I'd like to make this post more about how to solve the problem than how the problem was brought up.
Being a very new player to this game (about a week into it) I've fiddled a bit with archery ranges, overlapping barracks etc, in a fort made in .08 and imported into .10. The military screen seems pretty buggy after the update, not showing dwarves equipped with weaponry and armor the all carry when checking their inventory, but this I blame mostly on me not being able to do the update properly.
From the announcement thread, there's a few suggested fixes, which are reported to work by some players.
Firstly:
I just got my Marksdwarves to train by using the overlapping method :].
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=57660.msg1266683#msg1266683
That method still works:
The save of this experimental fort (built solely to test this feature). Checklist to get this to work (not all of it may be needed, but this makes sure it works):
- Did you specifically disallow shields? Crossbows are 2h weapons and they can't shoot with a shield.
- Did you specifically assign the squad ammo and did you check it was assigned? Assigned ammo shows up in the ammunition section in the military screen.
- Did you switch on Training and Squad Equipment for all 4 buildings that define the overlapping barracks? Armour rack, weapon rack, coffer and archery target?
- Do you have quivers?
- Have you specificallly NOT stockpiled your ammo? Especially NOT binning them?
- Is your archery target orientated the right way?
- Do you have ample spares of crossbows and bolts in case you also have hunters that compete for those resources (unless you specifically assign them different material bolts)?
Second, there's a comment to that;
The save of this experimental fort (built solely to test this feature).
Wow, awesome. Thank you for uploading that. I tried to get archery practice to occur by following your checklist first, but it just wasn't working. My dwarves had the crossbows equipped, quivers equipped and full of bolts, etc. So then I looked at your save to see what you'd done differently from me.
I noted three things that were different: you had skill in Marksdwarf/Archery; you had explicit material bolts assigned to both hunters and the squad; and you had explicit crossbow assignments under equipment, rather than individual ranged.
The first thing I changed was to unassign all the barracks definitions (all four), then went into the military equipment screen and changed "ranged, individual choice" to "crossbow" as you had. I waited a few seconds of active game time, then went back in and verified that the crossbows had all been assigned correctly (green checkmarks). Then I remade the barracks, all at once (without hitting escape -- just moved the cursor to the next building). My archery target was set up off to the side, partially behind a stone wall. I made sure the barracks definition from the target overlapped the other three buildings.
And voila! The militia commander shows "Go to Archery Practice"!
It's also worth noting that even before examining your save, I was able to get them to fire their bolts at enemies when I gave kill orders. They just weren't very good shots, since they'd had no practice.
Now, I've made a new folder with a clean "install" of .10, made a folder "save" and put the region that was uploaded in the first post (
this one) and cheched out the setup.
I've noticed the dwarves seem to be trained in marksdwarfship from the embark, and is the initial skill a must-have to make the dwarves train archery?
Also, in the saved game, the dwarf named "Shorast" will never actually do archery training, even if I dig an identical tunnel with another target in it, so there's enough for both the marksdwarves.
I would like to point out that "Domas" is observed to be doing archery training at both targets, in case you thought it wasn't working properly.
Can anyone else get "Shorast" to do archery training? or is "Individual Combat Drill" archery practice too (he's not lined up with a target, or even inside a designated range)?
EDIT: I made the game run for a while, and while "Domas" has become a Talented ARcher/Marksdwarf, "Shorast" is only improving his dodging skill. Also, even though "Domas" has leather handwear equipped, it's not displayed in the military screen when I check equipment.