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[WCG]

It's been a year and a half since my last fortress (hmm,... I feel like I'm introducing myself to a Dwarf Fortress addicts group), and I'm anxiously awaiting the next version before starting a new one. Meanwhile, I'm still trying to learn what I never learned before.

Despite studying the wiki, I still have a few questions about the military:

1) What do military dwarves on "inactive" do? Will they just go back to their civilian professions?

2) If so, will they retain their armor and weapons?

3) If so, could I just put all of my dwarves into the military, but keep them on "inactive" most of the time, so that I'd have civilian dwarves in armor and carrying weapons, just in case?

I'm just wondering if this would work. I might do it for a certain number of my civilian dwarves, as a sort of militia back-up to my military - just having them train occasionally to develop some military skills, too, just in case. (I saw something about this, called "National Self-Defense Training," on the wiki, but I wasn't entirely sure if this is how it would actually work.)

I guess I'm just not sure what "inactive" tells military dwarves to do. Do they go back to their civilian jobs? Do they just loaf around doing nothing? Does it depend on their personalities?

When I'm inactive, I just loaf. Are dwarves as lazy as I am?   

[Garath]

1: yes, although at least marksdwarfs will shoot at targets if they get idle

2: If you have civilian = uniformed on yes

3: Yes, some people do this to keep civilians clothed

note that dwarfs without militairy skill will get a bad thought from being drafted in the militairy -every month! Danger room time for everyone.

[Mushroo]

If a dwarf is Novice or better in both a military skill and a civilian skill, there is no problem: they will do their civilian chores, and individual combat drills in their down-time.

If they are Dabbling in one or the other, then they will get a bad thought. So it is important if you draft a Peasant into the military that you also give him a civilian skill (I usually pick something with no Quality mod like milling or wood burning).

[Garath]

pump operator and having a dozen or so dry pumps also builds stamina and strength.

[schismatise]

Inactive military dwarves will return to their civilian jobs, and wear whichever uniform you specify for them to wear while off-duty (military screen -> settings). Instead of going "on break", they will attend an "individual combat drill" - so basically, they'll train a little bit, even when off-duty. How much depends on their personality, i believe being "active" and having alot of willpower probably means they train more often.

Hero dwarves ("great" or higher in a weapon skill, or legendary in a military skill) never go back to their old jobs - if you make them inactive, they just continue to train.

pump operator and having a dozen or so dry pumps also builds stamina and strength.

I thought that was changed?

[Garath]

They gain is slower, but I do have some legendary operators that are now superdwarvenly strong - all of them. Did I just pick the right ones? I don't think so.

[rhesusmacabre]

It should be noted that miners, woodcutters and hunters have their own civilian "uniform" that conflicts with their military one, so it's usually best to avoid having these professions in your military.

[glinmaleldur]

While it does involve more micromanagement, especially when you are dispatching squads to deal with sieges or beasts, having all your civilians equipped with at least shoes makes forgotten beasts a hell of a lot less scary. It's also a good way to clean up non-ferrous goblinite. What could be better for a naked dwarf to be given the opportunity to don a troll fur loin cloth soaked in the blood of his family?

[Nyxalinth]

1: yes, although at least marksdwarfs will shoot at targets if they get idle

2: If you have civilian = uniformed on yes

3: Yes, some people do this to keep civilians clothed

note that dwarfs without militairy skill will get a bad thought from being drafted in the militairy -every month! Danger room time for everyone.

So is that what the "complained about the draft recently" thing is about?  Since 40d I thought it was because their room lacked a door.

[NecroRebel]

note that dwarfs without militairy skill will get a bad thought from being drafted in the militairy -every month! Danger room time for everyone.

So is that what the "complained about the draft recently" thing is about?  Since 40d I thought it was because their room lacked a door.
[/quote]The "complained about the draft" thing happens whenever a dwarf becomes a Recruit as a result of having no military skills when they go on active duty (and dwarves without civilian skills get an "unhappy about being relieved from duty" thought when they cease being a soldier and become a Peasant). If you left your civilians on inactive at all times, they'll never become Recruits, so they'll never get unhappy thoughts as a result. I'm pretty sure they'll also do individual combat drills on their off-time even if they have no combat skills just so long as they're in a military squad that has a barracks assigned for them to train in, so they'll slowly gain skills, too. Might help if you ever need to kill one last horrible monster from the Depths that survived your trap hall if all of your little zerg rushers are actually armed, armored, somewhat skilled soldiers.

[WCG]

It should be noted that miners, woodcutters and hunters have their own civilian "uniform" that conflicts with their military one, so it's usually best to avoid having these professions in your military.

Thanks for the replies. I do have a follow-up question about this one, though:

My woodcutter is one of the main reasons I'd like civilians to wear armor, since he'll be away from the fortress much of the time. How does his civilian uniform conflict with a military one? I didn't think he wore anything special at all, and just carried an axe.

Hunters generally have leather armor, I believe, so can't you just make them a marksdwarf with leather armor? How does that conflict, exactly?

[ZzarkLinux]

even if they have no combat skills just so long as they're in a military squad that has a barracks assigned for them to train in, so they'll slowly gain skills, too.

Is this correct? I thought that the skill gain is so abysmally slow that they'll rusty-lose everything.

At least, that's my current experience.
e.g. I have a squad of 5 SPRdwarves set to exclusively train year-round. One is expert on Spear-usage, and still is "Adequate (Rusty)" in Armor & Shielding half the time
So IMO I wouldn't trust the "half-and-half" setup, either designate a dwarf to live as military or ignore it.

[krenshala]

even if they have no combat skills just so long as they're in a military squad that has a barracks assigned for them to train in, so they'll slowly gain skills, too.

Is this correct? I thought that the skill gain is so abysmally slow that they'll rusty-lose everything.

At least, that's my current experience.
e.g. I have a squad of 5 SPRdwarves set to exclusively train year-round. One is expert on Spear-usage, and still is "Adequate (Rusty)" in Armor & Shielding half the time
So IMO I wouldn't trust the "half-and-half" setup, either designate a dwarf to live as military or ignore it.

If he is rusty on armor and shield use, i'd guess he does not have armor or a shield, or is not training for some reason.

As for the uniform thing for hunters/wood cutters/miners -- for miners and wood cutters you should be able to put them in a uniform with armor but no weapon, set them to always wear the uniform, then leave them inactive and they should put on their armor and still use their axe.  I say should because it doesn't always work out that well.  If you try to issue them an axe I know, from my experience trying to have my hunters in a marksdwarf squad, that you will need two axes for each dwarf -- one he uses on duty, and one he uses for wood.

I can't wait for this uniform bug to get solved.

[NecroRebel]

Is this correct? I thought that the skill gain is so abysmally slow that they'll rusty-lose everything.

At least, that's my current experience.

Hmm. I've gotten so used to having rusting modded out that I don't actually remember. I thought that just using a skill reset the rust timer, so doing individual drills should stop rust of the drilled skills, but that might not be the case. Alternatively, the dwarves mostly do weapon drills and not armor or shield use drills, so they keep their weapon skill high but lose out on defensive skills.

I don't actually put anyone but my dedicated soldiers in squads, and they do actual training 2 months in 3, and as implied above I have skill and stat rusting modded out, so I'm not sure how the training rate of constantly-inactive militia would be. At the very least, though, they should do individual combat drills when otherwise idle.

[Oaktree]

I tend to squad most (if not all) dwarves at some point.  Minimally give them a shield and weapon so that they work up towards at least novice skill doing individual combat drills in their spare time while in inactive status; e.g. assigned to a squad that has a barracks, but is in inactive status.

I do that status with a squad that has my miners, and also a squad with the woodcutters to keep them segregated due to the uniform issue. (Or potentially call them up as an emergency squad.)  I tend to squad my medical team together as well and train them as reserve marksdwarves.

Once a dwarf gets to novice they go in a reserve squad and starting training for 3-6 months a year with weapon, shield, and armor.  If they train far enough, or get danger room training, they end up in one of my small full-time military squads that do the majority of the fortress' fighting mopping up ambushes or attacking groups of siegers.

One advantage of squading dwarves and having them drill while idle is that keeps them out of the meeting hall socializing.