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[nimbus25]

In the past I've always outfitted my militia dwarves with a full set of steel armor (Helm, Breastplate, Mail shirt, Gauntlets, Greaves, High Boots, Shield, & Weapon) as soon as I want to start training them and just left them in it. However, I always see people say that it's better to start off with a minimal set armor and work them up to a full set, but I'm not really sure what's best to start off with initially.

[Loam]

I've always given them a full set initially (minus mail shirt, though not for any particular reason) and never had any issues. I don't know what benefit "working them up" would do, except that untrained dwarves in full steel tend to move slowly... but, that's not a huge issue IMO. After a solid year of basic training they should be capable of easy movement in armor.

[Shonai_Dweller]

Militias train so quickly there isn't much point in "working them up" to heavier armour.
If you're throwing together a quick emergency militia to deal with a threat Right Now, you might want to consider something lighter but otherwise, give them the best available and they'll get used to it.

[anewaname]

Players have ideas about how training works, here are a couple:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

If you set up a barracks and some dwarfs begin to spar, they will improve many fighting skills, but will not improve their Armor skill unless they are wearing armor in the location that was hit. So, the idea is to completely cover a dwarf in armor while they are training. It doesn't need to be light armor.

After a dwarf has developed good Dodge and Shield skills, they will improve their Armor skill slower because they are succeeding at dodging and blocking. So, the idea is to ensure your dwarfs work up their Armor skill before they are able to dodge well. This means you need to get them in armor when you start training them, and if you do not have enough metal, you put them in bone and leather armor.

If I am correctly recalling my last drillmaster dwarf, he started with 0 Dodge and 5 Armor skill, and trained in full armor, without shield or weapon, and become 15+ in Dodge about the time he hit 10 Armor skill. He never fought in real combat.

So, the important reason to train while wearing armor is to ensure their Armor skill benefits as much as possible. The armor doesn't need to be light, but it needs to cover most of the dwarf.

Because some players want to start training dwarfs during the first year and do not have enough metal to completely cover the dwarf, they make armor out of bone and leather.

[Stench Guzman]

Usually I'll have soldiers training before I have a good metalworking industry up and running.  Clothing counts as armor.  They'll train Armor User if they spar and get hit on their cotton socks.

[nimbus25]

Alright, I'll just stick them in steel armor then from the start. Also, how well does standard training increase attributes? A lot of my squad are really clumsy, and I'm not sure if it's worth setting up a minecart swimming pool or something

[Shonai_Dweller]

Alright, I'll just stick them in steel armor then from the start. Also, how well does standard training increase attributes? A lot of my squad are really clumsy, and I'm not sure if it's worth setting up a minecart swimming pool or something

Generally much faster than you'll ever need. Especially if you have goblin siege triggers at vanilla settings. Certainly no need for danger rooms and such these days.

Archers seem to level up much quicker with practical experience though. So set them hunting or lock some beasts behind fortifications for them to shoot at.

[Deus Machina]

Lately, I start with gauntlets, high boots, helm, and mail shirt. The 'training set' is all the cheap stuff. This covers everything, doesn't overencumber untrained dwarfs--which does help to train them quicker because they can move more before being forced to rest--and lets them train armor use before shield use.
Then they get a shield and a proper set of iron or steel, depending what I have.
Once they've proven themselves or I have enough made, they get greaves and a breastplate. As much a status symbol as anything.

I can confirm crossbowdwarfs do, at least in the previous version, level up much faster with live training. I use them for hunting or capture gobbos for that.

[Orkel]

Mail shirt and helm are the two most important pieces of armor. If you want a quick militia those two plus either spear or sword, is my choice of equipment. Adding leather armor on top of the mail shirt will give some rigidity against blunt strikes and slightly reduce momentum of sharp strikes (5%).