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[umiman]

You know... a lot of people claim that when you give your fresh recruits the sharpest blades you can muster and have them spar, you end up with a lot of dead dwarves.

So, in the middle of a cheating goblin siege bait fortress where the goblins apparently don't want to siege (to test my goblin mod), I had the unfortunate side effect of attracting 80 immigrants in one go.

So, since my 5 weaponsmiths were working nonstop producing adamantine gear since embark (it was a cheating fortress aimed at attracting sieges), I just gave every single new immigrant an (crappy) adamantine spear, axe, or mace and a wooden shield each, and pointed them at the barracks.

It's been a year and I've only had one death and one injury. I was expecting the halls to be painted red with blood but now I've got a assload of freeloaders going by the names of axelords and macelords and spearlords.

What gives?

[Slooth]

Only related because it's about sparring;

Is there a way to force a squad to spar within a certain area? I have two eantrances and I'd like to keep atleast one squad near both of them, without having them "on duty".

[Moogie]

Try building an alcove with a weapon rack or armour stand in it, and create a small 'room' from that to designate as a Barracks. Dwarves should go there to spar, at least some of the time if you have other active barracks rooms.

[Slooth]

Alright, so there's no way to assign a specific squad to spar in a specific barracs-area?

[umiman]

Nope, sorry.

[Klendt]

As far as I can tell, injuries sustained in sparring heal very fast. Like, VERY fast. They'll be walking to bed to rest it off and heal on the way there.
Anyhoo, my take on it is, with all the stories of unmitigated catastrophes pertaining to sparring accidents, it's either a case of previous versions having it worse or the RNG having a blood feud with certain players.

[Skizelo]

I've had a few struck down, but a lot of brain/spine injuries.
I'd say you're better off with more traditional ways of killing dwarves.

[DJ]

I've actually had much more injuries in hammer training than in spear training. Hammers seem to cause a lot of brain and spine wounds.

[Quiller]

I'm not sure how many training deaths I've had, I think I've had 3 or so, if all of the recruit suffocated to death messages were training injuries, and not something else.  I usually make a periodic sweep through my military listings, and reassign anyone who has gotten nerve injuries while training for melee.  Usually it is the one who is still a recruit in the group of wrestlers or a wrestler in the group of melee dwarves.  They get assigned to either marksdwarf duty, fortress or royal guard or sent back to the civilian sector if they didn't gain any useful military skills before getting hurt.  If they somehow have decent melee weapon skills when they get injured they would be a good choice of dwarves to send out on patrols outside.  (Least benefit from standing down, get a chance to improve skills, and if they run into the wrong ambush, generally more expendable)

[Juason]

Using steel weapons/armor I lost over 15 dwarves to sparring accidents in 5 years.  The rest of my army was brain damaged and refused to spar, so I just ended up locking everyone in a room until they drool-died of starvation and thirst. >:|

Using copper weapons and steel armor I've lost nobody in 5 years, but still get a few spinal taps each year...  Now I use DF Companion and heal the nerve damage because I think its a poor system.

[MuonDecay]

quote:Originally posted by DJ:
<STRONG>I've actually had much more injuries in hammer training than in spear training. Hammers seem to cause a lot of brain and spine wounds.</STRONG>

My hammerdwarf squad has a leader who's good with a hammer, but insists on following the advice of a nonexistant hamster ever since he got bashed in the head while sparring.

[Lyrax]

quote:Originally posted by MuonDecay:
<STRONG>My hammerdwarf squad has a leader who's good with a hammer, but insists on following the advice of a nonexistant hamster ever since he got bashed in the head while sparring.</STRONG>

Ah.  That would be the miniature giant space hamster.  It counts as a vermin creature, actually, but it's not hatable.  Some dwarves like miniature giant space hamsters for their cuteness and ferocity.

Go for the eyes!  Go for the eyes!

[Avelon]

quote:Originally posted by MuonDecay:
<STRONG>

My hammerdwarf squad has a leader who's good with a hammer, but insists on following the advice of a nonexistant hamster ever since he got bashed in the head while sparring.</STRONG>

quote:Originally posted by Lyrax:
<STRONG>Ah.  That would be the miniature giant space hamster.  It counts as a vermin creature, actually, but it's not hatable.  Some dwarves like miniature giant space hamsters for their cuteness and ferocity.

Go for the eyes!  Go for the eyes!</STRONG>

...generally I'd laugh and go on to the next thread, but I actually believe DF is quite capable of this. Is this true, an inside joke, or just random jokery? =P

[MuonDecay]

Not as much an inside joke as a pop culture reference. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minsc#Boo

Character from the Baldur's Gate games.

[ June 06, 2008: Message edited by: MuonDecay ]

[Dadamh]

I have an Axelord that seems to enjoy hacking up recruits.  He's killed at least four or five, and usually spectacularly.  He doesn't really care about anything anymore, but he does take joy in slaughter.