Editing v0.34:Squad

{{quality|Exceptional|23:27, 3 May 2012 (UTC)}}{{av}}{{Buggy}}

A '''squad''' is a group of [[military]] dwarves who share the same [[scheduling|schedule]] and active military orders. Squads are a fundamental part of your fortress' military — they are the units who carry out all the orders you give them. Your ability to manage these iron-blooded dwarves could spell the difference between a healthy fort's life and death.

==Forming Squads==

Before you can do anything with your military you may want to go into the [[noble]]s screen ({{k|n}}) and designate a '''[[militia commander]]'''. Your fortress can only have one militia commander, who acts as the commander-in-chief of all squads. The militia commander also serves as the leader of your first squad.

When you have designated a commander or captain, going to the military screen will show that dwarf under the "Squads/Leaders" heading and you'll notice an option to create a new squad. You can also create a new squad before you designate your militia commander; the first dwarf you choose will automatically be assigned that position.

When you create a squad, you will be asked what uniform to give them. The game creates three uniforms by default; if you aren't sure what to use, or if you want to customize their uniform, choose ''No uniform''.  (See [[#Equipping Soldiers|Equipping Soldiers]], below, for details.)

In the military screen, press {{k|n}} to open the '''uniforms''' tab. Each listing under the 'Uniforms' header is essentially a pre-designed set of equipment that you can quickly apply to any individual soldier or entire squad, much like a template. You can create new uniforms if you want, and add or remove items from any uniform (even the standard ones). Uniforms are only ''created'' or ''modified'' in this tab, not applied.

While still in the military screen, press {{k|e}} to open the '''equipment''' tab. The default sub-tab, {{k|V}}iew/Customize, will be open.  We'll come back to that in a moment. To apply one of your uniform templates, press {{k|U}} to open the Assign Uniforms sub-tab. Make sure the squad you want is highlighted under Squads/Leaders and then move the selector to the Position Uniform header. Pressing {{k|enter}} will apply the selected uniform to the individual dwarf of your choosing, and {{k|shift}}+{{k|enter}} will apply the selected uniform to the entire squad. If you edit a uniform after this, you will need to reapply the uniform for the dwarves to recognize the changes.

In the {{k|V}}iew/Customize sub-tab, you can select individual dwarves (technically squad positions) and apply individual pieces of equipment to them - {{k|A}}rmor, {{k|L}}eggings, {{k|H}}elms, {{k|G}}loves, {{k|B}}oots, {{k|S}}hields, and {{k|W}}eapons.  You can also specify {{k|M}}aterial and {{k|C}}olor depending on the piece of equipment highlighted. Finally, there are two settings that can be toggled for each dwarf: ''Ove{{k|r}} clothing'' and ''Partial {{k|m}}atches''.  These are both on (highlighted) by default.  ''Over clothing'' means the dwarf will do his best to wear his uniform in addition to his civilian [[clothing]]; if toggled, it becomes ''Replace clothing'', and the dwarf will strip naked before donning his military gear. ''Partial matches'' means that if a dwarf cannot satisfy an equipment assignment, he'll substitute something close; if toggled to ''Exact matches'', he'll go without rather than making do with a substitute.

To select a specific piece of equipment (such as an artifact), select 'specific _____' under that equipment type (e.g. 'specific armor' in the Armor field); for your convenience, highest-quality equipment is listed first.

You have the option to wear equipment over clothing or to replace clothing using the {{k|r}} key on the equipment screen. Wearing armor over clothing can cause problems as some civilian clothing (caps, gloves, and shoes) will conflict with their military counterparts (helms, gauntlets, and boots). Even though the '''equipment''' tab will show that these items have been assigned to a solider they will not actually wear them.  To avoid this use the ''Replace clothing'' option.  As armor counts as clothing, dwarves will not get bad thoughts if only wearing armor.

If you want them to train at an [[archery target]], you may want to assign lower-quality [[wood]] or [[bone]] bolts for training use. While this prevents your dwarves from wasting high-quality bolts, it can cause problems when training or combat bolts become "stuck" in inventory{{bug|4530}}. By default, both training and combat use are allowed for all assigned ammunition; use {{k|C}} and {{k|T}} to toggle these settings. If the letter is present next to the ammunition the use is turned on.

Soldiers who have more than one item to put on will not use distance to determine which of the remaining items will be equipped next. Therefore it is best to keep all dwarf-usable equipment within a small area, ideally near your [[barracks]].

Dwarves do not share weapons and armor even if in the same squad and even if the equipment is currently unused by another squadmate who is off duty. This means, for example, that you cannot have one set of armor for a squad of four dwarves who share guard duty one at a time. When one dwarf is relieved from duty, he may take off his armor (if set to wear civilian clothes) but the new dwarf going on duty will not then pick it up and wear it. Each dwarf in a squad needs his own uniform.

Let's suppose you started with the ''Leather armor '' uniform and then smithed some metal armor, and now you want to change your squads to the metal armor. From the military screen {{k|m}}, access the '''equipment''' view {{k|e}}. Then open the uniforms sub-view {{k|U}} which will show the standard Leather, Metal, and Archer uniforms on the right (if you haven't deleted them). To change a full squad, select the squad on the left, then select the uniform (metal) on the right, and hit {{k|shift}}-{{k|enter}} (if you only hit {{k|enter}} it will only apply the change to the lone selected squad member). Just hope you have enough metal armor and that Urist goes and picks it up!

Dwarves will not always pick up their military equipment immediately.  An off-duty dwarf will sometimes prefer to perform one of his civilian jobs rather than putting on armor.  Giving squads an [[#Orders|order]] will put them on duty and force them to gather their equipment with a bit more hustle.

One peculiarity for equipping [[bone]] and [[shell]] armor is that, for the purposes of the '''equipment''' and '''uniforms''' tabs, bone and shell are white.  Further, they are not explicitly listed in the {{k|M}}aterial of the {{k|V}}iew/Customize sub-tab.  A workaround for this problem is that bone and shell are the only materials that are white colored and can be used to make armor by default.  So, to add bone or shell armor items to a preset uniform template, you need to add a specific type of armor (a helm, for instance) with the modifiers of {{k|C}}olour "white (dye)" (thus, a "white helm").  This workaround is ONLY effective if you also have no unique artifact armor made out of a white metal (such as an Aluminum Breastplate, Platinum Helm, or Silver Low Boot).  It also requires that the armor template be for "Exact matches" (not "Partial matches") using the {{k|m}} in the Uniforms tab.

 

 

 

Getting your military to actually ''do'' something is the second step.  Squads receive '''passive orders''' through [[scheduling]], and you can give '''direct orders''' to '''attack''' one or more specific targets or to '''move''' to a specific location at will through the {{k|s}}quads menu.

 

Passive orders are programming that a squad will follow in the absence of direct orders.  Passive orders are typically used for training and defense, while direct orders are used for taking the fight to the enemy. The ''squads'' menu is predominantly used for direct orders, and the ''Alerts'' and ''Schedule'' tabs of the ''military'' menu are used for passive orders. This article will focus on active commands; for more information on passive orders, see [[scheduling]].

 

A squad that is following a direct command is free to go wherever it is ordered to go, unhindered by any [[burrow]] restrictions.

When needed, soldiers can be sent to do specific tasks to <strike>satiate the blood god</strike> defend your fortress. Once these orders have been canceled, your dwarves will return to their passive orders (if on duty), or their civilian lives (if off duty). Note, however, that your dwarves may continue to move towards their prior objective and mill about for some time afterwards. For this reason (and because canceling orders causes your dwarves to immediately drop any [[wear|worn-out]] clothing) it is best to order your dwarves back to a safe area '''before''' canceling their orders.

In the {{k|s}}quad menu, you can press {{k|a}}/{{k|b}}/{{k|c}}/etc to select the squad that will execute an order, or hold {{k|shift}} to select multiple at once. You may press {{k|p}} if you want to toggle between having an individual dwarf or the squad perform the order.

 

There are two types of active orders that can be given to your dwarves: a move order or an attack order.

 

From the {{k|s}}quad menu, a '''move order''' (also known as a ''Station'' order) is issued by selecting a squad, pressing {{k|m}}, choosing an area, and pressing {{k|enter}}.

 

Each dwarf in the squad will select a random (reachable) point within 3 tiles of the spot you specify, and will move directly to that point.  He will stand there until you cancel the order, or until he is overcome by [[hunger]], [[thirst]], or [[exhaustion]].

 

On-duty soldiers will pursue and attack any hostile targets they see, either en route to their station point, or after arriving. Hostile targets may include certain wild animals that are deemed dangerous.  If the dwarf loses sight of the enemy, he will return to his chosen station point.

The '''attack order''', sometimes referenced to as the '''kill command''', instructs your squad to pursue and attack one or more specific targets. It is a very unsubtle way of beating into your dwarves' booze-addled minds that they are to kill your target or be killed in the attempt. A kill order can be used to chase a kobold thief or goblin snatcher who is running away with your precious loot, or it may very well be your last command to your dwarves if things are getting desperate.

 

 

Each dwarf in the squad will attempt to move toward the target until he is within striking distance.  Ranged attackers will not do anything clever like climbing up to the top of your archery tower.  If you want them to fire from a specific position, use a move order instead.

This order will remain after the intended victim is killed (fixed in some of 34.* - in 34.11 they will cancel order when target is terminated), leaving your squad standing over the corpse of their slain enemy waiting for new orders. Similar behavior will emerge if the intended target is caught in a [[trap|cage trap]]; when the caged target is hauled to the animal stockpile, the dwarves given the orders to kill it will follow the cage as it is hauled and wait around it once it is stockpiled until the kill order is canceled.

Dwarves go about this with a little more vigor than required and will also attack any other creatures nearby. As a result it is very difficult to attack members of an enemy group with any sort of precision, and if your dwarves cannot take down their target there is no real way to get them out of combat; it's do-or-die. It is unknown whether this is a bug or a feature {{version|0.34.07}}.

From the squad menu you can cycle through any alerts you have defined quite quickly by pressing {{k|t}}. This will set the order schedule for the entire squad even if you only have a single dwarf selected.  

To edit an existing order schedule or create a new one you need to visit the military schedule screen. This can be done directly from the squad menu by pressing {{k|s}} or alternatively you can back out of the squad menu and use {{k|m}}-{{k|s}} to get to the schedule page from the military screen. The details of setting up an order schedule are described on the [[scheduling]] page.

==Bugs==

* Dwarves handle equipment conflicts poorly, often resulting in an ill-equipped military.{{bug|535}}

* Military dwarves may constantly perform "pickup equipment" jobs {{Bug|2687}}

* Military equipment interferes with civilian equipment (picks/axes/crossbows/quivers).{{bug|1451}}

* Training or Combat bolts become stuck in inventory, preventing acquisition of combat or training bolts respectively.{{bug|4530}}

* "Long Patrol" negative [[thought]]s seem to escalate, even with long break.{{bug|3190}}