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[captain538]

I've got a pretty thriving fortress going on right now, 195 strong. I'm not sure if something went wrong when I started the fortress or what, but throughout its ENTIRE history, we've only had a single miner. Now, I got by fine like this. It wasn't until I did some serious exploratory mining that I got concerned; he was mutilated and killed by a Draltha in the caverns. I'm just wondering HOW, out of 188 immigrants, there was not a SINGLE dwarf with even a tad bit of mining skill? Am I doing something wrong? In previous fortresses, I recall having at least a few miners migrate in. Can I train random peasants to become miners? I just got a wave of like twenty immigrants and they need room to sleep, not to mention the eventual arrival of the monarchy. I NEED A MINER!

[ShinWalks]

Well, like most jobs in DF, anyone can do it if you turn the labor on. Give any dwarf the mining labor and he/she will pick up a pick and go to work.

The skills that migrants come with are randomized, so you never know what you're going to get/not get.

[Fredd]

Set the fledgling miner to digging in soil for faster experience.
Your problem is odd, though. It seemed to start with all the latest skills added. I guess its the luck of the draw now. Think added skills moved up 8 more

[Lytha]

Can I train random peasants to become miners?

Yes.

Forge a pick, select a random dwarf and enable the mining labour on him. Do this either with Dwarf Therapist (very recommended), or by "v"iewing the dwarf, looking at his preferences and labours or something, and then selecting "mining" from a long list.

Beware: if this new miner also has stuff like "gather plants" or especially "fishing" enabled as a job, then he will rather do these activities than do the mining.

And another, less important caveat: This new guy will be a noob at first. Don't let him anywhere near your precious metal veins, gem clusters or small pockets of flux stone. Let him dig somewhere else first, and you'll be surprised as of how quickly he turns into a legendary miner who floods your fortress with more lose rock clutter where ever he works.


Newcomers often think that dwarves can only do the jobs that they had enabled when they arrived, hence the hate for peasants and soapmaker dwarves. They are wrong.

[Chocolatemilkgod]

Get dwarf therapist. It helps visualize all the dwarves jobs and makes changing them en masse a lot easier.

[Qwernt]

And if you don't mind danger rooming, after digging a bit of soil, kit the newbie up in military garb, but make his weapon a pick and then drop him in the danger room.  Blocking spears with a pick is just as good as swinging them at rocks for mining.

[gtmattz]

And if you don't mind danger rooming, after digging a bit of soil, kit the newbie up in military garb, but make his weapon a pick and then drop him in the danger room.  Blocking spears with a pick is just as good as swinging them at rocks for mining.

Have you actually tried this?  Last time I checked miners were bugged in that one could assign all the gear they want on the military screen, but the miner would never actually put it on due to a hard-coded uniform related to the mining profession, which would make the miners time in the danger room quite short and messy...

[Quietust]

And if you don't mind danger rooming, after digging a bit of soil, kit the newbie up in military garb, but make his weapon a pick and then drop him in the danger room.  Blocking spears with a pick is just as good as swinging them at rocks for mining.

Have you actually tried this?  Last time I checked miners were bugged in that one could assign all the gear they want on the military screen, but the miner would never actually put it on due to a hard-coded uniform related to the mining profession, which would make the miners time in the danger room quite short and messy...

You don't actually enable Mining on him, though - you assign him a pick (and armor) as part of his military uniform, since combat with a pick uses the Mining skill.

[gtmattz]

And if you don't mind danger rooming, after digging a bit of soil, kit the newbie up in military garb, but make his weapon a pick and then drop him in the danger room.  Blocking spears with a pick is just as good as swinging them at rocks for mining.

Have you actually tried this?  Last time I checked miners were bugged in that one could assign all the gear they want on the military screen, but the miner would never actually put it on due to a hard-coded uniform related to the mining profession, which would make the miners time in the danger room quite short and messy...

You don't actually enable Mining on him, though - you assign him a pick (and armor) as part of his military uniform, since combat with a pick uses the Mining skill.

I see...

I just went and did a test real quick to see what actually happens now, and the miner did go put on all the armor and stuff, but he would not use his 'mining' pick, instead I had to assign him a new pick, and when deactivated, even if I set him to keep his armor on while not active, he dropped all his armor and his 'fighting' pick, and went and grabbed his old copper mining pick and went off and did some mining.  So I guess it would work to have miners in the militia, but they will have to go change clothes every time they are activated.

[Psieye]

No, it means after the miner is legendary, he is retired from mining and sent to a life of military service while a new miner(s) takes over.

[evileeyore]

I see...

I just went and did a test real quick to see what actually happens now, and the miner did go put on all the armor and stuff, but he would not use his 'mining' pick, instead I had to assign him a new pick, and when deactivated, even if I set him to keep his armor on while not active, he dropped all his armor and his 'fighting' pick, and went and grabbed his old copper mining pick and went off and did some mining.  So I guess it would work to have miners in the militia, but they will have to go change clothes every time they are activated.

Yes, exactly.  Also you have to unassign the Mining skill when you activate them, but otherwise I do this with my Miners and Woodcutters (Woodcutters especially) in case they get into a situation while working, they'll have some Dodging and weapon skills.

[Reelyanoob]

I NEED A MINER!

Seriously miners train really really quick. I save some soil layers to train a new batch up as it doesn't waste anything or create rock to haul. You should bring 2 on embark, then draft a couple more from immigrants. Pick anyone with useless skills.

[bucket]

Migrants are fbxrd. You'll get ten Animal Dissectors, Potash Makers and Pressers each before you'll ever get a Miner.

[Maklak]

In my curent fort I use miners for combat. I embarked with one lvl 5 miner, and in my 6th year I have 7 legendary + 5 miners. I routinely assign migrants with no skill in mining to mine, and they learn quite quickly, especially in soil layer. I had more, but they died to accidents and goblins before I had good armor.

This way I loose some ore and gems, but I don't mind that much. I got some miner migrants, but their mining skill was low.

As for soldier aspect of things: miners are deadly, but need good protection, especially untill they learn dodge and shield use. My squad of 7 in funobtanium / steel armour, copper shields and steel picks plows through goblin sieges in no time. I don't even have to use traps, and normally I had to. When they hit legendary + 5 miners, I disable mining labor on them, and assign them to squad.