Revision as of 03:09, 25 November 2010

Started playing DF around July 2009. Amazing game, especially to be available for free.

Military tutorial

A brief tutorial for the new player. This is not intended to be comprehensive, just help you get a basic set of military instructions setup and running. Please feel free to ask some questions on my discussion page if you have any. I am going to make a few assumptions here. First, I am using the Mayday pack which might have a few keybinding changes. I don't think there are but keep it in mind. Second, you need Dwarf Therapist to play this game beyond 20 or 30 dwarfs. So if you do not have it, check the wiki for the link under utilities.

Preparing your dwarfs

Load up your fort and pause the game. Then load up Dwarf Therapist.
Check your dwarves military skills and pick a group of dwarfs to use as guinea pigs for this grand experiment.
I create a custom profession for my dwarfs called Military or Archer, depending on the obvious, with all of the labor skills cut off. Yes all of them. Technically this is not necessary but it helps get around some annoying glitches.
Apply this profession to whichever dwarfs you want to use for your military. This makes them easier to find when scrolling through the list for assigning dwarfs to a squad.

If you aren't playing on Windows fear not! I will keep you poor heathens in mind. Instead of doing this using Dwarf Therapist just do it using the in game menus. It takes longer but still gets the job done.

Creating a squad

Open up your nobles screen. Highlight militia commander and press enter. Scroll through your unit list and look from someone with some relevant skills (they should be at the top of the list). If no one has any skills I use hardest to pronounce name. If you followed my previous suggestion regarding a custom class use one your Military/Archer dwarfs.
Go to your military screen and press c to create a squad. It will ask you for a uniform, choose none. The reason is that armor can get really complicated and this is a beginner setup. I will have a more advanced armor setup later. The Militia Commander is the default captain of the squad. Any subsequent squads can be made by pressing l with the commander's squad highlighted.
To add members to your squads highlight the desired squad and press → to go to the Squad Position column. Then press ↓ to highlight a vacant position below the Militia commander. Then press → to move to the Candidate column.
Highlight a dwarf you have designated as Military/Archer (or whoever you want) and press Enter. Repeat this until your squad is full (I am only going to use 1 squad for this tutorial) or you have selected all of your previously selected Military/Archer dwarfs.
Press a to go to your alert screen. Go ↓ to highlight Active/Training. Press → to highlight your squad and press Enter. The letter A should appear beside your squad's name. The [CIV] tag on inactive means your civilians are set to that alert status.

Scheduling

Now press s to go the Schedule screen. Scroll to the top month and press x to cancel orders then o to give orders.
Press o to switch between orders until you see Train.
Now this part is very important so pay attention. If you look at the bottom of the screen you will see where it says 10 Soldiers Minimum. This means that if there are less then 10 members they won't follow the order. If there are more then the minimum (and the minimum is below 10) then any extra troops will rotatin in and out. Use the corresponding keybind to decrease the number to however many people you have in the squad. Its + and - for me.
Once you have setup the number of dwarfs to the exact number in your squad, press Shift and Enter to exit back to the Schedule screen.
Use c and p to copy those orders and paste them year round.

Create a barracks and designate for training

Create a Template:L by creating a bed,armor stand, or weapon rack at a Template:L and then building it in a 5X5 room. I chose 5X5 tiles arbitrarily but remember the larger the room, the more mechanisms and spears you need for a Template:L.
Set the task for it by hitting q from the main menu and highlighting the structure you built.
1. If its a bed hit r to make it a bedroom and change the size to fill up the room it is in and hit Enter. Change it into a barracks by press b.
2. If an Armor Stand or Weapon Rack just press r and adjust the size to fill the space of your choice and hit Enter
If you have multiple squads highlight the squad you are using for this tutorial and hit t. Beside the name of your squad a T should appear indicating they will train at that barracks. Multiple squads can be assigned the same barracks. You can press q to make your squad store their equipment in this location.

Archers

The above will not work for archers. Instead just replace the barracks with an archery target. There are some caveats though.

You need one target per member of your archery squad. I recommend a 4 tile wide space around your archery target although I have tested and the gap does not seem to affect skill increase.
You will need to supply ammo under the Military screen. As of right now don't bother setting only bone/wood bolts or arrows for training. Just make sure you have lots of metal on hand. If this is not possible, be aware that your dwarfs will only hold 1 type of ammo. So if they are training and then need to go kill something they must first run back and get ammo.
Archers will not work with a danger room to train archery ,instead they will train hammers, so there is no way to speed up the process that I am aware of.

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 =Military tutorial=
-A brief tutorial for the new player. This is not intended to be comprehensive, just help you get a basic set of military instructions setup.
+A brief tutorial for the new player. This is not intended to be comprehensive, just help you get a basic set of military instructions setup and running. Please feel free to ask some questions on my discussion page if you have any.
-==Creating a military==
+I am going to make a few assumptions here. First, I am using the Mayday pack which might have a few keybinding changes. I don't think there are but keep it in mind. Second, you need Dwarf Therapist to play this game beyond 20 or 30 dwarfs. So if you do not have it, check the wiki for the link under utilities.
-#Open up your {{k|n}}obles screen. Highlight militia commander and press {{k|Enter}}. Scroll through your unit list and look from someone with some relevant skills (they should be at the top of the list). If no one has any relevant skills, pick one by whatever method you prefer (I prefer hardest to pronounce name).
+==Preparing your dwarfs==
-#Go to your {{k|m}}ilitary screen and press {{k|c}} to create a squad. It will ask you for a uniform, choose leather. It is a good starting point for a new squad. The Militia Commander is the default captain of the squad. Any subsequent squads can be made by pressing {{k|l}} with the commander's squad highlighted.
+#Load up your fort and pause the game. Then load up Dwarf Therapist.
-#To add members to your squads highlight the desired squad and press {{k|→}} and then {{k|↓}} to highlight a vacant position. Press {{k|→}} again to go to your dwarf select column. Highlight a dwarf and press {{k|Enter}}. Repeat this until your squad is full (I am only going to use 1 squad for this tutorial).
+#Check your dwarves military skills and pick a group of dwarfs to use as guinea pigs for this grand experiment.
+#I create a custom profession for my dwarfs called Military or Archer, depending on the obvious, with all of the labor skills cut off. Yes all of them. Technically this is not necessary but it helps get around some annoying glitches.
+#Apply this profession to whichever dwarfs you want to use for your military. This makes them easier to find when scrolling through the list for assigning dwarfs to a squad.
+If you aren't playing on Windows fear not! I will keep you poor heathens in mind. Instead of doing this using Dwarf Therapist just do it using the in game menus. It takes longer but still gets the job done.
+==Creating a squad==
+#Open up your {{k|n}}obles screen. Highlight militia commander and press {{k|enter}}. Scroll through your unit list and look from someone with some relevant skills (they should be at the top of the list). If no one has any skills I use hardest to pronounce name. If you followed my previous suggestion regarding a custom class use one your Military/Archer dwarfs.
+#Go to your {{k|m}}ilitary screen and press {{k|c}} to create a squad. It will ask you for a uniform, choose none. The reason is that armor can get really complicated and this is a beginner setup. I will have a more advanced armor setup later. The Militia Commander is the default captain of the squad. Any subsequent squads can be made by pressing {{k|l}} with the commander's squad highlighted.
+#To add members to your squads highlight the desired squad and press {{k|→}} to go to the Squad Position column. Then press {{k|↓}} to highlight a vacant position below the Militia commander. Then press {{k|→}} to move to the Candidate column.
+#Highlight a dwarf you have designated as Military/Archer (or whoever you want) and press {{k|Enter}}. Repeat this until your squad is full (I am only going to use 1 squad for this tutorial) or you have selected all of your previously selected Military/Archer dwarfs.
 #Press {{k|a}} to go to your alert screen. Go {{k|↓}} to highlight Active/Training. Press {{k|→}} to highlight your squad and press {{k|Enter}}. The letter A should appear beside your squad's name. The [CIV] tag on inactive means your civilians are set to that alert status.
-#We are done with the military screen for now so back out to the main screen.
+==Scheduling==
-==Setting up stations and routes==
+#Now press {{k|s}} to go the Schedule screen. Scroll to the top month and press {{k|x}} to cancel orders then {{k|o}} to give orders.
-#From there open your {{k|N}}otes/Points/Routes menu.
+#Press {{k|o}} to switch between orders until you see Train.
-#Move the curser to a location of your choosing, somewhere out of harms way is preferred, and {{k|p}}lace a note. Give it a {{k|n}}ame, like say squad 1 station 1, or something equally creative, press {{k|Enter}} to finish naming it.
+#Now this part is very important so pay attention. If you look at the bottom of the screen you will see where it says 10 Soldiers Minimum. This means that if there are less then 10 members they won't follow the order. If there are more then the minimum (and the minimum is below 10) then any extra troops will rotatin in and out. Use the corresponding keybind to decrease the number to however many people you have in the squad. Its {{k|+}} and {{k|-}} for me.
-#Now move away from that location by changing z-levels or just moving away a few tiles. Use the above commands to make 2 more notes, named point a and point b that are about 5 tiles or so apart.
+#Once you have setup the number of dwarfs to the exact number in your squad, press {{k|Shift}} and {{k|Enter}} to exit back to the Schedule screen.
-#Press {{k|r}} to switch over to the route menu. Press {{k|a}} to create a route and {{k|n}}ame it Route practice.
+#Use {{k|c}} and {{k|p}} to copy those orders and paste them year round.
-#Move your cursor near point point a and {{k|e}}dit your route. If your cursor is close enough to point a then it should blink and the name should be at the top of the route menu.
-#With your cursor on point a {{k|a}}dd a waypoint. Now move your cursor near point b and repeat. A colored line should pop up between the two point showing that they are connected. Congratulations you have connected point a to point b.
 ==Create a barracks and designate for training==
-#Create a barracks by creating a bed at a Carpenter's workshop and then building it in a 5X5 room ({{k|b}},{{k|b}} to designate a bed).
+#Create a {{L|barracks}} by creating a bed,armor stand, or weapon rack at a {{L|carpenter's workshop}} and then building it in a 5X5 room. I chose 5X5 tiles arbitrarily but remember the larger the room, the more mechanisms and spears you need for a {{L|Danger_room|Danger Room}}.
-#Set the task for it by hitting {{k|q}} from the main menu. Hit {{k|r}} to make it a bedroom and change the size to fill up the room it is in and hit {{k|Enter}}. Change it into a barracks by press {{k|b}}.
+#Set the task for it by hitting {{k|q}} from the main menu and highlighting the structure you built.
-#If you have multiple squads highlight the squad you are using for this tutorial and hit {{k|t}}. Beside the name of your squad a {{k|T}} should appear indicating they will train at that barracks. Multiple squads can be assigned the same barracks. Now press {{k|q}} so that your squad will train in their uniforms.
+##If its a bed hit {{k|r}} to make it a bedroom and change the size to fill up the room it is in and hit {{k|Enter}}. Change it into a barracks by press {{k|b}}.
-==Scheduling multiple activites within a single squad==
+##If an Armor Stand or Weapon Rack just press {{k|r}} and adjust the size to fill the space of your choice and hit {{k|Enter}}
-#Back out to the main menu and return to your military screen. Go to the {{k|s}}chedule menu.
+#If you have multiple squads highlight the squad you are using for this tutorial and hit {{k|t}}. Beside the name of your squad a {{k|T}} should appear indicating they will train at that barracks. Multiple squads can be assigned the same barracks. You can press {{k|q}} to make your squad store their equipment in this location.
-#Highlight the squad you are interested in using {{k|←}} and {{k|→}}. Scroll up or down till you have the current month highlighted. It should say Train if you set your alert up as I said above.
+==Archers==
-#Press {{k|x}} to delete the current training order as we are going to be a bit more complicated.
+The above will not work for archers. Instead just replace the barracks with an archery target. There are some caveats though.
-#Assign the squad a new {{k|o}}rder. Press {{k|o}} until you see Train. Hit {{k|→}} and highlight your top squad member and hit {{k|Enter}}. They should now be selected. Press {{k|↓}} to highlight the second member and press {{k|Enter}} again. Then hit {{k|Shift}}+{{k|Enter}} to save the change.
-#Assign another {{k|o}}rder. This time press {{k|o}} until Patrol route pops up. If you only have the one route made then it will automatically be selected. Otherwise scroll around until you find the desired route.
+#You need one target per member of your archery squad. I recommend a 4 tile wide space around your archery target although I have tested and the gap does not seem to affect skill increase.
-#Hit {{k|→}} again and just like before highlight and hit {{k|Enter}} on the 3rd and 4th member of the squad. They will now be patrolling the designated route. Hit {{k|Shift}}+{{k|Enter}} again.
+#You will need to supply ammo under the Military screen. As of right now don't bother setting only bone/wood bolts or arrows for training. Just make sure you have lots of metal on hand. If this is not possible, be aware that your dwarfs will only hold 1 type of ammo. So if they are training and then need to go kill something they must first run back and get ammo.
-#Give another {{k|o}}rder and scroll through until you see Station. This time station the 5th member of the squad at the lone point. Note that you can also station members at patrol route waypoints.
+#Archers will not work with a danger room to train archery ,instead they will train hammers, so there is no way to speed up the process that I am aware of.
-#Well it seems we forgot to assign orders to the remaining 5 dwarves. Not a problem! Press {{k|Tab}} and the cursor will highlight your training orders at the bottom of the screen. Use {{k|e}} to edit each order assigning the remaining dwarves however you would like to each position.
-#This can be copied to each month by {{k|c}}opy and {{k|p}}asting over each month. Set them to go for the first 6 months of the year.
-==Working with multiple squads==
-#Try and create a second squad, and assign them the same rough pattern of training as the first. Copy and paste for the last 6 months of the year.
-#For the months that are still set to the default of Train, highlight each and press {{k|x}}. Now you can give your military some much needed R&R.
-#You can use the {{k|u}} key to change whether they stay in uniform or put their civilian clothes back on while inactive.

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