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[thatkid]

They're simply set to train.
When something is a threat, they're activated with orders and sent to kill it.
And then it's back to active/training.

I've found it works pretty well. Especially now that many migrants come with some combat skills pre-learned.

[dwarfhoplite]

Once sufficiently high ranked, they're entered into back-line military duty and work their way towards front line.

I do the opposite - I let cannon fodder take the first hit to prevent champions from dieing.

[Girlinhat]

I generally try to keep my soldiers alive.  Older ones in steel and/or candy, fresher recruits in iron and bronze, marks usually in copper or whatever useless tin artifact my possessed (and subsequently dead) migrant dabbling armorsmith produced.  Eventually I tend to end up with a solid, large army, 50+ in some cases and armed with mixed candy and steel, usually every soldier Legendary in all relevant combat and with a candy weapon and helmet, steel everything else.

Well, one time at least.  Usually don't get that far, but my main goal is to train an army like this - a proper army, not just a militia - and take the HFS by dwarf power alone.  Should prove especially useful once army arc begins and I already know how to build up a force that can rape elven settlements.

When I go for it, my army management can become a rather terrifying war machine that produces soldiers quickly and en mass.

[Ross Vernal]

Well, I'm stealing some ideas, here. I'm gonna re-organize my military - 3/4 of the year training, 1/4 working pumps. My reservist force is gonna be the opposite
Incidentally, every dorf gets a steel helm. I'd prefer them to not die of smashed skulls. Every military dorf gets chain, leggings, helm, cap, high boots, socks, cloak, and gauntlets. My best soldiers have steel breastplates, but I lack flux stone to make steel.

My 40-strong Bracero force (as in, farmer/builder) usually has Hunting enabled. All my other non-uniformed dorfs are in 10 man inactive crossbow/leather armor squads, although I am considering taking every unskilled un-uniformed dorf and making them cannon fodder.

I also once had a standard Sword/Board Civilian Squad. It was awe-inspiring.

[Eddren]

I'm actually using zombies as a training force right now.

[Poindexterity]

before i let them in the military, i make them mine constantly for about a year. It gets their strength up pretty quick, AND cuts down on stone clutter, always having noob miners and all...

[BloodBeard]

It can increase endurance, toughness, and strength, so I always give my soldiers-in-training a long tour of the pumps.

Really? o_0

I thought that since the new military system was introduced, only military skill gains increase attributes. This is the exception to that rule?

I'm so gonna build an automated pump training center for all my dwarves:

1) build as many pumps as there are skill levels
2) use manager settings, so that the first pump allows minimal dabbling, maximum normal skill. Next pump, minimum novice, maximum competent,..., last pump, minimum level Grand Master, maximum level Legendary.
3) turn on pump operating on all your dwarves
4) profit

Ofcourse, you can do with less pumps if you cannot spare too many dwarves at the same moment.

You mean the "After 40d military"?  Yeah, all jobs that train skills will increase attributes or stats.  I ran a small test on engravers, noting an increase in endurance and strength on my engravers based on the time spent on a job - my thirsty, sad engraver who was smoothing floors at 1/2 normal rate, gained 2x stats per floor tile smoothed.

You can't assign pumps a skill limit like that, I tried.

I find that agility is the most useful attribute for military dwarves, and since pumps don't train it and there's an attribute cap based on all attributes combined I purposely stay away from pump training. Food for thought if you're picky about things like that.

[Replica]

1. Enable nerves to heal over time in the raws.
2. Embark on savage evil biome.
3. ? ? ?

[Castamere]

My way is:
-Standard training as in barracks training
-Fending off regular sieges
-The most important part is equipping my dorfs with wooden weapons and pitting them against captured naked goblins/animals/elves
This training shoots up his skills in their weapon category up to legendary in a matter of months

And I didn't know about pump training so I'll try that

Dorfs usually get picked out on the base of their attributes; immense strenght etc. and weapon skills if they have them. They all get their standard iron/steel armour and start training. Only legendary dorfs get their masterwork(all regular ones are melted and made again) candy weapons but candy armour is something that i've never come to. In my current fort where I have 10 000 units of candy this will become a possibility

And I don't draft militia to fight becouse they are a shame to the army. My young fort defend solely with traps

[Zealous]

I have a trapped necromancer who my military can't get to who keeps reanimating a bunch of severed limbs in a training room. The limbs can't touch my dwarfs through their steel armor and are surprisingly good for training all military skills and attributes on. When I need to do real fighting I just raise the drawbridge, and the necromancer stops reanimating things and my military go do important things. When it's time to train, the bridge goes down and the training resumes. New dwarfs just get thrown into the mix, but they usually do fine. Severed hands aren't very good at fighting when every bone in them has been ground to dust by years of combat training.

[rtg593]

There's an attribute cap? So legendary + 5 to all military stats is out of the question... :p

K, quick q, you all keep saying military vs militia, are you simply meaning full time vs part time, or is there another option I'm not aware of here?

And Yaaaa... I tried using a military for an ambush... So far I've lost 60 dwarves to the tantrum spirals of their friends dying, lol... Hope it corrects soon... >.>

[Di]

you all keep saying military vs militia, are you simply meaning full time vs part time, or is there another option I'm not aware of here?

It usually means clad in masterwork steel equipment vs quickly drafted meatshields armed with what they managed to scavenge from fended off enemies.

As for training, simply setting them to train 9 months a year worked quite well for me in .31, in this version this technique got transformed in "throw 60 of them against 20 enemies, of those 20 who survive 8 die in hospital, 9 go insane, 2 become permanently wounded and the last one can be called a soldier".

I find that agility is the most useful attribute for military dwarves, and since pumps don't train it and there's an attribute cap based on all attributes combined I purposely stay away from pump training. Food for thought if you're picky about things like that.

Where did you get that? There's maximum per each stat in raws but not the sum.

[Nan]

I don't think cross training works anymore. needs hard science I think. Maybe uncap FPS and run a trial, shouldn't take long.

[FrisianDude]

I tend to just give them their gear, tell them which bit to plant in their target and send them off to their merry death. It seems to work reasonably. Maybe I should try pumps, though. I tried, a while ago, to have a weak mcom get some muscle by pumping but it didn't seem to do much.

[Yaotzin]

Cross training definitely works, at least it did in 31.25. I was looking closely at my miner, and he gained ~60 in each relevant stat (str/tough/end/will/spatial/kines) by the time he reached legendary. His other stats deteriorated a touch, as expected.

And of course, sparring/training results in gigantic stat gains.

The question is whether stat gains come from XP gained in the skill, and is therefore capped when you hit leg+5, or if it's merely from time spent performing the task. If the former, you should cross-train for maximum gains. If the latter, simply have them spar forever.