How to restack Bolts/Arrows?

[Endemonadia]

As the title.

With a game with literally hundreds of individual bolts and arrows littering the map and never seeing them getting restacked im wondering if there is even a mechanism within the game that does this. Or is this normal. And if its normal then we have another problem :(

[LastChime]

Nope they never restack them, ignore them, melt them down, dump them into some sort of disposal or sell them off, the elves love -carambola wood bolt-.

[Rainbow Jeremy]

Use a quantum stockpile (look up blindirl tutorial on youtube if you don't know how)

[Planewalker]

I still avoid bins in all my stockpiles tbh.
(bug; idk if fixed)

[-Gobz- Bojac]

So one thing I noticed was that my people weren't crafting Wooden bolts anymore for my trading. I tried setting the amount to check very very high but still it seemed the dwarves thought I had 600 bolts...

Turns out I did, they were just single bolts and not stacks. Also they were forbidden in my archery range! So now I see I have to either destroy or sell them off which should trigger my dudes to start crafting even at a low threshold amount (for my manager to check). I hope that makes some sense.

[harlequin_corps]

Ok. So. There is a method of having the Marksmen, or Marksdorf do Quantum Stockpiles on their own w/o using a Minecart. It doesn't fix the stacking issue, and they can usually (I HAVE to say usually because there are SO many exceptions to this, It may be that they will only FILL 5 slots in the quiver, but the quiver has an INFINITE amount of slots it can take) only carry 5 stacks in their quiver, which means they end up only carrying 5 bolts at a time, This is true, however there are macro things that go on above that. So.

1. In front of the archery target in the Archery Range put a Channel. The bolt hits the target then falls down a Z level. This is how you don't lose bolts on the Archery Range and is why there is no longer a Training Ammo/Combat Ammo selection. You can do this also for Ballista Arrows and Catapult Stones. So you don't lose them either. Just put a channel in front of the wall that you are expecting the arrow/stone to hit and it will hit the wall and drop down a Z level.

Catapults have a minimum range of 30 blocks, making them relatively without use for kill boxes. Edit. This is.. well. not true at all. Stones are always easy to come by, and the minimum range requirements just means you put the catapults 30 blocks away from the kill box, which means your dorfs are more likely to NOT be interrupted when Loading/Firing the Catapult into the Kill Box. So setting up a Stone Stockpile right next to the catapults and putting a bunch of wheelbarrows in it, and setting up ANOTHER stone stockpile where the stones fall is, bizarrely, a relatively decent method of Quantum Stockpiling Stones. Because all citizens/residents/pets/livestock automatically Dodge catapult ammo. And now back to our regularly scheduled program...

Shoot corridors, GREAT, but Pit/Pond kill boxes.. eh.. not so much.

Side Note. Putting a Floor Hatch over the hole of the Pit/Pond and then Forbidding the Hatch is the way to do Kill Boxes. They will still throw things into the Pit/Pond even with the Hatch forbidden (A deliberately (And counterintuitive) coded exception to the rule and is the reason we don't have the old system of door settings where you could set each door individually to allow passage to what you want to have go through the door, like Pets/Animals)

Fortifications allow all Siege ammo, Ballista Arrows and Catapult Stones to pass through w/o impedance. So you can set up a kill box/Pit/Pond surrounded by fortifications and on the far side of the kill box have a wall with a Channel in front of it.

There is a bug where bolts will drop down 2 Z levels, it's not game breaking but it is definitely not a feature.

2. On the Z level that the bolts fall down to, set your Master Ammo stockpile, no bins. They shoot the bolts, the bolts fall into the stockpile, this quantum stacks the bolts and you don't lose bolts you use on the Archery Range.

3. Whether or not you forbid ammo, it's up to you, but there IS a setting that allows you to forbid Ammo during sieges. This is generally a good thing to do. If you forbid all ammo, you have to go back through the stockpile under the Archery Range and unforbid every now and then.

And now the macro stuff.

3. Use THAT Master Ammo Stockpile to stock all your shootbox/shoot corridor Ammo Stockpiles. Set your shoot box ammo stockpile to Take from the Master Ammo stockpile. Make sure to set all the subordinate stockpiles to No Bins. Your dorfs will then pull all those individual bolts out of the stockpile and put them into places where you know you will need your Marksmen, or Marksdorfs to resupply quickly instead of coming all the way back to the Master Stockpile to get resupply.

If you have your Master Stockpile under the Archery Range be ONLY the area directly underneath the channel, this means it fills up and is no longer restocked from the forges/crafts workshop. This means that the stacks of one will stockpile flow out to the resupply points. Whether or not this is a good thing is up to you, but the key element remains.. don't have ammo in bins. Wherever the ammo is, DON'T have it in bins.

Side Side note. Don't use dorfs as Marksdorfs. use everything else you get, the Humans, the Elfs, the Jumping Spider Men.. anything but a Dorf. Dorfs are specifically made for doing Melee.