40d Talk:Fortress guard

Does anyone have any advice on reasons I should put a new migrant into the Fortress Guard, instead of making him or her a regular soldier, whom I can control better? I assume it gives the Captain a happy thought to have more guards, but other than that, I prefer having a new soldier instead of a new guard. --DDouble 02:39, 2 December 2007 (EST)

Untill he is close to elite status it is probably better to have more guards as I think that the more guards you have - the more chances that a guard will take care of a criminal and not a hammerer. Having elite guards is really totally worthless.--Another 10:02, 2 December 2007 (EST)

Why was this moved from "Fortress guard"? --TangoThree 06:07, 2 February 2008 (EST)

Because Ironxides (talk | contribs) didn't read the wiki naming guidelines and decided it looked better with a capital G. VengefulDonut 11:30, 3 February 2008 (EST)

When I switched a squad to fortress guard, they stopped using the barracks to sleep in but continued to use it for training. Can anyone confirm this behaviour? (39c) Marasmusine 12:01, 21 July 2008 (EDT)

I can confirm that. Guards like private quarters, if they can afford them and they are available, but sparring happens in barracks, period, whether the barracks are defined by beds or by weapon racks or armor stands. --Zombiejustice 22:48, 21 July 2008 (EDT)

In my experience, the number of Royal guard required is not a 1/20 of population, but equals to number of nobles. It also worth noting, that sometimes they will do the job 'Guard <noblename>'--Dorten 03:56, 4 August 2008 (EDT)

Nope, it's 1/20th. It just seems that way because 1/20th will wind up being close to the number of nobles that you'll have. --LegacyCWAL 13:52, 26 December 2008 (EST)

I don't have a captain (didn't assign one), but I still can assign Fortress and Royal Guards. So the first paragraph is misleading? Thanks. Kwieland

Elite guards 'worthless'?

Could someone clarify this issue for me? Do they turn into essentially Philosophers with combat skills after being proclaimed champions? Don't they perform guard duties anymore?

They still perform their guard duties, but you can't move them from being guards, which many would regard as a less-than-ideal situation for their elite dwarves.--Quil 18:04, 20 January 2009 (EST)

Perhaps "effectively useless" is too strong, then? --Aristoi 18:22, 20 January 2009 (EST)

Adjusted.--Quil 18:27, 20 January 2009 (EST)

Elite Fortress Wrestlers Win/Win/Win

Since I don't like it when my fortress guards punish a criminal by cutting or smashing him to pieces I told my fortress guards to fight unarmed. They're heavily armored and never out on guard duty so all they do is sparr in the barracks.
This is an incredibly good thing because they train ALL melee soldiers in wrestling. The swordsdwarf and wrestler skills climb simultaneously but the dwarves always become elite wrestlers (upon which they will put down their weapons and i have to re-assign them) before they become elite swordsdwarves. I can't stress it enough how valuable this is in battle! They dodge like crazy and if they lose their weapons they're no less dangerous!
It's a win/win/Win situation! The civilians survive punishment and the soldiers survives battles! As for the Fortress Guards.. as soon as they reach Elite wrestling status they don't seem to get wounded. Ever. In spite of fighting ARMED soldiers all day long! I have a fortress of 151 dwarves, it's the month after a gobln siege and the nurses are UNEMPLOYED! :D --Aspgren 08:06, 7 Feb 2009 (CET)

Not sure about the civilians surviving punishment bit, I've lost 3 civilians and a champion (legendary armor/shield/wrestler/hammerdwarf with full plate/shield, was a wtf moment) to fortress guard at elite wrestler or below. After that all my guard suddenly found themselves unable to open their bedroom doors. The guard also interrupt marksdwarves trying to practice by grabbing them for sparring if they aren't carrying bolts. --Elvang 14:04, 7 February 2009 (EST)

The marksdwarf bit is odd.. has never happened to me. Though yes sometimes the guards might go overboard, one of my dwarves lost her child and thus threw a tantrum and broke her own bed. The guards mangled both her legs and broke her wrist for good measure. She was in bed for 2 years because of that. Still. Had the guard carried a weapon I don't think she'd be breathing today. Even if it's just a slightly increased survival chance it's still a Win in my book. :) --Aspgren 00:55, 8 Feb 2009 (CET)

I've run into the marksdwarf bit before. Make sure they aren't carrying anything they aren't supposed to (i.e. check and see if they have somebody's pants in one hand). --LegacyCWAL 13:27, 23 February 2009 (EST)

Avoiding injuries/fast recoup

Anybody have any suggestions on avoiding injuries or speeding up recoup time? I have a developed fortress but health care is killing me! I *think* that the soldiers get hurt less when they are stronger/agile/tough. Seems to me that Tough effects how fast they heal. I've had several dwarfs with minor (yellow) hand/arm injuries that have taken years to heal. The only thing I can see is that the dwarfs didn't have any toughness. Having two champion guards doesn't help any, either! That is the other reason that champion guards are bad. You can not have them "stand down". So, they will always be sparing. I guess that could be a good thing as well. Maybe that is why I've seen champions with the thoughts of no meaning in life anymore.--Kwieland 16:51, 16 February 2009 (EST)

I train my military in squads to keep them around the same level when they go to spar. Everyone starts out as a wrestler with a wooden shield until they hit champion. As long as I've been following that routine I haven't seen any of my military dwarves get injured from sparring. The attribute article shows what each stat does; toughness affects how fast they heal and the severity of injuries. --Elvang 17:46, 16 February 2009 (EST)

I just tried that and it is fairly easy. One thing that surprised me - I started training a squad of seven at crossbow/marksdwarf. The ones with the highest agility status reached proficient status fastest. Makes sense, they can fire more arrows/time, but I just hadn't thought of that before. So, ideally, you'd want someone who is really weak, fast, and tough to be in the military. They can get the strength later, but then they will not damage other soldiers, train quickly, and if they do get hurt, they'll recover faster.--Kwieland 08:55, 23 February 2009 (EST)

The Hammerer and Ineffective Fortress Guards

Can this part

Note, that he will act only if some fortress guard officer was assigned to punish a dwarf, but didn't do it for some time...

be confirmed? I had the hammerer kill a craftsdwarf who was in restraints the other day. The fortress guard was doing their job, but that @$%@! hammerer decided to bash the poor craftsdwarf's brains in anyway.