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[CivBesch]

Is the following correct?

In order for a squad to do:
- 4 months of civilian work
- 4 months of training
- 4 months of patrolling

Put it the first 4 months on an inactive alert
Put it the next 8 months on an active alert

Change the squad alert manually after 4 months (and 8 months) as inside 1 alert civilian and military work cannot be scheduled

[PatrikLundell]

Good luck with trying to get them to work when off duty, as they usually spend most of their time on "individual training" rather than work when reaching a fairly low skill level (and the rest of the time is probably spent socializing/praying/reading).
If you remove the squad from the training facilities when off duty and reassign the facilities when on duty you can get then to work when off duty, though.

[CivBesch]

Hi Patrik,
Thanks for the advice.

To me that sounds like you are confirming that it only really works by taking them manually either out of the alert system to make them do civilian work, or put them in an inactive alert. Which one works better?

Thank for any further advice

[PatrikLundell]

I don't use militia extensively, but rely on traps instead, but I want to train my dorfs for a month per year for mood satisfaction, so I try to set them up in squads that are scheduled to be inactive and activate them as well as assigning them to the training facilities when training starts, and deactivate them and remove them from the facilities when training ends. I don't use military alerts, just the training schedule system (and civilian alerts).
Training dofs with civilian "uniforms" (miner, wood cutter, hunter) requires additional manual fiddling to deassign their civilian job, and assign them to a squad before training and then remove them from the squad and reassign their civilian jobs when the training is done due to the uniform clash bug.

[CivBesch]

Very interesting. After reading several times some of those extensive articles about the miltary in DF wiki, Until your answer, I did not realise it is even possible to use the military without alerts! Of course I don’t know which of those 2 paths I will go.

I am just looking for a way in which all of my dwarfs can do some military service (except miners and hunters) and combine that with civilian work and traps.

[Acolyte]

I do something quite similar to what you describe and it works just fine.

   - Shane

[CivBesch]

Hi Shane,

Could you please tell me how you proceed with it?

Thanks,
Lionel

[Acolyte]

I use the scheduled orders in the military screen. I find that if they have "no scheduled order" for that month they just go back to whatever civilian job they had been doing previously. I think it helps if they have some skill in the civilian job - dwarves seem to prefer doing things they have some skill in.

So really, I adjust the training alert and assign them to that.... No other steps were really necessary.

So, the steps:
1 Make a squad - naturally the first step.
2 I make sure they don't carry drinks or food - not sure if this is necessary, but it what I do.
3 go the the alerts screen and adjust the schedule how I like for that squad. I either use every other month active, 6months on/6 off, rotating 1 train/1 duty/1 off or the aforementioned 4 train/4 duty/4 off. depends on the age of my fort and how many people I've got.
4 I make every month off duty = civilian clothes. Done be pressing "u" Not sure if this helps.
5 assign the squad to the training alert.
6 Make sure I've got training area's for them.

That's really it. I don't seem to have the problem of dwarves just standing around with "no job" unless there really isn't one for them. Getting them to train is a bit of a trick, but there are a few good threads about that you can look up.

Hope that helps!
   - Shane

[anewaname]

One of the things I do with military dwarfs, is give them a non-moodable profession to work and a schedule that is two months of active duty and one month off-duty, so that during the last month of each season, they all stop training and do civilian work, then go to the tavern or temple and have a party.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

One squad will be plant gatherers, that gather plants from the plant gathering zones, which means that those zones are "farmed" once a season and the plant gatherers will pick many plants before returning the food to the stockpiles. Another squad will be web-collecters, gathering webs from the cavern areas within the weaver workshop's burrow. And another group will be miller/plant processers.

[PatrikLundell]

If you're setting your militia to be off duty for parts of the year you shouldn't give them food (drinks are OK), because they'll drop the food in their rooms and then pick up new food from the food stockpile when returning to duty. If they've got coffers the food gets stored there, otherwise it ends up on the floor to stink up the place with miasma when it rots.

[martinuzz]

I never use the scheduled orders.
I don't really have a military either. More like, every single civilian is also military.

I put all dwarves in squads. The miners/woodcutters go in one squad, other dwarves go in other squads. If you use hunters, not sure if they can be put in a squad, they probably can as well as long as you do not assign any items in the equipment screen. (for some reason I never use hunters)
I manage training manually by periodically setting a squad to active so they go spar instead of do individual combat drills.

When I want my miners/woodcutters to train, the only thing that needs doing is turn off their mining / woodcutting labour, then they're good to go.
Just don't assign any armor or weapon to the miners/woodcutters if you want don't want them to run around in circles picking up and dropping equipment.
Also, no food or drinks for them.
When you want your miners/woodcutters to mine and fell trees, while assigned to a squad, you need to make sure that they have no assigned barracks. Only assign them a barracks when you want them to train, and their conflicting labours are turned off

All other dwarves can be assigned armor just fine. Drinks too. Civilians will still happily use their ration flasks. No food, because it creates the problem mentioned by PatrikLundell.

[CivBesch]

Thanks for the elaborate and very helpful suggestions. I planning on putting them into practice in the next few days

[Maul_Junior]

in my experience, this forum usually has in-depth answers. and....*most* of the answers are helpful.

[They Got Leader]

in my experience, this forum usually has in-depth answers. and....*most* of the answers are helpful.

What? Our answers ARE helpful. Even the ones who just answer with MAGMA!!!

I digress.

Contrary to the above, I usually have a huge swath of dwarves that are nothing more than cheap haulers, builders and block masons. I divide them into squads who spend 2 months a year training with swords, and are always wearing sets of armor (leather, generally. Chain mail, if I can afford it. Plate rarely). While I don't actually think it does them any long term good, I always did it in case something was to go wrong quickly. They were usually cave gatherers/builders, so having armor and weapons when off duty and moving material made it less likely for them to get killed by passing creatures.