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)

Nobody is commenting on it so I'm assuming people are fine with it. Adding this into the article. --ThunderClaw 12:31, 22 September 2008 (EDT)

"Internship (Bookkeeper) - Turn on Highest precision bookkeeping and rotate the appointed noble in and out the second he becomes a Legendary Bookkeeper." Can this go wrong if I don't switch the dwarf out before attaining highest precision? I have a legendary bookkeeper who attained highest precision, and now no other dwarf will take on bookkeeping jobs, despite being appointed to the job and having the office requirements met. The settings screen always reads: "Your bookkeeper has done enough work to attain the highest precision" (DF version 40d). Edenicholas 01:49, 2 October 2008 (EDT)

Basically, the bookkeeper only has work if the stores change significantly enough for the precision. Unfortunately, this is not always under your direct control. *wrinkles nose* If you read through the Bookkeeper article and the associated talk pages, apparently at some point highest precision meant they worked on it frequently no matter what, but I agree that in 40d, this doesn't always seem to hold true. Ensure that you have enough stores to require frequent counting (it's what, a thousand items at least before the gain or loss of 10 or so puts you out of spec?). That's the closest I can find to actual advice for you. -Fuzzy 07:56, 2 October 2008 (EDT)

Yeah, starting fairly recently the Bookkeeper will only do the extra work when it's needed. You can ensure that it is always needed by keeping a Gulag active (thus producing scads of stone), and keeping Mason shops active by requisitioning lots of Blocks. Also make sure to buy plenty from the caravans -- a full shipment of logs will wreak havoc on the stockpile books (lots of logs in, lots of crafts out). Still, though, it might be a good idea to make a gym and set your clerk to Pump Operation on top if it. You may end up with a Legendary Pump Operator/Adept Bookkeeper, but even by that point Bookkeeping has given the dwarf a few nice stat upgrades, and the lucky intern is now an ideal candidate for the military. --ThunderClaw 10:05, 2 October 2008 (EDT)

While I don't know if it's optimized, I used to set my Bookkeeper up as one of the fortress's hunters. Between the bookkeeping operations, he was out getting archery practice on the local wildlife. And with the legendary stat increases, he was fully capable of bashing foes through the air with his crossbow alone when he ran out of bolts. He never has increased very far on his Ambusher skill though... -Fuzzy 12:19, 2 October 2008 (EDT)

The article seems to be getting a bit long in the tooth. Perhaps split "Reserves program" and "Army engineers" into a different article? --Juckto 03:35, 18 October 2008 (EDT)

Agreed. The "cross-training" advice is good for any dwarf you want to beef up (which should be all of them, not just your military). The Corps of Engineers is an excessively elaborate way of saying you want one or more high-skill mason/building designers and mechanics in your fort.--Maximus 10:36, 18 October 2008 (EDT)

smoothing near river?

1. Careless designation of smoothing areas may have your dwarves trying to smooth walls too close to magma or a river.

Why is this bad? the article on smoothing doesn't say. Random832 13:59, 14 October 2008 (EDT)

I'd imagine it's because dwarfs aren't very smart and may either incite the local fauna, or fall in. HeWhoIsPale 15:03, 14 October 2008 (EDT)

Maybe they try to smooth the "wet" side, which would probably result in a cancellation message.--Maximus 10:38, 18 October 2008 (EDT)