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[Loud Whispers]

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.

Unless you reassign them their jobs

[Ross Vernal]

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.

Unless you know how to do it.

badum-PSH

[WCG]

OK, thanks for the replies!

[Girlinhat]

I often squad dwarves just to give them clothes.  If you've got a textiles industry, it can be fun to deck your smiths in red capes or whatnot.  My civilian guard is sometimes made of legendary boneworkers who wear specific-colored cloaks and hoods, copper mail shirts, and carry silver daggers.  Their main task is to put down tantruming or berzerk dwarves, be it from trauma or from failed moods.  Most times they're also wearing a piece of bone armor in some regard.  I like to think of the assassin monks, the bonecarvers of old who disappeared years ago.  They're only seen now, though the individual is unknown, as they slide from the shadows to put down civilian revolts.

They'll wear whatever their uniform is all the time, if ordered to remain in uniform, and if they have a barracks they'll undertake personal drills that give low but non-negligible amounts of exp.  If you're smart, you can also set them into specific barracks so that they're less likely to talk to one another and not make friends, thus cutting down on tantrum chances.

[WCG]

If you're smart, you can also set them into specific barracks so that they're less likely to talk to one another and not make friends, thus cutting down on tantrum chances.

How does that work when setting the minimum number of dwarves in a squad for training (which is initially set at 10)? Supposedly, you have to change that number to less than the number of dwarves in the squad, right?

If you've got two dwarves in a squad, you can set the number to one, but I don't think it's possible to set that to zero. So how does that work when you've only got one dwarf in a squad?

[Loud Whispers]

If you're smart, you can also set them into specific barracks so that they're less likely to talk to one another and not make friends, thus cutting down on tantrum chances.

How does that work when setting the minimum number of dwarves in a squad for training (which is initially set at 10)? Supposedly, you have to change that number to less than the number of dwarves in the squad, right?

If you've got two dwarves in a squad, you can set the number to one, but I don't think it's possible to set that to zero. So how does that work when you've only got one dwarf in a squad?

You'd have to make that squad inactive/move the dwarf into another squad. Otherwise that Dwarf would train alone constantly. Not recommended for anything short of a hero.

[krenshala]

You can set the number to train to 1, but its pointless as they would all do individual training and nothing else at that point.

In my experience, you can leave that number at 10 with minimal issues, if any, when you have a squad of 3 to 5 dwarves.

[Mushroo]

Agreed, leave the number at 10 unless you have a specific reason to change it.

[Sutremaine]

Hmm. I've gotten so used to having rusting modded out that I don't actually remember.

Have you modded out attribute rust? I noticed that when I carried over my no-rust settings from .31 all the migrants I got had attributes that were exactly the racial average.

[WCG]

You can set the number to train to 1, but its pointless as they would all do individual training and nothing else at that point.

In my experience, you can leave that number at 10 with minimal issues, if any, when you have a squad of 3 to 5 dwarves.

First, the reason I'm going to have only one dwarf in the squad is because my fortress is still very small. I've got ONE marksdwarf, and I wanted her to train at an archery target (which would be individual training anyway, right?).

Later, I'll probably add a melee dwarf or two, to begin with, so I'd put them in a separate squad from the marksdwarf, right? Eventually, I'll have a bigger military, and so bigger squads, but not right away.

Second, I thought that military dwarves wouldn't eat or drink or sleep unless I set that number lower than the maximum number of dwarves in the squad. Not so? Has that been fixed?

If so, what's the number for? If that's been fixed, what's the point of setting it to anything in particular? (For that matter, I never understood why that number existed in the first place.)

[peskyninja]

Usually my CoG break people's spines. He hates being relieved from duty.

[Mushroo]

You can set the number to train to 1, but its pointless as they would all do individual training and nothing else at that point.

In my experience, you can leave that number at 10 with minimal issues, if any, when you have a squad of 3 to 5 dwarves.

First, the reason I'm going to have only one dwarf in the squad is because my fortress is still very small. I've got ONE marksdwarf, and I wanted her to train at an archery target (which would be individual training anyway, right?).

Later, I'll probably add a melee dwarf or two, to begin with, so I'd put them in a separate squad from the marksdwarf, right? Eventually, I'll have a bigger military, and so bigger squads, but not right away.

Second, I thought that military dwarves wouldn't eat or drink or sleep unless I set that number lower than the maximum number of dwarves in the squad. Not so? Has that been fixed?

If so, what's the number for? If that's been fixed, what's the point of setting it to anything in particular? (For that matter, I never understood why that number existed in the first place.)

Do as you will, but it's well documented that squads of 2 train at a far superior rate to squads of 1. You'd be better served (in my opinion) making your archer-in-training a Hunter, or recruiting a friend for your archer so they can practice their dodging and wresting together in a no-uniform squad.

The number training thing is useful if you want to have a part-time military. For example if you have a 10-dwarf squad, but schedule 5 to to train, then the other 5 will carry out their civilian duties such as hauling or working in workshops (possibly getting a bad thought about being relieved from duty, if their civilian skills are too low).

Since I personally prefer a full-time military, I always leave it at the default 10. This means that all dwarfs in the squad will be training, individual combat drills, sleeping, eating, drinking--but they will never perform civilian duties (which I think is a good thing).

[krenshala]

I set all my soldiers to Farming and Plant Gathering, and leave recruits inactive for a while so they get that skill trained up a bit before activation.  I like the idea that my dwarves outside gathering plants (in the sunlight) are the guys with weapons and armor in case something unexpected happens.

I do this for the humor value, of course (swords to plowshares, and all that). 

[Girlinhat]

I prefer to assign all my future-military as pump operators.  They go to work on dry pumps (sometimes wet pumps that accommodate the fort's mist generators) and this helps build up their strength and endurance.  When they become suitably beefy, remove the labor and assign them a squad.  This also helps because all of your soldiers who are off-duty will by blinky red on the unit list, instead of scattered around with their usual skillsets.

[Loud Whispers]

Agreed, leave the number at 10 unless you have a specific reason to change it.

...Like wanting to have a working active squad?