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[gzoker]

Claiming a system is broken because it is not specified for your preferences is really annoying. The game is not finished, so it couldn't be even broken in that sense. (something has to be working before it can brake)
You could fix your problem easily, but you don't want workarounds. What do you want instead? That other people will fix it for you? That it will magically work? That the world will change itself for your sake? This just seems really unreasonable to me.

Forgive me if i seem to be hostile, but i just can't agree with this kind of thinking.

[Girlinhat]

I have to agree with gzonker here to an extent.  You want to embark right next to goblins and survive the first ambush without using traps or walling in?  You need a fantastic grasp on military doctrine if you want to pull that off!

Embark with one soldier, 5 points in shield using and 5 in teacher (or 5 in weapon and 5 in teacher, either way have teacher).  On embark, train them to 1 in civilian skills so they won't get too many bad thoughts, I like to have them make bolts up to novice so that weapon moods are more likely.

Have that one teacher train a smallish squad of trainees, works especially well if any dwarves have the student skill.  You can repeat this in various forms to spread out training.

Training can happen extremely well, but training is like any other labor.  There are quality levels and there's a skill associated with it.  That is Teacher.  A dabbling teacher will take a year to produce garbage.  A Legendary +5 Teacher will toss out legendary axelords in a month (exaggerating, but only a bit).  Having a dedicated drill instructor can prove extremely productive, especially if that training squad has a partial patrol route through the fort, can really help pick out vampires and were-beasts and whatever else nasty might have snuck in.

We are dwarves.  Everything is an industry.  Military is an industry.  You can't lay down a forge and suddenly have stacks of masterwork armor.  It takes infrastructure and setting up skills and laborers.  Military is an investment, it takes time to build up but works very well once you've got it structured up.  Most importantly, it likely won't be ready by the time the first ambush, or the 10th ambush arrives.  If you've got metal armor and weapons already (a lucky copper ore vein), then send out recruits and hope for the best, but keep your drill instructor working on their training skills.

[KodKod]

If all else fails a big swarm of marksdwarves will kill just about anything, skilled or not. Unless those dastardly goblins fight in the shade.

I personally enjoy making pincusions of anything that comes within my embark; you'd be surprised just how many bolts a kobold can hold in its body if your dwarves are lucky enough to miss the vitals. Either way, untrained marksdwarves in large enough numbers, ideally behind fortifications, can take care of a few initial ambushes giving your combat dwarves a little bit more time to train up to competance.

[AranC23]

Embark with one soldier, 5 points in shield using and 5 in teacher (or 5 in weapon and 5 in teacher, either way have teacher).  On embark, train them to 1 in civilian skills so they won't get too many bad thoughts, I like to have them make bolts up to novice so that weapon moods are more likely.

Can someone explain this?  Why would I want them to have some civilian skills?  Does this affect dwarves anger at being relieved from duty or something?

[gzoker]

Embark with one soldier, 5 points in shield using and 5 in teacher (or 5 in weapon and 5 in teacher, either way have teacher).  On embark, train them to 1 in civilian skills so they won't get too many bad thoughts, I like to have them make bolts up to novice so that weapon moods are more likely.

Can someone explain this?  Why would I want them to have some civilian skills?  Does this affect dwarves anger at being relieved from duty or something?

Yes. if they don't have a civilian skill they will get a bad thought from being relieved from duty.

[KodKod]

Yup. A single point in a civilian skill is enough to stop them throwing a bitchfit whenever they're not active.

Considering how the military already have the tendancy to be unhappy fussbudgets with large sticks, it can be rather beneficial for the long-term health of a fortress.

[Mushroo]

Yup, military tantrums are scary.

Fortunately I find that the more experienced my soldiers get, the happier they become. They get happy thoughts like "took joy in slaughter" "had a satisfying sparring session" and "is getting used to tragedy."

[AWdeV]

Huh, so drafting peasants is a bad idea? 'kay.

[Girlinhat]

It's a good idea in theory.  If they have no marketable skills, then they make prime soldier material.  Well, they make good meatshields at least.  After all, you wouldn't want to put an armorsmith in the army, so if you've got an armorer and a peasant who both have no military skills...

In practice, they get a bad thought from having no civilian job.  Pump operator is an easy one to raise, though, and also raises their attributes a bit, and weapon crafting is good for potential moods as well, and they can produce bolts that will get used up anyways.

[Mushroo]

My favorite tasks to train Peasants to novice before I draft them into the army are: wood burning, lye making, milling, pressing, soap making.

In other words they make their own soap to treat the injuries they will one day receive.

[KodKod]

With .34 I've been getting more than enough hunters to fill out my marksdwarves, at least.

The rest I just generally take from milkers, cheese makers, etc. I don't usually have much of a problem with having only peasants, because if I desperately need a milker than that one level that the novice has wouldn't really help too much anyway, so a peasant can become the replacement milker and the milker can become a soldier.

[Werdna]

One other technique not mentioned is to slow down invasions.  Part of the reason people have a perception that military take too long to train is because they've gotten experienced at starting a new fortress, and they're pumping up the fortress value to astronomical levels in the first few years.  Fort value, and the migrants it attracts, trigger the sieges before you are ready.  It's not intuitive, but don't start buying out caravans and churning out unnecessary wealth until your military and fort defense are ready for the result.

[slothen]

Small training squads do make sense and we now have squad renaming so its less annoying.

WAIT WHAT???

[Girlinhat]

DFHack has new options.  It's like, WHOA!

[Vherid]

Well the question is then, has anyone ever seen a migrant come in with teacher skill? I don't think I have, so therefore it seems that you HAVE to start with a teacher to really get going? Or do they learn teaching by demonstrating and so on?