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[BossChase]

I just got the option for a guard and I'm wondering if I should stick my experienced dwarfs in there or keep them as my army.

I need to train up fresh recruits either way, and if there isn't much difference in the two forces I'd rather have the more experienced solders in the Guard.

Thanks

[BlackFlyme]

The fortress guard isn't much different from your standard militia.

The main difference is that the guard is also capable of enforcing justice within your fort.

This can range from putting criminals in prison (if you have one) to beating them up.

[Cptn Kaladin Anrizlokum]

The guard also punishes criminals, so you might not want the best there...

[KiBoy]

I'm not sure, but I think that you will need to make guard anyway once you get a certain noble.

[klefenz]

I'm not sure, but I think that you will need to make guard anyway once you get a certain noble.

Not in the current version. You can ignore sheriff/hammere/guards completely, and its a good idea to do it since dwarven justice is useless.
They just imprison/beat useful dwarves. Its only real use is to put vampires in jail, but that an be inconvenient if you had uses for the vamp or useless if you want to kill/wall him in.

For the OP: just stick with military, there isnt much real use for guard yet.

[KiBoy]

I'm not sure, but I think that you will need to make guard anyway once you get a certain noble.

Not in the current version.

Well, thanks. I did not know that.

[Northstar1989]

dwarven justice is useless.

Not actually.  There are happy thoughts that the victims of crimes (such as assault, or relatives of someone who was murdered by a dwarf in a tantrum) get when the criminal is punished.

And if there is a guard, but they are incapable of enforcing the punishments (say a vampire in a walled-off area assigned to be "Captain of the Guard"), then criminals also get happy thoughts from "delay of punishment".  Victims get unhappy thoughts in this case, but they also get unhappy thoughts from "justice is unenforceable" (or something like that- if you have no Fortress Guards), so they're pissed either way.


Since the dwarves who commit the more serious crimes (such as assault and murder) are generally unstable and prior to go insane/berserk/melancholy anyways, it's usually better to have the Fortress Guard imprison/beat the perpetrators and give happy thoughts to the rest of the Fortress, to help avert tantrum-spirals (they'll still probably happen anyways if you don't take more drastic action to counter them- but every little bit helps...)

Dwarven Justice works on the principle of "breaking a few eggs to make an omelet"- it will generally kill/injure/drive insane the criminals, who would have probably lost it anyways, but helps keep the rest of your Fortress happy.  That criminal may *seem* useful because he's a blacksmith or a skilled soldier or whatnot, but he's a LOT more useful insane in prison than he is at large and Berserk with his full military gear that he just happened to have on when he lost it...


Regards,
Northstar

[klefenz]

Unless he was just a skilled jeweler that gets punished because some noble mandated large gems

[krenshala]

Well the other option is to equip your punishment distribution group with the fluffiest weapons possible, and make sure they are as weak as can be.  Nothing makes everyone happy like an adamantine hammer equipped hammerer that is unquestionably weak -- he dispenses justice so the victims get good thoughts, and the criminals get a good hammering that is about as dangerous as a pillow smashed into the back of your head.  There is still the small chance of a lucky hit, but for the most part everyone goes home happy and/or bruised and nothing worse.

[Skuggen]

My Hammerer/Guard Captain is decked out in full gold armor, with a gold warhammer. All he does is prance around looking shiny, giving out the occasional beatings when some noble decides that no, he wants all those dice for himself just as the caravan is leaving with several crates of the damn things.

[Panando]

A decent use for the guard is a marksdwarf squad, since they wont use bolts on criminals, but instead beat them with their crossbow, if it is made of wood or bone then the beating wont do much damage (especially so if they are also barely trained in hammerdwarf). But they will shoot actual enemies.

[FallenAngel]

Yeah, if you need a guard that's useful where it actually matters (killing evil/innocent wildlife), have them as marksdwarves.
If you want the three stooges, give everyone lightweight things, like adamantine war hammers. They'll dish out much more death with their fists if it's down to them, and you can give them something less like a wiffle bat if they're all that's left (after enough justice, they'll be good at hammerdwarfing). In my experience, even copper war hammers are effective in the right hands, although something heavier should be used.

[§k]

Is it possible to have captain of the guard carrying bow but not carrying quiver?

Edit: without forbidding every quiver.

[Larix]

dwarven justice is useless.

Not actually.  There are happy thoughts that the victims of crimes (such as assault, or relatives of someone who was murdered by a dwarf in a tantrum) get when the criminal is punished.

_Some_ very lawful dwarfs will get happy thoughts when justice is done, but in my experience this is tied to soul attributes (the vast majority of dwarfs don't derive happiness from that) and expands far beyond victims - i had a case where the relatives of the "criminal" got happy thoughts when she was justicemurdered and her child doomed to dehydration. In general, those happy thoughts are very minor and don't make up for the massive damage "justice" currently causes (like dwarfs dead from a beating or dehydrated in jail - death causes much more unhappiness than tardy punishments). Similarly, nobles' unhappiness over delayed punishment is very minor and can safely be ignored.

I don't institute justice when tantrums rage and am more likely to dissolve guards at such a time, because the guard just spreads unhappiness, which certainly is not useless: it's directly harmful when too much unhappiness is already your problem.

In my experience, the vast majority of tantrumming dwarfs will calm down and stabilise eventually, they're _not_ "going to go crazy anyway". If your tantrummers all go insane, chances are pretty good that they do so because you insist in sticking them in prison, making matters much worse - being confined seems to be a cumulative bad thought, which adds up to quite a lot over a longer time.

@captain of the guard - just assign no ammunition to the squad. But since guards don't shoot criminals, giving them ammo is the better choice - they can effectively take down annoying wildlife or kobold thieves this way.

[greycat]

Is it possible to have captain of the guard carrying bow but not carrying quiver?

Edit: without forbidding every quiver.

Unassign all ammunition from the squad (or at least all arrows) and they should carry an empty quiver.  Is that good enough?