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[Teldin]

I only use traps as the last line of defense. NEVER cage traps, only standard weapon traps.

Instead I allow my dwarves to specialize in their jobs, which frees up most of the population for the militia. Often, at least 75% of my fort is militia dwarves. I always buy every piece of leather from caravans and order metal ores if I can't find any. Usually, half the military is crossbows; with the surplus of wood in latest versions, outfitting them with practice bolts is easy. One squad is always a custom heavy armor crossbow squad - the leather equipped ones rush to problem areas (usually hardened towers) while the armored ones wade in with the melee dwarves.

Yes, this often leads to vicious battles and multiple deaths, but I rarely have tantrums since I lavish my fort with fancy rooms and huge dining halls/throne rooms, and since most of the squad is military, the ones that survive get hardened to death pretty quickly. When the caravan comes the weakest squads stop training to haul while the others are stationed in strategic areas - Xbows in the towers, melees surrounding the trade depot.

It's a lot more fun than just eviscerating everything by traps.