40d Talk:Military

AFAIK, drafting unhappiness is more precice - ANY military skills will mitigate the "draft" thought, and ANY civilian skills will prevent grumpiness about "being relieved." Don't have proof, though, and I can't check just ATM - can someone look at this?Thexor 20:53, 4 November 2007 (EST)

I checked a little. Dabbling skills are not enough, but novice military skills are sufficient to prevent unhappiness about being drafted, while novice civilian skills prevent angst when the dwarves are relived. Is it ok as long as they don't become peasants or recruits? --Mechturk 21:53, 4 November 2007 (EST)

Tests:

• Novice Jeweler
  • enlisted - unhappy
  • trained to Novice Marksdwarf
  • unenlist - did not complain
• Dabbling Butcher
  • enlisted - unhappy
  • trained to Novice Marksdwarf
  • unenlist - unhappy

Will update again when dwarfs are no longer unhappy. Also, it seems to me that marksdwarves need to be stationed near the barracks to practice when they are standing down - can anyone confirm this? --Mechturk 21:53, 4 November 2007 (EST)

I can also add results to the tests above:

• Novice Marksdwarf / Novice Butcher
  • enlisted - No unhappy thought
  • unenlisted - No unhappy thought
• Novice Butcher only
  • enlisted - unhappy
  • unenlisted - no unhappy thought
• Novice Axedwarf / Dabbling Planter
  • enlisted - No unhappy thought
  • unenlisted - unhappy.

Dwarves don't need to be stationed near the barracks for sparring practice when off-duty, mine (Axedwarves and Marksdwarves) are stationed almost 5 full screens away. Matryx 03:59, 5 November 2007 (EST)

Injuries while sparring

It IS still possible to get grievous injuries while sparring. I currently have two guards resting with injuries, one maimed and one with a broken limb. Mitigating circumstances? Near-masterwork steel battleaxes and no armor. On the other hand, none of them are Strong or anything (or Tough, for that matter). Also I just checked and I have a Wrestler with a left lung and upper spine maimed too, couldn't be from anything else but sparring with the over-equipped guards, and he was wearing iron chainmail AND was Agile, Tough. I'd make the change myself but I'm too clueless about wikis and don't want to break some law of etiquette.

I wrote the paragraph before, I shall amend if with your new information --Matryx 09:19, 5 November 2007 (EST)

Interestingly, I've had no major injuries with wrestler sparring in 3 years. A couple bruises, nothing more. Only thing I can see different is that I have a massive barracks, with 3 rooms and inner doors. When they 'spar' next to each other, there can be some minor bruising, but they gain skill when they aren't next to each other. They do have iron bucklers and full steel chainmail which helps, but my barracks doesn't even have blood on the floor 95% of the time. Perhaps larger barracks are the way to go, or was I just lucky? --Gotthard 12:03, 10 December 2007 (EST)

I've had many announcements of guards/soldiers suffocating to death due to sparring with a wrestler. --Esoterrik 6:27, 4/10/08

Discarded equipment

I have noticed that if I have civilians wandering around who get interrupted by wild critters, if I draft them they are fairly inclined to dump whatever they are carrying and then follow orders. If their preferences are set to have certain millitary equipment then they will disregard whatever other orders I set to go off and try to make their inventory match their orders.

I don't really have a problem with any of that. What I do have a problem with, is when I de-list/de-Activate them, they dump their millitary items wherever they happen to be. So it means I should really only deactivate millitary types when they are close to a weapon & armour stockpile I guess? Any other opinion/advice/observations on this issue?GarrieIrons 04:55, 13 February 2008 (EST)

War

A goblin just snatched one of the babies out of my fortress.... Any way to take the war to these b@$+@rds? - Holyfool 09:22, 23 March 2008 (EST)

Not yet... that's the Army Arc, which Toady is working on right now. --Savok 10:31, 23 March 2008 (EDT)

Dual wield?

(note: this is not dual wielding, this is the dwarf carrying a backup weapon slung across their back in case the first weapon becomes stuck in a combatant) why then does my dwarf carry a short silver sword in each hand? Twiggie 12:00, 16 April 2008 (EDT)

My dwarves set to carry 2 weapons also drop their sheild. This does not necessarily mean that they are dual wielding, but it is a negative to them carrying 2 weapons. --Esoterrik1 16:27, 5 May 2008 (EDT)

Cross-training/Reserves Program

I think it's kind of sad that we don't have a section in this part of the wiki about cross-training or making a reserves program where you use civilian levelups to get stat increases for your military dwarves. It not only makes for better armies, it staves off unhappiness if you ever need to relieve some dwarves of duty. These little tips are spread throughout the wiki in weird places, and I think they really ought to be consolidated here. Going spit out a first draft of something like that in this spot so it can be discussed and edited before being added or put in its own page.

Please use this space (and not some spot inside the article) to discuss and note your changes.
--ThunderClaw 14:38, 18 September 2008 (EDT)

Cross-training (starting a Reserves program)

Cross-training your military dwarf candidates in civilian disciplines has multiple benefits. Firstly, and most importantly, it gives you a scad of extra stat increases. Toughness, especially, is extremely important for military dwarves, who are in the business of getting hit and hurt. Secondly, it provides a ready pool of recruits in case your military takes a beating at one point or another. Thirdly, it ensures that your dwarves have some domestic skills so they will not receive Unhappy Thoughts from being dismissed from the military in the event you need to downsize. Finally, most Reserves programs provide chronic idlers with some work to do, which can be essential for unskilled workers like Peasants to break out of their poverty (and therefore, unhappiness) cycle once the Dwarven Economy kicks in. There is nothing saying you have to use only one of these ideas; they are all various approaches to solving this problem.

The biggest thing to remember with a reserves program is that if you're going to go, you go all the way. Don't institute something 'just for a little while' and come up with a handful of Novice reservists; they will not get significant stat increases and you'll only waste time. Time is not something you have a heck of a lot of in a reserves program, typically. Remember that after you draft them, most dwarves are going to need about a year of sparring training before they're ready for heavy combat. You might not have that much time if you are getting sieged regularly.

Artillery Proving Ground (Siege operator)

Mass-produce some catapults, line them up near a quarry, and fire away. Works well to dispose of stone from a gulag (see below).
Pros: Trains a skill that's reasonably useful, and provides a place to put all the sub-par siege engine components your Siege engineer will doubtlessly create if you're going for superior-quality engines. Harasses the wildlife, which is always fun.
Cons: Very slow to train (2+ years for legendary). Fairly space-consuming to set up a well-designed and usable proving ground. Can be dangerous depending on the biome (especially when elephants are present. If they get winged by a stray boulder, you can bet they're going to be coming straight at you).

Internship (Bookkeeper)

Turn on Highest precision bookkeeping and rotate the appointed noble in and out the second he becomes a Legendary Bookkeeper.
Pros: Requires no extra infrastructure at all. You need a Bookkeeper anyway! Totally safe; a Bookkeeper spends basically all his discretionary time snug in his office. Trains outrageously fast; if the office is very close to food, beds, and drink, a Bookkeeper can be Legendary or close to it in a mere season.
Cons: Only employs one dwarf at a time; not useful when you have 15-25 candidates for the Reserves. No announcement when the current intern reaches Legendary status means you can lose time on rotation easily.

Gulag (Miner)

The Gulag is basically a strip mine that is located far away from your main fortress (so you don't have to worry about accidentally screwing up your own building plans). Take a big square and start levelling it; it's really no more complicated than that. Since picks can actually be used as weapons, it's worthwhile to give the reservists who will be working in the gulag picks made out of iron, or, if you are really living large, steel. Note that you will have to turn your usual mining corp (the civilian miners who are already experienced with mining) off for this setup to work properly.
Pros: Soldiers enter the military with an emergency weapon in their hand already; this can be critical in the case of Speardwarves, who have a habit of losing their weapons in an enemy, or Marksdwarves, who are forced to use the Hammerdwarf skill in melee, which they may not even have. Toting a pick for close-quarters support might make a Legendary Bowyer more useful, since the pathetic bludgeon damage of his wood and bone crossbows are less important. Can be quite useful for producing stones you might not have access to normally, or uncovering veins of precious metals. Levels quite fast in sand. Relatively little oversight from you. An overland hike to the gulag will fight cave adaptation in your military candidates.
Cons: Juggling your real miners and your reservists when there's real work to be done on the fort can be a chore. Hard to keep Dwarves in the gulag for too long; they'll inevitably get hungry, thirsty, and tired and start hiking back to the fortress proper. Can be dangerous, depending on the biome. Does require some amount of oversight from you, especially when your reservists start getting better at mining and run out of work more quickly.

Gym (Pump operator)

The Gym is the most basic sort of reserves program; it merely consists of building a bunch of screw pumps connected to nothing in a room that's close to food, beds, and drink. After the pumps are built, order them to be pumped manually, then turn on Pump Operating for your reservists.
Pros: Easy to set up; 4 pumps in the gym will keep at least 8-10 reservists busy around the clock. Extra pumps can be added to expand operations really easily. Requires no continuous oversight on your part. Fast training; Legendary in under a year (if other responsibilities like hauling are minimized). Very safe; gyms can be placed anywhere in the comfort of your fortress with no issues.
Cons: Tons of cancel job spam. Every time a reservist exhausts himself and goes to satisfy his basic needs, you'll see "<dwarf> cancels Operate Pump: Exhausted." If you have any pumps around that actually DO need to be operated every so often (refilling your well, for example), it could be a serious pain to juggle the useless gym pumps and the ones that are actually useful.

Sweatshop (Mason)

Make one or more Mason's Workshops in an area with a bunch of junk stone you don't care about, or that you're actively looking to clear. Change the workshop settings to allow only your reservists to use it, then tell the workshop to churn out crafts and trade goods that you can trade en-masse. Alternatively, forbid your reservists from working in your real mason's workshops, order lots of stone constructions built, and pray that your real masons stay too occupied with the workshops to intrude. Works well in conjunction with a gulag. Alternate ideas for Sweatshops include a Mechanic's Workshop or a Magma glass furnace to train Mechanic and Glassmaker respectively. Note: Do NOT try this with the Carpenter skill, or any other resource you don't have in near-limitless abundance. Sweatshops will consume huge amounts of their associated resources, and if you run out mid-way you have probably wasted your time. This includes coke or charcoal used in the normal (non-Magma) Glass furnace.
Pros: Quantitatively turns a profit. The inferior trade goods can be dumped on the next caravan for more useful commodities like bags, seeds, and logs. Logs are especially useful, since you'll inevitably stamp out lots of bins to support the trade good output. Unlike many other training programs, Sweatshops train a skill that is very useful.
Cons: Slow to level. Hard to keep the reservists on task, since they'll need to do plenty of hauling to keep their workshop from becoming chokingly cluttered. Can be a logisitical nightmare; making bins and organizing hauling for the finished goods can be insane if you're working from a gulag. Can be dangerous depending on the biome.