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[Valikdu]

I know this was brought up several times, but I couldn't find a conclusive answer.

Setup:
-Marksman squad of 5
-Hunting labor not enabled, no ammo for hunters
-Several hundred wooden bolts for training, none for combat
-Quivers and crossbows equipped on all squad members
-Targets set up with proper space, inside the barracks

And they don't shoot the targets.
I tried activating and deactivating the squad and turning squad's training on and off in the barracks, they still don't shoot.

[zeziba]

Do you have it so the min set to train is 10? If so set it to 2-3 and that should help if not I read on here somewhere if you deactivate the training and just let the roam as soldiers they will train at the range you assigned them.

[toomanysecrets]

Idling, inactive dwarves will go to archery practice, and if you set it up this way they will burn through practice bolts rather quickly. Don't set up a barracks unless you want them to go to individual combat training. However, if they are active, make sure you have a barracks set up or you will get a lot of "soldier (no activity)" happening.

There are a lot of complaints/questions about this, I think most people who are using archery targets are leaving their marksdwarf squads inactive to get the most training. If you have problems with your marksdwarves not picking up ammo, try setting your ammo stockpile to zero bins, I've heard this helps.

If they have a full supply of ammo (fast way to check is military screen under ammuntion, and you can see exactly which stacks of ammo your sqaud has) and they are not training ever, even if you let that game run for a couple months, I don't know what the problem is.

Caging siegers and pitting them into a shooting gallery with armor on is a far better way to skill up your marksdwarves. Also, order your marksdwarves to kill any wildlife on your map. Check every few minutes to see if new victims have roamed onto your embark square. Shots taken in combat give substantially more XP (2x or 3x ??) than training.

[Buttery_Mess]

You can train up marksdwarves pretty quickly by ordering them to pick off wildlife. You really want them to spend most of their time training shield, armour and dodging skills. This will allow them to more safely pick off enemy archers.

[Hyndis]

I find that on the job training is far more effective.

Massed marksdwarves are highly effective, even if they're completely unskilled. What they lack for in accuracy they make up for with weight of fire. If you have a properly designed chokepoint and marksdwarf bunker, the weight of fire is absolutely devastating even if they're all new recruits with no training.

Marksdwarves also skill up very rapidly when doing live fire training so within a few sieges you should already be getting some legendaries.

Here is the most simple design for this kind of defense:

Code: [Select]

X........X
X........X  <==to fort
X........X
XFFFFF...X  <==fortifications
XA.......X  <==armor stand zoned as barracks
XFFFFF...X  <==fortifications
X........X
X........X
X........X
X........X
X........X
X........X
X........X
X........X
X........X
X........X
X........X
X........X  <==outside
X........X
There is no size limit to your barracks. You can zone a 1x1 barracks and it will work. Its too small to spar in, but dwarves will remain on duty and stationed at the barracks, and they will still teach each other things to slowly increase skills.

Zone a small barracks, like only 1x4 tiles or something small. In this single barracks assign 6 squads of marksdwarves. Yes, you can indeed cram 60 dwarves in a tiny barracks. Have fortifications on either side so they can shoot in all directions.

(For bonus points, this can double as a danger room if you install wooden training spears in spikes.)

Leave your dwarves on active/training all the time. If any siege shows up, they will be funneled into your killing zone and murdered with massed crossbow fire. Notice that the barracks is open and on the same Z level as the invaders. Your marksdwarves will mix it up in melee should anything somehow manage to get close enough, but they will still easily win in melee. By the time anything even reaches melee range, it should have a dozen bolts stuck in it, meaning its at a huge disadvantage and even recruit marksdwarves will club it to death with their crossbows.

[GhostDwemer]

Make sure the targets are oriented in the right direction, and make a few thousand more bolts, to start. I go through a thousand bolts a month, and I've noticed, when my supply of bolts drops below several thousand, my dwarves stop training.

[Valikdu]

Got them to shoot at the targets only after deactivating and turning off the training at the barracks. :/

When active, they would sometimes "Go to archery training" while standing still and not doing anything, even while inside the barracks and next to the targets.

[VerdantSF]

I find that on the job training is far more effective.

Hyndis has made me a believer.  I have an archery range primarily for aesthetics now.  These days, my marksdwarves get their practice via hunting or squad kill orders on wildlife.  The training is sooooo much faster AND it keeps my ammo supply bursting at the seams with all the bone bolts.

[Hyndis]

If you can capture a necromancer that is also a great infinitely renewing target range.

But I really don't see much point in having them practice prior to combat. Just make a huge blob of marksdwarves and let them work it out on their own.

The great thing about crossbow bolts is that if you are firing at a target on the same Z level, even if the bolt missed the intended target, it will still hit something. If you have a hallway full of goblins charging at your blob of marksdwarves, every single bolt will hit something. Perhaps not the intended target, but it will hit something.

This means that even a complete newbie recruit still has a 100% accuracy rate with a crossbow during a siege.


When there is not siege they just will train each other in the barracks. This is slow training, but helps share knowledge between dwarves. Also it keeps them on the lookout for any ambushes or kobolds. I just leave them on active/training all year round. Its easy to do with a cleverly situated barracks room. Your barracks does not need to a big open room, it can be any size or shape you want it to be.

[wuphonsreach]

If you do create an archery range, then it absolutely needs to be (2) Z levels tall.

The upper level is a bunch of 1xN dead-end walkways which butt up against a wall running perpendicular at the dead-end.  The archery target sits next to the wall.  The area between the walkways should be open to the room below.  This lets you stretch the "room" that you create off the archery target to be very long and the width of the walkway.  The longer you can make the walkways the better (15-20 tiles long is not unusual) as dwarves will miss more often. 

Bolts that miss, will hit the wall behind the archery target and fall down into the level below.  They will land up to 3 tiles away from the wall.  Paint a no-bin ammo stockpile which only accepts from links across the tiles where bolts land.  Have that stockpile then give to sort-out piles with bins (which also only takes from links).

I have my sort-out piles set so that all low-quality (superior and below) metal ammo gets sent down to the forges to be melted down into bars.  Since melting bolts gives back about 120% of what it took to create those bolts, you can minimize your losses (and if the dwarves miss often enough, break even).

Also, only assign (1) archery target for training per squad if the marksdwarves are also used for hauling / civilian duties.  That way, only 10% of your squad will be tied up shooting at the target while the rest continue doing useful work.

[celem]

I've never had issues with having both the range and barracks active.  Its fairly desirable since although they will do the odd biter demo they will also do dodge/armor and shield use plus of course hammer.  If they get good enough they will spar in melee with their bows.  Give em heavy metal bows and at least if they do insist on xbow bash then they do some damage.

As said several times its inactive dwarves who train at the range, if you are forced to deactivate your barracks then the fault lies in your scheduling, they are not inactive enough.  Note that with both rooms some inactive dwarves may choose to do individual drills in the barracks rather than use the range.  Accept this or tweak scheduled training down even further to have more inactive marksdwarves to see more at the range.

I generally have a squad of 10 marksdwarves set to train in 2 groups of minimum 2.  This results in a few lessons or sparring pairs, a couple truly inactive drinking/sleeping etc and a few at the range or doing a solo drill.

Archery ranges are in general so finicky, and expenditure of bolts so high to reach the initial stagesd of skill, that live fire is preferrable in almost everycase.  Some good ideas above, mine as simple as cage traps and a pit room with Fortification walls and locked door.  Cage trap outside the door incase of the oddthing that steals/captures/breaks doors.  Have a range, but they should shoot living stuff too to advance with any speed