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Difference between revisions of "Fortress guard"

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The '''fortress guard''' is the military [[squad]] in charge of delivering [[justice]] within a fort. Headed by the [[captain of the guard]], the fortress guard is otherwise completely identical to a standard military squad, and can be treated as such. However, since the fortress guard is the one to deliver beating (the second level of justice), it is a wise idea to keep your fortress guard incapable of too badly hurting an innocent dwarf whose only crime was carrying a good to the trading post that was forbidden for exports after the caravan had already left the fortress.
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The '''fortress guard''' is the military [[squad]] in charge of [[justice]] within a fort, along with the [[hammerer]].
  
There are generally two ways to treat the fortress guard. The first is select a small number of unusually weak soldiers, give them crappy weaponry, not train them, and let them push around dwarves as they can, since they will be unable to deliver severe beatings - basically, you want the exact opposite of a proper military candidate. It's important to get the guards equipped, however, as unarmed dwarves will fall to choking and often strangling the poor criminals to death. You can also use [[training weapon]]s to make them less threatening. The problem with this approach is that it makes your fortress guard an extremely crippled unit that would collapse when faced with a single [[ambush]].
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== Fortress mode ==
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Headed by the [[captain of the guard]], the fortress guard is otherwise completely identical to a standard military squad, and can be treated as such. The fortress guard, once available, is always listed as the first squadron in your list of military units (including when you haven't got any guards - then it'll be either an empty squad or a not-created squad with no shown positions at all). It can be equipped like any other unit, given a schedule and assigned to barracks for training.  
  
The second way is to make the fortress guard a marksdwarf squad, avoid [[cross-training]] them in the hammerdwarf [[combat skill]], and equip them with extremely light [[crossbow]]s. Fortress guards will never shoot criminals, instead bashing them with the crossbow; a ☼Feather Tree Crossbow☼ will not do much damage to a clothed dwarf in melee, and goes a long way towards mitigating beatings. This works well if you have a skilled [[bowyer]], as high-quality [[wood]] or [[bone]] crossbows will pincushion enemies with [[bolt]]s just as fine as metal ones - just avoid melee combat! The best such crossbows are made of [[feather tree]]s and [[adamantine]] (although you probably have better things to spend adamantine on).
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As the agents of dwarven justice, the fortress guard are responsible for dragging dwarves to [[jail]] and for the application of beatings, which typically are doled out when not enough chains and cages are available. Your fortress guard can therefore easily end up badly hurting an innocent dwarf whose only crime was carrying a good to the trading post that was forbidden for exports after the caravan had already left the fortress.
  
The [[captain of the guard]] is always assigned as the leader of the first squadron in the list of squadrons, which means that the fortress guard is always the first squadron.  So if you want your fortress guard to be a weak unit be sure to reserve the first position for them and create your fighting squadrons using the second and subsequent positions.
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To prevent excessive harm from the justice system, you should make sure there's enough holding space in your jails so that jail sentences aren't "downgraded" to beatings. In addition, you could select unusually weak soldiers and never assign them a [[barracks]] to train in. This should keep them too weak and clumsy to pulp a dwarven head with a single punch, even if a beating ''is'' ordered after all. Their equipment should not matter: fortress guards who deliver a beating will unwield any weapon they might have in their hand. There have been no substantiated reports of beatings performed with weapons since DF 0.34.11, but you might want to ''not'' give your fortress guard steel battleaxes, just to be on the safe side.  
  
==See Also:==
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Alternatively, you can simply not create a fortress guard, and deal with possible crimes without falling back on dwarven justice. An existing guard can be dissolved, disabling the justice system again.
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== Adventure mode ==
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Adventurers can start as a member of the fortress guard when starting at a dwarven fortress, though only "[[Adventurer_mode#Destiny|ordinary]]" adventurers can start at those. Any adventure may also be able to join in game, given  enough reputation and (possibly) an empty guard position. This is the dwarven equivalent of a [[hearthperson]], see that page for details.
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==See also==
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*[[Captain of the guard]]
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*[[Hammerer]]
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*[[Hearthperson]]
 
*[[Justice]]
 
*[[Justice]]
 
*[[Military]]
 
*[[Military]]
*[[Captain of the guard]]
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{{Translation| dwarven = geshud duthnur | elvish = abeco ino | goblin = snusp totsnost | human = thrathdad ocgi}}
  
 
{{Category|Military}}
 
{{Category|Military}}
 
{{Category|Justice}}
 
{{Category|Justice}}
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[[ru:Fortress guard]]

Latest revision as of 21:30, 23 June 2025

This article is about the current version of DF.
Note that some content may still need to be updated.

The fortress guard is the military squad in charge of justice within a fort, along with the hammerer.

Fortress mode[edit]

Headed by the captain of the guard, the fortress guard is otherwise completely identical to a standard military squad, and can be treated as such. The fortress guard, once available, is always listed as the first squadron in your list of military units (including when you haven't got any guards - then it'll be either an empty squad or a not-created squad with no shown positions at all). It can be equipped like any other unit, given a schedule and assigned to barracks for training.

As the agents of dwarven justice, the fortress guard are responsible for dragging dwarves to jail and for the application of beatings, which typically are doled out when not enough chains and cages are available. Your fortress guard can therefore easily end up badly hurting an innocent dwarf whose only crime was carrying a good to the trading post that was forbidden for exports after the caravan had already left the fortress.

To prevent excessive harm from the justice system, you should make sure there's enough holding space in your jails so that jail sentences aren't "downgraded" to beatings. In addition, you could select unusually weak soldiers and never assign them a barracks to train in. This should keep them too weak and clumsy to pulp a dwarven head with a single punch, even if a beating is ordered after all. Their equipment should not matter: fortress guards who deliver a beating will unwield any weapon they might have in their hand. There have been no substantiated reports of beatings performed with weapons since DF 0.34.11, but you might want to not give your fortress guard steel battleaxes, just to be on the safe side.

Alternatively, you can simply not create a fortress guard, and deal with possible crimes without falling back on dwarven justice. An existing guard can be dissolved, disabling the justice system again.

Adventure mode[edit]

Adventurers can start as a member of the fortress guard when starting at a dwarven fortress, though only "ordinary" adventurers can start at those. Any adventure may also be able to join in game, given enough reputation and (possibly) an empty guard position. This is the dwarven equivalent of a hearthperson, see that page for details.

See also[edit]

"Fortress guard" in other Languages Story tell indicator.png
Dwarven: geshud duthnur
Elven: abeco ino
Goblin: snusp totsnost
Human: thrathdad ocgi