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[Dwarvinator]

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.

[Grey_Wolf]

These groups will hopefully build strong social bonds as they will eventually make up future squads.

It must be the work of a tactical geni.....CREEEEEEED.

But, I digress, this plan sounds simultaneously epic and effective, although letting the Dorfs socialize may end up in more then a few tantrum spirals when any of them get killed.

[Dwarvinator]

Well, hopefully the main weight of casualties will fall on the punishment battalion who will be less socialised. They'll be too busy mining and furnace operating 24-7 most of the time. I'm hoping for less casualties in the other formations, who will be facing less missiles and hopefully already-wounded opponents. I suppose if I separated the population into pods based on families, I could have a tantrum spiral nipped in the bud by virtue of a pod-encompassing series of gruesome murders tragic accidents.

[Loud Whispers]

Like the Spartans, all dorfs wil be cross-trained

STOP! The following information is factually incorrect! The Spartans would not have cross-trained their soldiers! All Spartiates would have had one profession and that alone - soldiery! All other professions were left to the Perioikoi!

PERHAPS YOU MEAN THE ROMANS?

~In any case~

Excellent idea. I suggest you train your children with farming. Have overseers to the children who plant crops for the children to harvest. When they are ready you'll have a skilled workforce that can feed itself while it trains for war.

I would suggest building a collapsible bridge leading into the Fortress so the enemy literally cannot escape once they fight the penitent squads.

How are you finding the resources to equip such a formidable army? It is entirely possible to swim in veritable riches but it still takes vast amounts of wealth to equip any large army as so.

[Imperial Guardsman]

i dont have that 1 mg of raw adamantine to maik dis.

BESERK HNNNNNNNNNNNNG

still a great idea. all you need are dorfs with longcoats, large hats, and a short small but lethal weapon to kill cowards and its perfect


*SHING*

[Grey_Wolf]

-snip-

Custom profession name, Uristsar, formerly the Hammerer.

[Loud Whispers]

-snip-

Custom profession name, Uristsar, formerly the Hammerer.

Wouldn't that be a mutation on dagger? Surely would Nil be a better alternative?

[Dwarvinator]

How are you finding the resources to equip such a formidable army? It is entirely possible to swim in veritable riches but it still takes vast amounts of wealth to equip any large army as so.

The fortress presently has an overall value of about 13 million. I have between 20 and 40 units of each armour/weapon type, in steel and all masterwork, in addition to 3 fully armoured squads. I also have about 1000 iron bars which are being converted into steel - presently at about 400 bars. War materiel is plentiful.

I suggest you train your children with farming. Have overseers to the children who plant crops for the children to harvest. When they are ready you'll have a skilled workforce that can feed itself while it trains for war.

I have been wondering about this. I have noticed children picking up skills other than farming. Is it possible they pick up skills from observation? If that were the case, would it be worth laying on metalsmithing and combat demonstrations for them?

[Bavette]

I have been wondering about this. I have noticed children picking up skills other than farming. Is it possible they pick up skills from observation? If that were the case, would it be worth laying on metalsmithing and combat demonstrations for them?

Don't know about that, but I do have a child that always follows my military around every opportunity it gets. It has the skills of a military dwarf already (a talented fighter from masterwork mod), so I believe that has something to do with it. There are also some cases of weird happening, like one of my kids (a talented fisherdwarf) has now achieved legendary because all it ever dos is fishing and I can't even turn it off.

[Ruhn]

I suggest you train your children with farming. Have overseers to the children who plant crops for the children to harvest. When they are ready you'll have a skilled workforce that can feed itself while it trains for war.

I have been wondering about this. I have noticed children picking up skills other than farming. Is it possible they pick up skills from observation? If that were the case, would it be worth laying on metalsmithing and combat demonstrations for them?

That would be interesting.  If the barracks has no walls and is in the center of the common area, in full view of the children where ever they play, and the kids glean fighting skills before going to the academy.  Maybe it would have to be through some glass windows if 11 of them are locked off together though.

Or, if kids do learn from watching, put a squad of two experienced soldiers in each university podlet.  Masters spar for years as kids watch and grow.  When kids are old enough to begin real training, the teachers are already there.

[Dwarvinator]

I think this area could benefit from some proper scientific study. In the meantime, I am going to assign some kids to a burrows consisting of the fort's training room. If they are not killed by the constant flow of trolls dropped through the ceiling hatch, they may pick up some military skills. I've also noticed my FB web silk industry is providing some surgically operable casualties, so I may assign promising children to a burrows including that area to see if that might help build their dodging skills.

[Adamantine Clowns]

Easier idea. Make a separate room for them and use glass as a natural barrier, much in the same way that the necromancer reanimating training room allows the necro to see the bodies but not be attackable.

[Dwarvinator]

I can do a room with a wall full of windows right next to the training room by converting an existing dining room. Do dorfs actually notice what's going on the other side of windows? I'm not too worried about casualties. Kid fell 20 z-levels the other day, without sparking a tantrum spiral. Kids' lives are cheap.