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[IronTomato]

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[BlackFlyme]

When do you start training your military? Sooner is better, and making at least one of the starting seven a full-time soldier is what I do.

Silver for blunt weapons only because of its poor cutting ability. Most other metals are fine for both bladed and blunt weapons, but silver is incredibly dull, and silver blades will perform poorly. On the flip side, adamantine is incredibly sharp, but is useless for blunt weapons due to its low weight.

Use wooden or leather shields. Material makes no difference in blocking abilities, only the shield's quality and the user's skill count. Wood and leather are both light, so they won't slow your soldiers as much.

If possible, armour them up with metal. Embarking with a few ore-bearing rocks will probably net you enough bars for at least one set of armour. Armour can be quite heavy, so unless they have a decent skill, your soldiers may be slowed quite a bit, putting them at a disadvantage.

I set up multiple training orders to be carried out simultaneously, so that if one of the soldiers starts a demonstration there will still be other soldiers sparring off at the side, instead of everyone wasting time standing around staring at a dwarf bite at the air.

That's everything I can think of off of the top of my head at the moment.

[Splint]

I find 3-4 dwarf squads work best, keep them training constantly. Weapon varies by preference (always pick the best material for the job; silver hammers will demolish poorly armored targets but can often get deflected by bronze and iron armor, whereass a steel sword or axe would work best against large or particularly sturdy foes) and wood shields are advised to save on weight. I find a sane uniform works best, providing adequate protection with a minimum of weight, and even copper is better than nothing. Using the current DFhack will also make training soldiers considerably easier as it fixes a whole bunch of problems with it (equipment storage, training times, stuff like that.)

Metal bits: A must to minimize injury without hampering speed too badly
1 Helmet
1 Breastplate
1 Mail shirt
1 Set of Greaves
1 pair of gauntlets and boots

Nonmetal bits: More extra if you have the supplies or want to add it anyway.
1 Cloak and hood
1 bodywear
1 pair of pants of some kind
1 pair of gloves
1 pair of socks

Preferably, these would be made of leather. Layers and layers are all well and good but a good soldier needs to be light on his feet; he can't rely on his armor to stop everything.

For marksmen, speed is everything. Until they're trained up sufficiently, I personally go with this for ranged troops to maximize their rate of fire. Shield is optional but should be made of wood to save on weight.

Metal bits
1 helmet
1 mail shirt
1 pair of gauntlets and boots

Nonmental bits
1 cloak and hood
1 leather bodywear
1 suit of leather armor
1 set of leather leggings
1 set of gloves and socks

Weapon is one wood or bone crossbow. Again, this is to save on weight and increase thier rate of fire and save resources for other things. Make sure the squad also has ammo. I recommend assigning bone and wood bolts for both combat and training, and metal ones for combat only.

Marksdwarves will train at targets that they're assigned to train at that is inside a main barracks defined from a box, stand. or rack. Melee troops simply need the main barracks set up. Just an armor stand or bag/box set up and defined will be enough. The squads do need to be assigned to the barracks to train there though, as otherwise they'll sit on their thumbs in the meeting areas.

Embarking with at least one soldier is often a good idea. Some opt for novice weapon skill, and boosting something else like dodging or shield and giving them proficient teacher. I personally go with novice weapon skill and competent in dodge, shield, and armor use so if need be they can fight off early threats and fight decently against animals alone.

I could say more but my sleepiness has me worried much of this is unintelligible and BlackFlyme ninja'd me in some stuff.

[Pukako]

I'll add my problem here - my ground troops are awesome and recently acquitted themselves well against some clowns. The archers, though, just don't work for me.

Currently I've got a large goblin invasion, and two of the poorly trained marksdwarves are standing outside supposedly 'waiting for archery practise'. I've got both a barracks and a range for them, but I've had one bolt fired at it in the last two years.

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? I've got them on the same training regime as the axedwarves.

[Splint]

I would guess the range isn't part of the barracks, there's not enough training ammo, or there's too many squad members and not enough training orders or something to that effect.

[Urist McRas]

I could say more but my sleepiness has me worried much of this is unintelligible and BlackFlyme ninja'd me in some stuff.

I would like you to, you actually made it clear. It may result in a decent how-to-military guide.

[Splint]

I could say more but my sleepiness has me worried much of this is unintelligible and BlackFlyme ninja'd me in some stuff.

I would like you to, you actually made it clear. It may result in a decent how-to-military guide.

Well I basically rely on elite soldiers to win most of my fights with traps at choke points, so I've gotten a good handle on the military and its interface.

I'd need to know what else needs to be said to provide any information I have gained through experience, so ask away.

[Urist McRas]

It is not that I need new information on military, it's just you put things I already know in a way, that would be easier to understand for newbie. Certanly easier, than reading armor page on wiki.

[Splint]

I'd make a guide if I had any clue on how to do such thing really.

[Sutremaine]

I like to go light with armour -- mail shirts only for the melee types, and pretty much just civilian clothing for 'pure' marksdwarves. A quick weight comparison:

Steel mail shirt: 19L
25 steel bolts: 29L
25 bronze bolts: 30L
25 copper bolts: 33L
25 silver bolts: 39L

Bolts are heavy, especially if you're using silver in order to save the better materials for other things. A marksdwarf with no combat training will die just as quickly as a civilian when exposed to enemy fire or weapons, and so they are armoured accordingly.

Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? I've got them on the same training regime as the axedwarves.

That's probably the problem. If your marksdwarves are sparring or doing demonstrations (as the axedwarves would be, given their training regime), then they're too busy to put bolts in inanimate targets. On the plus side, they should be picking up the same survivability skills as the axedwarves, although their weapon skill is Hammer and their weapons are about as useful in combat as a featherwood training axe.

Live fire is a much better source of XP, if you can get a consistent setup.

[greycat]

The most important thing which hasn't been mentioned yet is to install DFHack to get the military training fixes.  This increases sparring rate and removes the bad thoughts for "long patrol duty" for dwarves that have never been on a single patrol.

I keep my armor light in order not to slow down my dwarves.  A dwarf's speed is probably the single most important factor in everything she does.  It makes them train faster, waste less time between training sessions, hit more often in combat, close the distance to the enemy faster, etc.

I go with 1 mail shirt, 1 cloak, 1 helm, 1 hood, 1 leggings, 1 (pair) high boots, 1 (pair) gauntlets, 1 (pair) mittens, 1 wooden shield, and 1 weapon.

[Splint]

Actually I did mention it

[Lochar]

The most important thing which hasn't been mentioned yet is to install DFHack to get the military training fixes.  This increases sparring rate and removes the bad thoughts for "long patrol duty" for dwarves that have never been on a single patrol.

I keep my armor light in order not to slow down my dwarves.  A dwarf's speed is probably the single most important factor in everything she does.  It makes them train faster, waste less time between training sessions, hit more often in combat, close the distance to the enemy faster, etc.

I go with 1 mail shirt, 1 cloak, 1 helm, 1 hood, 1 leggings, 1 (pair) high boots, 1 (pair) gauntlets, 1 (pair) mittens, 1 wooden shield, and 1 weapon.

I was reading the dfhack manual and saw some of the tweaks to armor and weapon racks but said only after patch is applied. I was never sure if this patch came with the newest lnp.

Also I have a similiar setup but just recently added the mailshirts as came in excess, and using iron shields because I didnt know better.

I have survived my last major siege with only 1 death and that was due to him not getting treated quick enough. I have 2 squads of mark dwarves and 4 melee squads. Altho 90% of my migration waves came as competent weapon skilled person so didnt have to train any recruits. I dont use chokepoints or traps so I know a standing army works so far.

[greycat]

Personally, I don't see the point of storing equipment in furniture in the barracks.  You don't want dwarves to remove their armor, ever.  It's hard enough to get the little bastards dressed in the first place.

[Splint]

I dont use chokepoints or traps so I know a standing army works so far.

The use of chokepoints can reduce the chance of a soldier running off alone (as they may be around a corner or other obstacle,) and traps at these points can significantly hurt an enemy attack and easily deter/kill most snatchers and weaken ambushes without being arranged in huge meat grinding halls. Plus if attacks/snatching attempts are frequent you can put the weapons to use.

Another handy thing is to keep clear cutting to a minimum, not to avoid offending the elves' tender sensibilities but so that melee troops have plenty of obstructions/cover when assaulting enemy archers. STarted doing this and my injury rates in such battles has dropped an astounding amount!

Personally, I don't see the point of storing equipment in furniture in the barracks.  You don't want dwarves to remove their armor, ever.  It's hard enough to get the little bastards dressed in the first place.

May be so they store it in the barracks in general rather than a potentially far off weapon/armor stockpile, but I've never really had them store thier kit once they put it on.