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[doomxorz]

Does anyone else think some kind of formation options would be neat? "Spearmen, form infantry square! They be riding giant toads!"

[Shinotsa]

Does anyone else think some kind of formation options would be neat? "Spearmen, form infantry square! They be riding giant toads!"

Until we get the dwarven education system an order like that would kill them. Poor bastards would be getting devoured by toads as they tried to remember if the square was the one that looks like the tip of a spear, or the one that looks like the tip of a chisel.

Anyhow, I can't believe you all even give them individual rooms. I'm making an above ground spartan fortress right now and if you aren't lucky enough to be one of the farmers with a house for the family then you live in the crowded dorm above the hospital. Hopefully the screams don't keep them up too late.

[Loud Whispers]

Does anyone else think some kind of formation options would be neat? "Spearmen, form infantry square! They be riding giant toads!"

Currently? No, I think it would be a terrible idea.

1. Pathfinding = brutal. I once set up 120 individual stationing orders to achieve the desired effect, instant FPS drop.
2. It would detract from the DF fortress combat. There is nothing neat about how fighting goes on in the fort, everything is a much brutal charge or die battle that mostly happens underground in cramped tunnels, else everything gets riddled with bolts.
3. Not much advantage to it really. A single giant toad charging into the ranks would probably result in one Dwarf getting knocked back and 4 Dwarves attacking back. A line of giant toads would result in just yx2 or so Dwarves attacking back, as opposed to all of the Dwarves clambering over each other to rip some toad throats to pieces.
5. The scale of most Dwarf Fortress fights are... Odd. But to surmise, most of the time battles in DF are won by using the terrain, fortifications and ingenuity to win, not through 9 speardwarves standing in a square.

As for the future, this'd be lovely!
Should the day ever come where being the mountainhome means you can send out armies, that certainly changes the scales of things. Suddenly formations would be greatly useful - where Dwarves fighting on open plains would have to rely more on military than industry.
Oh and with the personality re-write coming into effect, it'd be interesting to have formations implemented after Dwarves are fearless/scared Kobolds

Anyhow, I can't believe you all even give them individual rooms. I'm making an above ground spartan fortress right now and if you aren't lucky enough to be one of the farmers with a house for the family then you live in the crowded dorm above the hospital. Hopefully the screams don't keep them up too late.

That's... Horribly un-Spartan.
Moving on, personally I'd say the hospital is a valuable education center along with its normal benefits - I have one of my dining rooms designated there so Dwarves can eat and get used to tragedy at the same time!

[thiosk]

Anyhow, I can't believe you all even give them individual rooms. I'm making an above ground spartan fortress right now and if you aren't lucky enough to be one of the farmers with a house for the family then you live in the crowded dorm above the hospital. Hopefully the screams don't keep them up too late.

The personality differences are astonishing.  I even smooth and engrave their five-square bedrooms, stocking them out with chests, chairs, tables, and cabinets.  It pisses them off a bit while the engravers are going through, but boy do they appreciate it later.

[Shinotsa]

That's... Horribly un-Spartan.

Yeah, let me rephrase. It was a Spartan embark. All of the Spartans died because they weren't hardcore enough. Now we're onto the current system.

The personality differences are astonishing.  I even smooth and engrave their five-square bedrooms, stocking them out with chests, chairs, tables, and cabinets.  It pisses them off a bit while the engravers are going through, but boy do they appreciate it later.

I love seeing how everyone treats their dwarves. At first I was like you, designing 2 z-level, larger than 5x5 engraved rooms for all my dwarves, each one being the blade of a double sided axe, the head of a hammer, blade of a sword, or tip of a spear in a larger picture. That was all well and good, but when you're out of wood and can't dig you make use of what you can.