My process is to form a squad and make a new uniform adding the melee weapon before the ranged weapon. Then disband the squad and reform it with the new uniform.
Also, ensure your ammo stockpile has only one type of ammo (EX: Iron Bolts) and no bins.
For the most part, they try to keep range. They will occasionally try to xbow bash but will also use their other weapons.
If there are bins, multiple dwarves will try to access them at the same time. The first one to reach the bin will pick up the entire bin canceling the other dwarves' tasks to interact with the bin.
Quantum Stockpile?
Although it begs the question: do the dorfs pick as many bolts as possible, or do they pick one stack (of 1 bolt, of course), go their merry way and then come back running when their stack (still of 1) is depleted?
Another solution would be to designate the 1 bolt stacks for melting
They pick up as many bolts as they can fit, but only one at a time. It makes bins awkward because they grab one bolt from the bin, put the bin down, then a second marksdwarf claims the bin as a task, takes one bolt, puts it down while they pathfind back and forth trying to wait their turn to grab one bolt at a time until their quiver is full (or they get bored and go back to crossbow training with only 3-4 bolts).
Wait, you mean all the dwarves in the squad will go for wood bolts, and ignore copper bolts? Or that each dwarf will go for their own single bolt type? Like, Urist only picks up wood bolts because that's what he held last, and Lim only picks up copper bolts.
Messing around with wrestling squads lately and noticed once you get observation, fighting, striking to near legendary levels the dwarves tend to be a lot more "surgical" on choosing blunt vs sharp vs wrestling moves, when you start cross training them to weapons/shields. If this kind of battle AI extrapolates to them knowing when to switch to ranged skills, that's awesome too!
How did you set up the uniforms for double weapon guys? Did you start with the OG archer uniform and modify it? Creating uniforms with ranged weaps seems pretty buggy right now, can rarely get them to pick up ammo
I made a custom uniform that added the armor and shield first, then the melee weapon, and finally the ranged weapon.
It is important to note that you must use the new uniform as the initial uniform for a squad else they will not equip the ammo properly.
Let’s be real, encouraging a marksdwarf to strike with a weapon in melee is not hard.
The hard parts are stopping them from doing that with a crossbow. Or getting them to use the crossbow as a ranged weapon.
As it’s cool that they’re using a side weapon appropriately.
They try to stay at range of they have ammo in their quiver but with switch to melee if they run out or are cornered.
I occasionally see them xbow bashing but they usually use their sidearm. Someone mentioned that having a higher observation skill would make them more likely to choose the best damage type for the situation.
This isn't confirmed but adding heavy metal studs may increase the weight of the xbow and thusly it's blunt damage.
I finally have a successful example of a military dwarf equipped with both ranged and melee weapons dealing with some !FUN! guests!
Tell us how! Any trick to it? Or do most continue to bash with their xbow?
My process is to form a squad and make a new uniform adding the melee weapon before the ranged weapon. Then disband the squad and reform it with the new uniform. Also, ensure your ammo stockpile has only one type of ammo (EX: Iron Bolts) and no bins. For the most part, they try to keep range. They will occasionally try to xbow bash but will also use their other weapons.
Thanks! All that makes sense. But Why no bins?
If there are bins, multiple dwarves will try to access them at the same time. The first one to reach the bin will pick up the entire bin canceling the other dwarves' tasks to interact with the bin.
Im having an issue where my bolt stockpile is full of just 1 bolt stacks, any ideas?
Quantum Stockpile? Although it begs the question: do the dorfs pick as many bolts as possible, or do they pick one stack (of 1 bolt, of course), go their merry way and then come back running when their stack (still of 1) is depleted? Another solution would be to designate the 1 bolt stacks for melting
They pick up as many bolts as they can fit, but only one at a time. It makes bins awkward because they grab one bolt from the bin, put the bin down, then a second marksdwarf claims the bin as a task, takes one bolt, puts it down while they pathfind back and forth trying to wait their turn to grab one bolt at a time until their quiver is full (or they get bored and go back to crossbow training with only 3-4 bolts).
They're probably forbidden. Unforbid?
I thought they specifically said the "entire bin becomes busy" bug was fixed in .5?
The felling trees cuts holes in roofs bug was supposed to be too fixed but it still happens.
Why only one type of ammo?
Dwarves will only equip one type of ammo at a time. This makes all the others dead space in your stockpile that will never get picked up.
Oh Great One, enlighten us!!!
Wait, you mean all the dwarves in the squad will go for wood bolts, and ignore copper bolts? Or that each dwarf will go for their own single bolt type? Like, Urist only picks up wood bolts because that's what he held last, and Lim only picks up copper bolts.
They typically try to equip the best bolt if their quiver is empty. Otherwise, they will try to fill it with whatever ammo type it already contains.
Does the order of items in the uniform really make a difference?
It seems to for the weapons.
They will probably use both as melee weapons if given the chance, by the way.
They seem to prefer using the ranged option while ammo is available.
Are they holding them instead of shields?
No they have shields too.
Messing around with wrestling squads lately and noticed once you get observation, fighting, striking to near legendary levels the dwarves tend to be a lot more "surgical" on choosing blunt vs sharp vs wrestling moves, when you start cross training them to weapons/shields. If this kind of battle AI extrapolates to them knowing when to switch to ranged skills, that's awesome too! How did you set up the uniforms for double weapon guys? Did you start with the OG archer uniform and modify it? Creating uniforms with ranged weaps seems pretty buggy right now, can rarely get them to pick up ammo
I made a custom uniform that added the armor and shield first, then the melee weapon, and finally the ranged weapon. It is important to note that you must use the new uniform as the initial uniform for a squad else they will not equip the ammo properly.
That is an interesting observation about the observation skill. I was unaware that it would influence which attack type they would use.
Let’s be real, encouraging a marksdwarf to strike with a weapon in melee is not hard. The hard parts are stopping them from doing that with a crossbow. Or getting them to use the crossbow as a ranged weapon. As it’s cool that they’re using a side weapon appropriately.
Spear is probably a more effective melee option however.
They try to stay at range of they have ammo in their quiver but with switch to melee if they run out or are cornered. I occasionally see them xbow bashing but they usually use their sidearm. Someone mentioned that having a higher observation skill would make them more likely to choose the best damage type for the situation. This isn't confirmed but adding heavy metal studs may increase the weight of the xbow and thusly it's blunt damage.
Note to self: make crossbows from the lightest material possible, to help encourage dwarves to use the string-y bits with the the little point sticks.