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[MrLurkety]

I've thought of a pretty good system for squad organization.

Here it is.

First, the most experienced of a squad gets the name (Weapon)(father/mother) and is promoted to the leader of that squad. (This is assuming you organize the squads by weapons)
The dwarves (s)he commands are called (Weapon)children.
When a (Weapon)child gets experienced enough, they get a squad of their own, which are called (Weapon)grandchildren, and so on.
If the Father or Mother dies, the most experienced dwarf inherits the position, and the "generation" they belong to are called (Weapon)(sister/brother). The (Weapon)grandchildren become (Weapon)children, and so on.
Any millitary dwarf that is injured in a way that hampers fighting become part of a "Veteran" squad, off duty, and they are called Veteran(Weapon)s. They act as a last resort, or for dangers that are too close or trivial for the main military to handle, but mostly are civilians and perform civilian jobs.

Any thoughts?

[bloop_bleep]

I'm sorry, but can you explain the purpose of all these names, I unfortunately don't get their point. Are they just to keep track of who knows what?
I like the reserve system for injured dwarves though.

[MrLurkety]

I'm sorry, but can you explain the purpose of all these names, I unfortunately don't get their point. Are they just to keep track of who knows what?
I like the reserve system for injured dwarves though.

They're for showing who knows what, so you make sure you don't send raw recruits to fend off the BC instead of the more experienced ones, and they just sound cool, really.
Oh, and thanks!

[Salmeuk]

Having to change the names of every single dwarf in the lineage when only a single dwarf dies seems like a lot of micro for little reward.

I rarely have huge militaries, but if I have more than a few squads I name them according to their weapon of choice and number (unless they earn a more interesting squad name.) So Spears 1 would be my oldest and most proficient squad, while Spears 4 would probably be a lot of recruits and one or two teachers. If a dwarf dies in Spears 1, I promote the most experienced of Spears 2 and fill the resulting gap from Spears 3. It's a lot fewer keypresses to move dwarfs around than it is to individually rename them.

I do like the title of "Swordmother". Or like "Spearchild," but "Axegrandchild" isn't quite as evocative. . .

[Nobak]

I kind of like keeping the random squad names the game gives me. Seriously, who would want to mess with The Ultimate Merchants?

[Rusty Shackleford]

I assign every dorf in the milita, train them to proficient at least. Its a dangerous world. You need dangerous dwarves, even the rebels that consider martial skills to be worthless. That said I don't pay any attention to them. Milita capitans selected at random, set to train 3 months out of the year, with subordinates.

[anewaname]

I put them all in the military like Rusty, with squad names partly based on the random name, like
"The Granite Picks", some ex-miners
"Harmonious Jabs", speardwarfs
"Golden Hearthguard", important crafters

[MrLurkety]

Having to change the names of every single dwarf in the lineage when only a single dwarf dies seems like a lot of micro for little reward.

I rarely have huge militaries, but if I have more than a few squads I name them according to their weapon of choice and number (unless they earn a more interesting squad name.) So Spears 1 would be my oldest and most proficient squad, while Spears 4 would probably be a lot of recruits and one or two teachers. If a dwarf dies in Spears 1, I promote the most experienced of Spears 2 and fill the resulting gap from Spears 3. It's a lot fewer keypresses to move dwarfs around than it is to individually rename them.

I do like the title of "Swordmother". Or like "Spearchild," but "Axegrandchild" isn't quite as evocative. . .

Yeah, I guess, but if that annoyed you enough, you could make a DFHack script. I just thought it would be cool to have better titles than Speardwarf, millitia commander, etc.

[Bradders]

Every dwarf gets conscripted for at least baseline military skills so they're not utterly worthless when the shit hits the fan.  I have a bunch of squads to organize my dwarves and to keep my important ones notably safe and out of combat. 

My civilian dwarves are assigned to a few special squads - 123THEDOCS is my medical team, any dwarf with any medical skills gets put in here, above any of the other special squads.  The Stone Mothers are the baby-carriers, married to the Iron Fathers who become my captain-of-the-guard's squad, the innermost fortress elite guard.  If there are more married pairs than 10 these squads graduate to Granite/Steel, and Slade/Adamant if the fortress were to ever get so large.  Creative Carnage is my legendary crafter squad, with minimal training time because they gotta produce the top-quality goods and are usually doing so.  Swarthy Scribes are the library crew, and occasionally the farmers get thrown in there as well.

After all of the special dwarves are so assigned, I can more easily assign the other dwarves without worrying about accidentally putting the 6th Vabok who is my new legendary Blacksmith into the frontline squad.  Marksdwarf squads are named the First/second/etc. Rangers, while melee squads get First/second/etc. Blades/Carvers/Lancers/Beaters/Crushers for their respective weapons of choice and proficiency.  If I'm lucky enough to get a dwarf with a very high Teacher skill and some military skills, he becomes the captain of Fight School, where the fresh meatrecruits train until they actually have some skills.  The Battle-Scarred is the injured roster.

Most dwarves are placed into their squads once, and never move.  Some dwarves will get moved into Mother/Father squads, a crafting squad, or the injured roster.  If I have training squads (which I've only had a fort exist long enough to make use of once) then they'll be placed there before finding their rightful permanent squad.

[postfux]

I use therapist for squad management. The soldiers are given nicknames according to the weapon I want them to use, no need for renaming. Recruiting, equiping and keeping track of soldiers including medical status is pretty easy this way.

All soldiers are training outside the main gate except for special tasks like cavern security or archery towers.

I like the dwarfy names and do not rename squads. It also has the potential to generate some fun when archery tower garrisons or my cavern 3 security detachment are rushing outside because the supreme commander mixed up the names. War is hell.

[neotemplar]

I'd have to be mad to rename The glowing rocks or The hot hatchets, the gen names are just too funny.

[MrLurkety]

I'd have to be mad to rename The glowing rocks or The hot hatchets, the gen names are just too funny.

Na, just the dwarves profession names.

I use therapist for squad management. The soldiers are given nicknames according to the weapon I want them to use, no need for renaming. Recruiting, equiping and keeping track of soldiers including medical status is pretty easy this way.

All soldiers are training outside the main gate except for special tasks like cavern security or archery towers.

I like the dwarfy names and do not rename squads. It also has the potential to generate some fun when archery tower garrisons or my cavern 3 security detachment are rushing outside because the supreme commander mixed up the names. War is hell.

It has nothing to do with squad names. Just profession names.

I never suggested anyone had to use it. It's just an idea, that you may use, ignore, and combine with other ideas to make better ones as you wish.
By "Organized by weapon" I meant that every person in a squad had the same type of weapon. You could also put multiple types of weapons in one squad and have two (mother/father)s in a squad.

[azrael4h]

I rename all my dwarves by their English translation surname, with a (m) or (f) to denote gender, in case I decide I need it easily. This makes it easier to tell whose who. Military dwarves get Pvt after that, except the Captains/Commander, which get Capt/Cmdr respectively. Veterans get occasional promotions to Sgt or Lt or Capt, while those with truly notable kills (i.e. a Dragon) or notable combat actions get Hero at the end of their name. Sometimes veterans who migrated in get Lt or Sgt if I don't need a new squad and they have a notable number of kills or high enough skill.

I left 4 surviving Heroes at my last major fortress, due to the number of mega beasts, titans, and other creatures attacking. Last few fortresses have been retired due to boredom/poor embark conditions, though I have made it a point of spending a few years building functional, self-sustaining fortresses.

[Killgoth]

Having to change the names of every single dwarf in the lineage when only a single dwarf dies seems like a lot of micro for little reward.

I rarely have huge militaries, but if I have more than a few squads I name them according to their weapon of choice and number (unless they earn a more interesting squad name.) So Spears 1 would be my oldest and most proficient squad, while Spears 4 would probably be a lot of recruits and one or two teachers. If a dwarf dies in Spears 1, I promote the most experienced of Spears 2 and fill the resulting gap from Spears 3. It's a lot fewer keypresses to move dwarfs around than it is to individually rename them.

I do like the title of "Swordmother". Or like "Spearchild," but "Axegrandchild" isn't quite as evocative. . .

Dwarf Fortress is all about micromanagement.  I mean, yea you can macro the micro, and certainly everyone has their own level of depth that they prefer.  I have always thought the real skill in DF was mastering the game to the extent that you could choose which level of depth you wanted. 

The easiest part of the game is realizing that you can wall yourself in with some plump helmet farms and never deal with the outside world again.