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[BFEL]

Yeah I have been having an issue with attribute training. I keep trying to toughen dwarves for military service, but nothing seems to work. Mining doesn't increase anything, pumps dont increase anything. I checked and no, none of the dwarves are vamps, so WTF? I tried this on two computers now. This one is brand new with a new install of DF and even after going from no skill to Proficient I see no stat changes. Is this an issue with the current DF version or am I just Stark Raving Mad?

[toomanysecrets]

Are you using a utility to look at their actual attribute score, or are you just going off of the character description? You can use Splinter's version of Dwarf Therapist (among other things) to see the numerical score.

Attributes go up really really slow, unless you use a danger room (more or less cheating).  Don't think you are going to "power level" in a short amount of time, because you just can't without a danger room (or macros in adventure mode  )

[Lich180]

Usually 2 years of constant sparring are enough for my militia to become quite strong, but I don't see problems with using the Coinstar method of "danger rooms" since it requires much more setup and dedicated equipment/time (look up the item drop training thread, don't have a link at the moment).

Using coins (totally safe, since they "pass through" or are "deflected by" armor including cloth) and a retracting bridge to fling them around, it trains all stats quite fast, especially the difficult to train armor user skill. Takes a while to separate a stack of coins into singles, but I think the effort makes it less exploity.

Sometimes a dwarf drops an item of clothing in the Coinstar, which can break bones and crush skulls through armor. This adds a lot more danger to the room then a traditional danger room.

I like to think of the military relaxing after a hard day of sparring or killing prisoners in the arena by sitting in a whirlwind of flying coins, relaxing tired muscles.

[Telgin]

This more or less coincides with my experience in that most labors don't produce much attribute change over time.  However, as Lich180 mentions military training usually does a pretty good job of boosting attributes after a few years.  After taking a look at a squad of dwarves who have been training for the better part of a decade (largely sparring), they have all of their physical stats far into the green.  Some have hilariously high stats.

Pump operating doesn't train stats quickly, but it does help.  It does a lot more for endurance than strength as far as I've seen, but it serves a more important secondary function for me: it gives my soldiers a civilian profession so they're not unhappy to go off duty.

[Sutremaine]

In my experience, six months of near-constant pump operating will raise a dwarf's Endurance by about 200 points. This is not necessarily enough to bump them into the next description category.

[BFEL]

Ah well I haven't been counting the actual dwarf-time, just how many skill levels they gained. I thought attributes were raised when the corresponding skill level did, so that going from novice to legendary would be the way to train. Guess I can relax about making my miners higher then novice at embark

[Sutremaine]

No, it's based on how long a dwarf spends doing the activity. In most cases this corresponds to skill level. But if you have two identical dwarves with two identical tasks (say, smoothing a 30x30 room), then a fresh dwarf will gain less XP from the task than one who's hungry, thirsty, drowsy, and sober.

I have never tested to see whether all the time spent on a task is counted, or just the parts where the dwarf is in the workshop or otherwise working directly on the job.

[Bartholomew The Pious]

In my experience, six months of near-constant pump operating will raise a dwarf's Endurance by about 200 points. This is not necessarily enough to bump them into the next description category.

Huh. I ought to check all my dwarves' attributes, because 2 years have just passed by with every dwarf operating an artificial waterfall screw pump.

[riznar]

Attributes (at least the descriptions of them) are recalculated at the new year. You can test this by sequestering a dwarf in a danger room all to itself. Make sure they don't have negative physical traits, as those don't seem to ever gain EXP. This is similar to how honest dwarves cannot gain exp in the liar skill.

[Telgin]

It's not that subnormal traits don't gain exp, it's just that their cap is lower.  Supposedly, if it works like adventure mode, the cap is either double the dwarf's start / base value, or the base + 1000.  So if the base is below 1000, its cap is going to be lower.

I'm actually not sure if this does work the same as adventure mode, because I've seen some dwarves with absurdly high physical stats after years of training, which would have meant starting attributes near 1500.  It's possible I believe, but pretty unlikely.

What stats were you checking for?  It's possible it's one that a danger room doesn't train?

[Broken]

Bases in my experience with item training, it works the same that adventure mode. Atats rise quicky for a time and then stabilize.

[Sutremaine]

Supposedly, if it works like adventure mode, the cap is either double the dwarf's start / base value, or the base + 1000.  So if the base is below 1000, its cap is going to be lower.

It's base + racial average.

I'm actually not sure if this does work the same as adventure mode, because I've seen some dwarves with absurdly high physical stats after years of training, which would have meant starting attributes near 1500.  It's possible I believe, but pretty unlikely.

Depends on the stat. A starting Agility of 1500 is rare because of the 900 average, but 1500 starting Strength or Toughness is more common because of the 1250 average.

What stats were you checking for?  It's possible it's one that a danger room doesn't train?

Danger room stats depend on the skill being raised.

Weapon / Shield: Agility, Kinesthetic Sense, Spatial Sense, Strength, Toughness, Willpower
Armour: Endurance, Kinesthetic Sense, Strength, Toughness, Willpower
Dodge: Agility, Endurance, Spatial Sense, Toughness, Willpower

Assuming the wiki is correct on this, it's possible to miss out on Endurance training if your dwarves use parrying and shield blocking exclusively. The wiki doesn't state how much each stat is raised by a skill, and it may be that some stats are raised only enough to maintain them.