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[Nopkar]

So after more than a year of playing this game I've decided it was time to figure this dumb military function out. Que in 3 dozen forts later and we have the fruits of my labor: 3 fully Meteoric steel armed squads and a squad of iridium terminators. (Masterwork mod btw)

They're all accomplished+ and I've repelled 2 maybe 3 sieges of orcs and goblins.

My question: is it ALWAYS this chaotic? I had 2 marksdwarves that didn't hit anything and I lost a full squad and half another. I tried to amass my forces before charging but they decided to charge at first sight and get picked off one at a time. Why do they do this? Does anyone else have this problem?

I don't expect a 0% casualty rate but wow, that was terrible!

So how do you guys train/gear/maneuver your armed forces? (Non danger room)

[Loud Whispers]

1. Station your troops behind cover until they reach a sufficient mass that no amount of casualties could slow down their advance. Always outnumber your enemy, or at least have better equipment than them.
2. Traffic designations can control your troops. Use em. I create troop highways to get my Dwarves marching in style while marksdwarves support them from above.
3. Keep your Dwarves training; this'll mean you'll have at least a good portion of your Dwarves all armed and ready to respond to any threat.
4. Multiple small squads allow for ultimate micro-micro.

[Bigheaded]

squad training helps.

I just started a new fort and the first year has only just ended and i have a legendary hammerdwarf.

To be fair, i did check to choose the best of my starting 7 dwarves to see which was the best military pair, put them in the same group. I also find hammerers get more "sparring" (what you want to go up in skill very very quickly) than swordsdwarves.

You can set it so they train in pairs, i find this is less effective (perhaps easier to do though, seeing 10 militaries of 2 dwarves can be annoying) than splitting them up into separate militaries.
I also keep a pair of dwarves near my exit in leather only, they are there to slaughter thieves, one is "exceedingly agile" so due to lack of heavy armor will literally leg it out and generally catch thieves with whom are ~30 tiles away from the dwarf and map edge. It also causes much amusement when they actually get into the fort and get "found" by these guys, they get 2 squares away before dying, or less.

some screenshots to show some good tips for finding good military dwarves and training schedules:
First dwarf therapist, to show high military skills % = fast learner (1 year = legendary +3!!) not even a "berserker" or "legion" or whatever the other caste is on masterwork.


Next is the training schedule you start with (to access, press "s" to go to squad menu, select a squad (i.e "a" to select first squad) then "s" for schedules, this is the screen, default is 10 dwarves as seen:


Instead we want to remove that order (or change it) and add 5 of the following orders:


This then lets you just chuck them all in the same military, i very much suggest you keep each squad with the same weapons, some 1 squad for swords, a different one for axes etc.


very much agree with loud whispers also, make sure that ranged enemies have huge difficulty in firing on your dwarves, fight the fight in your base, if you have dwarves running around on the surface and you wish to save them by sending the squad out, make sure you hugely outnumber them and are well trained.
accomplished is NOT enough, because dodging/armor user/shield user will be low (perhaps "adequate") these need to be adept, proficient at the least, to block most of the ranged hits.

I have managed WITHOUT marksdwarves, but this does usually involve fair losses of 2-5 dwarves whom were poorly trained (i.e fodder to give much better chances of my main legendary dwarves to kill the enemy)

hope that helps

[Mushroo]

Military in DF is super easy but people get into trouble when they try to make it more complicated than it actually is.

Here's my foolproof strategy:

When the first migrant wave arrives, choose the 2 best soldiers and put them in a squad of 2, training constantly non-stop, with wooden shields and training weapons.

Same for each new migrant wave.

When the caravan arrives, buy some metal armor and weapons for your 6 soldiers (3 squads of 2). Switch the squads to "metal armor" uniform. If you have metal on-site and can forge your own, even better, but not strictly necessary.

If you stick to the plan you will have 6 soldiers per year of your fort, and they will be Legendary in their weapon skill in no time at all. The trick then is to put their training barracks at places where they will be useful, like your main entrance, your cavern entrances, the trade depot, etc.

For marksdwarves, I train them as hunters, so they will become Legendary while simultaneously providing the fortress with huge amounts of food, which I cook into lavish meals to trade for all the weapons/armor/ammo/bars/anvils I need.

[Bigheaded]

i used to do that with marksdwarves, but you lose roughly half to goblin ambushes if you're lazy with them, as they don't run from gobbos but fire away instead, or just simply die from being hit in the head by a ranged gobbo.

But basically, you're recommending my favoured option of just splitting em up into groups of two. Do you move the groups into one big group after legendary? i'm certainly considering that to remove clutter of loads of military units.

[Mushroo]

i used to do that with marksdwarves, but you lose roughly half to goblin ambushes if you're lazy with them, as they don't run from gobbos but fire away instead, or just simply die from being hit in the head by a ranged gobbo.

What are your civilians doing outside in a month when goblins come? (late in each season) Use military alerts to move them inside.

[KtosoX]

I tried to amass my forces before charging but they decided to charge at first sight and get picked off one at a time. Why do they do this? Does anyone else have this problem?

Soldiers charge at first sight of enemy troops, and don't give up until they run out of enemies to kill or limbs to kill with.
Since it's a siege, you should be prepared to welcome the enemy with traps, bolts and blades.
Don't charge out, trap them inside.

[Sutremaine]

accomplished is NOT enough, because dodging/armor user/shield user will be low (perhaps "adequate") these need to be adept, proficient at the least, to block most of the ranged hits.

Accomplished in a weapon skill / Fighter?

Defensive skills are hard to train without stripping your soldiers of means of parrying or shield-blocking, and even then they're slow. Perhaps the answer is to take two unskilled military candidates and give them only armour and then set them to train without ever calling them into combat. No weapon, no shield, no pre-existing Dodge skill. They'll pick up Dodging as they train, but that and Armour User are the only things stopping successful taps. Then you can give them and one of your 'proper' military some one-to-one training time, and the chosen dwarf can return to their squad and pass on the knowledge. Although they may choose to teach Wrestling instead...

[Nopkar]

I've been practicing with my military, I put a small chamber off the main entrance hallway and station the dwarves there...when the siege runs by they jump out and more often than not crush the invaders.

I also put it just after a bend in the hallway where it doubles back to nullify the gobbet archers.


I guess the biggest tip is to fight on home turf, underground.

Open field warfare just isn't a strongpoint in this game, which is a shame.

[Bigheaded]

accomplished is NOT enough, because dodging/armor user/shield user will be low (perhaps "adequate") these need to be adept, proficient at the least, to block most of the ranged hits.

Accomplished in a weapon skill / Fighter?

indeed, accomplished in a weapon skill, will mean low defensive skills almost every time as it takes longer to gain.
I usually grab 2 military on embark, 1 with proficient dodge, which takes 1.5 years to pass across to the other guy. Which is enough if armor user/block is high also, so at 1.5 years i'd say the 2 dwarves can take on ranged enemies fairly well. i.e i'd bet on them against ~6-8 ranged gobbos.

Open field warfare just isn't a strongpoint in this game, which is a shame.

It depends if sacrificing dwarves as "fodder" is an option for you. I've taken on 40+ gobbos (range + melee) in the open (no mounts) with 10 "idiot" dwarves in full leather and 6 proper military dwarves in full steel and massacred the lot with losses of about 6-8.

[Sutremaine]

I usually grab 2 military on embark, 1 with proficient dodge, which takes 1.5 years to pass across to the other guy. Which is enough if armor user/block is high also, so at 1.5 years i'd say the 2 dwarves can take on ranged enemies fairly well. i.e i'd bet on them against ~6-8 ranged gobbos.

I've always found Dodge to be by far the fastest skill to spread around. Before the hauling update I did several starts with a mixed group of skills (all dwarves with some Teacher/Student and then one each of Dodge, Shield User, and Armour User), and each time Dodge was the first demonstration to be held, with the other two dwarves picking up three or four levels after about ten or eleven months' training with no weapons. Demonstrations for shield and armour took much longer to happen, with very little skill gain happening in the first year.

Since the hauling update everyone gets Teacher/Student/Armour User, which starts them off fast enough to go chasing ground-based wildlife while covered in bronze. It's my first embark with that setup, and it seems to be working okay. If you discount weapon skill entirely, they picked up 46, 41, and 38 levels over a year and a half of training (33, 30, and 28 if you further discount mental skills), during which time they fought half a dozen thieves and snatchers and half a dozen ambushers (who got in six shots during the whole scuffle, none of which connected), plus assorted unthreatening wildlife. That's pretty good for a group with no different skills to spread around, though next time I may swap Student for Dodger on whichever dwarf I think will make the best teacher.

One of those dwarves is currently on semi-permanent training duty behind a dwarf dip due to being beaten to an infected pulp by goblins, and has managed to pass on three Armour User levels in a year or slightly less. I also think that's pretty good, due to the difficulty in raising that particular skill. In terms of pure XP, that's twice what the starting dwarves picked up in a year and a half, and with no real combat either.

[Rokdog]

Military in DF is super easy but people get into trouble when they try to make it more complicated than it actually is.

Here's my foolproof strategy:

When the first migrant wave arrives, choose the 2 best soldiers and put them in a squad of 2, training constantly non-stop, with wooden shields and training weapons.

Same for each new migrant wave.

When the caravan arrives, buy some metal armor and weapons for your 6 soldiers (3 squads of 2). Switch the squads to "metal armor" uniform. If you have metal on-site and can forge your own, even better, but not strictly necessary.

If you stick to the plan you will have 6 soldiers per year of your fort, and they will be Legendary in their weapon skill in no time at all. The trick then is to put their training barracks at places where they will be useful, like your main entrance, your cavern entrances, the trade depot, etc.

For marksdwarves, I train them as hunters, so they will become Legendary while simultaneously providing the fortress with huge amounts of food, which I cook into lavish meals to trade for all the weapons/armor/ammo/bars/anvils I need.

I was under the impression that making 100% of your squad train 24/7 with no relief or rotation really pissed them off. I've had dwarfs' happiness tank because of "patrol duty" even if they're only ever set to train, and that was in a squad where 8 of 10 were training. I know if their skill gets high enough they upgrade to their 2nd tier unit and this ceases to become a problem, but I can rarely get most to that point (especially melee) before they run out of happiness and need some off-duty time. What am I doing wrong?

[weenog]

I was under the impression that making 100% of your squad train 24/7 with no relief or rotation really pissed them off. I've had dwarfs' happiness tank because of "patrol duty" even if they're only ever set to train, and that was in a squad where 8 of 10 were training. I know if their skill gets high enough they upgrade to their 2nd tier unit and this ceases to become a problem, but I can rarely get most to that point (especially melee) before they run out of happiness and need some off-duty time. What am I doing wrong?

Not providing nearly enough good thoughts.  Grumbling/depressed/angered/enraged by long patrol duty is a pretty weak set of bad thoughts, though it does accumulate over time.  So give them opportunities to gain good thoughts over time.  Send them into combat now and then, even against weak wildlife, so they can take joy in slaughter.  Put an artificial waterfall in their barracks.  Give them their own nice bedrooms to sleep in instead of having to sack out in the barracks.  Make sure there's a skilled Mayor around who they can cry on or yell at if they get too upset.  Etc...

[Rokdog]

Ah, gotcha. So accept it and deal with it. I think I naturally got better at this without realizing it because I've started doing the things you suggested (personal rooms, waterfall, etc)

[Mushroo]

Military in DF is super easy but people get into trouble when they try to make it more complicated than it actually is.

Here's my foolproof strategy:

When the first migrant wave arrives, choose the 2 best soldiers and put them in a squad of 2, training constantly non-stop, with wooden shields and training weapons.

Same for each new migrant wave.

When the caravan arrives, buy some metal armor and weapons for your 6 soldiers (3 squads of 2). Switch the squads to "metal armor" uniform. If you have metal on-site and can forge your own, even better, but not strictly necessary.

If you stick to the plan you will have 6 soldiers per year of your fort, and they will be Legendary in their weapon skill in no time at all. The trick then is to put their training barracks at places where they will be useful, like your main entrance, your cavern entrances, the trade depot, etc.

For marksdwarves, I train them as hunters, so they will become Legendary while simultaneously providing the fortress with huge amounts of food, which I cook into lavish meals to trade for all the weapons/armor/ammo/bars/anvils I need.

I was under the impression that making 100% of your squad train 24/7 with no relief or rotation really pissed them off. I've had dwarfs' happiness tank because of "patrol duty" even if they're only ever set to train, and that was in a squad where 8 of 10 were training. I know if their skill gets high enough they upgrade to their 2nd tier unit and this ceases to become a problem, but I can rarely get most to that point (especially melee) before they run out of happiness and need some off-duty time. What am I doing wrong?

I've never had a problem with military happiness; in fact they are often Ecstatic (took joy in slaughter, etc.) while my civilian dwarfs are miserable.

Training them 24/7 has 2 main benefits: first, they train faster (obviously), second, they do not mingle with civilians, which means they do not form friendships creating bad thoughts if one of them gets killed.

Needless to say you want a door/drawbridge between your barracks and main fortress, so you can isolate a berserk legendary swordsdwarf from the general population if necessary.