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[Old Skool]

I recently got a massive influx of migrants which tripled the number of dwarfs in my fortress. I set a bunch to mining and smoothing, but there were still plenty of slackers volunteers dwarf left which could serve as early fodder. I have a vague understanding of scheduling and squads and equipment and such but let's face it setting up dwarven military is pretty confusing to newbies like me.

I figured 4 squads of 4 would be logical (probably my first mistake) with two squads for melee and two squads of marksdwarfs. After some fitzing about I figured out how to create the four squads and set them up. Right now I have very minimal armor and clothing in the fort, but jobs are queued up.

I have a barracks built, with 10 beds, a couple armor racks and a weapon rack around the edges.. plenty of open space in the middle. 10 archery targets have been built with channels behind. Several hundred wooden bolts have been created for practice (I just started butchering, bone coming soon).

So, now I am faced with training and scheduling. From what I understand squads can be training, on patrol or idle, right? I would like to always have some military on patrol at all times (shouldn't I?) with some time spent training and the rest working on civilian skills? Right? I guess ideally I would have one melee squad and one crossbow squad on patrol at all times?

Or, do I just alternate between train and idle right now, and start patrolling when I get some more squads set up?

Can multiple squads use the same barracks at the same time (one melee and one ranged)? Two squads of 4 should have ample room if there are 10 beds and a large open are in the middle of the room for sparring?

How do I coordinate scheduling? If I switch between train, idle and patrol it seems like I might need 3 sets of squads, each squad doing each task 4 months of the year.

Am I just setting myself up for failure here, or is this a good plan?

[Garath]

I've never done patrolling yet, but some things I can talk about:

weapon racks and armor stands don't work as intended as of yet, so their only use is to define a barracks room. Multiple squads can be assigned to the same barracks without problem and shouldn't walk in eachothers way in training as long as there is enough space. They'll happily hold demonstrations on beds etc and don't pay much attention to furniture for that. Marksdwarfs are a lot apart. First make sure that every target is set to be a target practice room, with the right direction and the right squad for training. Next make sure they don't have a barracks to train in, or they'll prefer to train there. Next, make sure the squad has adequate bolts assigned, +- 25 per dwarf in the squad, more than 25 is better. Lastly, set them inactive. There seems to be a bug that stops them from training while in active duty.

As a last note, you might not want to use the beds in the barracks to get them to sleep there. Having their own room and sleeping there gives them a happy though and soldiers can use all their happy thoughts, they are the last ones you want to tantrum.

Instead of patrolling, some people, me included, just give up on the outside world and put the barracks at the entrance of the fort so that any ambush will have to go through the militia training there

[Lida_Brainbroken]

I pretty much gave up on patrols.  Though, logically, they should be doing it in a group, instead they end up spaced out along the route because stragglers go to the first way-point and re-provisioners always go to the last way-point visited.
I opted for pasturing roosters and gobblers near choke points instead.  They get toasted when they spot an ambush, but at least I get early warning and maybe some extra meat afterward.  Cage and weapon traps also give an early warning if an invader happens to stumble onto one.

[Garath]

if a tame animal is killed by goblins for example, it can't be butchered anymore

[GotIt_00]

I'm no expert, but I'll provide my opinion about some of your concerns.

I figured 4 squads of 4 would be logical (probably my first mistake) with two squads for melee and two squads of marksdwarfs. After some fitzing about I figured out how to create the four squads and set them up. Right now I have very minimal armor and clothing in the fort, but jobs are queued up.

You'll want to decide on how you intend to train up these soldiers as well. If you opt to have them spar and train to become competent soldiers, consider using smaller squads. Lots of people advise squads of two, as that apparently encourages sparring.

Personally, I set up a danger room and put the little fellas through hell for a season or two and then let them loose on the world.

Once you decide to set up uniforms, be sure to replace clothing instead of having them put on armor over clothing. In my experience, that simplifies things.

I have a barracks built, with 10 beds, a couple armor racks and a weapon rack around the edges.. plenty of open space in the middle. 10 archery targets have been built with channels behind. Several hundred wooden bolts have been created for practice (I just started butchering, bone coming soon).

That sounds like more than enough space for your guys to do their thing. If you're using totally untrained marksdwarfs you may not see much activity at the ranges. Before putting together a squad of marksdwarfs, I set up a big group of hunters. Once they have some skill, I remove the hunting labor and then enlist those dwarfs. That seems to make them more inclined to target practice.

So, now I am faced with training and scheduling. From what I understand squads can be training, on patrol or idle, right? I would like to always have some military on patrol at all times (shouldn't I?) with some time spent training and the rest working on civilian skills? Right? I guess ideally I would have one melee squad and one crossbow squad on patrol at all times?

You can certainly schedule them this way if you like. Once I put dwarfs in the military, that's all I have them do. They'll get bad thoughts about long patrol duty, but that hasn't resulted in tantrums in my forts yet.

Or, do I just alternate between train and idle right now, and start patrolling when I get some more squads set up?

There's an opportunity cost here I think. If they're patrolling and are very low skill, they may get wiped out quickly. On the other hand, if they're patrolling and kill some local wildlife or take out a thief, that will develop skill. If your dwarfs mingle a lot in common areas and these soldiers start biting the dust, expect problems.

How do I coordinate scheduling? If I switch between train, idle and patrol it seems like I might need 3 sets of squads, each squad doing each task 4 months of the year.

I'm running six squads at present, four melee and two ranged, and they switch off patrolling and defending burrows. I have my ranged guys patrol and defend from the walls rather than on the ground. My melee guys are just keeping watch at the front gate now, with each order set to a minimum of three soldiers. With that set up, I've always got a handful of soldiers at the gate, and they take breaks, sleep, etc. without needing direct oversight.

Am I just setting myself up for failure here, or is this a good plan?

Seems like a fine plan to me. At this point, I think you'll just need to decide how you'd like to begin developing their skills.

[Old Skool]

First of all, I want to thank you all for the replies.. This game can be rather impenetrable at times.

I was playing DF several years ago and remember a lot of the basics, but things have changed quite a lot as well. When I stopped playing several years ago I seem to remember problems with the military, then traps getting nerfed. I also think that medical and burrows is all new stuff to me. (Maybe I was just a bad leader and ignored that stuff).

I guess I will just try to get them started, and maybe have them hang around the entrance area since that is where the barracks, archery targets and one of the dining rooms are located. I do have some traps and dogs guarding the entrance as well.

Since I have plenty of bedrooms set up I will just let the little boogers sleep where they want, if it causes problems later, so be it.

I am gonna keep my squads set up at 4 each and have them train with a minimum of 2, that way they can take a break and pee and watch an episode of Game of Thrones if they feel like it. Eventually I will get a few more squads as there are always a few slackers hanging around that need killing motivation and direction.

All the dwarfs I selected had some skill in warfare and I made sure all the marksdwarfs have at least a 1 skill in crossbow. Some of the dwarfs do have "useful" civilian skills -- I will look over my draftees and see if I can swap those guys out with useless less skilled dwarfs.

I used to use pump rooms to bulk up dwarfs, is that still a viable trick?

I am planning on making a danger room but I still have pretty much zero medical skill in my fortress so I figured I might better wait and hope for a good diagnostician in the next wave or two. If no one shows up, well, we might have some deaths.....

I have never used burrows but I do have my fortress divided into zones with choke points. I guess that might be a logical way to separate areas into burrows?

And clothing? I didnt really have to worry about it before. I guess I just need to make sure I have a big pile of hats, shirts, pants and footwear?

Thanks again for the help. I am sure I will have a few questions after I play a while today.

Oh yeah, Is there active mumble, teamspeak or the like for DF questions and general chatting?

[smakemupagus]

>>  And clothing? I didnt really have to worry about it before. I guess I just need to make sure I have a big pile of hats, shirts, pants and footwear?

Shirts, pants, and footwear.  Especially pants.

[Garath]

clothing: only shirts, pants and shoes (or socks) or similar. The only ones they care about are upper body, lower body and feet

The medical thing was started about 2 years ago I think, before that it was a bit more limited than this. It's actually rather simple unless you're interested in efficiency.

I havn't tried much of the defensive burrows. Mostly I use them to keep master crafters where I want them (not hauling some stuff, you can't disable everything yet) and for civilian alert. Civilian alert will tell all civilians to keep within the limits of the burrow when activated through the military screen, but overrides the other alerts, except military defensive burrows that get activated at that point. Still with me so far? Just mess around with them, finding out what went wrong is always half the fun.

Traps are still ridiculously powerful. Cage traps can trap anything, weapon traps kill almost anything but can get jammed, the only 'nerf' I'm aware of is that they are now impassable for wagons. The only thing this means is some extra creativity when designing your entrance and trading area

Something to be aware of with military. Setting training at minimum 2 actually means "maximum 2", while "minimum 4" for a 4 man squad means "however many are available right now, up to 4". They'll break into sparring quite regularly still, sometimes even doing a three-way. You can set multiple "minimum 2" orders, possibly. When your dwarfs are a bit skilled, increase the group size and order size. Lowly skilled dwarfs can learn faster from a highly skilled demonstration (teacher skill helps) than from sparring with one and later more skilled dwarfs seem to spar more often in any case. At that point "minimum 10" will mean "whatever you guys feel like" and you'll get most of them sparring

Pumps still work as dwarven gym, no problem there. Also about the danger room, as long as they have a helmet they should be mostly fine. You don't actually need anyone with the diagnostician skill to have a decent medical team. I belong with the group who just enables all medical skills on all dwarfs, since a legendary surgeon works just as good as a novice, just faster. Others prefer a dedicated medical staff. Try it some and figure out your own style I guess

[Ashery]

I have my ranged guys patrol and defend from the walls...

A useful trick, at least back in 40d, is to setup your training targets on your battlements. This way your dwarves can both gain skill and watch over your entrance/etc.

As far as how to setup your squads...it's hard to say. I haven't been the most active player post-40d, so almost all of my knowledge comes secondhand, but most of the research I've seen points to two member squads being the most effective for non-danger room training. You can, in fact, set multiple "minimum two" orders, but I can't recall if I've seen evidence on that being as effective as separate squads.

Medical, burrows, and the military rework all came in on DF2010, so nearly three years ago now. Can't recall the trap nerf you speak of, but I generally avoid using them and so don't follow any changes to their behavior closely (Very feasible in 40d, but I've yet to play long enough in newer releases to see how that works now, heh).

[Old Skool]

hmm.. maybe I just decided to quit using traps since they were so powerful. As you say it was a while ago.

[Kav]

I'm lazy. I put the training barracks at the front gates and just throw everyone in to big melee squads and leave them on train all year long.

When I do try and micromanage I only do it with the crossbow squads because training them is slightly more complicated.

[Old Skool]

Once I get some exterior walls and such set up I will probably build an outdoor barracks.. Hopefully I will have an hour or two to play today!

[Garath]

the good ting of marksdwarfs patrolling a perimiter wall is that they'll shoot at any animals that they deem dangerous, instant training and possibly even meat