background-color:#cfc"| Friendly1
|style="background-color:#cfc"| Friendly1
|style="background-color:#cfc"| Friendly
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile1
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile4
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile

|-
| '''Goblins'''
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile1
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile1
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile1
|style="background-color:#cfc"| Friendly
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile4
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile

|-
| '''Kobolds'''
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile

|-
| '''Necromancers'''
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#cfc"| Friendly
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile

|-
| '''Undead'''
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#cfc"| Friendly
|style="background-color:#cfc"| Friendly
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile

|-
| '''Wildlife'''
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#cfc"| Friendly
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
| Variable5
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile

|-
| '''Cave civs'''
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#cfc"| Friendly
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile

|-
| '''(Semi-)Megabeasts'''
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#cfc"| Friendly
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile

|-
| '''HFS'''
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#cfc"| Friendly
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile

|-
| '''Werebeasts'''
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
|style="background-color:#fcc"| Hostile
| Variable3
|}

1Advanced civilizations are subject to the mechanisms of [[diplomat|diplomacy]] and may routinely go to [[war]] or conclude peace treaties depending on [[World generation|worldgen]] and according to each civilization's [[ethics]]. On the one hand, war against elves or humans is not that uncommon; on the other hand, goblins will almost always be hostile toward everyone else.

2Cave civilizations are always hostile toward adventurers and they are usually hostile toward your dwarves. They often become friendly when confronted with a [[megabeast]]. Note that this behavior does not apply to most [[animal people]], who are simply treated as wildlife.

3[[Werebeast]]s will switch factions from whatever civilization they belong to under their normal form to a special, species-dependent faction on the full moon. Different species of werebeasts will be hostile to each other.

4A [[HFS]] denizen often takes control of a goblin civilization, and sometimes becomes the ruler of a human civilization by posing as their god. Other HFS denizens are typically hostile.

5[LARGE_PREDATOR]s will attack anything significantly smaller than themselves. In most other cases, wildlife will flee from non-[BENIGN] wildlife. Two [BENIGN] wild animals will ignore each other.

==Entities and civilizations==

There are four entity 'factions' that can be created in ''Dwarf Fortress'', although vanilla only uses three of them. These factions are determined by the presence or absence of the [[Entity token#BABYSNATCHER]] or [[Entity token#ITEM_THIEF]] tags, so the four factions can be called the Civilized (with neither tag), the Baby[[snatcher]]s, the Item [[Thief|Thieves]], and the Babysnatching Item Thieves (which do not exist in vanilla DF). Members of the same faction will [[trade]] with you in fort mode, and members of all other factions may [[invader|invade]] you. This is separate from civs at [[war]], which is determined by having opposing [[ethics]]. (A civilization from an opposite faction which is *also* at war with you will simply siege you even more.)

Generally, [[civilization]] relationships override whatever loyalty a creature may have to begin with. Therefore:

* Conquered and otherwise incorporated populations from a foreign civ will always be loyal to that civ, both in fortress and adventure mode, *except* in the case of [[insurrection]]s and nothing else.

* Foreign creatures kidnapped by goblins and raised by them will be loyal to their goblin civ and hostile against non-goblin civs, including your fort. This also includes their descendants, which means some goblin civs can be potentially ''depleted'' of goblins, but still send sieges (composed of humans, dwarves, elves, etc.) and ambushes to your fort.

* More amusingly, foreign creatures occupying a [[noble]] position in a civ for whatever reason (e.g. demons that have impersonated a god to take control of human civs, demon law-givers ruling goblin civs, or necromancer kings) will behave the same way any other civ member would toward your dwarves or adventurer. Hence the ludicrous possibilities for a demon to visit your fortress as a [[diplomat]] (or join you in your adventures) or a friendly necromancer inadvertently wreaking havoc on your fortress by raising corpses whenever they can.

Some caveats: sapient creatures without the ability to communicate will always be hostile, even if they technically would be considered the same faction. They will also wage endless wars, since they lack the ability to form treaties. This includes creatures without CAN_SPEAK (or INTELLIGENT, which is functionally CAN_LEARN and CAN_SPEAK combined). Creatures with UTTERANCES cannot communicate with other civs, however, if they have both UTTERANCES and CAN_SPEAK, they will be able to communicate. For instance: [[kobold]]s are unable to speak besides in [[Creature token#UTTERANCES|utterances]] and are thus at war with everyone else - note that if you start as a kobold in adventure mode when they are available, you will be unable to speak to anyone, and other kobolds will attack you on sight because they won't be able to talk to you either.

Civilizations with the [KILL_NEUTRAL:REQUIRED] [[ethics]] ([[goblin]]s in vanilla DF) will be hostile toward members of foreign civs. If you encounter goblins in Adventure mode, they will usually request that you "identify yourself". A common workaround if you are not from their civilization (which you usually aren't) is to assume a false [[name|identity]] so that they believe you are one of their own (remember that due to conquests, kidnappings, etc. multi-racial civilizations are the norm and being from another race wouldn't be considered suspicious).

==[[Undead]] and [[night creature]]s==

The loyalty of undead and night creatures depends on whether they have a [[soul]] or not. Creature with souls, even undead, will retain the existing loyalty links they had when they got 'transformed', with possible alterations or a more nefarious agenda of their own. For instance, necromancers, night trolls, mummies, etc. break off from civilizations and form separate entities with their own set of loyalties. Soulless undead (zombies and thralls), on the other hand, are hostile to every living creature (night creatures such as [[vampires]] are consided {{token|NONLIVING}}, even if they do die), due to their {{token|OPPOSED_TO_LIFE|c}} tag, which overrides all other relationships.

Vampires, despite their blood-sucking murder sprees, will still be loyal to their parent civ, including your fortress. In fortress mode, you can take advantage of their neutrality toward undead, ordering them to kill necromancers when facing a siege; a vampire can and will path toward a necromancer unhindered and usually beat them to death. You can also order vampires to kill zombies one by one as they won't react unless attacked. In adventure mode, when they are not exposed, they will behave as any member of a civ. Occasionally, they will be accompanied by cultists who will have formed a separate group gathered around their 'immortality worship': if you confront the vampire, they will turn against you.

[[Werebeasts]] are a notable exception: although nominally a night creature, they do not count as undead. Werebeasts are hostile toward each other (and everyone else) except if they belong to the same were-species (except baby werebeasts, which are generally neutral with everyone).

[[Intelligent undead]] are creatures raised by necromancers to serve as their lieutenants. They retain their soul and aren't opposed to life but their loyalty will shift to that of the necromancer in worldgen. In fortress mode, intelligent undead raised by necromancers from your civilization are considered citizens if they were citizens when they died, and may be hostile (or just 'friendly' and mill around doing nothing) if they were invaders when they died. Intelligent undead raised by your adventurer will retain their loyalty links, so if you're the one that slew them in the first place, they will remember it and attack you on sight. A workaround is to destroy their soul by first raising them as regular undead, slay them, then raise them as intelligent undead - their soul will be a blank slate with no preexisting conflicting loyalties.

In adventure mode, should you learn the secrets of life and death or become a night creature yourself, all zombies will become neutral to you, letting you seize the opportunity to make short work of their squishy and unarmed masters. Undead you raise will follow you as if they were companions; however, they will '''all''' turn neutral if you purposely attack one of them. Generally speaking, there seems to be a worldwide solidarity among night creatures, and if your parent entity does not have beef with any of them, becoming a night creature will allow you to just chat with various necromancers or [[mummy|mummies]], take quests from them, and take them as companions.

==Levels of conflict==
{{Main|Level of conflict}}

In adventure mode, while all hostile nonsapient beings are No Quarter by default (because they do not understand the concept of surrender), sapient creatures that are capable of speech (that means creatures with both [CAN_LEARN] and [CAN_SPEAK], or [INTELLIGENT]) can be talked out of a Lethal fight, either by surrendering to them or making them yield. A notable exception is creatures from civilizations with the [KILL_NEUTRAL:REQUIRED] or [KILL_ENEMY:REQUIRED] [[Ethics|ethics]], which are always No-Quarter with neutral and enemies, respectively. Non-lethal and below types of fighting (often happening at a [[tavern]] or as the result of a spat due to differing values or other grudges) can also be easily de-escalated. This makes conflicts with other hostile sapient beings much easier to manage.

In fortress mode, invaders and your dwarves are No Quarter toward each other (the only exception is elven or human diplomats offering peace treaties). Brawls may also happen at your tavern if non-dwarves drink more alcohol than their livers can handle, but these don't escalate into full blown war, although they do result in sometimes lethal injuries.

==Bandits and [[criminal]]s==

[[Bandits]] are entities consisting of groups harassing [[town]]s (including your fortress) from [[camp]]s in the countryside, and they are hostile toward civilization members. If you don't want them to be hostile to your adventurer, you should start the game as an [[outsider]] with no link to existing entities, or assume the identity of one. Bandits may lay (small-scale) siege to you in fortress mode, and are often given as quest targets in adventure mode. However, as they effectively own sites (camps, with a [[boss]] acting as the lord) it means you can try and de-escalate any [[level of conflict]] you may have with them, talk to the boss, and join them as a [[Hearthperson|lieutenant]], and take quests from them, effectively shifting your loyalty.

[[Criminal#Criminal Organization|Criminal organizations]], on the other hand, dwell in a town's [[dungeon]]s, and although they take part in various [[intrigue| schemes]], they are not nominally hostile toward anyone (apart from the occasional insult or spitting). Their members have links with existing groups in the town, and killing some of them as part of a [[quest]] may not be taken well by the citizenry.

==Insurrections==
{{Main|Insurrection}}

Several civilizations may lay claim to a single site. When a site belonging to a civilization gets occupied by another, there is a chance for the site's inhabitants to revolt, treating their current parent civ as enemies (and their former civ as friendly). This shift of loyalty often translates into a bunch of fights erupting out of nowhere in adventure mode.

==Intelligent wildlife==

Random non-civilized intelligent beings (gorlaks, gremlins, animal people) are hostile (as wildlife would be) in fortress mode. In adventure mode, their behavior depends on their alignment - evil-aligned ones like [[troll]]s or [[ogre]]s will attack you, while neutral and good-aligned ones like animal people or gorlaks can start conversations with you. (A notable exception is ''civilized'' animal people found in caves, that are hostile toward adventurers unlike previous versions.) They won't have much to say if they are not part of a civilization, though. [[Gremlin]]s are special as they can be tamed in fortress mode, which means they are able to become pet citizens, which, in turn, triggers all sorts of weirdness.

Benign wildlife isn't really hostile in that they generally flee conflict if able, but they ''will'' put up a fight if cornered.

==Tamed enemies==
{{Main|Animal trainer}}

In Fortress mode, ''any'' creature that's been labelled as an enemy of your civilization ''will'' be hostile toward your fortress, no matter what. Creatures become enemies of your civilization by either killing a member of your civilization (e.g. one of your dwarves, but even pets qualify) or by belonging to an enemy civilization or otherwise hostile entity in the first place. In practice, this means that the following creatures will always be hostile, ''despite'' their tameable status:

*[[Megabeast]]s ([[Roc|rocs]], [[Hydra|hydras]], [[Dragon|dragons]] are the tameable megabeasts)
*Enemy [[Mount|mounts]] brought in a [[siege]]
*Wildlife creatures that have killed one of your dwarves or pets. Most often, they acquire a [[name]] for this feat.

You may cage and attempt to [[Animal training|train]] these creatures, raise their training level, and sure enough, this will yield experience for your trainers, and raise civilization-level knowledge about the animals. But you should ''never'' set them free inside your fortress, as they will munch on your dwarves ''and'' trigger a loyalty cascade in the process. See below for specific cases.

Interestingly, the offspring of such creatures do ''not'' count as enemies of your civilization. This means you may attempt a breeding program between enemies of the same species, or an enemy and a wild counterpart that's presumably easier to handle. In practice, this leads to extremely disturbing situations where a mother either massacres her offspring as soon as she gives birth, or said offspring overwhelm her as soon as they come out of her. Note that this only ever happens if the species does not lay eggs - enemies do not use your [[nest box]]es (and, if they are [[building destroyer]]s, will simply demolish them) if you provide them with some.

==Miscellaneous==

[[Megabeast]]s and [[semi-megabeast]]s are neutral toward each other, but will try to kill everything else they can find - whether it be in [[World generation|worldgen]], [[adventurer mode]] or [[fortress mode]]. [[Forgotten beast]]s and [[titan]]s are hostile to everyone, including other forgotten beasts and titans.

[[Insanity|Berserk]] dwarves are hostile to everyone, including each other.

[[Visitors]] side with their parent civ if it goes to war with you.

[[Demon|Demons]] that didn't escape from the [[Underworld|Underworld]] are hostile to every non-demon, and [[Angel|angels]] are hostile to every non-angel. This, obviously, does not apply to demons your adventurer has bound into servitude, nor does it apply to demons who rule (human or goblin) civilizations.

If for some reason a demon is given a nobility title, they will turn neutral to creatures from the same faction. If they are given a [[religion|religious]] title, they will slaughter everyone with a different religion. Bestowing nobility titles can be a way to turn normally hostile creatures like [[night troll]]s or even [[bogeymen]] into becoming friendly to the parent civ the nobility relates to.

==Loyalty cascade==

Loyalty cascades are the result of entity members attacking each other. The conflict will escalate into a full civil war (hence Toady One referring to it as the "civil war bug") and won't resolve until one side of the conflict is wiped out. Loyalty cascades can be triggered in both fortress and adventure mode.

===Attacking [[Trade|merchants]] from your mountainhome===

If you order your military to kill merchants from your own civilization, a bizarre result of the way loyalty is handled makes the members of your military who attacked the traders become enemies of your civilization, but remain members of your fort's government (dwarves of this faction will henceforth be referred to as ''separatists''). As enemies, they attack your other dwarves (''citizens''), but as members of the fort, they still follow orders. Allowing citizen militia dwarves to attack the separatists will give them opposite loyalties of the separatists, (i.e. loyal to civ, not to fort), or ''loyalists'', who do '''not''' follow orders. And then, if a separatist or loyalist kill a citizen, they become enemies of the civ '''and''' fort, making them ''Renegades'', who are essentially complete enemies of the citizens.

===Attempting to tame enemy [[mount]]s===

If you use [[cage]] [[trap]]s against goblin sieges, you are likely to capture [[Giant bat|a]] [[Cave crocodile|few]] [[Giant cave swallow|mounts]] [[Rutherer|from]] [[Jabberer|various]] [[Voracious cave crawler|species]]. You may assign them to your [[animal trainer]]s and attempt to tame them, thus gaining a few facts about each specific species; but under no circumstances should you ever release them from their cages, as they are always considered enemies to your civilization and will wreak havoc as soon as they are free. Not only that, but they will trigger a similar loyalty cascade as soon as they attack your citizens, leading your fort to its demise through a never-ending civil war - as well as, for example, some copious jabberer-chomping. The best course of action is to keep re-training the mounts in their cages over and over again, thus facilitating future taming of their '''wild''' counterparts.

===Attacking a [[werebeast]] in dwarven form===

If one of your dwarves turns into a [[werebeast]] and you send your military to kill them while shapeshifted, their failure to do so (and allowing the dwarf to revert to normal) may cause a loyalty cascade.

===Attacking a berserk citizen or werebeast in wereform===

Dwarven military can no longer be relied upon to put an end to the rampages of citizens gone [[insane|berserk]] or transformed into a beast. Fighting such a threat is treated as assaulting a citizen and will cause ''the defenders of your fort'' to lose loyalty and be hunted down as traitors. {{bug|7107}} Seems partially fixed in 0.42{{Verify}}.

===How to deal with loyalty cascades===

To prevent the cascade from spreading, order the original separatists away from the fortress and let them fight amongst themselves. If the results are renegades, it is okay to allow other dwarves to kill them (by stationing them nearby). If the results are separatists/loyalists, then you will need to separate them somehow.

Dwarves from these different "factions" will cancel jobs if they ever come across one another, each running away. This will likely lead to a massive number of job interruption announcements reading ''Urist McDwarf cancels Eat: Interrupted by Farmer''

'''NOTE:''' Tame animals are loyal to civilizations and fortresses indefinitely due to a bug, so they can be used to kill off separatists/loyalists without repercussions.

A more radical solution is to briefly retire and then [[Reclaim_fortress_mode|reclaim]] your fort, which should reset your dwarves' loyalties.

{{mod}}

====DFHack====
For those who are using [[Utility:DFHack|DFHack]], the command {{DFtext|fix/loyaltycascade|white}} can be used to immediately end some loyalty cascades, though it does not work on all types of loyalty cascade.

{{Translation
| dwarven = uzlir
| elvish = anoni
| goblin = osmrur
| human = ozo
}}
{{Category|Game mechanics}}{{Category|World}}
[[ru:Faction]]

Wall

2022-02-07T23:10:07Z

72826: /* Construction */

{{quality|Fine}}{{av}}

A '''wall''' is either a [[map tile]] or a [[construction]] that blocks access to [[creatures]] and [[Flow|fluids]]. The appearance of a constructed wall is similar to that of a [[smoothing|smoothed]] natural wall, but it works the same as any filled tile composed of [[stone]], [[clay]] or [[soil]]. Walls either occur naturally (e.g. a Rough-hewn Andesite Wall), or can be constructed. With constructed walls, it is possible to create multi-level [[building]]s such as [[archery tower]]s complete with roofs by creating [[floor]]s on the layer above. A wall fills the tile it is in and creates a walkable space above it.

== Digging ==
[[File:walls.png|thumb|120px|Walls and pillars.]]As explained on the [[digging]] page, naturally occurring walls can be dug out using the {{Key|d}}esignations {{Key|d}}ig command, or c{{Key|h}}annel command. These tasks are carried out by dwarves with the [[mining]] labor activated.

Natural walls can be designated for {{K|s}}moothing and {{K|e}}ngraving to improve the appearance and value of the wall. These tasks are carried out by dwarves with the [[stone detailing]] labor activated.

== Construction ==

Walls can be built ''en masse''. To do this, use the {{K|b}}uild -> {{K|C}}onstruction -> {{K|w}}all command. The keys {{K|u}},{{K|m}},{{K|k}} and {{K|h}} are used to change size. Walls may be built on any square which does not already contain a structure, provided your dwarves can reach an adjacent square (this includes building a wall over empty air next to a floor, allowing for the construction of inverted pyramids). Diagonals cannot be built from, nor will they support constructions.

The important thing to remember is that all walls, floors, or anything built with the {{K|b}}-{{K|C}} keys are LIFO - "Last In, First Out". That means that the very '''last''' designation you make will be the very '''first''' thing your builders will work on next! Once you master this concept, it can be used to your advantage, but only if you can plan ahead.

It is also important to remember that you cannot build on top of a constructed floor, but you can build a wall on top of another constructed wall, even though the upper surface of a wall is otherwise indistinguishable from a constructed floor.

Constructed walls cannot be engraved, but can be carved into [[fortification]]s ({{K|d}}esignate - carve {{K|F}}ortifications). Unlike constructed fortifications, those created from walls retain an implied [[floor]] on the level above. As usual, the fortifications will block movement, but not [[liquid]]s or small objects such as [[bolt]]s.

Normal walls are considered 'rough'. By using [[stone]], [[glass]], [[wood]], or [[metal]] [[block]]s, higher-quality constructions can be built with increased value. This can be particularly important when trying to maximize the value of a [[noble]]'s [[room]].

The [[labor]] required to perform the construction can be found under Other Jobs, Wall/Floor Construction.

When building walls, your builders will carry the material to the job site themselves. A useful tip when building [[megaproject|large projects]] is to first make a stockpile nearby, and only allow one type of material in it. After it fills up, build only as many constructions as there are items in the stockpile. Wait for your haulers to refill the stockpile, then build the next section of the project.

When constructing a wall over a walkable tile, the constructing dwarf will move any items in the tile prior to construction. When constructing a wall over an unwalkable tile (such as a tree top) any items stuck in the tile will be destroyed when the construction is completed.

=== Building walls in damp conditions ===
When trying to build walls in damp conditions (such as when digging through an [[aquifer]] in a soil layer), you need to make sure that the area to be built on ''and'' the area the dwarf needs to stand on to build from are at 1/7 or 0/7 when you set the order to build the wall.

If the area the dwarf needs to stand on is 2/7 when the wall is designated to be built, then the dwarf will try to build the wall by standing in the space the wall will occupy, and will never complete the work.

If there are multiple areas, then at least one must be at 1/7, and the dwarf may ignore those which were at 2/7 or greater, even if they subsequently drop to 1/7 or dry out entirely.

== Removing Walls ==

To remove a wall, open the {{Key|d}}esignations menu and select {{Key|n}} Remove Construction. This task will be carried out by a dwarf with the [[construction removal]] labor enabled.

== Notes ==
* Walls do not have any effect on [[noise]].
* If a wall that is the only support for a structure is removed, it will [[Cave-in|collapse]], most likely hurting any dwarves on or around it.
* If a tree is near your wall, sometimes dwarves will climb the wall to climb on the tree. If this happens, dwarves could get hurt from falling out of the tree.

== Bugs ==
*Dwarves will once again wall themselves out of the fortress (a regression caused by the fix for the "[[Main:Dwarf cancels construction of Wall: Creature occupying site|Dwarf cancels construction of Wall: Creature occupying site]]" errors). To avoid this behavior, make sure the building material you choose is "inside" the fortress (i.e. closer to your fortress center). Manufactured building materials (like blocks) provide much more control of the location, and consequently the direction the dwarf will approach the build site.

{{Translation
| dwarven = adil
| elvish = ferale
| goblin = umâ
| human = olo
}}

{{Buildings}}
{{Category|Buildings}}
{{Category|Constructions}}

File:Archery range setup.png

2021-05-13T05:13:01Z

72826:

Added new image that does not include stockpile with bins enabled.
No extraneous barracks assignment (Z,I,Q)
[[User:72826|72826]] ([[User talk:72826|talk]]) 05:10, 13 May 2021 (UTC)

== Licensing ==
{{self|cc-zero}}

File:Archery range setup.png

2021-05-13T05:10:58Z

72826:

Added new image that does not include stockpile with bins enabled.
[[User:72826|72826]] ([[User talk:72826|talk]]) 05:10, 13 May 2021 (UTC)

== Licensing ==
{{self|cc-zero}}

User talk:72826

2021-05-13T04:44:51Z

72826: Created page with "I am learning how to contribute properly. Feel free to verbally abuse me where necessary. ~~~~"

I am learning how to contribute properly. Feel free to verbally abuse me where necessary.
[[User:72826|72826]] ([[User talk:72826|talk]]) 04:44, 13 May 2021 (UTC)

Advanced marksdwarf training guide

2021-05-04T04:07:03Z

72826:

{{Quality|Exceptional|21:40, 11 May 2015 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
[[Marksdwarf|Marksdwarves]] can be tricky to equip and train properly for the uninitiated. They often appear to refuse to use their [[crossbow]]s at [[Archery range]]s. This guide goes into details explaining known bugs, and getting your marksdwarves to train properly, as well as going into details regarding various ranged weaponry.

== Understanding ranged weaponry ==
In vanilla ''Dwarf Fortress'', the raws define three types of ranged weapons, each with their own skill and ammo.

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="4" |Ranged Weapons
|-
!Ranged Weapon
!Ranged Skill
!Melee Skill
!Ammo
|-
|Crossbow
|Marksdwarf
|Hammerdwarf
|Bolts
|-
|Bow
|Bowman
|Swordman
|Arrows
|-
|Blowgun
|Blowgunner
|Swordman
|Darts
|-
|}

Of these, dwarves can only craft crossbows and bolts. Bows and blowguns are gained either through trade or recovery from downed enemies. If playing a modded game, replace crossbow in the following with one of the above weapons, and proper ammo type.

== Equipping your marksdwarves ==

=== The minimum outfit ===
At a minimum, each dwarf requires the following to successfully use the crossbow.
* One crossbow
* One quiver
* One stack of bolts for each marksdwarf to shoot

A quiver is equipped on the upper body slot. Due to a bug, sometimes a marksdwarf will fail to pickup a quiver if wearing heavy armor. A workaround for this is given below. Wood and metal bolts are generated in stacks of 25. Bone bolts are generated in stacks of 5.

=== Crossbows ===
Crossbows can be made with wood or bone at a bowyer's workshop, or out of metal at a metalsmith/magma forge. Metal crossbows can be forged out of copper, bronze, bismuth bronze, iron, steel, or adamantine. Quivers must be made of leather at a leatherworks. The base material of a crossbow appears to have no effect on the lethality of ranged bolts. However, when marksdwarves end up in melee, they will use their crossbow to bash. This bash attack utilizes the hammerdwarf skill and deals blunt damage, thus it has been suggested to make dense metal crossbows.

=== Quivers and bolts ===
Please note that bolts are assigned to a ''squad'', not to individual dwarves. The number of bolts assigned to a squad will be divided evenly between all occupied squad positions. If you have a squad of 10 marksdwarves, you need to assign ''at least'' 250 bolts to the squad for each position to equip 25 bolts.

Quivers can hold between 25 and 49 bolts, and dwarves will pick up multiple stacks if necessary to reach a number in this range. In other words, dwarves will continue picking up stacks of bolts until they've got at least 25 in their quiver (or they run out of squad-assigned bolt stacks). Bolt stacks are collected in last-in-first-out order (LIFO); that is, dwarves will always go for the newest bolts in your fortress, even if there is an ammo stockpile three steps away from them. Each squad with marksdwarves must be assigned ammo. As they deplete it, the game will automatically add additional ammo to the squad if there is some in the fortress, again following the principle of LIFO.

=== Avoiding equipment issues ===
The mining, wood cutting, and hunting labors have an "invisible uniform" that conflicts with military equipment. When these labors are enabled, a dwarf will drop all assigned military equipment when going off duty, and when ordered back on duty they spend extra time collecting their equipment, and may ultimately report without some equipment. For that reason, it is recommended that you disable mining, wood cutting, and hunting on all military dwarves.

Problems have been reported with ammunition stored in bins. Dwarves will take additional time to reload since they "lock" each other out of the bin, and may even fail to do so entirely. Disabling bins in ammo stockpiles is recommended. If you choose to use bins, keeping a large oversupply of bolts may limit potential problems.

An "[[equipment mismatch]]" error sounds dire, but it's just a diagnostic message telling you that a dwarf's assigned equipment changed while the dwarf was en route to pick up the previously-assigned equipment. In almost all cases the dwarf will automatically collect the newly-assigned equipment without player intervention. One reported cause of frequent equipment mismatch spam is ammo stored in bins.

== Setting your marksdwarf's barracks ==

=== Understanding possible training activities ===
The first rule of marksdwarf training is that you do '''not''' assign them a normal [[barracks]] if you wish them to utilize the [[Archery target]] for Archer and Marksdwarf xp - if they are assigned to a barracks, they will train as hammerdwarves with their crossbows vs. actually shooting bolts at the Archery target. Furthermore, as the game gives precedence to melee training, they will almost never use an archery range, even if one is assigned, if they have a choice.

When training, a dwarf has four possible options, which they will take in roughly this order:
* Squad Training (Lead/Watch demonstration)
* Individual Combat Drill
* Spar (requires Competent Fighter skill)
* Archery Training

Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves '''will''' spar as long as they are Competent Fighter skill level, training their melee skills while doing so). Except for archery training, dwarves require a standard barracks to conduct any of the above activities. Notably, it is possible to actually train marksdwarves via demonstration, both Crossbow and Archery skills being trainable this way. By combining this with training orders, it is possible to make Archery Training the only valid option, and thus get them to train consistently.

=== Building archery ranges ===
Thus, the first step is to build a room with a bunch of Archery targets, it is recommended to build one Archery target per filled squad position (multiple marksdwarves cannot train at the same Archery target concurrently). The room must be large enough that the marksdwarf has a one-gap space between them and the target; some people just make their "barracks" 10x10, and put an ammo stockpile in it (reminder - disable bins in this stockpile). Notably, (and this is a change from previous versions) the dwarves ''must'' be able to walk up to the target; placing a channel in front of it will prevent them from training.

Once you build your range ({{k|b}}-{{k|A}}), you must define it as a room ({{k|q}}-{{k|r}}). Make it so it touches the far wall, and don't worry, range rooms can overlap. You have to do this for each Archery target. Make sure the shooting direction is correct! In addition, your marksdwarf squad '''must''' at minimum have train set on each archery target with ({{k|q}}-{{k|t}}). Again, only one marksdwarf can use a target at any given time.

[[File:Archery_target_setup.png|A properly setup archery target]]

Repeat this for each range; you will have 1-10 targets overlapping each other and assigned to your marksdwarf squad (in these screenshots, they are "The Delights of Gold")

===The military management screen===

This is by far the most difficult part - the {{K|m}}ilitary menu is confusing on the best days, but this guide will walk you through it. (To some people, this screen is designed upside down: the options to switch 'pages' or 'tabs' on this menu are at the bottom, and the specific detailed commands for the current page/tab are at the top. We will use 'page'.)

Ignore the default page '''{{DFtext|p|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Positions|3:1:1}}''' page for now, because you want to make the right '''{{DFtext|n|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Uniforms|7:1}}''' for your marksdwarves.

====Uniforms====
Press {{K|n}} to bring up the uniforms screen. Do yourself a favor and just scroll down and {{K|d}}elete the default 'archer' uniform. It's wrong and will not work properly.

Create a new uniform with {{K|c}}.

You will use the hotkeys seen on the 2nd row from the top of the {{K|m}} screen, and to create the following uniform:
* {{K|A}}rmor: leather armor
* {{K|L}}egs: leather legwear
* {{K|H}}elm: leather headwear
* {{K|G}}loves: leather handwear
* {{K|B}}oots: leather footwear
* {{K|S}}hield: shields/bucklers
* {{K|W}}eapon: crossbows (do NOT use individual choice, ranged; you '''will''' end up with dwarves who think an ''axe'' is a ranged weapon) :p

Navigation is ''tricky'', so let's do the first 3 selections together:
# {{K|A}}rmor to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Armor items
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather armor". You should now see "leather armor" listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
## Ok, that was the '''easy''' one. So follow these steps CLOSELY.
# {{K|L}}egs to show the to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Leg items
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "legwear". You should now see "legwear" listed under "leather armor" under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list. BUT... the green {{dftext|leather armor|3:1}} means it is the selection from that column.
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|legwear|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather legwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
# Now {{K|H}}elm to get your leather headwear
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "headware". (It may be the first option, so just hit {{K|Enter}})
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|headware|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather headwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.

Be careful of hitting Enter at the wrong time and duplicating or deleting an entry. Here's what it should look like if you did it right:

[[File:Working_training_uniform.png|400px|Uniform that gets them training]]

Now press {{K|m}} to switch from "Partial matches" to "Exact matches" in the upper right. This appears to fix most of the issues that result in your dwarves not picking up quivers. You might be able to get away with {{k|r}} "Over clting", which means the dwarves will wear this uniform over their current clothing.

At this point you have created the concept of a uniform, but you have not yet told your squad to wear this uniform.

Proceed to the next section.

===Positions===
Now press {{K|p}} to go back to the positions menu. If you are creating {{K|l}} a new squad, it will prompt for a uniform, before showing a list of Vacant Squad positions and Candidates.

After selecting your recruits, switch to the {{K|e}} menu. Select your squad, then press {{K|U}} (that's capital U) to bring up the {{K|U}}niform selection screen.

NOTE: If a position (for example, commander/captain) is highlighted when you hit the {{K|U}}niform selection screen, your selection will ONLY apply to that individual soldier.
Hit {{K|shift}} + {{K|enter}} to make sure you are assigning it to all positions in the squad.

You can also look at the top of the screen to see what your dwarves will train as (i.e. 10/10 Marksdwarves, instead of 1/1 markdwarf 9/9 wrestlers).

[[File:10_marksdwarves.png|400px|10/10 Marksdwarves]]

=== Handling ammo ===
We're almost done. Go to the ammo screen.

[[File:ammo_screen.png|400px|Ammo]]

If you're setting this by hand, here's what to know. Each squad needs the correct ammo. Bolts are assigned on a "per-item" basis, i.e., a given stack of bolts that's marked for training will only be used for training and vice versa. Unfortunately, an old bug prevents this from working; if you have multiple ammo types, and some are set Training-only, and others are set combat-only, your marksdwarves *will* get stuck and fail to train, or fail to fire. The only way to get this to work is if all ammo assignments in the fortress are set to both "CT" in the UI.

By default the top slot reserves ammunition for hunters. If you don't have any hunters you may want to remove that reservation from the ammunition screen to free up those bolts for your military.

==== Switching bolts types reliably ====
Forbidding/Dumping is respected by the game when assigning ammo, so you can use the stocks screen to, for instance, dump wooden/bone bolts when you're not training and load metal bolts for combat. First delete the ammo assignment for the training bolts, then dump them from the stocks screen (DFHack's enhanced inventory is useful from this), and finally add the new metal bolts to the ammo screen. Reverse the process to get them to change back. (Be sure to set both CT flags in the ammo screen each time.)

=== Squad training orders ===
Now, for the magic bit that gets them doing nothing *but* training. Open the schedule screen with {{K|s}} and look at the orders. The default is "Train, 10 minimium". '''This is WRONG!'''

[[File:default_training_order.png|400px|Default Training Order]]

Press {{K|x}} to delete the order. The schedule screen will change to show no scheduled orders.

[[File:No_orders.png|400px|no_orders]]

Press {{K|o}} to pull up the give order screen. Press {{K|o}} until 'Train' is set, and then press {{K|+}} so it shows minimum 1, like this. Then press shift-enter to give the order. The screen will look like this:

[[File:Train_1.png|400px|train 1]]

[[File:given_train_1_order.png|400px|after giving train 1 order]]

Now do it again, until you have as many orders as total members of your squad (using a [[macro]] will allow you to repeat the process easily). You can give more than 5 orders, you just have to scroll in the orders screen to see it. When you're done it should look like this, after doing it 10 times.

[[File:multiple_train_1.png|400px|Multiple train one orders]]

Copy and paste the order to all the months. You can also set Sleep in Barracks at need to increase their training time, though this will raise the stress levels of dwarves in the squad due to tired thoughts.

You're almost done. Activate your squad, and after they finish picking up equipment, watch your bolt supplies vanish as your marksdwarves do nothing *but* archery training.

=== Why this works ===
Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves *will* spar as long as they're Competent Fighters). Training, minimum of 1 forces them to work solo. Since they don't have a normal barracks, they can't drill, which leaves Archery Training as the only possible way to train. Since reloading on marksdwarves continues to be erratic, they'll frequently report "No Orders" or similiar once they've finished archery training until the game notices that a given dwarf is out of ammo, in which case they'll go pick up more.

Archery target training grants 5x less experience than live fire (6XP per bolt at Archery target vs. 30XP per bolt on live targets), but no micromanagement, no hauling, one setup, and you can ignore it until you get that glorious announcement that Urist McMarksdwarf has become an Elite Marksdwarf.

== Stopping melee charges ==
Do '''not''' use the [[Scheduling#Stations|station scheduling order]]!

When a dwarf has line of sight on an enemy, they'll do one of two things: run away; or run up and fight. While they're running up to the enemy, dwarves will shoot bolts if they have any, but then engage the enemy using their crossbows as hammers instead of shooting. Therefore, it's imperative that you create physical barriers which make it impossible for your marksdwarves to charge the enemy. Nothing else will suffice.

Some sources claim a Defend Burrows order may restrict marksdwarves to the area defined by the burrow. The full effectiveness of Defend Burrow orders at stopping a melee charge is unknown.{{verify}}

The easiest way to accomplish this is to use fortification pillboxes (also known as [[archery tower]]s), with a [[Scheduling#Orders|patrol order]] that causes them to break line of sight.

For patrol routes, marksdwarves will not reliably take a Pickup Equipment order as long as they have line of sight on their enemy; they will usually stand there and glare. Have them go through a door or something, and as soon as they lose sight of the goblin/forgotten beast/demon, they'll immediately go find bolts and reload.

An alternative approach is to forego all of this scheduling stuff, and use direct move orders. Station (move) your marksdwarves to the spot where you want them to stand, making sure that this spot is physically separated from the enemy. Remember that each dwarf will actually select a random spot within 3 tiles of your station-spot, on the same Z level, and try to walk to that spot. Make sure every such reachable spot is on ''your'' side of the fortifications.

In all cases, you must remember that dwarves '''can and will climb''' walls or fortifications to reach the enemy. To prevent marksdwarves from suicide-diving over the fortifications onto the killing ground below, build a roof (a [[floor]] on the next Z-level up) to physically block their vertical movement.

{{Military}}

{{Category|Military}}
{{Category|Guides}}

File:Archery target setup.png

2021-05-04T03:59:49Z

72826: 72826 uploaded a new version of File:Archery target setup.png

Advanced marksdwarf training guide

2021-05-04T03:49:16Z

72826: /* Why this works */

{{Quality|Exceptional|21:40, 11 May 2015 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
[[Marksdwarf|Marksdwarves]] are fairly buggy, and often refuse to use [[archery range]]s, or just stand in front of them and fail to fire their [[crossbow]]s. This guide goes into details explaining known bugs, and getting your marksdwarves to train properly, as well as going into details regarding various ranged weaponry.

== Understanding ranged weaponry ==
In vanilla ''Dwarf Fortress'', the raws define three types of ranged weapons, each with their own skill and ammo.

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="4" |Ranged Weapons
|-
!Ranged Weapon
!Ranged Skill
!Melee Skill
!Ammo
|-
|Crossbow
|Marksdwarf
|Hammerdwarf
|Bolts
|-
|Bow
|Bowman
|Swordman
|Arrows
|-
|Blowgun
|Blowgunner
|Swordman
|Darts
|-
|}

Of these, dwarves can only craft crossbows and bolts. Bows and blowguns are gained either through trade or recovery from downed enemies. If playing a modded game, replace crossbow in the following with one of the above weapons, and proper ammo type.

== Equipping your marksdwarves ==

=== The minimum outfit ===
At a minimum, each dwarf requires the following to successfully use the crossbow.
* One crossbow
* One quiver
* One stack of bolts for each marksdwarf to shoot

A quiver is equipped on the upper body slot. Due to a bug, sometimes a marksdwarf will fail to pickup a quiver if wearing heavy armor. A workaround for this is given below. Wood and metal bolts are generated in stacks of 25. Bone bolts are generated in stacks of 5.

=== Crossbows ===
Crossbows can be made with wood or bone at a bowyer's workshop, or out of metal at a metalsmith/magma forge. Metal crossbows can be forged out of copper, bronze, bismuth bronze, iron, steel, or adamantine. Quivers must be made of leather at a leatherworks. The base material of a crossbow appears to have no effect on the lethality of ranged bolts. However, when marksdwarves end up in melee, they will use their crossbow to bash. This bash attack utilizes the hammerdwarf skill and deals blunt damage, thus it has been suggested to make dense metal crossbows.

=== Quivers and bolts ===
Please note that bolts are assigned to a ''squad'', not to individual dwarves. The number of bolts assigned to a squad will be divided evenly between all occupied squad positions. If you have a squad of 10 marksdwarves, you need to assign ''at least'' 250 bolts to the squad for each position to equip 25 bolts.

Quivers can hold between 25 and 49 bolts, and dwarves will pick up multiple stacks if necessary to reach a number in this range. In other words, dwarves will continue picking up stacks of bolts until they've got at least 25 in their quiver (or they run out of squad-assigned bolt stacks). Bolt stacks are collected in last-in-first-out order (LIFO); that is, dwarves will always go for the newest bolts in your fortress, even if there is an ammo stockpile three steps away from them. Each squad with marksdwarves must be assigned ammo. As they deplete it, the game will automatically add additional ammo to the squad if there is some in the fortress, again following the principle of LIFO.

=== Avoiding equipment issues ===
The mining, wood cutting, and hunting labors have an "invisible uniform" that conflicts with military equipment. When these labors are enabled, a dwarf will drop all assigned military equipment when going off duty, and when ordered back on duty they spend extra time collecting their equipment, and may ultimately report without some equipment. For that reason, it is recommended that you disable mining, wood cutting, and hunting on all military dwarves.

Problems have been reported with ammunition stored in bins. Dwarves will take additional time to reload since they "lock" each other out of the bin, and may even fail to do so entirely. Disabling bins in ammo stockpiles is recommended. If you choose to use bins, keeping a large oversupply of bolts may limit potential problems.

An "[[equipment mismatch]]" error sounds dire, but it's just a diagnostic message telling you that a dwarf's assigned equipment changed while the dwarf was en route to pick up the previously-assigned equipment. In almost all cases the dwarf will automatically collect the newly-assigned equipment without player intervention. One reported cause of frequent equipment mismatch spam is ammo stored in bins.

== Setting your marksdwarf's barracks ==

=== Understanding possible training activities ===
The first rule of marksdwarf training is that you do '''not''' assign them a normal [[barracks]] if you wish them to utilize the [[Archery target]] for Archer and Marksdwarf xp - if they are assigned to a barracks, they will train as hammerdwarves with their crossbows vs. actually shooting bolts at the Archery target. Furthermore, as the game gives precedence to melee training, they will almost never use an archery range, even if one is assigned, if they have a choice.

When training, a dwarf has four possible options, which they will take in roughly this order:
* Squad Training (Lead/Watch demonstration)
* Individual Combat Drill
* Spar (requires Competent Fighter skill)
* Archery Training

Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves '''will''' spar as long as they are Competent Fighter skill level, training their melee skills while doing so). Except for archery training, dwarves require a standard barracks to conduct any of the above activities. Notably, it is possible to actually train marksdwarves via demonstration, both Crossbow and Archery skills being trainable this way. By combining this with training orders, it is possible to make Archery Training the only valid option, and thus get them to train consistently.

=== Building archery ranges ===
Thus, the first step is to build a room with a bunch of Archery targets, it is recommended to build one Archery target per filled squad position (multiple marksdwarves cannot train at the same Archery target concurrently). The room must be large enough that the marksdwarf has a one-gap space between them and the target; some people just make their "barracks" 10x10, and put an ammo stockpile in it (reminder - disable bins in this stockpile). Notably, (and this is a change from previous versions) the dwarves ''must'' be able to walk up to the target; placing a channel in front of it will prevent them from training.

Once you build your range ({{k|b}}-{{k|A}}), you must define it as a room ({{k|q}}-{{k|r}}). Make it so it touches the far wall, and don't worry, range rooms can overlap. You have to do this for each Archery target. Make sure the shooting direction is correct! In addition, your marksdwarf squad '''must''' at minimum have train set on each archery target with ({{k|q}}-{{k|t}}). Again, only one marksdwarf can use a target at any given time.

[[File:Archery_target_setup.png|A properly setup archery target]]

Repeat this for each range; you will have 1-10 targets overlapping each other and assigned to your marksdwarf squad (in these screenshots, they are "The Delights of Gold")

===The military management screen===

This is by far the most difficult part - the {{K|m}}ilitary menu is confusing on the best days, but this guide will walk you through it. (To some people, this screen is designed upside down: the options to switch 'pages' or 'tabs' on this menu are at the bottom, and the specific detailed commands for the current page/tab are at the top. We will use 'page'.)

Ignore the default page '''{{DFtext|p|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Positions|3:1:1}}''' page for now, because you want to make the right '''{{DFtext|n|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Uniforms|7:1}}''' for your marksdwarves.

====Uniforms====
Press {{K|n}} to bring up the uniforms screen. Do yourself a favor and just scroll down and {{K|d}}elete the default 'archer' uniform. It's wrong and will not work properly.

Create a new uniform with {{K|c}}.

You will use the hotkeys seen on the 2nd row from the top of the {{K|m}} screen, and to create the following uniform:
* {{K|A}}rmor: leather armor
* {{K|L}}egs: leather legwear
* {{K|H}}elm: leather headwear
* {{K|G}}loves: leather handwear
* {{K|B}}oots: leather footwear
* {{K|S}}hield: shields/bucklers
* {{K|W}}eapon: crossbows (do NOT use individual choice, ranged; you '''will''' end up with dwarves who think an ''axe'' is a ranged weapon) :p

Navigation is ''tricky'', so let's do the first 3 selections together:
# {{K|A}}rmor to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Armor items
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather armor". You should now see "leather armor" listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
## Ok, that was the '''easy''' one. So follow these steps CLOSELY.
# {{K|L}}egs to show the to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Leg items
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "legwear". You should now see "legwear" listed under "leather armor" under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list. BUT... the green {{dftext|leather armor|3:1}} means it is the selection from that column.
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|legwear|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather legwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
# Now {{K|H}}elm to get your leather headwear
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "headware". (It may be the first option, so just hit {{K|Enter}})
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|headware|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather headwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.

Be careful of hitting Enter at the wrong time and duplicating or deleting an entry. Here's what it should look like if you did it right:

[[File:Working_training_uniform.png|400px|Uniform that gets them training]]

Now press {{K|m}} to switch from "Partial matches" to "Exact matches" in the upper right. This appears to fix most of the issues that result in your dwarves not picking up quivers. You might be able to get away with {{k|r}} "Over clting", which means the dwarves will wear this uniform over their current clothing.

At this point you have created the concept of a uniform, but you have not yet told your squad to wear this uniform.

Proceed to the next section.

===Positions===
Now press {{K|p}} to go back to the positions menu. If you are creating {{K|l}} a new squad, it will prompt for a uniform, before showing a list of Vacant Squad positions and Candidates.

After selecting your recruits, switch to the {{K|e}} menu. Select your squad, then press {{K|U}} (that's capital U) to bring up the {{K|U}}niform selection screen.

NOTE: If a position (for example, commander/captain) is highlighted when you hit the {{K|U}}niform selection screen, your selection will ONLY apply to that individual soldier.
Hit {{K|shift}} + {{K|enter}} to make sure you are assigning it to all positions in the squad.

You can also look at the top of the screen to see what your dwarves will train as (i.e. 10/10 Marksdwarves, instead of 1/1 markdwarf 9/9 wrestlers).

[[File:10_marksdwarves.png|400px|10/10 Marksdwarves]]

=== Handling ammo ===
We're almost done. Go to the ammo screen.

[[File:ammo_screen.png|400px|Ammo]]

If you're setting this by hand, here's what to know. Each squad needs the correct ammo. Bolts are assigned on a "per-item" basis, i.e., a given stack of bolts that's marked for training will only be used for training and vice versa. Unfortunately, an old bug prevents this from working; if you have multiple ammo types, and some are set Training-only, and others are set combat-only, your marksdwarves *will* get stuck and fail to train, or fail to fire. The only way to get this to work is if all ammo assignments in the fortress are set to both "CT" in the UI.

By default the top slot reserves ammunition for hunters. If you don't have any hunters you may want to remove that reservation from the ammunition screen to free up those bolts for your military.

==== Switching bolts types reliably ====
Forbidding/Dumping is respected by the game when assigning ammo, so you can use the stocks screen to, for instance, dump wooden/bone bolts when you're not training and load metal bolts for combat. First delete the ammo assignment for the training bolts, then dump them from the stocks screen (DFHack's enhanced inventory is useful from this), and finally add the new metal bolts to the ammo screen. Reverse the process to get them to change back. (Be sure to set both CT flags in the ammo screen each time.)

=== Squad training orders ===
Now, for the magic bit that gets them doing nothing *but* training. Open the schedule screen with {{K|s}} and look at the orders. The default is "Train, 10 minimium". '''This is WRONG!'''

[[File:default_training_order.png|400px|Default Training Order]]

Press {{K|x}} to delete the order. The schedule screen will change to show no scheduled orders.

[[File:No_orders.png|400px|no_orders]]

Press {{K|o}} to pull up the give order screen. Press {{K|o}} until 'Train' is set, and then press {{K|+}} so it shows minimum 1, like this. Then press shift-enter to give the order. The screen will look like this:

[[File:Train_1.png|400px|train 1]]

[[File:given_train_1_order.png|400px|after giving train 1 order]]

Now do it again, until you have as many orders as total members of your squad (using a [[macro]] will allow you to repeat the process easily). You can give more than 5 orders, you just have to scroll in the orders screen to see it. When you're done it should look like this, after doing it 10 times.

[[File:multiple_train_1.png|400px|Multiple train one orders]]

Copy and paste the order to all the months. You can also set Sleep in Barracks at need to increase their training time, though this will raise the stress levels of dwarves in the squad due to tired thoughts.

You're almost done. Activate your squad, and after they finish picking up equipment, watch your bolt supplies vanish as your marksdwarves do nothing *but* archery training.

=== Why this works ===
Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves *will* spar as long as they're Competent Fighters). Training, minimum of 1 forces them to work solo. Since they don't have a normal barracks, they can't drill, which leaves Archery Training as the only possible way to train. Since reloading on marksdwarves continues to be erratic, they'll frequently report "No Orders" or similiar once they've finished archery training until the game notices that a given dwarf is out of ammo, in which case they'll go pick up more.

Archery target training grants 5x less experience than live fire (6XP per bolt at Archery target vs. 30XP per bolt on live targets), but no micromanagement, no hauling, one setup, and you can ignore it until you get that glorious announcement that Urist McMarksdwarf has become an Elite Marksdwarf.

== Stopping melee charges ==
Do '''not''' use the [[Scheduling#Stations|station scheduling order]]!

When a dwarf has line of sight on an enemy, they'll do one of two things: run away; or run up and fight. While they're running up to the enemy, dwarves will shoot bolts if they have any, but then engage the enemy using their crossbows as hammers instead of shooting. Therefore, it's imperative that you create physical barriers which make it impossible for your marksdwarves to charge the enemy. Nothing else will suffice.

Some sources claim a Defend Burrows order may restrict marksdwarves to the area defined by the burrow. The full effectiveness of Defend Burrow orders at stopping a melee charge is unknown.{{verify}}

The easiest way to accomplish this is to use fortification pillboxes (also known as [[archery tower]]s), with a [[Scheduling#Orders|patrol order]] that causes them to break line of sight.

For patrol routes, marksdwarves will not reliably take a Pickup Equipment order as long as they have line of sight on their enemy; they will usually stand there and glare. Have them go through a door or something, and as soon as they lose sight of the goblin/forgotten beast/demon, they'll immediately go find bolts and reload.

An alternative approach is to forego all of this scheduling stuff, and use direct move orders. Station (move) your marksdwarves to the spot where you want them to stand, making sure that this spot is physically separated from the enemy. Remember that each dwarf will actually select a random spot within 3 tiles of your station-spot, on the same Z level, and try to walk to that spot. Make sure every such reachable spot is on ''your'' side of the fortifications.

In all cases, you must remember that dwarves '''can and will climb''' walls or fortifications to reach the enemy. To prevent marksdwarves from suicide-diving over the fortifications onto the killing ground below, build a roof (a [[floor]] on the next Z-level up) to physically block their vertical movement.

{{Military}}

{{Category|Military}}
{{Category|Guides}}

Advanced marksdwarf training guide

2021-05-04T03:45:00Z

72826: /* Building archery ranges */

{{Quality|Exceptional|21:40, 11 May 2015 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
[[Marksdwarf|Marksdwarves]] are fairly buggy, and often refuse to use [[archery range]]s, or just stand in front of them and fail to fire their [[crossbow]]s. This guide goes into details explaining known bugs, and getting your marksdwarves to train properly, as well as going into details regarding various ranged weaponry.

== Understanding ranged weaponry ==
In vanilla ''Dwarf Fortress'', the raws define three types of ranged weapons, each with their own skill and ammo.

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="4" |Ranged Weapons
|-
!Ranged Weapon
!Ranged Skill
!Melee Skill
!Ammo
|-
|Crossbow
|Marksdwarf
|Hammerdwarf
|Bolts
|-
|Bow
|Bowman
|Swordman
|Arrows
|-
|Blowgun
|Blowgunner
|Swordman
|Darts
|-
|}

Of these, dwarves can only craft crossbows and bolts. Bows and blowguns are gained either through trade or recovery from downed enemies. If playing a modded game, replace crossbow in the following with one of the above weapons, and proper ammo type.

== Equipping your marksdwarves ==

=== The minimum outfit ===
At a minimum, each dwarf requires the following to successfully use the crossbow.
* One crossbow
* One quiver
* One stack of bolts for each marksdwarf to shoot

A quiver is equipped on the upper body slot. Due to a bug, sometimes a marksdwarf will fail to pickup a quiver if wearing heavy armor. A workaround for this is given below. Wood and metal bolts are generated in stacks of 25. Bone bolts are generated in stacks of 5.

=== Crossbows ===
Crossbows can be made with wood or bone at a bowyer's workshop, or out of metal at a metalsmith/magma forge. Metal crossbows can be forged out of copper, bronze, bismuth bronze, iron, steel, or adamantine. Quivers must be made of leather at a leatherworks. The base material of a crossbow appears to have no effect on the lethality of ranged bolts. However, when marksdwarves end up in melee, they will use their crossbow to bash. This bash attack utilizes the hammerdwarf skill and deals blunt damage, thus it has been suggested to make dense metal crossbows.

=== Quivers and bolts ===
Please note that bolts are assigned to a ''squad'', not to individual dwarves. The number of bolts assigned to a squad will be divided evenly between all occupied squad positions. If you have a squad of 10 marksdwarves, you need to assign ''at least'' 250 bolts to the squad for each position to equip 25 bolts.

Quivers can hold between 25 and 49 bolts, and dwarves will pick up multiple stacks if necessary to reach a number in this range. In other words, dwarves will continue picking up stacks of bolts until they've got at least 25 in their quiver (or they run out of squad-assigned bolt stacks). Bolt stacks are collected in last-in-first-out order (LIFO); that is, dwarves will always go for the newest bolts in your fortress, even if there is an ammo stockpile three steps away from them. Each squad with marksdwarves must be assigned ammo. As they deplete it, the game will automatically add additional ammo to the squad if there is some in the fortress, again following the principle of LIFO.

=== Avoiding equipment issues ===
The mining, wood cutting, and hunting labors have an "invisible uniform" that conflicts with military equipment. When these labors are enabled, a dwarf will drop all assigned military equipment when going off duty, and when ordered back on duty they spend extra time collecting their equipment, and may ultimately report without some equipment. For that reason, it is recommended that you disable mining, wood cutting, and hunting on all military dwarves.

Problems have been reported with ammunition stored in bins. Dwarves will take additional time to reload since they "lock" each other out of the bin, and may even fail to do so entirely. Disabling bins in ammo stockpiles is recommended. If you choose to use bins, keeping a large oversupply of bolts may limit potential problems.

An "[[equipment mismatch]]" error sounds dire, but it's just a diagnostic message telling you that a dwarf's assigned equipment changed while the dwarf was en route to pick up the previously-assigned equipment. In almost all cases the dwarf will automatically collect the newly-assigned equipment without player intervention. One reported cause of frequent equipment mismatch spam is ammo stored in bins.

== Setting your marksdwarf's barracks ==

=== Understanding possible training activities ===
The first rule of marksdwarf training is that you do '''not''' assign them a normal [[barracks]] if you wish them to utilize the [[Archery target]] for Archer and Marksdwarf xp - if they are assigned to a barracks, they will train as hammerdwarves with their crossbows vs. actually shooting bolts at the Archery target. Furthermore, as the game gives precedence to melee training, they will almost never use an archery range, even if one is assigned, if they have a choice.

When training, a dwarf has four possible options, which they will take in roughly this order:
* Squad Training (Lead/Watch demonstration)
* Individual Combat Drill
* Spar (requires Competent Fighter skill)
* Archery Training

Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves '''will''' spar as long as they are Competent Fighter skill level, training their melee skills while doing so). Except for archery training, dwarves require a standard barracks to conduct any of the above activities. Notably, it is possible to actually train marksdwarves via demonstration, both Crossbow and Archery skills being trainable this way. By combining this with training orders, it is possible to make Archery Training the only valid option, and thus get them to train consistently.

=== Building archery ranges ===
Thus, the first step is to build a room with a bunch of Archery targets, it is recommended to build one Archery target per filled squad position (multiple marksdwarves cannot train at the same Archery target concurrently). The room must be large enough that the marksdwarf has a one-gap space between them and the target; some people just make their "barracks" 10x10, and put an ammo stockpile in it (reminder - disable bins in this stockpile). Notably, (and this is a change from previous versions) the dwarves ''must'' be able to walk up to the target; placing a channel in front of it will prevent them from training.

Once you build your range ({{k|b}}-{{k|A}}), you must define it as a room ({{k|q}}-{{k|r}}). Make it so it touches the far wall, and don't worry, range rooms can overlap. You have to do this for each Archery target. Make sure the shooting direction is correct! In addition, your marksdwarf squad '''must''' at minimum have train set on each archery target with ({{k|q}}-{{k|t}}). Again, only one marksdwarf can use a target at any given time.

[[File:Archery_target_setup.png|A properly setup archery target]]

Repeat this for each range; you will have 1-10 targets overlapping each other and assigned to your marksdwarf squad (in these screenshots, they are "The Delights of Gold")

===The military management screen===

This is by far the most difficult part - the {{K|m}}ilitary menu is confusing on the best days, but this guide will walk you through it. (To some people, this screen is designed upside down: the options to switch 'pages' or 'tabs' on this menu are at the bottom, and the specific detailed commands for the current page/tab are at the top. We will use 'page'.)

Ignore the default page '''{{DFtext|p|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Positions|3:1:1}}''' page for now, because you want to make the right '''{{DFtext|n|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Uniforms|7:1}}''' for your marksdwarves.

====Uniforms====
Press {{K|n}} to bring up the uniforms screen. Do yourself a favor and just scroll down and {{K|d}}elete the default 'archer' uniform. It's wrong and will not work properly.

Create a new uniform with {{K|c}}.

You will use the hotkeys seen on the 2nd row from the top of the {{K|m}} screen, and to create the following uniform:
* {{K|A}}rmor: leather armor
* {{K|L}}egs: leather legwear
* {{K|H}}elm: leather headwear
* {{K|G}}loves: leather handwear
* {{K|B}}oots: leather footwear
* {{K|S}}hield: shields/bucklers
* {{K|W}}eapon: crossbows (do NOT use individual choice, ranged; you '''will''' end up with dwarves who think an ''axe'' is a ranged weapon) :p

Navigation is ''tricky'', so let's do the first 3 selections together:
# {{K|A}}rmor to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Armor items
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather armor". You should now see "leather armor" listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
## Ok, that was the '''easy''' one. So follow these steps CLOSELY.
# {{K|L}}egs to show the to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Leg items
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "legwear". You should now see "legwear" listed under "leather armor" under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list. BUT... the green {{dftext|leather armor|3:1}} means it is the selection from that column.
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|legwear|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather legwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
# Now {{K|H}}elm to get your leather headwear
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "headware". (It may be the first option, so just hit {{K|Enter}})
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|headware|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather headwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.

Be careful of hitting Enter at the wrong time and duplicating or deleting an entry. Here's what it should look like if you did it right:

[[File:Working_training_uniform.png|400px|Uniform that gets them training]]

Now press {{K|m}} to switch from "Partial matches" to "Exact matches" in the upper right. This appears to fix most of the issues that result in your dwarves not picking up quivers. You might be able to get away with {{k|r}} "Over clting", which means the dwarves will wear this uniform over their current clothing.

At this point you have created the concept of a uniform, but you have not yet told your squad to wear this uniform.

Proceed to the next section.

===Positions===
Now press {{K|p}} to go back to the positions menu. If you are creating {{K|l}} a new squad, it will prompt for a uniform, before showing a list of Vacant Squad positions and Candidates.

After selecting your recruits, switch to the {{K|e}} menu. Select your squad, then press {{K|U}} (that's capital U) to bring up the {{K|U}}niform selection screen.

NOTE: If a position (for example, commander/captain) is highlighted when you hit the {{K|U}}niform selection screen, your selection will ONLY apply to that individual soldier.
Hit {{K|shift}} + {{K|enter}} to make sure you are assigning it to all positions in the squad.

You can also look at the top of the screen to see what your dwarves will train as (i.e. 10/10 Marksdwarves, instead of 1/1 markdwarf 9/9 wrestlers).

[[File:10_marksdwarves.png|400px|10/10 Marksdwarves]]

=== Handling ammo ===
We're almost done. Go to the ammo screen.

[[File:ammo_screen.png|400px|Ammo]]

If you're setting this by hand, here's what to know. Each squad needs the correct ammo. Bolts are assigned on a "per-item" basis, i.e., a given stack of bolts that's marked for training will only be used for training and vice versa. Unfortunately, an old bug prevents this from working; if you have multiple ammo types, and some are set Training-only, and others are set combat-only, your marksdwarves *will* get stuck and fail to train, or fail to fire. The only way to get this to work is if all ammo assignments in the fortress are set to both "CT" in the UI.

By default the top slot reserves ammunition for hunters. If you don't have any hunters you may want to remove that reservation from the ammunition screen to free up those bolts for your military.

==== Switching bolts types reliably ====
Forbidding/Dumping is respected by the game when assigning ammo, so you can use the stocks screen to, for instance, dump wooden/bone bolts when you're not training and load metal bolts for combat. First delete the ammo assignment for the training bolts, then dump them from the stocks screen (DFHack's enhanced inventory is useful from this), and finally add the new metal bolts to the ammo screen. Reverse the process to get them to change back. (Be sure to set both CT flags in the ammo screen each time.)

=== Squad training orders ===
Now, for the magic bit that gets them doing nothing *but* training. Open the schedule screen with {{K|s}} and look at the orders. The default is "Train, 10 minimium". '''This is WRONG!'''

[[File:default_training_order.png|400px|Default Training Order]]

Press {{K|x}} to delete the order. The schedule screen will change to show no scheduled orders.

[[File:No_orders.png|400px|no_orders]]

Press {{K|o}} to pull up the give order screen. Press {{K|o}} until 'Train' is set, and then press {{K|+}} so it shows minimum 1, like this. Then press shift-enter to give the order. The screen will look like this:

[[File:Train_1.png|400px|train 1]]

[[File:given_train_1_order.png|400px|after giving train 1 order]]

Now do it again, until you have as many orders as total members of your squad (using a [[macro]] will allow you to repeat the process easily). You can give more than 5 orders, you just have to scroll in the orders screen to see it. When you're done it should look like this, after doing it 10 times.

[[File:multiple_train_1.png|400px|Multiple train one orders]]

Copy and paste the order to all the months. You can also set Sleep in Barracks at need to increase their training time, though this will raise the stress levels of dwarves in the squad due to tired thoughts.

You're almost done. Activate your squad, and after they finish picking up equipment, watch your bolt supplies vanish as your marksdwarves do nothing *but* archery training.

=== Why this works ===
Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves *will* spar as long as they're novice hammerdwarves). Training, minimum of 1 forces them to work solo. Since they don't have a normal barracks, they can't drill, which leaves Archery Training as the only possible way to train. Since reloading on marksdwarves continues to be erratic, they'll frequently report "No Orders" or similiar once they've finished archery training until the game notices that a given dwarf is out of ammo, in which case they'll go pick up more.

Archery training grants less experience than live fire (8XP per bolt vs. 30XP), but no micromanagement, no hauling, one setup, and you can ignore it until you get that glorious announcement that Urist McMarksdwarf has become an Elite Marksdwarf.

== Stopping melee charges ==
Do '''not''' use the [[Scheduling#Stations|station scheduling order]]!

When a dwarf has line of sight on an enemy, they'll do one of two things: run away; or run up and fight. While they're running up to the enemy, dwarves will shoot bolts if they have any, but then engage the enemy using their crossbows as hammers instead of shooting. Therefore, it's imperative that you create physical barriers which make it impossible for your marksdwarves to charge the enemy. Nothing else will suffice.

Some sources claim a Defend Burrows order may restrict marksdwarves to the area defined by the burrow. The full effectiveness of Defend Burrow orders at stopping a melee charge is unknown.{{verify}}

The easiest way to accomplish this is to use fortification pillboxes (also known as [[archery tower]]s), with a [[Scheduling#Orders|patrol order]] that causes them to break line of sight.

For patrol routes, marksdwarves will not reliably take a Pickup Equipment order as long as they have line of sight on their enemy; they will usually stand there and glare. Have them go through a door or something, and as soon as they lose sight of the goblin/forgotten beast/demon, they'll immediately go find bolts and reload.

An alternative approach is to forego all of this scheduling stuff, and use direct move orders. Station (move) your marksdwarves to the spot where you want them to stand, making sure that this spot is physically separated from the enemy. Remember that each dwarf will actually select a random spot within 3 tiles of your station-spot, on the same Z level, and try to walk to that spot. Make sure every such reachable spot is on ''your'' side of the fortifications.

In all cases, you must remember that dwarves '''can and will climb''' walls or fortifications to reach the enemy. To prevent marksdwarves from suicide-diving over the fortifications onto the killing ground below, build a roof (a [[floor]] on the next Z-level up) to physically block their vertical movement.

{{Military}}

{{Category|Military}}
{{Category|Guides}}

Advanced marksdwarf training guide

2021-05-04T03:44:36Z

72826: /* Building archery ranges */

{{Quality|Exceptional|21:40, 11 May 2015 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
[[Marksdwarf|Marksdwarves]] are fairly buggy, and often refuse to use [[archery range]]s, or just stand in front of them and fail to fire their [[crossbow]]s. This guide goes into details explaining known bugs, and getting your marksdwarves to train properly, as well as going into details regarding various ranged weaponry.

== Understanding ranged weaponry ==
In vanilla ''Dwarf Fortress'', the raws define three types of ranged weapons, each with their own skill and ammo.

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="4" |Ranged Weapons
|-
!Ranged Weapon
!Ranged Skill
!Melee Skill
!Ammo
|-
|Crossbow
|Marksdwarf
|Hammerdwarf
|Bolts
|-
|Bow
|Bowman
|Swordman
|Arrows
|-
|Blowgun
|Blowgunner
|Swordman
|Darts
|-
|}

Of these, dwarves can only craft crossbows and bolts. Bows and blowguns are gained either through trade or recovery from downed enemies. If playing a modded game, replace crossbow in the following with one of the above weapons, and proper ammo type.

== Equipping your marksdwarves ==

=== The minimum outfit ===
At a minimum, each dwarf requires the following to successfully use the crossbow.
* One crossbow
* One quiver
* One stack of bolts for each marksdwarf to shoot

A quiver is equipped on the upper body slot. Due to a bug, sometimes a marksdwarf will fail to pickup a quiver if wearing heavy armor. A workaround for this is given below. Wood and metal bolts are generated in stacks of 25. Bone bolts are generated in stacks of 5.

=== Crossbows ===
Crossbows can be made with wood or bone at a bowyer's workshop, or out of metal at a metalsmith/magma forge. Metal crossbows can be forged out of copper, bronze, bismuth bronze, iron, steel, or adamantine. Quivers must be made of leather at a leatherworks. The base material of a crossbow appears to have no effect on the lethality of ranged bolts. However, when marksdwarves end up in melee, they will use their crossbow to bash. This bash attack utilizes the hammerdwarf skill and deals blunt damage, thus it has been suggested to make dense metal crossbows.

=== Quivers and bolts ===
Please note that bolts are assigned to a ''squad'', not to individual dwarves. The number of bolts assigned to a squad will be divided evenly between all occupied squad positions. If you have a squad of 10 marksdwarves, you need to assign ''at least'' 250 bolts to the squad for each position to equip 25 bolts.

Quivers can hold between 25 and 49 bolts, and dwarves will pick up multiple stacks if necessary to reach a number in this range. In other words, dwarves will continue picking up stacks of bolts until they've got at least 25 in their quiver (or they run out of squad-assigned bolt stacks). Bolt stacks are collected in last-in-first-out order (LIFO); that is, dwarves will always go for the newest bolts in your fortress, even if there is an ammo stockpile three steps away from them. Each squad with marksdwarves must be assigned ammo. As they deplete it, the game will automatically add additional ammo to the squad if there is some in the fortress, again following the principle of LIFO.

=== Avoiding equipment issues ===
The mining, wood cutting, and hunting labors have an "invisible uniform" that conflicts with military equipment. When these labors are enabled, a dwarf will drop all assigned military equipment when going off duty, and when ordered back on duty they spend extra time collecting their equipment, and may ultimately report without some equipment. For that reason, it is recommended that you disable mining, wood cutting, and hunting on all military dwarves.

Problems have been reported with ammunition stored in bins. Dwarves will take additional time to reload since they "lock" each other out of the bin, and may even fail to do so entirely. Disabling bins in ammo stockpiles is recommended. If you choose to use bins, keeping a large oversupply of bolts may limit potential problems.

An "[[equipment mismatch]]" error sounds dire, but it's just a diagnostic message telling you that a dwarf's assigned equipment changed while the dwarf was en route to pick up the previously-assigned equipment. In almost all cases the dwarf will automatically collect the newly-assigned equipment without player intervention. One reported cause of frequent equipment mismatch spam is ammo stored in bins.

== Setting your marksdwarf's barracks ==

=== Understanding possible training activities ===
The first rule of marksdwarf training is that you do '''not''' assign them a normal [[barracks]] if you wish them to utilize the [[Archery target]] for Archer and Marksdwarf xp - if they are assigned to a barracks, they will train as hammerdwarves with their crossbows vs. actually shooting bolts at the Archery target. Furthermore, as the game gives precedence to melee training, they will almost never use an archery range, even if one is assigned, if they have a choice.

When training, a dwarf has four possible options, which they will take in roughly this order:
* Squad Training (Lead/Watch demonstration)
* Individual Combat Drill
* Spar (requires Competent Fighter skill)
* Archery Training

Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves '''will''' spar as long as they are Competent Fighter skill level, training their melee skills while doing so). Except for archery training, dwarves require a standard barracks to conduct any of the above activities. Notably, it is possible to actually train marksdwarves via demonstration, both Crossbow and Archery skills being trainable this way. By combining this with training orders, it is possible to make Archery Training the only valid option, and thus get them to train consistently.

=== Building archery ranges ===
Thus, the first step is to build a room with a bunch of Archery targets, it is recommended to build one Archery target per filled squad position (multiple marksdwarves cannot train at the same Archery target concurrently). The room must be large enough that the marksdwarf has a one-gap space between them and the target; some people just make their "barracks" 10x10, and put an ammo stockpile in it (reminder - disable bins in this stockpile). Notably, (and this is a change from previous versions) the dwarves ''must'' be able to walk up to the target; placing a channel in front of it will prevent them from training.

Once you build your range ({{k|b}}-{{k|A}}), you must define it as a room ({{k|q}}-{{k|r}}). Make it so it touches the far wall, and don't worry, range rooms can overlap. You have to do this for each Archery target. Make sure the shooting direction is correct! In addition, your marksdwarf squad '''must''' at minimum have train set on each archery target with ({{k|q}}-{{k|t}}. Again, only one marksdwarf can use a target at any given time.

[[File:Archery_target_setup.png|A properly setup archery target]]

Repeat this for each range; you will have 1-10 targets overlapping each other and assigned to your marksdwarf squad (in these screenshots, they are "The Delights of Gold")

===The military management screen===

This is by far the most difficult part - the {{K|m}}ilitary menu is confusing on the best days, but this guide will walk you through it. (To some people, this screen is designed upside down: the options to switch 'pages' or 'tabs' on this menu are at the bottom, and the specific detailed commands for the current page/tab are at the top. We will use 'page'.)

Ignore the default page '''{{DFtext|p|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Positions|3:1:1}}''' page for now, because you want to make the right '''{{DFtext|n|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Uniforms|7:1}}''' for your marksdwarves.

====Uniforms====
Press {{K|n}} to bring up the uniforms screen. Do yourself a favor and just scroll down and {{K|d}}elete the default 'archer' uniform. It's wrong and will not work properly.

Create a new uniform with {{K|c}}.

You will use the hotkeys seen on the 2nd row from the top of the {{K|m}} screen, and to create the following uniform:
* {{K|A}}rmor: leather armor
* {{K|L}}egs: leather legwear
* {{K|H}}elm: leather headwear
* {{K|G}}loves: leather handwear
* {{K|B}}oots: leather footwear
* {{K|S}}hield: shields/bucklers
* {{K|W}}eapon: crossbows (do NOT use individual choice, ranged; you '''will''' end up with dwarves who think an ''axe'' is a ranged weapon) :p

Navigation is ''tricky'', so let's do the first 3 selections together:
# {{K|A}}rmor to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Armor items
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather armor". You should now see "leather armor" listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
## Ok, that was the '''easy''' one. So follow these steps CLOSELY.
# {{K|L}}egs to show the to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Leg items
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "legwear". You should now see "legwear" listed under "leather armor" under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list. BUT... the green {{dftext|leather armor|3:1}} means it is the selection from that column.
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|legwear|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather legwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
# Now {{K|H}}elm to get your leather headwear
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "headware". (It may be the first option, so just hit {{K|Enter}})
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|headware|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather headwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.

Be careful of hitting Enter at the wrong time and duplicating or deleting an entry. Here's what it should look like if you did it right:

[[File:Working_training_uniform.png|400px|Uniform that gets them training]]

Now press {{K|m}} to switch from "Partial matches" to "Exact matches" in the upper right. This appears to fix most of the issues that result in your dwarves not picking up quivers. You might be able to get away with {{k|r}} "Over clting", which means the dwarves will wear this uniform over their current clothing.

At this point you have created the concept of a uniform, but you have not yet told your squad to wear this uniform.

Proceed to the next section.

===Positions===
Now press {{K|p}} to go back to the positions menu. If you are creating {{K|l}} a new squad, it will prompt for a uniform, before showing a list of Vacant Squad positions and Candidates.

After selecting your recruits, switch to the {{K|e}} menu. Select your squad, then press {{K|U}} (that's capital U) to bring up the {{K|U}}niform selection screen.

NOTE: If a position (for example, commander/captain) is highlighted when you hit the {{K|U}}niform selection screen, your selection will ONLY apply to that individual soldier.
Hit {{K|shift}} + {{K|enter}} to make sure you are assigning it to all positions in the squad.

You can also look at the top of the screen to see what your dwarves will train as (i.e. 10/10 Marksdwarves, instead of 1/1 markdwarf 9/9 wrestlers).

[[File:10_marksdwarves.png|400px|10/10 Marksdwarves]]

=== Handling ammo ===
We're almost done. Go to the ammo screen.

[[File:ammo_screen.png|400px|Ammo]]

If you're setting this by hand, here's what to know. Each squad needs the correct ammo. Bolts are assigned on a "per-item" basis, i.e., a given stack of bolts that's marked for training will only be used for training and vice versa. Unfortunately, an old bug prevents this from working; if you have multiple ammo types, and some are set Training-only, and others are set combat-only, your marksdwarves *will* get stuck and fail to train, or fail to fire. The only way to get this to work is if all ammo assignments in the fortress are set to both "CT" in the UI.

By default the top slot reserves ammunition for hunters. If you don't have any hunters you may want to remove that reservation from the ammunition screen to free up those bolts for your military.

==== Switching bolts types reliably ====
Forbidding/Dumping is respected by the game when assigning ammo, so you can use the stocks screen to, for instance, dump wooden/bone bolts when you're not training and load metal bolts for combat. First delete the ammo assignment for the training bolts, then dump them from the stocks screen (DFHack's enhanced inventory is useful from this), and finally add the new metal bolts to the ammo screen. Reverse the process to get them to change back. (Be sure to set both CT flags in the ammo screen each time.)

=== Squad training orders ===
Now, for the magic bit that gets them doing nothing *but* training. Open the schedule screen with {{K|s}} and look at the orders. The default is "Train, 10 minimium". '''This is WRONG!'''

[[File:default_training_order.png|400px|Default Training Order]]

Press {{K|x}} to delete the order. The schedule screen will change to show no scheduled orders.

[[File:No_orders.png|400px|no_orders]]

Press {{K|o}} to pull up the give order screen. Press {{K|o}} until 'Train' is set, and then press {{K|+}} so it shows minimum 1, like this. Then press shift-enter to give the order. The screen will look like this:

[[File:Train_1.png|400px|train 1]]

[[File:given_train_1_order.png|400px|after giving train 1 order]]

Now do it again, until you have as many orders as total members of your squad (using a [[macro]] will allow you to repeat the process easily). You can give more than 5 orders, you just have to scroll in the orders screen to see it. When you're done it should look like this, after doing it 10 times.

[[File:multiple_train_1.png|400px|Multiple train one orders]]

Copy and paste the order to all the months. You can also set Sleep in Barracks at need to increase their training time, though this will raise the stress levels of dwarves in the squad due to tired thoughts.

You're almost done. Activate your squad, and after they finish picking up equipment, watch your bolt supplies vanish as your marksdwarves do nothing *but* archery training.

=== Why this works ===
Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves *will* spar as long as they're novice hammerdwarves). Training, minimum of 1 forces them to work solo. Since they don't have a normal barracks, they can't drill, which leaves Archery Training as the only possible way to train. Since reloading on marksdwarves continues to be erratic, they'll frequently report "No Orders" or similiar once they've finished archery training until the game notices that a given dwarf is out of ammo, in which case they'll go pick up more.

Archery training grants less experience than live fire (8XP per bolt vs. 30XP), but no micromanagement, no hauling, one setup, and you can ignore it until you get that glorious announcement that Urist McMarksdwarf has become an Elite Marksdwarf.

== Stopping melee charges ==
Do '''not''' use the [[Scheduling#Stations|station scheduling order]]!

When a dwarf has line of sight on an enemy, they'll do one of two things: run away; or run up and fight. While they're running up to the enemy, dwarves will shoot bolts if they have any, but then engage the enemy using their crossbows as hammers instead of shooting. Therefore, it's imperative that you create physical barriers which make it impossible for your marksdwarves to charge the enemy. Nothing else will suffice.

Some sources claim a Defend Burrows order may restrict marksdwarves to the area defined by the burrow. The full effectiveness of Defend Burrow orders at stopping a melee charge is unknown.{{verify}}

The easiest way to accomplish this is to use fortification pillboxes (also known as [[archery tower]]s), with a [[Scheduling#Orders|patrol order]] that causes them to break line of sight.

For patrol routes, marksdwarves will not reliably take a Pickup Equipment order as long as they have line of sight on their enemy; they will usually stand there and glare. Have them go through a door or something, and as soon as they lose sight of the goblin/forgotten beast/demon, they'll immediately go find bolts and reload.

An alternative approach is to forego all of this scheduling stuff, and use direct move orders. Station (move) your marksdwarves to the spot where you want them to stand, making sure that this spot is physically separated from the enemy. Remember that each dwarf will actually select a random spot within 3 tiles of your station-spot, on the same Z level, and try to walk to that spot. Make sure every such reachable spot is on ''your'' side of the fortifications.

In all cases, you must remember that dwarves '''can and will climb''' walls or fortifications to reach the enemy. To prevent marksdwarves from suicide-diving over the fortifications onto the killing ground below, build a roof (a [[floor]] on the next Z-level up) to physically block their vertical movement.

{{Military}}

{{Category|Military}}
{{Category|Guides}}

File:Archery target setup.png

2021-05-04T03:41:16Z

72826:

Advanced marksdwarf training guide

2021-05-04T03:40:38Z

72826: /* Building archery ranges */

{{Quality|Exceptional|21:40, 11 May 2015 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
[[Marksdwarf|Marksdwarves]] are fairly buggy, and often refuse to use [[archery range]]s, or just stand in front of them and fail to fire their [[crossbow]]s. This guide goes into details explaining known bugs, and getting your marksdwarves to train properly, as well as going into details regarding various ranged weaponry.

== Understanding ranged weaponry ==
In vanilla ''Dwarf Fortress'', the raws define three types of ranged weapons, each with their own skill and ammo.

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="4" |Ranged Weapons
|-
!Ranged Weapon
!Ranged Skill
!Melee Skill
!Ammo
|-
|Crossbow
|Marksdwarf
|Hammerdwarf
|Bolts
|-
|Bow
|Bowman
|Swordman
|Arrows
|-
|Blowgun
|Blowgunner
|Swordman
|Darts
|-
|}

Of these, dwarves can only craft crossbows and bolts. Bows and blowguns are gained either through trade or recovery from downed enemies. If playing a modded game, replace crossbow in the following with one of the above weapons, and proper ammo type.

== Equipping your marksdwarves ==

=== The minimum outfit ===
At a minimum, each dwarf requires the following to successfully use the crossbow.
* One crossbow
* One quiver
* One stack of bolts for each marksdwarf to shoot

A quiver is equipped on the upper body slot. Due to a bug, sometimes a marksdwarf will fail to pickup a quiver if wearing heavy armor. A workaround for this is given below. Wood and metal bolts are generated in stacks of 25. Bone bolts are generated in stacks of 5.

=== Crossbows ===
Crossbows can be made with wood or bone at a bowyer's workshop, or out of metal at a metalsmith/magma forge. Metal crossbows can be forged out of copper, bronze, bismuth bronze, iron, steel, or adamantine. Quivers must be made of leather at a leatherworks. The base material of a crossbow appears to have no effect on the lethality of ranged bolts. However, when marksdwarves end up in melee, they will use their crossbow to bash. This bash attack utilizes the hammerdwarf skill and deals blunt damage, thus it has been suggested to make dense metal crossbows.

=== Quivers and bolts ===
Please note that bolts are assigned to a ''squad'', not to individual dwarves. The number of bolts assigned to a squad will be divided evenly between all occupied squad positions. If you have a squad of 10 marksdwarves, you need to assign ''at least'' 250 bolts to the squad for each position to equip 25 bolts.

Quivers can hold between 25 and 49 bolts, and dwarves will pick up multiple stacks if necessary to reach a number in this range. In other words, dwarves will continue picking up stacks of bolts until they've got at least 25 in their quiver (or they run out of squad-assigned bolt stacks). Bolt stacks are collected in last-in-first-out order (LIFO); that is, dwarves will always go for the newest bolts in your fortress, even if there is an ammo stockpile three steps away from them. Each squad with marksdwarves must be assigned ammo. As they deplete it, the game will automatically add additional ammo to the squad if there is some in the fortress, again following the principle of LIFO.

=== Avoiding equipment issues ===
The mining, wood cutting, and hunting labors have an "invisible uniform" that conflicts with military equipment. When these labors are enabled, a dwarf will drop all assigned military equipment when going off duty, and when ordered back on duty they spend extra time collecting their equipment, and may ultimately report without some equipment. For that reason, it is recommended that you disable mining, wood cutting, and hunting on all military dwarves.

Problems have been reported with ammunition stored in bins. Dwarves will take additional time to reload since they "lock" each other out of the bin, and may even fail to do so entirely. Disabling bins in ammo stockpiles is recommended. If you choose to use bins, keeping a large oversupply of bolts may limit potential problems.

An "[[equipment mismatch]]" error sounds dire, but it's just a diagnostic message telling you that a dwarf's assigned equipment changed while the dwarf was en route to pick up the previously-assigned equipment. In almost all cases the dwarf will automatically collect the newly-assigned equipment without player intervention. One reported cause of frequent equipment mismatch spam is ammo stored in bins.

== Setting your marksdwarf's barracks ==

=== Understanding possible training activities ===
The first rule of marksdwarf training is that you do '''not''' assign them a normal [[barracks]] if you wish them to utilize the [[Archery target]] for Archer and Marksdwarf xp - if they are assigned to a barracks, they will train as hammerdwarves with their crossbows vs. actually shooting bolts at the Archery target. Furthermore, as the game gives precedence to melee training, they will almost never use an archery range, even if one is assigned, if they have a choice.

When training, a dwarf has four possible options, which they will take in roughly this order:
* Squad Training (Lead/Watch demonstration)
* Individual Combat Drill
* Spar (requires Competent Fighter skill)
* Archery Training

Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves '''will''' spar as long as they are Competent Fighter skill level, training their melee skills while doing so). Except for archery training, dwarves require a standard barracks to conduct any of the above activities. Notably, it is possible to actually train marksdwarves via demonstration, both Crossbow and Archery skills being trainable this way. By combining this with training orders, it is possible to make Archery Training the only valid option, and thus get them to train consistently.

=== Building archery ranges ===
Thus, the first step is to build a room with a bunch of Archery targets, it is recommended to build one Archery target per filled squad position (multiple marksdwarves cannot train at the same Archery target concurrently). The room must be large enough that the marksdwarf has a one-gap space between them and the target; some people just make their "barracks" 10x10, and put an ammo stockpile in it (reminder - disable bins in this stockpile). Notably, (and this is a change from previous versions) the dwarves ''must'' be able to walk up to the target; placing a channel in front of it will prevent them from training.

Once you build your range ({{k|b}}-{{k|A}}), you must define it as a room ({{k|q}}-{{k|r}}). Make it so it touches the far wall, and don't worry, range rooms can overlap. You have to do this for each Archery target. Make sure the shooting direction is correct! In addition, your marksdwarf squad '''must''' at minimum have train set on each archery target with ({{k|q}}-{{k|t}}. Again, only one marksdwarf can use a target at any given time.

[[File:Archery_target_setup.png|A properly setup archery target]]

Repeat this for each range; you'll have 5-10 targets overlapping each other and assigned to your marksdwarves squad (in these screenshots, they are the "Home Guard")

===The military management screen===

This is by far the most difficult part - the {{K|m}}ilitary menu is confusing on the best days, but this guide will walk you through it. (To some people, this screen is designed upside down: the options to switch 'pages' or 'tabs' on this menu are at the bottom, and the specific detailed commands for the current page/tab are at the top. We will use 'page'.)

Ignore the default page '''{{DFtext|p|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Positions|3:1:1}}''' page for now, because you want to make the right '''{{DFtext|n|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Uniforms|7:1}}''' for your marksdwarves.

====Uniforms====
Press {{K|n}} to bring up the uniforms screen. Do yourself a favor and just scroll down and {{K|d}}elete the default 'archer' uniform. It's wrong and will not work properly.

Create a new uniform with {{K|c}}.

You will use the hotkeys seen on the 2nd row from the top of the {{K|m}} screen, and to create the following uniform:
* {{K|A}}rmor: leather armor
* {{K|L}}egs: leather legwear
* {{K|H}}elm: leather headwear
* {{K|G}}loves: leather handwear
* {{K|B}}oots: leather footwear
* {{K|S}}hield: shields/bucklers
* {{K|W}}eapon: crossbows (do NOT use individual choice, ranged; you '''will''' end up with dwarves who think an ''axe'' is a ranged weapon) :p

Navigation is ''tricky'', so let's do the first 3 selections together:
# {{K|A}}rmor to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Armor items
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather armor". You should now see "leather armor" listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
## Ok, that was the '''easy''' one. So follow these steps CLOSELY.
# {{K|L}}egs to show the to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Leg items
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "legwear". You should now see "legwear" listed under "leather armor" under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list. BUT... the green {{dftext|leather armor|3:1}} means it is the selection from that column.
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|legwear|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather legwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
# Now {{K|H}}elm to get your leather headwear
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "headware". (It may be the first option, so just hit {{K|Enter}})
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|headware|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather headwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.

Be careful of hitting Enter at the wrong time and duplicating or deleting an entry. Here's what it should look like if you did it right:

[[File:Working_training_uniform.png|400px|Uniform that gets them training]]

Now press {{K|m}} to switch from "Partial matches" to "Exact matches" in the upper right. This appears to fix most of the issues that result in your dwarves not picking up quivers. You might be able to get away with {{k|r}} "Over clting", which means the dwarves will wear this uniform over their current clothing.

At this point you have created the concept of a uniform, but you have not yet told your squad to wear this uniform.

Proceed to the next section.

===Positions===
Now press {{K|p}} to go back to the positions menu. If you are creating {{K|l}} a new squad, it will prompt for a uniform, before showing a list of Vacant Squad positions and Candidates.

After selecting your recruits, switch to the {{K|e}} menu. Select your squad, then press {{K|U}} (that's capital U) to bring up the {{K|U}}niform selection screen.

NOTE: If a position (for example, commander/captain) is highlighted when you hit the {{K|U}}niform selection screen, your selection will ONLY apply to that individual soldier.
Hit {{K|shift}} + {{K|enter}} to make sure you are assigning it to all positions in the squad.

You can also look at the top of the screen to see what your dwarves will train as (i.e. 10/10 Marksdwarves, instead of 1/1 markdwarf 9/9 wrestlers).

[[File:10_marksdwarves.png|400px|10/10 Marksdwarves]]

=== Handling ammo ===
We're almost done. Go to the ammo screen.

[[File:ammo_screen.png|400px|Ammo]]

If you're setting this by hand, here's what to know. Each squad needs the correct ammo. Bolts are assigned on a "per-item" basis, i.e., a given stack of bolts that's marked for training will only be used for training and vice versa. Unfortunately, an old bug prevents this from working; if you have multiple ammo types, and some are set Training-only, and others are set combat-only, your marksdwarves *will* get stuck and fail to train, or fail to fire. The only way to get this to work is if all ammo assignments in the fortress are set to both "CT" in the UI.

By default the top slot reserves ammunition for hunters. If you don't have any hunters you may want to remove that reservation from the ammunition screen to free up those bolts for your military.

==== Switching bolts types reliably ====
Forbidding/Dumping is respected by the game when assigning ammo, so you can use the stocks screen to, for instance, dump wooden/bone bolts when you're not training and load metal bolts for combat. First delete the ammo assignment for the training bolts, then dump them from the stocks screen (DFHack's enhanced inventory is useful from this), and finally add the new metal bolts to the ammo screen. Reverse the process to get them to change back. (Be sure to set both CT flags in the ammo screen each time.)

=== Squad training orders ===
Now, for the magic bit that gets them doing nothing *but* training. Open the schedule screen with {{K|s}} and look at the orders. The default is "Train, 10 minimium". '''This is WRONG!'''

[[File:default_training_order.png|400px|Default Training Order]]

Press {{K|x}} to delete the order. The schedule screen will change to show no scheduled orders.

[[File:No_orders.png|400px|no_orders]]

Press {{K|o}} to pull up the give order screen. Press {{K|o}} until 'Train' is set, and then press {{K|+}} so it shows minimum 1, like this. Then press shift-enter to give the order. The screen will look like this:

[[File:Train_1.png|400px|train 1]]

[[File:given_train_1_order.png|400px|after giving train 1 order]]

Now do it again, until you have as many orders as total members of your squad (using a [[macro]] will allow you to repeat the process easily). You can give more than 5 orders, you just have to scroll in the orders screen to see it. When you're done it should look like this, after doing it 10 times.

[[File:multiple_train_1.png|400px|Multiple train one orders]]

Copy and paste the order to all the months. You can also set Sleep in Barracks at need to increase their training time, though this will raise the stress levels of dwarves in the squad due to tired thoughts.

You're almost done. Activate your squad, and after they finish picking up equipment, watch your bolt supplies vanish as your marksdwarves do nothing *but* archery training.

=== Why this works ===
Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves *will* spar as long as they're novice hammerdwarves). Training, minimum of 1 forces them to work solo. Since they don't have a normal barracks, they can't drill, which leaves Archery Training as the only possible way to train. Since reloading on marksdwarves continues to be erratic, they'll frequently report "No Orders" or similiar once they've finished archery training until the game notices that a given dwarf is out of ammo, in which case they'll go pick up more.

Archery training grants less experience than live fire (8XP per bolt vs. 30XP), but no micromanagement, no hauling, one setup, and you can ignore it until you get that glorious announcement that Urist McMarksdwarf has become an Elite Marksdwarf.

== Stopping melee charges ==
Do '''not''' use the [[Scheduling#Stations|station scheduling order]]!

When a dwarf has line of sight on an enemy, they'll do one of two things: run away; or run up and fight. While they're running up to the enemy, dwarves will shoot bolts if they have any, but then engage the enemy using their crossbows as hammers instead of shooting. Therefore, it's imperative that you create physical barriers which make it impossible for your marksdwarves to charge the enemy. Nothing else will suffice.

Some sources claim a Defend Burrows order may restrict marksdwarves to the area defined by the burrow. The full effectiveness of Defend Burrow orders at stopping a melee charge is unknown.{{verify}}

The easiest way to accomplish this is to use fortification pillboxes (also known as [[archery tower]]s), with a [[Scheduling#Orders|patrol order]] that causes them to break line of sight.

For patrol routes, marksdwarves will not reliably take a Pickup Equipment order as long as they have line of sight on their enemy; they will usually stand there and glare. Have them go through a door or something, and as soon as they lose sight of the goblin/forgotten beast/demon, they'll immediately go find bolts and reload.

An alternative approach is to forego all of this scheduling stuff, and use direct move orders. Station (move) your marksdwarves to the spot where you want them to stand, making sure that this spot is physically separated from the enemy. Remember that each dwarf will actually select a random spot within 3 tiles of your station-spot, on the same Z level, and try to walk to that spot. Make sure every such reachable spot is on ''your'' side of the fortifications.

In all cases, you must remember that dwarves '''can and will climb''' walls or fortifications to reach the enemy. To prevent marksdwarves from suicide-diving over the fortifications onto the killing ground below, build a roof (a [[floor]] on the next Z-level up) to physically block their vertical movement.

{{Military}}

{{Category|Military}}
{{Category|Guides}}

File:Archery range setup.png

2021-05-04T03:34:00Z

72826: 72826 uploaded a new version of File:Archery range setup.png

== Licensing ==
{{self|cc-zero}}

Advanced marksdwarf training guide

2021-05-04T03:32:58Z

72826: /* Building archery ranges */

{{Quality|Exceptional|21:40, 11 May 2015 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
[[Marksdwarf|Marksdwarves]] are fairly buggy, and often refuse to use [[archery range]]s, or just stand in front of them and fail to fire their [[crossbow]]s. This guide goes into details explaining known bugs, and getting your marksdwarves to train properly, as well as going into details regarding various ranged weaponry.

== Understanding ranged weaponry ==
In vanilla ''Dwarf Fortress'', the raws define three types of ranged weapons, each with their own skill and ammo.

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="4" |Ranged Weapons
|-
!Ranged Weapon
!Ranged Skill
!Melee Skill
!Ammo
|-
|Crossbow
|Marksdwarf
|Hammerdwarf
|Bolts
|-
|Bow
|Bowman
|Swordman
|Arrows
|-
|Blowgun
|Blowgunner
|Swordman
|Darts
|-
|}

Of these, dwarves can only craft crossbows and bolts. Bows and blowguns are gained either through trade or recovery from downed enemies. If playing a modded game, replace crossbow in the following with one of the above weapons, and proper ammo type.

== Equipping your marksdwarves ==

=== The minimum outfit ===
At a minimum, each dwarf requires the following to successfully use the crossbow.
* One crossbow
* One quiver
* One stack of bolts for each marksdwarf to shoot

A quiver is equipped on the upper body slot. Due to a bug, sometimes a marksdwarf will fail to pickup a quiver if wearing heavy armor. A workaround for this is given below. Wood and metal bolts are generated in stacks of 25. Bone bolts are generated in stacks of 5.

=== Crossbows ===
Crossbows can be made with wood or bone at a bowyer's workshop, or out of metal at a metalsmith/magma forge. Metal crossbows can be forged out of copper, bronze, bismuth bronze, iron, steel, or adamantine. Quivers must be made of leather at a leatherworks. The base material of a crossbow appears to have no effect on the lethality of ranged bolts. However, when marksdwarves end up in melee, they will use their crossbow to bash. This bash attack utilizes the hammerdwarf skill and deals blunt damage, thus it has been suggested to make dense metal crossbows.

=== Quivers and bolts ===
Please note that bolts are assigned to a ''squad'', not to individual dwarves. The number of bolts assigned to a squad will be divided evenly between all occupied squad positions. If you have a squad of 10 marksdwarves, you need to assign ''at least'' 250 bolts to the squad for each position to equip 25 bolts.

Quivers can hold between 25 and 49 bolts, and dwarves will pick up multiple stacks if necessary to reach a number in this range. In other words, dwarves will continue picking up stacks of bolts until they've got at least 25 in their quiver (or they run out of squad-assigned bolt stacks). Bolt stacks are collected in last-in-first-out order (LIFO); that is, dwarves will always go for the newest bolts in your fortress, even if there is an ammo stockpile three steps away from them. Each squad with marksdwarves must be assigned ammo. As they deplete it, the game will automatically add additional ammo to the squad if there is some in the fortress, again following the principle of LIFO.

=== Avoiding equipment issues ===
The mining, wood cutting, and hunting labors have an "invisible uniform" that conflicts with military equipment. When these labors are enabled, a dwarf will drop all assigned military equipment when going off duty, and when ordered back on duty they spend extra time collecting their equipment, and may ultimately report without some equipment. For that reason, it is recommended that you disable mining, wood cutting, and hunting on all military dwarves.

Problems have been reported with ammunition stored in bins. Dwarves will take additional time to reload since they "lock" each other out of the bin, and may even fail to do so entirely. Disabling bins in ammo stockpiles is recommended. If you choose to use bins, keeping a large oversupply of bolts may limit potential problems.

An "[[equipment mismatch]]" error sounds dire, but it's just a diagnostic message telling you that a dwarf's assigned equipment changed while the dwarf was en route to pick up the previously-assigned equipment. In almost all cases the dwarf will automatically collect the newly-assigned equipment without player intervention. One reported cause of frequent equipment mismatch spam is ammo stored in bins.

== Setting your marksdwarf's barracks ==

=== Understanding possible training activities ===
The first rule of marksdwarf training is that you do '''not''' assign them a normal [[barracks]] if you wish them to utilize the [[Archery target]] for Archer and Marksdwarf xp - if they are assigned to a barracks, they will train as hammerdwarves with their crossbows vs. actually shooting bolts at the Archery target. Furthermore, as the game gives precedence to melee training, they will almost never use an archery range, even if one is assigned, if they have a choice.

When training, a dwarf has four possible options, which they will take in roughly this order:
* Squad Training (Lead/Watch demonstration)
* Individual Combat Drill
* Spar (requires Competent Fighter skill)
* Archery Training

Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves '''will''' spar as long as they are Competent Fighter skill level, training their melee skills while doing so). Except for archery training, dwarves require a standard barracks to conduct any of the above activities. Notably, it is possible to actually train marksdwarves via demonstration, both Crossbow and Archery skills being trainable this way. By combining this with training orders, it is possible to make Archery Training the only valid option, and thus get them to train consistently.

=== Building archery ranges ===
Thus, the first step is to build a room with a bunch of Archery targets, it is recommended to build one Archery target per filled squad position (multiple marksdwarves cannot train at the same Archery target concurrently). The room must be large enough that the marksdwarf has a one-gap space between them and the target; some people just make their "barracks" 10x10, and put an ammo stockpile in it (reminder - disable bins in this stockpile). Notably, (and this is a change from previous versions) the dwarves ''must'' be able to walk up to the target; placing a channel in front of it will prevent them from training.

Once you build your range ({{k|b}}-{{k|A}}), you must define it as a room ({{k|q}}-{{k|r}}). Make it so it touches the far wall, and don't worry, range rooms can overlap. You have to do this for each Archery target. Make sure the shooting direction is correct! In addition, your marksdwarf squad '''must''' at minimum have train set on each archery target with ({{k|q}}-{{k|t}}. Again, only one marksdwarf can use a target at any given time.

[[File:Archery_range_setup.png|A properly setup archery target]]

Repeat this for each range; you'll have 5-10 targets overlapping each other and assigned to your marksdwarves squad (in these screenshots, they are the "Home Guard")

===The military management screen===

This is by far the most difficult part - the {{K|m}}ilitary menu is confusing on the best days, but this guide will walk you through it. (To some people, this screen is designed upside down: the options to switch 'pages' or 'tabs' on this menu are at the bottom, and the specific detailed commands for the current page/tab are at the top. We will use 'page'.)

Ignore the default page '''{{DFtext|p|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Positions|3:1:1}}''' page for now, because you want to make the right '''{{DFtext|n|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Uniforms|7:1}}''' for your marksdwarves.

====Uniforms====
Press {{K|n}} to bring up the uniforms screen. Do yourself a favor and just scroll down and {{K|d}}elete the default 'archer' uniform. It's wrong and will not work properly.

Create a new uniform with {{K|c}}.

You will use the hotkeys seen on the 2nd row from the top of the {{K|m}} screen, and to create the following uniform:
* {{K|A}}rmor: leather armor
* {{K|L}}egs: leather legwear
* {{K|H}}elm: leather headwear
* {{K|G}}loves: leather handwear
* {{K|B}}oots: leather footwear
* {{K|S}}hield: shields/bucklers
* {{K|W}}eapon: crossbows (do NOT use individual choice, ranged; you '''will''' end up with dwarves who think an ''axe'' is a ranged weapon) :p

Navigation is ''tricky'', so let's do the first 3 selections together:
# {{K|A}}rmor to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Armor items
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather armor". You should now see "leather armor" listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
## Ok, that was the '''easy''' one. So follow these steps CLOSELY.
# {{K|L}}egs to show the to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Leg items
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "legwear". You should now see "legwear" listed under "leather armor" under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list. BUT... the green {{dftext|leather armor|3:1}} means it is the selection from that column.
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|legwear|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather legwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
# Now {{K|H}}elm to get your leather headwear
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "headware". (It may be the first option, so just hit {{K|Enter}})
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|headware|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather headwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.

Be careful of hitting Enter at the wrong time and duplicating or deleting an entry. Here's what it should look like if you did it right:

[[File:Working_training_uniform.png|400px|Uniform that gets them training]]

Now press {{K|m}} to switch from "Partial matches" to "Exact matches" in the upper right. This appears to fix most of the issues that result in your dwarves not picking up quivers. You might be able to get away with {{k|r}} "Over clting", which means the dwarves will wear this uniform over their current clothing.

At this point you have created the concept of a uniform, but you have not yet told your squad to wear this uniform.

Proceed to the next section.

===Positions===
Now press {{K|p}} to go back to the positions menu. If you are creating {{K|l}} a new squad, it will prompt for a uniform, before showing a list of Vacant Squad positions and Candidates.

After selecting your recruits, switch to the {{K|e}} menu. Select your squad, then press {{K|U}} (that's capital U) to bring up the {{K|U}}niform selection screen.

NOTE: If a position (for example, commander/captain) is highlighted when you hit the {{K|U}}niform selection screen, your selection will ONLY apply to that individual soldier.
Hit {{K|shift}} + {{K|enter}} to make sure you are assigning it to all positions in the squad.

You can also look at the top of the screen to see what your dwarves will train as (i.e. 10/10 Marksdwarves, instead of 1/1 markdwarf 9/9 wrestlers).

[[File:10_marksdwarves.png|400px|10/10 Marksdwarves]]

=== Handling ammo ===
We're almost done. Go to the ammo screen.

[[File:ammo_screen.png|400px|Ammo]]

If you're setting this by hand, here's what to know. Each squad needs the correct ammo. Bolts are assigned on a "per-item" basis, i.e., a given stack of bolts that's marked for training will only be used for training and vice versa. Unfortunately, an old bug prevents this from working; if you have multiple ammo types, and some are set Training-only, and others are set combat-only, your marksdwarves *will* get stuck and fail to train, or fail to fire. The only way to get this to work is if all ammo assignments in the fortress are set to both "CT" in the UI.

By default the top slot reserves ammunition for hunters. If you don't have any hunters you may want to remove that reservation from the ammunition screen to free up those bolts for your military.

==== Switching bolts types reliably ====
Forbidding/Dumping is respected by the game when assigning ammo, so you can use the stocks screen to, for instance, dump wooden/bone bolts when you're not training and load metal bolts for combat. First delete the ammo assignment for the training bolts, then dump them from the stocks screen (DFHack's enhanced inventory is useful from this), and finally add the new metal bolts to the ammo screen. Reverse the process to get them to change back. (Be sure to set both CT flags in the ammo screen each time.)

=== Squad training orders ===
Now, for the magic bit that gets them doing nothing *but* training. Open the schedule screen with {{K|s}} and look at the orders. The default is "Train, 10 minimium". '''This is WRONG!'''

[[File:default_training_order.png|400px|Default Training Order]]

Press {{K|x}} to delete the order. The schedule screen will change to show no scheduled orders.

[[File:No_orders.png|400px|no_orders]]

Press {{K|o}} to pull up the give order screen. Press {{K|o}} until 'Train' is set, and then press {{K|+}} so it shows minimum 1, like this. Then press shift-enter to give the order. The screen will look like this:

[[File:Train_1.png|400px|train 1]]

[[File:given_train_1_order.png|400px|after giving train 1 order]]

Now do it again, until you have as many orders as total members of your squad (using a [[macro]] will allow you to repeat the process easily). You can give more than 5 orders, you just have to scroll in the orders screen to see it. When you're done it should look like this, after doing it 10 times.

[[File:multiple_train_1.png|400px|Multiple train one orders]]

Copy and paste the order to all the months. You can also set Sleep in Barracks at need to increase their training time, though this will raise the stress levels of dwarves in the squad due to tired thoughts.

You're almost done. Activate your squad, and after they finish picking up equipment, watch your bolt supplies vanish as your marksdwarves do nothing *but* archery training.

=== Why this works ===
Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves *will* spar as long as they're novice hammerdwarves). Training, minimum of 1 forces them to work solo. Since they don't have a normal barracks, they can't drill, which leaves Archery Training as the only possible way to train. Since reloading on marksdwarves continues to be erratic, they'll frequently report "No Orders" or similiar once they've finished archery training until the game notices that a given dwarf is out of ammo, in which case they'll go pick up more.

Archery training grants less experience than live fire (8XP per bolt vs. 30XP), but no micromanagement, no hauling, one setup, and you can ignore it until you get that glorious announcement that Urist McMarksdwarf has become an Elite Marksdwarf.

== Stopping melee charges ==
Do '''not''' use the [[Scheduling#Stations|station scheduling order]]!

When a dwarf has line of sight on an enemy, they'll do one of two things: run away; or run up and fight. While they're running up to the enemy, dwarves will shoot bolts if they have any, but then engage the enemy using their crossbows as hammers instead of shooting. Therefore, it's imperative that you create physical barriers which make it impossible for your marksdwarves to charge the enemy. Nothing else will suffice.

Some sources claim a Defend Burrows order may restrict marksdwarves to the area defined by the burrow. The full effectiveness of Defend Burrow orders at stopping a melee charge is unknown.{{verify}}

The easiest way to accomplish this is to use fortification pillboxes (also known as [[archery tower]]s), with a [[Scheduling#Orders|patrol order]] that causes them to break line of sight.

For patrol routes, marksdwarves will not reliably take a Pickup Equipment order as long as they have line of sight on their enemy; they will usually stand there and glare. Have them go through a door or something, and as soon as they lose sight of the goblin/forgotten beast/demon, they'll immediately go find bolts and reload.

An alternative approach is to forego all of this scheduling stuff, and use direct move orders. Station (move) your marksdwarves to the spot where you want them to stand, making sure that this spot is physically separated from the enemy. Remember that each dwarf will actually select a random spot within 3 tiles of your station-spot, on the same Z level, and try to walk to that spot. Make sure every such reachable spot is on ''your'' side of the fortifications.

In all cases, you must remember that dwarves '''can and will climb''' walls or fortifications to reach the enemy. To prevent marksdwarves from suicide-diving over the fortifications onto the killing ground below, build a roof (a [[floor]] on the next Z-level up) to physically block their vertical movement.

{{Military}}

{{Category|Military}}
{{Category|Guides}}

Advanced marksdwarf training guide

2021-05-04T03:18:04Z

72826: /* Building archery ranges */

{{Quality|Exceptional|21:40, 11 May 2015 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
[[Marksdwarf|Marksdwarves]] are fairly buggy, and often refuse to use [[archery range]]s, or just stand in front of them and fail to fire their [[crossbow]]s. This guide goes into details explaining known bugs, and getting your marksdwarves to train properly, as well as going into details regarding various ranged weaponry.

== Understanding ranged weaponry ==
In vanilla ''Dwarf Fortress'', the raws define three types of ranged weapons, each with their own skill and ammo.

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="4" |Ranged Weapons
|-
!Ranged Weapon
!Ranged Skill
!Melee Skill
!Ammo
|-
|Crossbow
|Marksdwarf
|Hammerdwarf
|Bolts
|-
|Bow
|Bowman
|Swordman
|Arrows
|-
|Blowgun
|Blowgunner
|Swordman
|Darts
|-
|}

Of these, dwarves can only craft crossbows and bolts. Bows and blowguns are gained either through trade or recovery from downed enemies. If playing a modded game, replace crossbow in the following with one of the above weapons, and proper ammo type.

== Equipping your marksdwarves ==

=== The minimum outfit ===
At a minimum, each dwarf requires the following to successfully use the crossbow.
* One crossbow
* One quiver
* One stack of bolts for each marksdwarf to shoot

A quiver is equipped on the upper body slot. Due to a bug, sometimes a marksdwarf will fail to pickup a quiver if wearing heavy armor. A workaround for this is given below. Wood and metal bolts are generated in stacks of 25. Bone bolts are generated in stacks of 5.

=== Crossbows ===
Crossbows can be made with wood or bone at a bowyer's workshop, or out of metal at a metalsmith/magma forge. Metal crossbows can be forged out of copper, bronze, bismuth bronze, iron, steel, or adamantine. Quivers must be made of leather at a leatherworks. The base material of a crossbow appears to have no effect on the lethality of ranged bolts. However, when marksdwarves end up in melee, they will use their crossbow to bash. This bash attack utilizes the hammerdwarf skill and deals blunt damage, thus it has been suggested to make dense metal crossbows.

=== Quivers and bolts ===
Please note that bolts are assigned to a ''squad'', not to individual dwarves. The number of bolts assigned to a squad will be divided evenly between all occupied squad positions. If you have a squad of 10 marksdwarves, you need to assign ''at least'' 250 bolts to the squad for each position to equip 25 bolts.

Quivers can hold between 25 and 49 bolts, and dwarves will pick up multiple stacks if necessary to reach a number in this range. In other words, dwarves will continue picking up stacks of bolts until they've got at least 25 in their quiver (or they run out of squad-assigned bolt stacks). Bolt stacks are collected in last-in-first-out order (LIFO); that is, dwarves will always go for the newest bolts in your fortress, even if there is an ammo stockpile three steps away from them. Each squad with marksdwarves must be assigned ammo. As they deplete it, the game will automatically add additional ammo to the squad if there is some in the fortress, again following the principle of LIFO.

=== Avoiding equipment issues ===
The mining, wood cutting, and hunting labors have an "invisible uniform" that conflicts with military equipment. When these labors are enabled, a dwarf will drop all assigned military equipment when going off duty, and when ordered back on duty they spend extra time collecting their equipment, and may ultimately report without some equipment. For that reason, it is recommended that you disable mining, wood cutting, and hunting on all military dwarves.

Problems have been reported with ammunition stored in bins. Dwarves will take additional time to reload since they "lock" each other out of the bin, and may even fail to do so entirely. Disabling bins in ammo stockpiles is recommended. If you choose to use bins, keeping a large oversupply of bolts may limit potential problems.

An "[[equipment mismatch]]" error sounds dire, but it's just a diagnostic message telling you that a dwarf's assigned equipment changed while the dwarf was en route to pick up the previously-assigned equipment. In almost all cases the dwarf will automatically collect the newly-assigned equipment without player intervention. One reported cause of frequent equipment mismatch spam is ammo stored in bins.

== Setting your marksdwarf's barracks ==

=== Understanding possible training activities ===
The first rule of marksdwarf training is that you do '''not''' assign them a normal [[barracks]] if you wish them to utilize the [[Archery target]] for Archer and Marksdwarf xp - if they are assigned to a barracks, they will train as hammerdwarves with their crossbows vs. actually shooting bolts at the Archery target. Furthermore, as the game gives precedence to melee training, they will almost never use an archery range, even if one is assigned, if they have a choice.

When training, a dwarf has four possible options, which they will take in roughly this order:
* Squad Training (Lead/Watch demonstration)
* Individual Combat Drill
* Spar (requires Competent Fighter skill)
* Archery Training

Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves '''will''' spar as long as they are Competent Fighter skill level, training their melee skills while doing so). Except for archery training, dwarves require a standard barracks to conduct any of the above activities. Notably, it is possible to actually train marksdwarves via demonstration, both Crossbow and Archery skills being trainable this way. By combining this with training orders, it is possible to make Archery Training the only valid option, and thus get them to train consistently.

=== Building archery ranges ===
Thus, the first step is to build a room with a bunch of archery ranges. The room must be large enough that the marksdwarf has a one-gap space between them and the target; some people just make their "barracks" 10x10, and put an ammo stockpile in it. Notably, (and this is a change from previous versions) the dwarves ''must'' be able to walk up to the target; placing a channel in front of it will prevent them from training.

Once you build your range ({{k|b}}-{{k|A}}), you must define it as a room ({{k|q}}-{{k|r}}). Make it so it touches the far wall, and don't worry, range rooms can overlap. You have to do this for each archery target. Make sure the shooting direction is correct! In addition, your marksdwarf squad '''must''' at minimum have train set on each archery target. One dwarf can use one target at any given time.

[[File:Archery_range_setup.png|A properly setup archery target]]

Repeat this for each range; you'll have 5-10 targets overlapping each other and assigned to your marksdwarves squad (in these screenshots, they are the "Home Guard")

===The military management screen===

This is by far the most difficult part - the {{K|m}}ilitary menu is confusing on the best days, but this guide will walk you through it. (To some people, this screen is designed upside down: the options to switch 'pages' or 'tabs' on this menu are at the bottom, and the specific detailed commands for the current page/tab are at the top. We will use 'page'.)

Ignore the default page '''{{DFtext|p|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Positions|3:1:1}}''' page for now, because you want to make the right '''{{DFtext|n|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Uniforms|7:1}}''' for your marksdwarves.

====Uniforms====
Press {{K|n}} to bring up the uniforms screen. Do yourself a favor and just scroll down and {{K|d}}elete the default 'archer' uniform. It's wrong and will not work properly.

Create a new uniform with {{K|c}}.

You will use the hotkeys seen on the 2nd row from the top of the {{K|m}} screen, and to create the following uniform:
* {{K|A}}rmor: leather armor
* {{K|L}}egs: leather legwear
* {{K|H}}elm: leather headwear
* {{K|G}}loves: leather handwear
* {{K|B}}oots: leather footwear
* {{K|S}}hield: shields/bucklers
* {{K|W}}eapon: crossbows (do NOT use individual choice, ranged; you '''will''' end up with dwarves who think an ''axe'' is a ranged weapon) :p

Navigation is ''tricky'', so let's do the first 3 selections together:
# {{K|A}}rmor to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Armor items
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather armor". You should now see "leather armor" listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
## Ok, that was the '''easy''' one. So follow these steps CLOSELY.
# {{K|L}}egs to show the to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Leg items
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "legwear". You should now see "legwear" listed under "leather armor" under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list. BUT... the green {{dftext|leather armor|3:1}} means it is the selection from that column.
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|legwear|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather legwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
# Now {{K|H}}elm to get your leather headwear
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "headware". (It may be the first option, so just hit {{K|Enter}})
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|headware|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather headwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.

Be careful of hitting Enter at the wrong time and duplicating or deleting an entry. Here's what it should look like if you did it right:

[[File:Working_training_uniform.png|400px|Uniform that gets them training]]

Now press {{K|m}} to switch from "Partial matches" to "Exact matches" in the upper right. This appears to fix most of the issues that result in your dwarves not picking up quivers. You might be able to get away with {{k|r}} "Over clting", which means the dwarves will wear this uniform over their current clothing.

At this point you have created the concept of a uniform, but you have not yet told your squad to wear this uniform.

Proceed to the next section.

===Positions===
Now press {{K|p}} to go back to the positions menu. If you are creating {{K|l}} a new squad, it will prompt for a uniform, before showing a list of Vacant Squad positions and Candidates.

After selecting your recruits, switch to the {{K|e}} menu. Select your squad, then press {{K|U}} (that's capital U) to bring up the {{K|U}}niform selection screen.

NOTE: If a position (for example, commander/captain) is highlighted when you hit the {{K|U}}niform selection screen, your selection will ONLY apply to that individual soldier.
Hit {{K|shift}} + {{K|enter}} to make sure you are assigning it to all positions in the squad.

You can also look at the top of the screen to see what your dwarves will train as (i.e. 10/10 Marksdwarves, instead of 1/1 markdwarf 9/9 wrestlers).

[[File:10_marksdwarves.png|400px|10/10 Marksdwarves]]

=== Handling ammo ===
We're almost done. Go to the ammo screen.

[[File:ammo_screen.png|400px|Ammo]]

If you're setting this by hand, here's what to know. Each squad needs the correct ammo. Bolts are assigned on a "per-item" basis, i.e., a given stack of bolts that's marked for training will only be used for training and vice versa. Unfortunately, an old bug prevents this from working; if you have multiple ammo types, and some are set Training-only, and others are set combat-only, your marksdwarves *will* get stuck and fail to train, or fail to fire. The only way to get this to work is if all ammo assignments in the fortress are set to both "CT" in the UI.

By default the top slot reserves ammunition for hunters. If you don't have any hunters you may want to remove that reservation from the ammunition screen to free up those bolts for your military.

==== Switching bolts types reliably ====
Forbidding/Dumping is respected by the game when assigning ammo, so you can use the stocks screen to, for instance, dump wooden/bone bolts when you're not training and load metal bolts for combat. First delete the ammo assignment for the training bolts, then dump them from the stocks screen (DFHack's enhanced inventory is useful from this), and finally add the new metal bolts to the ammo screen. Reverse the process to get them to change back. (Be sure to set both CT flags in the ammo screen each time.)

=== Squad training orders ===
Now, for the magic bit that gets them doing nothing *but* training. Open the schedule screen with {{K|s}} and look at the orders. The default is "Train, 10 minimium". '''This is WRONG!'''

[[File:default_training_order.png|400px|Default Training Order]]

Press {{K|x}} to delete the order. The schedule screen will change to show no scheduled orders.

[[File:No_orders.png|400px|no_orders]]

Press {{K|o}} to pull up the give order screen. Press {{K|o}} until 'Train' is set, and then press {{K|+}} so it shows minimum 1, like this. Then press shift-enter to give the order. The screen will look like this:

[[File:Train_1.png|400px|train 1]]

[[File:given_train_1_order.png|400px|after giving train 1 order]]

Now do it again, until you have as many orders as total members of your squad (using a [[macro]] will allow you to repeat the process easily). You can give more than 5 orders, you just have to scroll in the orders screen to see it. When you're done it should look like this, after doing it 10 times.

[[File:multiple_train_1.png|400px|Multiple train one orders]]

Copy and paste the order to all the months. You can also set Sleep in Barracks at need to increase their training time, though this will raise the stress levels of dwarves in the squad due to tired thoughts.

You're almost done. Activate your squad, and after they finish picking up equipment, watch your bolt supplies vanish as your marksdwarves do nothing *but* archery training.

=== Why this works ===
Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves *will* spar as long as they're novice hammerdwarves). Training, minimum of 1 forces them to work solo. Since they don't have a normal barracks, they can't drill, which leaves Archery Training as the only possible way to train. Since reloading on marksdwarves continues to be erratic, they'll frequently report "No Orders" or similiar once they've finished archery training until the game notices that a given dwarf is out of ammo, in which case they'll go pick up more.

Archery training grants less experience than live fire (8XP per bolt vs. 30XP), but no micromanagement, no hauling, one setup, and you can ignore it until you get that glorious announcement that Urist McMarksdwarf has become an Elite Marksdwarf.

== Stopping melee charges ==
Do '''not''' use the [[Scheduling#Stations|station scheduling order]]!

When a dwarf has line of sight on an enemy, they'll do one of two things: run away; or run up and fight. While they're running up to the enemy, dwarves will shoot bolts if they have any, but then engage the enemy using their crossbows as hammers instead of shooting. Therefore, it's imperative that you create physical barriers which make it impossible for your marksdwarves to charge the enemy. Nothing else will suffice.

Some sources claim a Defend Burrows order may restrict marksdwarves to the area defined by the burrow. The full effectiveness of Defend Burrow orders at stopping a melee charge is unknown.{{verify}}

The easiest way to accomplish this is to use fortification pillboxes (also known as [[archery tower]]s), with a [[Scheduling#Orders|patrol order]] that causes them to break line of sight.

For patrol routes, marksdwarves will not reliably take a Pickup Equipment order as long as they have line of sight on their enemy; they will usually stand there and glare. Have them go through a door or something, and as soon as they lose sight of the goblin/forgotten beast/demon, they'll immediately go find bolts and reload.

An alternative approach is to forego all of this scheduling stuff, and use direct move orders. Station (move) your marksdwarves to the spot where you want them to stand, making sure that this spot is physically separated from the enemy. Remember that each dwarf will actually select a random spot within 3 tiles of your station-spot, on the same Z level, and try to walk to that spot. Make sure every such reachable spot is on ''your'' side of the fortifications.

In all cases, you must remember that dwarves '''can and will climb''' walls or fortifications to reach the enemy. To prevent marksdwarves from suicide-diving over the fortifications onto the killing ground below, build a roof (a [[floor]] on the next Z-level up) to physically block their vertical movement.

{{Military}}

{{Category|Military}}
{{Category|Guides}}

Advanced marksdwarf training guide

2021-05-04T03:16:07Z

72826: /* Understanding possible training activities */

{{Quality|Exceptional|21:40, 11 May 2015 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
[[Marksdwarf|Marksdwarves]] are fairly buggy, and often refuse to use [[archery range]]s, or just stand in front of them and fail to fire their [[crossbow]]s. This guide goes into details explaining known bugs, and getting your marksdwarves to train properly, as well as going into details regarding various ranged weaponry.

== Understanding ranged weaponry ==
In vanilla ''Dwarf Fortress'', the raws define three types of ranged weapons, each with their own skill and ammo.

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="4" |Ranged Weapons
|-
!Ranged Weapon
!Ranged Skill
!Melee Skill
!Ammo
|-
|Crossbow
|Marksdwarf
|Hammerdwarf
|Bolts
|-
|Bow
|Bowman
|Swordman
|Arrows
|-
|Blowgun
|Blowgunner
|Swordman
|Darts
|-
|}

Of these, dwarves can only craft crossbows and bolts. Bows and blowguns are gained either through trade or recovery from downed enemies. If playing a modded game, replace crossbow in the following with one of the above weapons, and proper ammo type.

== Equipping your marksdwarves ==

=== The minimum outfit ===
At a minimum, each dwarf requires the following to successfully use the crossbow.
* One crossbow
* One quiver
* One stack of bolts for each marksdwarf to shoot

A quiver is equipped on the upper body slot. Due to a bug, sometimes a marksdwarf will fail to pickup a quiver if wearing heavy armor. A workaround for this is given below. Wood and metal bolts are generated in stacks of 25. Bone bolts are generated in stacks of 5.

=== Crossbows ===
Crossbows can be made with wood or bone at a bowyer's workshop, or out of metal at a metalsmith/magma forge. Metal crossbows can be forged out of copper, bronze, bismuth bronze, iron, steel, or adamantine. Quivers must be made of leather at a leatherworks. The base material of a crossbow appears to have no effect on the lethality of ranged bolts. However, when marksdwarves end up in melee, they will use their crossbow to bash. This bash attack utilizes the hammerdwarf skill and deals blunt damage, thus it has been suggested to make dense metal crossbows.

=== Quivers and bolts ===
Please note that bolts are assigned to a ''squad'', not to individual dwarves. The number of bolts assigned to a squad will be divided evenly between all occupied squad positions. If you have a squad of 10 marksdwarves, you need to assign ''at least'' 250 bolts to the squad for each position to equip 25 bolts.

Quivers can hold between 25 and 49 bolts, and dwarves will pick up multiple stacks if necessary to reach a number in this range. In other words, dwarves will continue picking up stacks of bolts until they've got at least 25 in their quiver (or they run out of squad-assigned bolt stacks). Bolt stacks are collected in last-in-first-out order (LIFO); that is, dwarves will always go for the newest bolts in your fortress, even if there is an ammo stockpile three steps away from them. Each squad with marksdwarves must be assigned ammo. As they deplete it, the game will automatically add additional ammo to the squad if there is some in the fortress, again following the principle of LIFO.

=== Avoiding equipment issues ===
The mining, wood cutting, and hunting labors have an "invisible uniform" that conflicts with military equipment. When these labors are enabled, a dwarf will drop all assigned military equipment when going off duty, and when ordered back on duty they spend extra time collecting their equipment, and may ultimately report without some equipment. For that reason, it is recommended that you disable mining, wood cutting, and hunting on all military dwarves.

Problems have been reported with ammunition stored in bins. Dwarves will take additional time to reload since they "lock" each other out of the bin, and may even fail to do so entirely. Disabling bins in ammo stockpiles is recommended. If you choose to use bins, keeping a large oversupply of bolts may limit potential problems.

An "[[equipment mismatch]]" error sounds dire, but it's just a diagnostic message telling you that a dwarf's assigned equipment changed while the dwarf was en route to pick up the previously-assigned equipment. In almost all cases the dwarf will automatically collect the newly-assigned equipment without player intervention. One reported cause of frequent equipment mismatch spam is ammo stored in bins.

== Setting your marksdwarf's barracks ==

=== Understanding possible training activities ===
The first rule of marksdwarf training is that you do '''not''' assign them a normal [[barracks]] if you wish them to utilize the [[Archery target]] for Archer and Marksdwarf xp - if they are assigned to a barracks, they will train as hammerdwarves with their crossbows vs. actually shooting bolts at the Archery target. Furthermore, as the game gives precedence to melee training, they will almost never use an archery range, even if one is assigned, if they have a choice.

When training, a dwarf has four possible options, which they will take in roughly this order:
* Squad Training (Lead/Watch demonstration)
* Individual Combat Drill
* Spar (requires Competent Fighter skill)
* Archery Training

Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves '''will''' spar as long as they are Competent Fighter skill level, training their melee skills while doing so). Except for archery training, dwarves require a standard barracks to conduct any of the above activities. Notably, it is possible to actually train marksdwarves via demonstration, both Crossbow and Archery skills being trainable this way. By combining this with training orders, it is possible to make Archery Training the only valid option, and thus get them to train consistently.

=== Building archery ranges ===
Thus, the first step is to build a room with a bunch of archery ranges. The room must be large enough that the marksdwarf has a one-gap space between them and the target; some people just make their "barracks" 10x10, and put an ammo stockpile in it. Notably, (and this is a change from previous versions) the dwarves ''must'' be able to walk up to the target; placing a channel in front of it will prevent them from training.

Once you build your range ({{k|b}}-{{k|a}}), you must define it as a room ({{k|q}}-{{k|r}}). Make it so it touches the far wall, and don't worry, range rooms can overlap. You have to do this for each archery target. Make sure the shooting direction is correct! In addition, your marksdwarf squad '''must''' at minimum have train set on each archery target. One dwarf can use one target at any given time.

[[File:Archery_range_setup.png|A properly setup archery target]]

Repeat this for each range; you'll have 5-10 targets overlapping each other and assigned to your marksdwarves squad (in these screenshots, they are the "Home Guard")

===The military management screen===

This is by far the most difficult part - the {{K|m}}ilitary menu is confusing on the best days, but this guide will walk you through it. (To some people, this screen is designed upside down: the options to switch 'pages' or 'tabs' on this menu are at the bottom, and the specific detailed commands for the current page/tab are at the top. We will use 'page'.)

Ignore the default page '''{{DFtext|p|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Positions|3:1:1}}''' page for now, because you want to make the right '''{{DFtext|n|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Uniforms|7:1}}''' for your marksdwarves.

====Uniforms====
Press {{K|n}} to bring up the uniforms screen. Do yourself a favor and just scroll down and {{K|d}}elete the default 'archer' uniform. It's wrong and will not work properly.

Create a new uniform with {{K|c}}.

You will use the hotkeys seen on the 2nd row from the top of the {{K|m}} screen, and to create the following uniform:
* {{K|A}}rmor: leather armor
* {{K|L}}egs: leather legwear
* {{K|H}}elm: leather headwear
* {{K|G}}loves: leather handwear
* {{K|B}}oots: leather footwear
* {{K|S}}hield: shields/bucklers
* {{K|W}}eapon: crossbows (do NOT use individual choice, ranged; you '''will''' end up with dwarves who think an ''axe'' is a ranged weapon) :p

Navigation is ''tricky'', so let's do the first 3 selections together:
# {{K|A}}rmor to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Armor items
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather armor". You should now see "leather armor" listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
## Ok, that was the '''easy''' one. So follow these steps CLOSELY.
# {{K|L}}egs to show the to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Leg items
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "legwear". You should now see "legwear" listed under "leather armor" under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list. BUT... the green {{dftext|leather armor|3:1}} means it is the selection from that column.
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|legwear|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather legwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
# Now {{K|H}}elm to get your leather headwear
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "headware". (It may be the first option, so just hit {{K|Enter}})
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|headware|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather headwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.

Be careful of hitting Enter at the wrong time and duplicating or deleting an entry. Here's what it should look like if you did it right:

[[File:Working_training_uniform.png|400px|Uniform that gets them training]]

Now press {{K|m}} to switch from "Partial matches" to "Exact matches" in the upper right. This appears to fix most of the issues that result in your dwarves not picking up quivers. You might be able to get away with {{k|r}} "Over clting", which means the dwarves will wear this uniform over their current clothing.

At this point you have created the concept of a uniform, but you have not yet told your squad to wear this uniform.

Proceed to the next section.

===Positions===
Now press {{K|p}} to go back to the positions menu. If you are creating {{K|l}} a new squad, it will prompt for a uniform, before showing a list of Vacant Squad positions and Candidates.

After selecting your recruits, switch to the {{K|e}} menu. Select your squad, then press {{K|U}} (that's capital U) to bring up the {{K|U}}niform selection screen.

NOTE: If a position (for example, commander/captain) is highlighted when you hit the {{K|U}}niform selection screen, your selection will ONLY apply to that individual soldier.
Hit {{K|shift}} + {{K|enter}} to make sure you are assigning it to all positions in the squad.

You can also look at the top of the screen to see what your dwarves will train as (i.e. 10/10 Marksdwarves, instead of 1/1 markdwarf 9/9 wrestlers).

[[File:10_marksdwarves.png|400px|10/10 Marksdwarves]]

=== Handling ammo ===
We're almost done. Go to the ammo screen.

[[File:ammo_screen.png|400px|Ammo]]

If you're setting this by hand, here's what to know. Each squad needs the correct ammo. Bolts are assigned on a "per-item" basis, i.e., a given stack of bolts that's marked for training will only be used for training and vice versa. Unfortunately, an old bug prevents this from working; if you have multiple ammo types, and some are set Training-only, and others are set combat-only, your marksdwarves *will* get stuck and fail to train, or fail to fire. The only way to get this to work is if all ammo assignments in the fortress are set to both "CT" in the UI.

By default the top slot reserves ammunition for hunters. If you don't have any hunters you may want to remove that reservation from the ammunition screen to free up those bolts for your military.

==== Switching bolts types reliably ====
Forbidding/Dumping is respected by the game when assigning ammo, so you can use the stocks screen to, for instance, dump wooden/bone bolts when you're not training and load metal bolts for combat. First delete the ammo assignment for the training bolts, then dump them from the stocks screen (DFHack's enhanced inventory is useful from this), and finally add the new metal bolts to the ammo screen. Reverse the process to get them to change back. (Be sure to set both CT flags in the ammo screen each time.)

=== Squad training orders ===
Now, for the magic bit that gets them doing nothing *but* training. Open the schedule screen with {{K|s}} and look at the orders. The default is "Train, 10 minimium". '''This is WRONG!'''

[[File:default_training_order.png|400px|Default Training Order]]

Press {{K|x}} to delete the order. The schedule screen will change to show no scheduled orders.

[[File:No_orders.png|400px|no_orders]]

Press {{K|o}} to pull up the give order screen. Press {{K|o}} until 'Train' is set, and then press {{K|+}} so it shows minimum 1, like this. Then press shift-enter to give the order. The screen will look like this:

[[File:Train_1.png|400px|train 1]]

[[File:given_train_1_order.png|400px|after giving train 1 order]]

Now do it again, until you have as many orders as total members of your squad (using a [[macro]] will allow you to repeat the process easily). You can give more than 5 orders, you just have to scroll in the orders screen to see it. When you're done it should look like this, after doing it 10 times.

[[File:multiple_train_1.png|400px|Multiple train one orders]]

Copy and paste the order to all the months. You can also set Sleep in Barracks at need to increase their training time, though this will raise the stress levels of dwarves in the squad due to tired thoughts.

You're almost done. Activate your squad, and after they finish picking up equipment, watch your bolt supplies vanish as your marksdwarves do nothing *but* archery training.

=== Why this works ===
Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves *will* spar as long as they're novice hammerdwarves). Training, minimum of 1 forces them to work solo. Since they don't have a normal barracks, they can't drill, which leaves Archery Training as the only possible way to train. Since reloading on marksdwarves continues to be erratic, they'll frequently report "No Orders" or similiar once they've finished archery training until the game notices that a given dwarf is out of ammo, in which case they'll go pick up more.

Archery training grants less experience than live fire (8XP per bolt vs. 30XP), but no micromanagement, no hauling, one setup, and you can ignore it until you get that glorious announcement that Urist McMarksdwarf has become an Elite Marksdwarf.

== Stopping melee charges ==
Do '''not''' use the [[Scheduling#Stations|station scheduling order]]!

When a dwarf has line of sight on an enemy, they'll do one of two things: run away; or run up and fight. While they're running up to the enemy, dwarves will shoot bolts if they have any, but then engage the enemy using their crossbows as hammers instead of shooting. Therefore, it's imperative that you create physical barriers which make it impossible for your marksdwarves to charge the enemy. Nothing else will suffice.

Some sources claim a Defend Burrows order may restrict marksdwarves to the area defined by the burrow. The full effectiveness of Defend Burrow orders at stopping a melee charge is unknown.{{verify}}

The easiest way to accomplish this is to use fortification pillboxes (also known as [[archery tower]]s), with a [[Scheduling#Orders|patrol order]] that causes them to break line of sight.

For patrol routes, marksdwarves will not reliably take a Pickup Equipment order as long as they have line of sight on their enemy; they will usually stand there and glare. Have them go through a door or something, and as soon as they lose sight of the goblin/forgotten beast/demon, they'll immediately go find bolts and reload.

An alternative approach is to forego all of this scheduling stuff, and use direct move orders. Station (move) your marksdwarves to the spot where you want them to stand, making sure that this spot is physically separated from the enemy. Remember that each dwarf will actually select a random spot within 3 tiles of your station-spot, on the same Z level, and try to walk to that spot. Make sure every such reachable spot is on ''your'' side of the fortifications.

In all cases, you must remember that dwarves '''can and will climb''' walls or fortifications to reach the enemy. To prevent marksdwarves from suicide-diving over the fortifications onto the killing ground below, build a roof (a [[floor]] on the next Z-level up) to physically block their vertical movement.

{{Military}}

{{Category|Military}}
{{Category|Guides}}

Advanced marksdwarf training guide

2021-05-04T03:15:11Z

72826: /* Understanding possible training activities */

{{Quality|Exceptional|21:40, 11 May 2015 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
[[Marksdwarf|Marksdwarves]] are fairly buggy, and often refuse to use [[archery range]]s, or just stand in front of them and fail to fire their [[crossbow]]s. This guide goes into details explaining known bugs, and getting your marksdwarves to train properly, as well as going into details regarding various ranged weaponry.

== Understanding ranged weaponry ==
In vanilla ''Dwarf Fortress'', the raws define three types of ranged weapons, each with their own skill and ammo.

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="4" |Ranged Weapons
|-
!Ranged Weapon
!Ranged Skill
!Melee Skill
!Ammo
|-
|Crossbow
|Marksdwarf
|Hammerdwarf
|Bolts
|-
|Bow
|Bowman
|Swordman
|Arrows
|-
|Blowgun
|Blowgunner
|Swordman
|Darts
|-
|}

Of these, dwarves can only craft crossbows and bolts. Bows and blowguns are gained either through trade or recovery from downed enemies. If playing a modded game, replace crossbow in the following with one of the above weapons, and proper ammo type.

== Equipping your marksdwarves ==

=== The minimum outfit ===
At a minimum, each dwarf requires the following to successfully use the crossbow.
* One crossbow
* One quiver
* One stack of bolts for each marksdwarf to shoot

A quiver is equipped on the upper body slot. Due to a bug, sometimes a marksdwarf will fail to pickup a quiver if wearing heavy armor. A workaround for this is given below. Wood and metal bolts are generated in stacks of 25. Bone bolts are generated in stacks of 5.

=== Crossbows ===
Crossbows can be made with wood or bone at a bowyer's workshop, or out of metal at a metalsmith/magma forge. Metal crossbows can be forged out of copper, bronze, bismuth bronze, iron, steel, or adamantine. Quivers must be made of leather at a leatherworks. The base material of a crossbow appears to have no effect on the lethality of ranged bolts. However, when marksdwarves end up in melee, they will use their crossbow to bash. This bash attack utilizes the hammerdwarf skill and deals blunt damage, thus it has been suggested to make dense metal crossbows.

=== Quivers and bolts ===
Please note that bolts are assigned to a ''squad'', not to individual dwarves. The number of bolts assigned to a squad will be divided evenly between all occupied squad positions. If you have a squad of 10 marksdwarves, you need to assign ''at least'' 250 bolts to the squad for each position to equip 25 bolts.

Quivers can hold between 25 and 49 bolts, and dwarves will pick up multiple stacks if necessary to reach a number in this range. In other words, dwarves will continue picking up stacks of bolts until they've got at least 25 in their quiver (or they run out of squad-assigned bolt stacks). Bolt stacks are collected in last-in-first-out order (LIFO); that is, dwarves will always go for the newest bolts in your fortress, even if there is an ammo stockpile three steps away from them. Each squad with marksdwarves must be assigned ammo. As they deplete it, the game will automatically add additional ammo to the squad if there is some in the fortress, again following the principle of LIFO.

=== Avoiding equipment issues ===
The mining, wood cutting, and hunting labors have an "invisible uniform" that conflicts with military equipment. When these labors are enabled, a dwarf will drop all assigned military equipment when going off duty, and when ordered back on duty they spend extra time collecting their equipment, and may ultimately report without some equipment. For that reason, it is recommended that you disable mining, wood cutting, and hunting on all military dwarves.

Problems have been reported with ammunition stored in bins. Dwarves will take additional time to reload since they "lock" each other out of the bin, and may even fail to do so entirely. Disabling bins in ammo stockpiles is recommended. If you choose to use bins, keeping a large oversupply of bolts may limit potential problems.

An "[[equipment mismatch]]" error sounds dire, but it's just a diagnostic message telling you that a dwarf's assigned equipment changed while the dwarf was en route to pick up the previously-assigned equipment. In almost all cases the dwarf will automatically collect the newly-assigned equipment without player intervention. One reported cause of frequent equipment mismatch spam is ammo stored in bins.

== Setting your marksdwarf's barracks ==

=== Understanding possible training activities ===
The first rule of marksdwarf training is that you do '''not''' assign them a normal [[barracks]] if you wish them to utilize the Archery target for Archer and Marksdwarf xp - if they are assigned to a barracks, they will train as hammerdwarves with their crossbows vs. actually shooting bolts at the Archery target. Furthermore, as the game gives precedence to melee training, they will almost never use an archery range, even if one is assigned, if they have a choice.

When training, a dwarf has four possible options, which they will take in roughly this order:
* Squad Training (Lead/Watch demonstration)
* Individual Combat Drill
* Spar (requires Competent Fighter skill)
* Archery Training

Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves '''will''' spar as long as they are Competent Fighter skill level, training their melee skills while doing so). Except for archery training, dwarves require a standard barracks to conduct any of the above activities. Notably, it is possible to actually train marksdwarves via demonstration, both Crossbow and Archery skills being trainable this way. By combining this with training orders, it is possible to make Archery Training the only valid option, and thus get them to train consistently.

=== Building archery ranges ===
Thus, the first step is to build a room with a bunch of archery ranges. The room must be large enough that the marksdwarf has a one-gap space between them and the target; some people just make their "barracks" 10x10, and put an ammo stockpile in it. Notably, (and this is a change from previous versions) the dwarves ''must'' be able to walk up to the target; placing a channel in front of it will prevent them from training.

Once you build your range ({{k|b}}-{{k|a}}), you must define it as a room ({{k|q}}-{{k|r}}). Make it so it touches the far wall, and don't worry, range rooms can overlap. You have to do this for each archery target. Make sure the shooting direction is correct! In addition, your marksdwarf squad '''must''' at minimum have train set on each archery target. One dwarf can use one target at any given time.

[[File:Archery_range_setup.png|A properly setup archery target]]

Repeat this for each range; you'll have 5-10 targets overlapping each other and assigned to your marksdwarves squad (in these screenshots, they are the "Home Guard")

===The military management screen===

This is by far the most difficult part - the {{K|m}}ilitary menu is confusing on the best days, but this guide will walk you through it. (To some people, this screen is designed upside down: the options to switch 'pages' or 'tabs' on this menu are at the bottom, and the specific detailed commands for the current page/tab are at the top. We will use 'page'.)

Ignore the default page '''{{DFtext|p|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Positions|3:1:1}}''' page for now, because you want to make the right '''{{DFtext|n|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Uniforms|7:1}}''' for your marksdwarves.

====Uniforms====
Press {{K|n}} to bring up the uniforms screen. Do yourself a favor and just scroll down and {{K|d}}elete the default 'archer' uniform. It's wrong and will not work properly.

Create a new uniform with {{K|c}}.

You will use the hotkeys seen on the 2nd row from the top of the {{K|m}} screen, and to create the following uniform:
* {{K|A}}rmor: leather armor
* {{K|L}}egs: leather legwear
* {{K|H}}elm: leather headwear
* {{K|G}}loves: leather handwear
* {{K|B}}oots: leather footwear
* {{K|S}}hield: shields/bucklers
* {{K|W}}eapon: crossbows (do NOT use individual choice, ranged; you '''will''' end up with dwarves who think an ''axe'' is a ranged weapon) :p

Navigation is ''tricky'', so let's do the first 3 selections together:
# {{K|A}}rmor to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Armor items
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather armor". You should now see "leather armor" listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
## Ok, that was the '''easy''' one. So follow these steps CLOSELY.
# {{K|L}}egs to show the to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Leg items
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "legwear". You should now see "legwear" listed under "leather armor" under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list. BUT... the green {{dftext|leather armor|3:1}} means it is the selection from that column.
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|legwear|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather legwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
# Now {{K|H}}elm to get your leather headwear
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "headware". (It may be the first option, so just hit {{K|Enter}})
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|headware|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather headwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.

Be careful of hitting Enter at the wrong time and duplicating or deleting an entry. Here's what it should look like if you did it right:

[[File:Working_training_uniform.png|400px|Uniform that gets them training]]

Now press {{K|m}} to switch from "Partial matches" to "Exact matches" in the upper right. This appears to fix most of the issues that result in your dwarves not picking up quivers. You might be able to get away with {{k|r}} "Over clting", which means the dwarves will wear this uniform over their current clothing.

At this point you have created the concept of a uniform, but you have not yet told your squad to wear this uniform.

Proceed to the next section.

===Positions===
Now press {{K|p}} to go back to the positions menu. If you are creating {{K|l}} a new squad, it will prompt for a uniform, before showing a list of Vacant Squad positions and Candidates.

After selecting your recruits, switch to the {{K|e}} menu. Select your squad, then press {{K|U}} (that's capital U) to bring up the {{K|U}}niform selection screen.

NOTE: If a position (for example, commander/captain) is highlighted when you hit the {{K|U}}niform selection screen, your selection will ONLY apply to that individual soldier.
Hit {{K|shift}} + {{K|enter}} to make sure you are assigning it to all positions in the squad.

You can also look at the top of the screen to see what your dwarves will train as (i.e. 10/10 Marksdwarves, instead of 1/1 markdwarf 9/9 wrestlers).

[[File:10_marksdwarves.png|400px|10/10 Marksdwarves]]

=== Handling ammo ===
We're almost done. Go to the ammo screen.

[[File:ammo_screen.png|400px|Ammo]]

If you're setting this by hand, here's what to know. Each squad needs the correct ammo. Bolts are assigned on a "per-item" basis, i.e., a given stack of bolts that's marked for training will only be used for training and vice versa. Unfortunately, an old bug prevents this from working; if you have multiple ammo types, and some are set Training-only, and others are set combat-only, your marksdwarves *will* get stuck and fail to train, or fail to fire. The only way to get this to work is if all ammo assignments in the fortress are set to both "CT" in the UI.

By default the top slot reserves ammunition for hunters. If you don't have any hunters you may want to remove that reservation from the ammunition screen to free up those bolts for your military.

==== Switching bolts types reliably ====
Forbidding/Dumping is respected by the game when assigning ammo, so you can use the stocks screen to, for instance, dump wooden/bone bolts when you're not training and load metal bolts for combat. First delete the ammo assignment for the training bolts, then dump them from the stocks screen (DFHack's enhanced inventory is useful from this), and finally add the new metal bolts to the ammo screen. Reverse the process to get them to change back. (Be sure to set both CT flags in the ammo screen each time.)

=== Squad training orders ===
Now, for the magic bit that gets them doing nothing *but* training. Open the schedule screen with {{K|s}} and look at the orders. The default is "Train, 10 minimium". '''This is WRONG!'''

[[File:default_training_order.png|400px|Default Training Order]]

Press {{K|x}} to delete the order. The schedule screen will change to show no scheduled orders.

[[File:No_orders.png|400px|no_orders]]

Press {{K|o}} to pull up the give order screen. Press {{K|o}} until 'Train' is set, and then press {{K|+}} so it shows minimum 1, like this. Then press shift-enter to give the order. The screen will look like this:

[[File:Train_1.png|400px|train 1]]

[[File:given_train_1_order.png|400px|after giving train 1 order]]

Now do it again, until you have as many orders as total members of your squad (using a [[macro]] will allow you to repeat the process easily). You can give more than 5 orders, you just have to scroll in the orders screen to see it. When you're done it should look like this, after doing it 10 times.

[[File:multiple_train_1.png|400px|Multiple train one orders]]

Copy and paste the order to all the months. You can also set Sleep in Barracks at need to increase their training time, though this will raise the stress levels of dwarves in the squad due to tired thoughts.

You're almost done. Activate your squad, and after they finish picking up equipment, watch your bolt supplies vanish as your marksdwarves do nothing *but* archery training.

=== Why this works ===
Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves *will* spar as long as they're novice hammerdwarves). Training, minimum of 1 forces them to work solo. Since they don't have a normal barracks, they can't drill, which leaves Archery Training as the only possible way to train. Since reloading on marksdwarves continues to be erratic, they'll frequently report "No Orders" or similiar once they've finished archery training until the game notices that a given dwarf is out of ammo, in which case they'll go pick up more.

Archery training grants less experience than live fire (8XP per bolt vs. 30XP), but no micromanagement, no hauling, one setup, and you can ignore it until you get that glorious announcement that Urist McMarksdwarf has become an Elite Marksdwarf.

== Stopping melee charges ==
Do '''not''' use the [[Scheduling#Stations|station scheduling order]]!

When a dwarf has line of sight on an enemy, they'll do one of two things: run away; or run up and fight. While they're running up to the enemy, dwarves will shoot bolts if they have any, but then engage the enemy using their crossbows as hammers instead of shooting. Therefore, it's imperative that you create physical barriers which make it impossible for your marksdwarves to charge the enemy. Nothing else will suffice.

Some sources claim a Defend Burrows order may restrict marksdwarves to the area defined by the burrow. The full effectiveness of Defend Burrow orders at stopping a melee charge is unknown.{{verify}}

The easiest way to accomplish this is to use fortification pillboxes (also known as [[archery tower]]s), with a [[Scheduling#Orders|patrol order]] that causes them to break line of sight.

For patrol routes, marksdwarves will not reliably take a Pickup Equipment order as long as they have line of sight on their enemy; they will usually stand there and glare. Have them go through a door or something, and as soon as they lose sight of the goblin/forgotten beast/demon, they'll immediately go find bolts and reload.

An alternative approach is to forego all of this scheduling stuff, and use direct move orders. Station (move) your marksdwarves to the spot where you want them to stand, making sure that this spot is physically separated from the enemy. Remember that each dwarf will actually select a random spot within 3 tiles of your station-spot, on the same Z level, and try to walk to that spot. Make sure every such reachable spot is on ''your'' side of the fortifications.

In all cases, you must remember that dwarves '''can and will climb''' walls or fortifications to reach the enemy. To prevent marksdwarves from suicide-diving over the fortifications onto the killing ground below, build a roof (a [[floor]] on the next Z-level up) to physically block their vertical movement.

{{Military}}

{{Category|Military}}
{{Category|Guides}}

Advanced marksdwarf training guide

2021-05-04T03:13:01Z

72826: /* Understanding possible training activities */

{{Quality|Exceptional|21:40, 11 May 2015 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
[[Marksdwarf|Marksdwarves]] are fairly buggy, and often refuse to use [[archery range]]s, or just stand in front of them and fail to fire their [[crossbow]]s. This guide goes into details explaining known bugs, and getting your marksdwarves to train properly, as well as going into details regarding various ranged weaponry.

== Understanding ranged weaponry ==
In vanilla ''Dwarf Fortress'', the raws define three types of ranged weapons, each with their own skill and ammo.

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="4" |Ranged Weapons
|-
!Ranged Weapon
!Ranged Skill
!Melee Skill
!Ammo
|-
|Crossbow
|Marksdwarf
|Hammerdwarf
|Bolts
|-
|Bow
|Bowman
|Swordman
|Arrows
|-
|Blowgun
|Blowgunner
|Swordman
|Darts
|-
|}

Of these, dwarves can only craft crossbows and bolts. Bows and blowguns are gained either through trade or recovery from downed enemies. If playing a modded game, replace crossbow in the following with one of the above weapons, and proper ammo type.

== Equipping your marksdwarves ==

=== The minimum outfit ===
At a minimum, each dwarf requires the following to successfully use the crossbow.
* One crossbow
* One quiver
* One stack of bolts for each marksdwarf to shoot

A quiver is equipped on the upper body slot. Due to a bug, sometimes a marksdwarf will fail to pickup a quiver if wearing heavy armor. A workaround for this is given below. Wood and metal bolts are generated in stacks of 25. Bone bolts are generated in stacks of 5.

=== Crossbows ===
Crossbows can be made with wood or bone at a bowyer's workshop, or out of metal at a metalsmith/magma forge. Metal crossbows can be forged out of copper, bronze, bismuth bronze, iron, steel, or adamantine. Quivers must be made of leather at a leatherworks. The base material of a crossbow appears to have no effect on the lethality of ranged bolts. However, when marksdwarves end up in melee, they will use their crossbow to bash. This bash attack utilizes the hammerdwarf skill and deals blunt damage, thus it has been suggested to make dense metal crossbows.

=== Quivers and bolts ===
Please note that bolts are assigned to a ''squad'', not to individual dwarves. The number of bolts assigned to a squad will be divided evenly between all occupied squad positions. If you have a squad of 10 marksdwarves, you need to assign ''at least'' 250 bolts to the squad for each position to equip 25 bolts.

Quivers can hold between 25 and 49 bolts, and dwarves will pick up multiple stacks if necessary to reach a number in this range. In other words, dwarves will continue picking up stacks of bolts until they've got at least 25 in their quiver (or they run out of squad-assigned bolt stacks). Bolt stacks are collected in last-in-first-out order (LIFO); that is, dwarves will always go for the newest bolts in your fortress, even if there is an ammo stockpile three steps away from them. Each squad with marksdwarves must be assigned ammo. As they deplete it, the game will automatically add additional ammo to the squad if there is some in the fortress, again following the principle of LIFO.

=== Avoiding equipment issues ===
The mining, wood cutting, and hunting labors have an "invisible uniform" that conflicts with military equipment. When these labors are enabled, a dwarf will drop all assigned military equipment when going off duty, and when ordered back on duty they spend extra time collecting their equipment, and may ultimately report without some equipment. For that reason, it is recommended that you disable mining, wood cutting, and hunting on all military dwarves.

Problems have been reported with ammunition stored in bins. Dwarves will take additional time to reload since they "lock" each other out of the bin, and may even fail to do so entirely. Disabling bins in ammo stockpiles is recommended. If you choose to use bins, keeping a large oversupply of bolts may limit potential problems.

An "[[equipment mismatch]]" error sounds dire, but it's just a diagnostic message telling you that a dwarf's assigned equipment changed while the dwarf was en route to pick up the previously-assigned equipment. In almost all cases the dwarf will automatically collect the newly-assigned equipment without player intervention. One reported cause of frequent equipment mismatch spam is ammo stored in bins.

== Setting your marksdwarf's barracks ==

=== Understanding possible training activities ===
The first rule of marksdwarf training is that you do '''not''' assign them a normal [[barracks]] - if they have that, they will prefer to train as hammerdwarves with their crossbows vs. actually shooting bolts. Furthermore, as the game gives precedence to melee training, they will almost never use an archery range, even if one is assigned, if they have a choice.

When training, a dwarf has four possible options, which they will take in roughly this order:
* Squad Training (Lead/Watch demonstration)
* Individual Combat Drill
* Spar (requires Competent Fighter skill)
* Archery Training

Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves '''will''' spar as long as they are Competent Fighter skill level, training their melee skills while doing so). Except for archery training, dwarves require a standard barracks to conduct any of the above activities. Notably, it is possible to actually train marksdwarves via demonstration, both Crossbow and Archery skills being trainable this way. By combining this with training orders, it is possible to make Archery Training the only valid option, and thus get them to train consistently.

=== Building archery ranges ===
Thus, the first step is to build a room with a bunch of archery ranges. The room must be large enough that the marksdwarf has a one-gap space between them and the target; some people just make their "barracks" 10x10, and put an ammo stockpile in it. Notably, (and this is a change from previous versions) the dwarves ''must'' be able to walk up to the target; placing a channel in front of it will prevent them from training.

Once you build your range ({{k|b}}-{{k|a}}), you must define it as a room ({{k|q}}-{{k|r}}). Make it so it touches the far wall, and don't worry, range rooms can overlap. You have to do this for each archery target. Make sure the shooting direction is correct! In addition, your marksdwarf squad '''must''' at minimum have train set on each archery target. One dwarf can use one target at any given time.

[[File:Archery_range_setup.png|A properly setup archery target]]

Repeat this for each range; you'll have 5-10 targets overlapping each other and assigned to your marksdwarves squad (in these screenshots, they are the "Home Guard")

===The military management screen===

This is by far the most difficult part - the {{K|m}}ilitary menu is confusing on the best days, but this guide will walk you through it. (To some people, this screen is designed upside down: the options to switch 'pages' or 'tabs' on this menu are at the bottom, and the specific detailed commands for the current page/tab are at the top. We will use 'page'.)

Ignore the default page '''{{DFtext|p|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Positions|3:1:1}}''' page for now, because you want to make the right '''{{DFtext|n|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Uniforms|7:1}}''' for your marksdwarves.

====Uniforms====
Press {{K|n}} to bring up the uniforms screen. Do yourself a favor and just scroll down and {{K|d}}elete the default 'archer' uniform. It's wrong and will not work properly.

Create a new uniform with {{K|c}}.

You will use the hotkeys seen on the 2nd row from the top of the {{K|m}} screen, and to create the following uniform:
* {{K|A}}rmor: leather armor
* {{K|L}}egs: leather legwear
* {{K|H}}elm: leather headwear
* {{K|G}}loves: leather handwear
* {{K|B}}oots: leather footwear
* {{K|S}}hield: shields/bucklers
* {{K|W}}eapon: crossbows (do NOT use individual choice, ranged; you '''will''' end up with dwarves who think an ''axe'' is a ranged weapon) :p

Navigation is ''tricky'', so let's do the first 3 selections together:
# {{K|A}}rmor to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Armor items
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather armor". You should now see "leather armor" listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
## Ok, that was the '''easy''' one. So follow these steps CLOSELY.
# {{K|L}}egs to show the to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Leg items
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "legwear". You should now see "legwear" listed under "leather armor" under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list. BUT... the green {{dftext|leather armor|3:1}} means it is the selection from that column.
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|legwear|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather legwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
# Now {{K|H}}elm to get your leather headwear
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "headware". (It may be the first option, so just hit {{K|Enter}})
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|headware|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather headwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.

Be careful of hitting Enter at the wrong time and duplicating or deleting an entry. Here's what it should look like if you did it right:

[[File:Working_training_uniform.png|400px|Uniform that gets them training]]

Now press {{K|m}} to switch from "Partial matches" to "Exact matches" in the upper right. This appears to fix most of the issues that result in your dwarves not picking up quivers. You might be able to get away with {{k|r}} "Over clting", which means the dwarves will wear this uniform over their current clothing.

At this point you have created the concept of a uniform, but you have not yet told your squad to wear this uniform.

Proceed to the next section.

===Positions===
Now press {{K|p}} to go back to the positions menu. If you are creating {{K|l}} a new squad, it will prompt for a uniform, before showing a list of Vacant Squad positions and Candidates.

After selecting your recruits, switch to the {{K|e}} menu. Select your squad, then press {{K|U}} (that's capital U) to bring up the {{K|U}}niform selection screen.

NOTE: If a position (for example, commander/captain) is highlighted when you hit the {{K|U}}niform selection screen, your selection will ONLY apply to that individual soldier.
Hit {{K|shift}} + {{K|enter}} to make sure you are assigning it to all positions in the squad.

You can also look at the top of the screen to see what your dwarves will train as (i.e. 10/10 Marksdwarves, instead of 1/1 markdwarf 9/9 wrestlers).

[[File:10_marksdwarves.png|400px|10/10 Marksdwarves]]

=== Handling ammo ===
We're almost done. Go to the ammo screen.

[[File:ammo_screen.png|400px|Ammo]]

If you're setting this by hand, here's what to know. Each squad needs the correct ammo. Bolts are assigned on a "per-item" basis, i.e., a given stack of bolts that's marked for training will only be used for training and vice versa. Unfortunately, an old bug prevents this from working; if you have multiple ammo types, and some are set Training-only, and others are set combat-only, your marksdwarves *will* get stuck and fail to train, or fail to fire. The only way to get this to work is if all ammo assignments in the fortress are set to both "CT" in the UI.

By default the top slot reserves ammunition for hunters. If you don't have any hunters you may want to remove that reservation from the ammunition screen to free up those bolts for your military.

==== Switching bolts types reliably ====
Forbidding/Dumping is respected by the game when assigning ammo, so you can use the stocks screen to, for instance, dump wooden/bone bolts when you're not training and load metal bolts for combat. First delete the ammo assignment for the training bolts, then dump them from the stocks screen (DFHack's enhanced inventory is useful from this), and finally add the new metal bolts to the ammo screen. Reverse the process to get them to change back. (Be sure to set both CT flags in the ammo screen each time.)

=== Squad training orders ===
Now, for the magic bit that gets them doing nothing *but* training. Open the schedule screen with {{K|s}} and look at the orders. The default is "Train, 10 minimium". '''This is WRONG!'''

[[File:default_training_order.png|400px|Default Training Order]]

Press {{K|x}} to delete the order. The schedule screen will change to show no scheduled orders.

[[File:No_orders.png|400px|no_orders]]

Press {{K|o}} to pull up the give order screen. Press {{K|o}} until 'Train' is set, and then press {{K|+}} so it shows minimum 1, like this. Then press shift-enter to give the order. The screen will look like this:

[[File:Train_1.png|400px|train 1]]

[[File:given_train_1_order.png|400px|after giving train 1 order]]

Now do it again, until you have as many orders as total members of your squad (using a [[macro]] will allow you to repeat the process easily). You can give more than 5 orders, you just have to scroll in the orders screen to see it. When you're done it should look like this, after doing it 10 times.

[[File:multiple_train_1.png|400px|Multiple train one orders]]

Copy and paste the order to all the months. You can also set Sleep in Barracks at need to increase their training time, though this will raise the stress levels of dwarves in the squad due to tired thoughts.

You're almost done. Activate your squad, and after they finish picking up equipment, watch your bolt supplies vanish as your marksdwarves do nothing *but* archery training.

=== Why this works ===
Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves *will* spar as long as they're novice hammerdwarves). Training, minimum of 1 forces them to work solo. Since they don't have a normal barracks, they can't drill, which leaves Archery Training as the only possible way to train. Since reloading on marksdwarves continues to be erratic, they'll frequently report "No Orders" or similiar once they've finished archery training until the game notices that a given dwarf is out of ammo, in which case they'll go pick up more.

Archery training grants less experience than live fire (8XP per bolt vs. 30XP), but no micromanagement, no hauling, one setup, and you can ignore it until you get that glorious announcement that Urist McMarksdwarf has become an Elite Marksdwarf.

== Stopping melee charges ==
Do '''not''' use the [[Scheduling#Stations|station scheduling order]]!

When a dwarf has line of sight on an enemy, they'll do one of two things: run away; or run up and fight. While they're running up to the enemy, dwarves will shoot bolts if they have any, but then engage the enemy using their crossbows as hammers instead of shooting. Therefore, it's imperative that you create physical barriers which make it impossible for your marksdwarves to charge the enemy. Nothing else will suffice.

Some sources claim a Defend Burrows order may restrict marksdwarves to the area defined by the burrow. The full effectiveness of Defend Burrow orders at stopping a melee charge is unknown.{{verify}}

The easiest way to accomplish this is to use fortification pillboxes (also known as [[archery tower]]s), with a [[Scheduling#Orders|patrol order]] that causes them to break line of sight.

For patrol routes, marksdwarves will not reliably take a Pickup Equipment order as long as they have line of sight on their enemy; they will usually stand there and glare. Have them go through a door or something, and as soon as they lose sight of the goblin/forgotten beast/demon, they'll immediately go find bolts and reload.

An alternative approach is to forego all of this scheduling stuff, and use direct move orders. Station (move) your marksdwarves to the spot where you want them to stand, making sure that this spot is physically separated from the enemy. Remember that each dwarf will actually select a random spot within 3 tiles of your station-spot, on the same Z level, and try to walk to that spot. Make sure every such reachable spot is on ''your'' side of the fortifications.

In all cases, you must remember that dwarves '''can and will climb''' walls or fortifications to reach the enemy. To prevent marksdwarves from suicide-diving over the fortifications onto the killing ground below, build a roof (a [[floor]] on the next Z-level up) to physically block their vertical movement.

{{Military}}

{{Category|Military}}
{{Category|Guides}}

Advanced marksdwarf training guide

2021-05-04T03:08:36Z

72826: /* Quivers and bolts */

{{Quality|Exceptional|21:40, 11 May 2015 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
[[Marksdwarf|Marksdwarves]] are fairly buggy, and often refuse to use [[archery range]]s, or just stand in front of them and fail to fire their [[crossbow]]s. This guide goes into details explaining known bugs, and getting your marksdwarves to train properly, as well as going into details regarding various ranged weaponry.

== Understanding ranged weaponry ==
In vanilla ''Dwarf Fortress'', the raws define three types of ranged weapons, each with their own skill and ammo.

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="4" |Ranged Weapons
|-
!Ranged Weapon
!Ranged Skill
!Melee Skill
!Ammo
|-
|Crossbow
|Marksdwarf
|Hammerdwarf
|Bolts
|-
|Bow
|Bowman
|Swordman
|Arrows
|-
|Blowgun
|Blowgunner
|Swordman
|Darts
|-
|}

Of these, dwarves can only craft crossbows and bolts. Bows and blowguns are gained either through trade or recovery from downed enemies. If playing a modded game, replace crossbow in the following with one of the above weapons, and proper ammo type.

== Equipping your marksdwarves ==

=== The minimum outfit ===
At a minimum, each dwarf requires the following to successfully use the crossbow.
* One crossbow
* One quiver
* One stack of bolts for each marksdwarf to shoot

A quiver is equipped on the upper body slot. Due to a bug, sometimes a marksdwarf will fail to pickup a quiver if wearing heavy armor. A workaround for this is given below. Wood and metal bolts are generated in stacks of 25. Bone bolts are generated in stacks of 5.

=== Crossbows ===
Crossbows can be made with wood or bone at a bowyer's workshop, or out of metal at a metalsmith/magma forge. Metal crossbows can be forged out of copper, bronze, bismuth bronze, iron, steel, or adamantine. Quivers must be made of leather at a leatherworks. The base material of a crossbow appears to have no effect on the lethality of ranged bolts. However, when marksdwarves end up in melee, they will use their crossbow to bash. This bash attack utilizes the hammerdwarf skill and deals blunt damage, thus it has been suggested to make dense metal crossbows.

=== Quivers and bolts ===
Please note that bolts are assigned to a ''squad'', not to individual dwarves. The number of bolts assigned to a squad will be divided evenly between all occupied squad positions. If you have a squad of 10 marksdwarves, you need to assign ''at least'' 250 bolts to the squad for each position to equip 25 bolts.

Quivers can hold between 25 and 49 bolts, and dwarves will pick up multiple stacks if necessary to reach a number in this range. In other words, dwarves will continue picking up stacks of bolts until they've got at least 25 in their quiver (or they run out of squad-assigned bolt stacks). Bolt stacks are collected in last-in-first-out order (LIFO); that is, dwarves will always go for the newest bolts in your fortress, even if there is an ammo stockpile three steps away from them. Each squad with marksdwarves must be assigned ammo. As they deplete it, the game will automatically add additional ammo to the squad if there is some in the fortress, again following the principle of LIFO.

=== Avoiding equipment issues ===
The mining, wood cutting, and hunting labors have an "invisible uniform" that conflicts with military equipment. When these labors are enabled, a dwarf will drop all assigned military equipment when going off duty, and when ordered back on duty they spend extra time collecting their equipment, and may ultimately report without some equipment. For that reason, it is recommended that you disable mining, wood cutting, and hunting on all military dwarves.

Problems have been reported with ammunition stored in bins. Dwarves will take additional time to reload since they "lock" each other out of the bin, and may even fail to do so entirely. Disabling bins in ammo stockpiles is recommended. If you choose to use bins, keeping a large oversupply of bolts may limit potential problems.

An "[[equipment mismatch]]" error sounds dire, but it's just a diagnostic message telling you that a dwarf's assigned equipment changed while the dwarf was en route to pick up the previously-assigned equipment. In almost all cases the dwarf will automatically collect the newly-assigned equipment without player intervention. One reported cause of frequent equipment mismatch spam is ammo stored in bins.

== Setting your marksdwarf's barracks ==

=== Understanding possible training activities ===
The first rule of marksdwarf training is that you do '''not''' assign them a normal [[barracks]] - if they have that, they will prefer to train as hammerdwarves with their crossbows vs. actually shooting bolts. Furthermore, as the game gives precedence to melee training, they will almost never use an archery range, even if one is assigned, if they have a choice.

When training, a dwarf has four possible options, which they will take in roughly this order:
* Squad Training
* Individual Combat Drill
* Spar
* Archery Training

Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves '''will''' spar as long as they're novice hammerdwarves, training their melee skills while doing so). Except for archery training, dwarves require a standard barracks to conduct any of the above activities. Notably, it is possible to actually train marksdwarves via demonstration, both Crossbow and Archery skills being trainable this way. By combining this with training orders, it is possible to make Archery Training the only valid option, and thus get them to train consistently.

=== Building archery ranges ===
Thus, the first step is to build a room with a bunch of archery ranges. The room must be large enough that the marksdwarf has a one-gap space between them and the target; some people just make their "barracks" 10x10, and put an ammo stockpile in it. Notably, (and this is a change from previous versions) the dwarves ''must'' be able to walk up to the target; placing a channel in front of it will prevent them from training.

Once you build your range ({{k|b}}-{{k|a}}), you must define it as a room ({{k|q}}-{{k|r}}). Make it so it touches the far wall, and don't worry, range rooms can overlap. You have to do this for each archery target. Make sure the shooting direction is correct! In addition, your marksdwarf squad '''must''' at minimum have train set on each archery target. One dwarf can use one target at any given time.

[[File:Archery_range_setup.png|A properly setup archery target]]

Repeat this for each range; you'll have 5-10 targets overlapping each other and assigned to your marksdwarves squad (in these screenshots, they are the "Home Guard")

===The military management screen===

This is by far the most difficult part - the {{K|m}}ilitary menu is confusing on the best days, but this guide will walk you through it. (To some people, this screen is designed upside down: the options to switch 'pages' or 'tabs' on this menu are at the bottom, and the specific detailed commands for the current page/tab are at the top. We will use 'page'.)

Ignore the default page '''{{DFtext|p|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Positions|3:1:1}}''' page for now, because you want to make the right '''{{DFtext|n|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Uniforms|7:1}}''' for your marksdwarves.

====Uniforms====
Press {{K|n}} to bring up the uniforms screen. Do yourself a favor and just scroll down and {{K|d}}elete the default 'archer' uniform. It's wrong and will not work properly.

Create a new uniform with {{K|c}}.

You will use the hotkeys seen on the 2nd row from the top of the {{K|m}} screen, and to create the following uniform:
* {{K|A}}rmor: leather armor
* {{K|L}}egs: leather legwear
* {{K|H}}elm: leather headwear
* {{K|G}}loves: leather handwear
* {{K|B}}oots: leather footwear
* {{K|S}}hield: shields/bucklers
* {{K|W}}eapon: crossbows (do NOT use individual choice, ranged; you '''will''' end up with dwarves who think an ''axe'' is a ranged weapon) :p

Navigation is ''tricky'', so let's do the first 3 selections together:
# {{K|A}}rmor to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Armor items
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather armor". You should now see "leather armor" listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
## Ok, that was the '''easy''' one. So follow these steps CLOSELY.
# {{K|L}}egs to show the to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Leg items
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "legwear". You should now see "legwear" listed under "leather armor" under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list. BUT... the green {{dftext|leather armor|3:1}} means it is the selection from that column.
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|legwear|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather legwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
# Now {{K|H}}elm to get your leather headwear
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "headware". (It may be the first option, so just hit {{K|Enter}})
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|headware|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather headwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.

Be careful of hitting Enter at the wrong time and duplicating or deleting an entry. Here's what it should look like if you did it right:

[[File:Working_training_uniform.png|400px|Uniform that gets them training]]

Now press {{K|m}} to switch from "Partial matches" to "Exact matches" in the upper right. This appears to fix most of the issues that result in your dwarves not picking up quivers. You might be able to get away with {{k|r}} "Over clting", which means the dwarves will wear this uniform over their current clothing.

At this point you have created the concept of a uniform, but you have not yet told your squad to wear this uniform.

Proceed to the next section.

===Positions===
Now press {{K|p}} to go back to the positions menu. If you are creating {{K|l}} a new squad, it will prompt for a uniform, before showing a list of Vacant Squad positions and Candidates.

After selecting your recruits, switch to the {{K|e}} menu. Select your squad, then press {{K|U}} (that's capital U) to bring up the {{K|U}}niform selection screen.

NOTE: If a position (for example, commander/captain) is highlighted when you hit the {{K|U}}niform selection screen, your selection will ONLY apply to that individual soldier.
Hit {{K|shift}} + {{K|enter}} to make sure you are assigning it to all positions in the squad.

You can also look at the top of the screen to see what your dwarves will train as (i.e. 10/10 Marksdwarves, instead of 1/1 markdwarf 9/9 wrestlers).

[[File:10_marksdwarves.png|400px|10/10 Marksdwarves]]

=== Handling ammo ===
We're almost done. Go to the ammo screen.

[[File:ammo_screen.png|400px|Ammo]]

If you're setting this by hand, here's what to know. Each squad needs the correct ammo. Bolts are assigned on a "per-item" basis, i.e., a given stack of bolts that's marked for training will only be used for training and vice versa. Unfortunately, an old bug prevents this from working; if you have multiple ammo types, and some are set Training-only, and others are set combat-only, your marksdwarves *will* get stuck and fail to train, or fail to fire. The only way to get this to work is if all ammo assignments in the fortress are set to both "CT" in the UI.

By default the top slot reserves ammunition for hunters. If you don't have any hunters you may want to remove that reservation from the ammunition screen to free up those bolts for your military.

==== Switching bolts types reliably ====
Forbidding/Dumping is respected by the game when assigning ammo, so you can use the stocks screen to, for instance, dump wooden/bone bolts when you're not training and load metal bolts for combat. First delete the ammo assignment for the training bolts, then dump them from the stocks screen (DFHack's enhanced inventory is useful from this), and finally add the new metal bolts to the ammo screen. Reverse the process to get them to change back. (Be sure to set both CT flags in the ammo screen each time.)

=== Squad training orders ===
Now, for the magic bit that gets them doing nothing *but* training. Open the schedule screen with {{K|s}} and look at the orders. The default is "Train, 10 minimium". '''This is WRONG!'''

[[File:default_training_order.png|400px|Default Training Order]]

Press {{K|x}} to delete the order. The schedule screen will change to show no scheduled orders.

[[File:No_orders.png|400px|no_orders]]

Press {{K|o}} to pull up the give order screen. Press {{K|o}} until 'Train' is set, and then press {{K|+}} so it shows minimum 1, like this. Then press shift-enter to give the order. The screen will look like this:

[[File:Train_1.png|400px|train 1]]

[[File:given_train_1_order.png|400px|after giving train 1 order]]

Now do it again, until you have as many orders as total members of your squad (using a [[macro]] will allow you to repeat the process easily). You can give more than 5 orders, you just have to scroll in the orders screen to see it. When you're done it should look like this, after doing it 10 times.

[[File:multiple_train_1.png|400px|Multiple train one orders]]

Copy and paste the order to all the months. You can also set Sleep in Barracks at need to increase their training time, though this will raise the stress levels of dwarves in the squad due to tired thoughts.

You're almost done. Activate your squad, and after they finish picking up equipment, watch your bolt supplies vanish as your marksdwarves do nothing *but* archery training.

=== Why this works ===
Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves *will* spar as long as they're novice hammerdwarves). Training, minimum of 1 forces them to work solo. Since they don't have a normal barracks, they can't drill, which leaves Archery Training as the only possible way to train. Since reloading on marksdwarves continues to be erratic, they'll frequently report "No Orders" or similiar once they've finished archery training until the game notices that a given dwarf is out of ammo, in which case they'll go pick up more.

Archery training grants less experience than live fire (8XP per bolt vs. 30XP), but no micromanagement, no hauling, one setup, and you can ignore it until you get that glorious announcement that Urist McMarksdwarf has become an Elite Marksdwarf.

== Stopping melee charges ==
Do '''not''' use the [[Scheduling#Stations|station scheduling order]]!

When a dwarf has line of sight on an enemy, they'll do one of two things: run away; or run up and fight. While they're running up to the enemy, dwarves will shoot bolts if they have any, but then engage the enemy using their crossbows as hammers instead of shooting. Therefore, it's imperative that you create physical barriers which make it impossible for your marksdwarves to charge the enemy. Nothing else will suffice.

Some sources claim a Defend Burrows order may restrict marksdwarves to the area defined by the burrow. The full effectiveness of Defend Burrow orders at stopping a melee charge is unknown.{{verify}}

The easiest way to accomplish this is to use fortification pillboxes (also known as [[archery tower]]s), with a [[Scheduling#Orders|patrol order]] that causes them to break line of sight.

For patrol routes, marksdwarves will not reliably take a Pickup Equipment order as long as they have line of sight on their enemy; they will usually stand there and glare. Have them go through a door or something, and as soon as they lose sight of the goblin/forgotten beast/demon, they'll immediately go find bolts and reload.

An alternative approach is to forego all of this scheduling stuff, and use direct move orders. Station (move) your marksdwarves to the spot where you want them to stand, making sure that this spot is physically separated from the enemy. Remember that each dwarf will actually select a random spot within 3 tiles of your station-spot, on the same Z level, and try to walk to that spot. Make sure every such reachable spot is on ''your'' side of the fortifications.

In all cases, you must remember that dwarves '''can and will climb''' walls or fortifications to reach the enemy. To prevent marksdwarves from suicide-diving over the fortifications onto the killing ground below, build a roof (a [[floor]] on the next Z-level up) to physically block their vertical movement.

{{Military}}

{{Category|Military}}
{{Category|Guides}}

Advanced marksdwarf training guide

2021-05-04T03:05:47Z

72826: /* Crossbows */

{{Quality|Exceptional|21:40, 11 May 2015 (UTC)}}
{{av}}
[[Marksdwarf|Marksdwarves]] are fairly buggy, and often refuse to use [[archery range]]s, or just stand in front of them and fail to fire their [[crossbow]]s. This guide goes into details explaining known bugs, and getting your marksdwarves to train properly, as well as going into details regarding various ranged weaponry.

== Understanding ranged weaponry ==
In vanilla ''Dwarf Fortress'', the raws define three types of ranged weapons, each with their own skill and ammo.

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan="4" |Ranged Weapons
|-
!Ranged Weapon
!Ranged Skill
!Melee Skill
!Ammo
|-
|Crossbow
|Marksdwarf
|Hammerdwarf
|Bolts
|-
|Bow
|Bowman
|Swordman
|Arrows
|-
|Blowgun
|Blowgunner
|Swordman
|Darts
|-
|}

Of these, dwarves can only craft crossbows and bolts. Bows and blowguns are gained either through trade or recovery from downed enemies. If playing a modded game, replace crossbow in the following with one of the above weapons, and proper ammo type.

== Equipping your marksdwarves ==

=== The minimum outfit ===
At a minimum, each dwarf requires the following to successfully use the crossbow.
* One crossbow
* One quiver
* One stack of bolts for each marksdwarf to shoot

A quiver is equipped on the upper body slot. Due to a bug, sometimes a marksdwarf will fail to pickup a quiver if wearing heavy armor. A workaround for this is given below. Wood and metal bolts are generated in stacks of 25. Bone bolts are generated in stacks of 5.

=== Crossbows ===
Crossbows can be made with wood or bone at a bowyer's workshop, or out of metal at a metalsmith/magma forge. Metal crossbows can be forged out of copper, bronze, bismuth bronze, iron, steel, or adamantine. Quivers must be made of leather at a leatherworks. The base material of a crossbow appears to have no effect on the lethality of ranged bolts. However, when marksdwarves end up in melee, they will use their crossbow to bash. This bash attack utilizes the hammerdwarf skill and deals blunt damage, thus it has been suggested to make dense metal crossbows.

=== Quivers and bolts ===
Please note that bolts are assigned to a ''squad'', not to individual dwarves. If you have a squad of 10 marksdwarves, you need to assign ''at least'' 250 bolts to the squad. 500 is better.

Quivers can hold between 25 and 49 bolts, and dwarves will pick up multiple stacks if necessary to reach a number in this range. In other words, dwarves will continue picking up stacks of bolts until they've got at least 25 in their quiver (or they run out of squad-assigned bolt stacks). Bolt stacks are collected in last-in-first-out order (LIFO); that is, dwarves will always go for the newest bolts in your fortress, even if there is an ammo stockpile three steps away from them. Each squad with marksdwarves must be assigned ammo. As they deplete it, the game will automatically add additional ammo to the squad if there is some in the fortress, again following the principle of LIFO.

=== Avoiding equipment issues ===
The mining, wood cutting, and hunting labors have an "invisible uniform" that conflicts with military equipment. When these labors are enabled, a dwarf will drop all assigned military equipment when going off duty, and when ordered back on duty they spend extra time collecting their equipment, and may ultimately report without some equipment. For that reason, it is recommended that you disable mining, wood cutting, and hunting on all military dwarves.

Problems have been reported with ammunition stored in bins. Dwarves will take additional time to reload since they "lock" each other out of the bin, and may even fail to do so entirely. Disabling bins in ammo stockpiles is recommended. If you choose to use bins, keeping a large oversupply of bolts may limit potential problems.

An "[[equipment mismatch]]" error sounds dire, but it's just a diagnostic message telling you that a dwarf's assigned equipment changed while the dwarf was en route to pick up the previously-assigned equipment. In almost all cases the dwarf will automatically collect the newly-assigned equipment without player intervention. One reported cause of frequent equipment mismatch spam is ammo stored in bins.

== Setting your marksdwarf's barracks ==

=== Understanding possible training activities ===
The first rule of marksdwarf training is that you do '''not''' assign them a normal [[barracks]] - if they have that, they will prefer to train as hammerdwarves with their crossbows vs. actually shooting bolts. Furthermore, as the game gives precedence to melee training, they will almost never use an archery range, even if one is assigned, if they have a choice.

When training, a dwarf has four possible options, which they will take in roughly this order:
* Squad Training
* Individual Combat Drill
* Spar
* Archery Training

Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves '''will''' spar as long as they're novice hammerdwarves, training their melee skills while doing so). Except for archery training, dwarves require a standard barracks to conduct any of the above activities. Notably, it is possible to actually train marksdwarves via demonstration, both Crossbow and Archery skills being trainable this way. By combining this with training orders, it is possible to make Archery Training the only valid option, and thus get them to train consistently.

=== Building archery ranges ===
Thus, the first step is to build a room with a bunch of archery ranges. The room must be large enough that the marksdwarf has a one-gap space between them and the target; some people just make their "barracks" 10x10, and put an ammo stockpile in it. Notably, (and this is a change from previous versions) the dwarves ''must'' be able to walk up to the target; placing a channel in front of it will prevent them from training.

Once you build your range ({{k|b}}-{{k|a}}), you must define it as a room ({{k|q}}-{{k|r}}). Make it so it touches the far wall, and don't worry, range rooms can overlap. You have to do this for each archery target. Make sure the shooting direction is correct! In addition, your marksdwarf squad '''must''' at minimum have train set on each archery target. One dwarf can use one target at any given time.

[[File:Archery_range_setup.png|A properly setup archery target]]

Repeat this for each range; you'll have 5-10 targets overlapping each other and assigned to your marksdwarves squad (in these screenshots, they are the "Home Guard")

===The military management screen===

This is by far the most difficult part - the {{K|m}}ilitary menu is confusing on the best days, but this guide will walk you through it. (To some people, this screen is designed upside down: the options to switch 'pages' or 'tabs' on this menu are at the bottom, and the specific detailed commands for the current page/tab are at the top. We will use 'page'.)

Ignore the default page '''{{DFtext|p|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Positions|3:1:1}}''' page for now, because you want to make the right '''{{DFtext|n|2:1}}{{DFtext|: Uniforms|7:1}}''' for your marksdwarves.

====Uniforms====
Press {{K|n}} to bring up the uniforms screen. Do yourself a favor and just scroll down and {{K|d}}elete the default 'archer' uniform. It's wrong and will not work properly.

Create a new uniform with {{K|c}}.

You will use the hotkeys seen on the 2nd row from the top of the {{K|m}} screen, and to create the following uniform:
* {{K|A}}rmor: leather armor
* {{K|L}}egs: leather legwear
* {{K|H}}elm: leather headwear
* {{K|G}}loves: leather handwear
* {{K|B}}oots: leather footwear
* {{K|S}}hield: shields/bucklers
* {{K|W}}eapon: crossbows (do NOT use individual choice, ranged; you '''will''' end up with dwarves who think an ''axe'' is a ranged weapon) :p

Navigation is ''tricky'', so let's do the first 3 selections together:
# {{K|A}}rmor to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Armor items
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather armor". You should now see "leather armor" listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
## Ok, that was the '''easy''' one. So follow these steps CLOSELY.
# {{K|L}}egs to show the to show the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list of Leg items
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "legwear". You should now see "legwear" listed under "leather armor" under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list. BUT... the green {{dftext|leather armor|3:1}} means it is the selection from that column.
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|legwear|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather legwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.
# Now {{K|H}}elm to get your leather headwear
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "headware". (It may be the first option, so just hit {{K|Enter}})
## Navigate back {{k|←}}/{{k|↓}} to highlight {{dftext|headware|3:1}}
## {{K|M}}aterial to reveal the material options that will appear under the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} column.
## Navigate {{K|→}} to the {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list
## Use the {{k|↑}}/{{k|↓}} and {{K|Enter}} to select "leather" material. You should now see {{dftext|leather headwear|3:1}} listed under {{DFtext| |7:7:1}}{{dftext|SELECTION|7:7:1}}{{DFtext| |7:7:1}} list in the center of the screen.

Be careful of hitting Enter at the wrong time and duplicating or deleting an entry. Here's what it should look like if you did it right:

[[File:Working_training_uniform.png|400px|Uniform that gets them training]]

Now press {{K|m}} to switch from "Partial matches" to "Exact matches" in the upper right. This appears to fix most of the issues that result in your dwarves not picking up quivers. You might be able to get away with {{k|r}} "Over clting", which means the dwarves will wear this uniform over their current clothing.

At this point you have created the concept of a uniform, but you have not yet told your squad to wear this uniform.

Proceed to the next section.

===Positions===
Now press {{K|p}} to go back to the positions menu. If you are creating {{K|l}} a new squad, it will prompt for a uniform, before showing a list of Vacant Squad positions and Candidates.

After selecting your recruits, switch to the {{K|e}} menu. Select your squad, then press {{K|U}} (that's capital U) to bring up the {{K|U}}niform selection screen.

NOTE: If a position (for example, commander/captain) is highlighted when you hit the {{K|U}}niform selection screen, your selection will ONLY apply to that individual soldier.
Hit {{K|shift}} + {{K|enter}} to make sure you are assigning it to all positions in the squad.

You can also look at the top of the screen to see what your dwarves will train as (i.e. 10/10 Marksdwarves, instead of 1/1 markdwarf 9/9 wrestlers).

[[File:10_marksdwarves.png|400px|10/10 Marksdwarves]]

=== Handling ammo ===
We're almost done. Go to the ammo screen.

[[File:ammo_screen.png|400px|Ammo]]

If you're setting this by hand, here's what to know. Each squad needs the correct ammo. Bolts are assigned on a "per-item" basis, i.e., a given stack of bolts that's marked for training will only be used for training and vice versa. Unfortunately, an old bug prevents this from working; if you have multiple ammo types, and some are set Training-only, and others are set combat-only, your marksdwarves *will* get stuck and fail to train, or fail to fire. The only way to get this to work is if all ammo assignments in the fortress are set to both "CT" in the UI.

By default the top slot reserves ammunition for hunters. If you don't have any hunters you may want to remove that reservation from the ammunition screen to free up those bolts for your military.

==== Switching bolts types reliably ====
Forbidding/Dumping is respected by the game when assigning ammo, so you can use the stocks screen to, for instance, dump wooden/bone bolts when you're not training and load metal bolts for combat. First delete the ammo assignment for the training bolts, then dump them from the stocks screen (DFHack's enhanced inventory is useful from this), and finally add the new metal bolts to the ammo screen. Reverse the process to get them to change back. (Be sure to set both CT flags in the ammo screen each time.)

=== Squad training orders ===
Now, for the magic bit that gets them doing nothing *but* training. Open the schedule screen with {{K|s}} and look at the orders. The default is "Train, 10 minimium". '''This is WRONG!'''

[[File:default_training_order.png|400px|Default Training Order]]

Press {{K|x}} to delete the order. The schedule screen will change to show no scheduled orders.

[[File:No_orders.png|400px|no_orders]]

Press {{K|o}} to pull up the give order screen. Press {{K|o}} until 'Train' is set, and then press {{K|+}} so it shows minimum 1, like this. Then press shift-enter to give the order. The screen will look like this:

[[File:Train_1.png|400px|train 1]]

[[File:given_train_1_order.png|400px|after giving train 1 order]]

Now do it again, until you have as many orders as total members of your squad (using a [[macro]] will allow you to repeat the process easily). You can give more than 5 orders, you just have to scroll in the orders screen to see it. When you're done it should look like this, after doing it 10 times.

[[File:multiple_train_1.png|400px|Multiple train one orders]]

Copy and paste the order to all the months. You can also set Sleep in Barracks at need to increase their training time, though this will raise the stress levels of dwarves in the squad due to tired thoughts.

You're almost done. Activate your squad, and after they finish picking up equipment, watch your bolt supplies vanish as your marksdwarves do nothing *but* archery training.

=== Why this works ===
Squad training and sparring require multiple dwarves (and yes, marksdwarves *will* spar as long as they're novice hammerdwarves). Training, minimum of 1 forces them to work solo. Since they don't have a normal barracks, they can't drill, which leaves Archery Training as the only possible way to train. Since reloading on marksdwarves continues to be erratic, they'll frequently report "No Orders" or similiar once they've finished archery training until the game notices that a given dwarf is out of ammo, in which case they'll go pick up more.

Archery training grants less experience than live fire (8XP per bolt vs. 30XP), but no micromanagement, no hauling, one setup, and you can ignore it until you get that glorious announcement that Urist McMarksdwarf has become an Elite Marksdwarf.

== Stopping melee charges ==
Do '''not''' use the [[Scheduling#Stations|station scheduling order]]!

When a dwarf has line of sight on an enemy, they'll do one of two things: run away; or run up and fight. While they're running up to the enemy, dwarves will shoot bolts if they have any, but then engage the enemy using their crossbows as hammers instead of shooting. Therefore, it's imperative that you create physical barriers which make it impossible for your marksdwarves to charge the enemy. Nothing else will suffice.

Some sources claim a Defend Burrows order may restrict marksdwarves to the area defined by the burrow. The full effectiveness of Defend Burrow orders at stopping a melee charge is unknown.{{verify}}

The easiest way to accomplish this is to use fortification pillboxes (also known as [[archery tower]]s), with a [[Scheduling#Orders|patrol order]] that causes them to break line of sight.

For patrol routes, marksdwarves will not reliably take a Pickup Equipment order as long as they have line of sight on their enemy; they will usually stand there and glare. Have them go through a door or something, and as soon as they lose sight of the goblin/forgotten beast/demon, they'll immediately go find bolts and reload.

An alternative approach is to forego all of this scheduling stuff, and use direct move orders. Station (move) your marksdwarves to the spot where you want them to stand, making sure that this spot is physically separated from the enemy. Remember that each dwarf will actually select a random spot within 3 tiles of your station-spot, on the same Z level, and try to walk to that spot. Make sure every such reachable spot is on ''your'' side of the fortifications.

In all cases, you must remember that dwarves '''can and will climb''' walls or fortifications to reach the enemy. To prevent marksdwarves from suicide-diving over the fortifications onto the killing ground below, build a roof (a [[floor]] on the next Z-level up) to physically block their vertical movement.

{{Military}}

{{Category|Military}}
{{Category|Guides}}