Up till now, I have been cherry-picking candidates for the military. I select for character traits which ideally include: respect for authority and tradition, a sense of duty, organised and angry. I think now is the time for a revolution of military planning at Machinebowed. A military credo worthy of the name Machinebowed.
Established 13 years, it is time for the fortress to aspire to a mighty meta-project to this end.
I mean to set up a military machine. Like the Spartans, all dorfs wil be cross-trained for the military. Males will be melee infantry, females will be sporting the latest in crossbow chic and playing nursey. The two melee squads I have so far picked, for the traits listed above, will become the vanguard of a weaponised Citizen Army. The brook will run with blood.
The population will reside in mostly above ground 'pods', each centered around an industry, alongside living quarters, military training areas and fine dining. All public zones will be blinged out. There will be waterfalls.
Pod One will be Metalsmithing & Trade, Two will house Agriculture & Catering. Three will be the Forgotten Beast Haberdashery & Medical Institute. Four will be the University of War, and so on.
The University will be a burrows complex for children and peasants. The present child population is about 100, so they will be split into same sex groups of eleven, each eleven having its own burrow or separate podlet. These groups will hopefully build strong social bonds as they will eventually make up future squads. The least worthy dorf from each group will be executed assigned to the punishment battalion on graduation day.
Linked by subterranean minetracks, the pods will occupy key locations on the surface to allow timely deployments of armed formations to meet invasions. The basic Epic Battle strategy will be as follows:
The Enemy will be lured by surplus animals, hopefully expending precious ammunition. They will then be ambushed by Napoleonic-style punishment battalion(s), causing them to become engaged in the not easily escaped central 'killing zone' of the map, Finding themselves suddenly under withering missile fire supplied by flanking archers, the final onslaught will be led by the heavily-armoured vanguard. Less able armoured infantry will provide security for the archers and mop up any cowardly retreaters.
Hopefully, if the tide of war remains fairly static, surviving casualties will drop near their pod, and thus be hospitalised with their pod-buds. Once the living are cleared, the whole are will be cleansed by magma. Fallen dorfs will be memorialised by slab, along with their personal weapon, in the memorial statue.
I see the positives as these:
Dorfs with stronger social ties having happier thoughts due to constant presence of squad-mates.
Above ground accommodation hardens them to sunlight.
Even distributions of skills in the event of mortalities.
Less surplus animals.
Greater turnover of citizens.
No need to have separate cemeteries for civvy and military dead - they will all have died in glorious battle.
Fielding a 150 plus dorf army at the drop of a hat.
Building will progress quickly, but planning is everything. If anyone could suggest obvious flaws tweaks to my masterplan I would be grateful.