Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Urist McManiac]

Hi folks,

as we all know it's possible to use a miner's pick as a weapon. Although a pick isn't a really efficient weapon, it gains a damage bonus from the wielder's mining skill. As my miners are usually the first dwarfs to become legendary, I'm asking myself if having a squad of legendary miners would make sense. Does the miner's skill level compensate for the weapon's lack of damage?

Also, Happy New Years Eve to all of you.

[Pranz]

i can be quite effective yes, if you have good picks. But good miners are usually a scarcity and you would want them alive

And happy new year to you, and the forum

[SirAaronIII]

Picks are actually pretty good weapons, ripping deep into flesh and organs and easily removing hands and feet. Maybe even a leg or arm if you're lucky.

[Spish]

Legendary miners will wipe the floor with pretty much anyone who gets in their way. I had one emergency-drafted into the miltia and he single-handedly ended a siege after killing 4 goblins and their leader (but not without dying himself, because miners can't dodge for jack).

[Ultimuh]

Heheh... meat miners.. 

Gives a new meaning to "Meat Shield". 

[Sphalerite]

Just be very careful to never have a dwarf be both in the military and have the 'mining' job enabled at the same time.  Miners (and hunters, and woodcutters) have a hidden uniform setting which causes them to carry the tool they need for their job.  This conflicts with the military uniform.  If a dwarf is in the military and has mining (or woodcutting, or hunting) labor enabled, then every time the dwarf goes on or off duty he will drop everything he's wearing or carrying and then go to pick up the gear for the new job.  If you have the dwarf set to carry food while on duty, this will result in unusable claimed food items lying around everywhere rotting.

[Loud Whispers]

Just be very careful to never have a dwarf be both in the military and have the 'mining' job enabled at the same time.  Miners (and hunters, and woodcutters) have a hidden uniform setting which causes them to carry the tool they need for their job.  This conflicts with the military uniform.  If a dwarf is in the military and has mining (or woodcutting, or hunting) labor enabled, then every time the dwarf goes on or off duty he will drop everything he's wearing or carrying and then go to pick up the gear for the new job.  If you have the dwarf set to carry food while on duty, this will result in unusable claimed food items lying around everywhere rotting.

There's a work around where you just select under specific weapon, the weapon the Dorf uses to labour.

[Keldane]

There was a thread elsewhere in this section - not within the first 45 pages, though, I checked - on how to get miners and woodcutters to function both in the military and in civilian life. It seems to me one of the keys was to disable the skill in question, specifically assign a pick or axe as appropriate, and then re-enable the skill after they had the item in hand.

[chris_strain]

I've never had an issue with getting drafted miners to use use picks personally. I just make sure I have enough picks for them to have one for mining and one as a weapon and they are perfectly happy to run around severing arms and legs with their little point death sticks. 

It's been said elsewhere already, but picks really are blue lightsaber to the goblin's red (whip) one.

[Pokon]

I always shuffle my first miners into the military after a few years. Its basicly stat-raising bootcamp for them, and afterwords they often adorn themselves with the same metal they mined out themselves.

[Nan]

I've been playing around with (further) weaponizing miners. One thing I've been doing is embarking them as dodgers rather than miners (this is only really practical on embarks with soil/clay layers). Another thing I've started playing around with, is when my miner goes On Break, I recruit him, arm him with a training sword and shield, and have him beat on crundles or creeping eyes or whatever happens to be skulking around. This quickly builds fighter skill to go with the pick skill. By the time his "break" (heheh hahah) is over he can be at least a proficient fighter.

I like to think that my legendary miners will have a bit of an edge in combat, besides their rather impressive ability to parry and disarm.