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[Vander]

Ok just had the single most frustrating experience so far with dwarf fortress, more frustrating than actually learning how to play the game.

I have finally managaged to make myself a decent fortress, It has admitadly no traps but I never really designed the fortress to have any instead relying on a number of champions that I had trained up over the fortresses lifetime.

My second ever siege arrives, with trolls which was a surprise though they proved to be a pushover. As I rushed to activate my army I noticed that half of them had become Urist Mcsleepies or Urist McHungries and in the end I could only persuade 1 of my four squads to go out and fight, not even any marksdwarves! As I was becoming Urist McGrumpy I was mildly satisfied as the only squad actually bothering to do their job summarily smashed the trolls to pieces, whereupon I quickly called them to retreat from the approaching marksgoblins. This was the only part of the battle that went well.

The Heroic champions who defeated the trolls were then summarily wiped out by the large numbers of Goblins swarming over them as their reinfocements uselessly arrived late and one at a time!

Eventually the goblins ran away but in the process I lost 5 Champions, 3 of them that I actually cared about the other two I consider to be a summary execution for falling asleep at their posts.

I am now looking at the wreckage of the aftermath and seriously considering executing all of my military for dereliction of duty except for the one dwarf who actually did any work and has now gone from 1 to 12 kills in one go.

I know this issue has been brought up before but I really needed to get that out of my system. I guess its time to start creating traps .

[Axe27]

You really want to execute all your champions?

The ones you spent forever training,armoring, and making ready?

No bueno dude. These guys are very important.

[Zorgn]

Traps never sleep.

[Vander]

Yes, Yes I do. Any military that didn't execute their men for that kind of dereliction of duty would be held as a joke.

Though I will be training up a new military first so their execution will be placed on hold whilst I figure out some suitable punishment.

[bombcar]

If the leader of a squad goes to drink or sleep the entire squad will follow him. Re-organize the squad at that time.

The good news is the next release should massively change this, and make it work better.

[sbr]

If the leader of a squad goes to drink or sleep the entire squad will follow him. Re-organize the squad at that time.

The good news is the next release should massively change this, and make it work better.

Can't wait.  IMO the most needed change.  Everything else can be worked around.

[Marlowe]

Don't use squads at all. Control them individually. I find that you pretty much have to do that for marksdwarves anyway to get them into good firing positions.

[Axe27]

Yes, Yes I do. Any military that didn't execute their men for that kind of dereliction of duty would be held as a joke.

Though I will be training up a new military first so their execution will be placed on hold whilst I figure out some suitable punishment.

In dwarf fortress, your dwarves attempt to milk burning cows. Trust me, no one cares about the fact that it's a joke. You'll find yourself facepalming when the Bronze Colossus shows up, and your champions are resting in their tombs.

[Glacies]

S'how I lost my first good fortress too. Only my captain of the guard, with her sparring silver axe decided to show up. The others then showed up in groups of 1-3 in five minute intervals, and were wiped out at the leisure of the goblins.

[Yami]

My advice?  Wall the map, use bridges to seal off areas, then when the sieges come you can pull levers to funnel the goblins where you wish... like say... a secluded bridged off area where all your failed warriors are on duty.  Then, drinking, sleeping or whatever, they have no choice but to fight to their death.

My favorite tactic.  it's how i make arenas without worrying about caged goblins becoming cowardly whence released.

[Rhenaya]

Traps never sleep.

My advice?  Wall the map, use bridges to seal off areas, then when the sieges come you can pull levers to funnel the goblins where you wish... like say... a secluded bridged off area where all your failed warriors are on duty.  Then, drinking, sleeping or whatever, they have no choice but to fight to their death.

My favorite tactic.  it's how i make arenas without worrying about caged goblins becoming cowardly whence released.

Those tactics are really boring, the game is with large defending constructions far to easy :p so i ca understand him to rely on a standing military. but in fact of the sleepiness at the wrong time i only make squads of 3-5 dwarfs and have 10 of them, and if th leader is sleeping i simply promote a fellow champ to squad leader. also every squad has some war dogs with them.
i may lost 200 dwarfs in the passing years, but hey its more interesting than to cage trap every single goblin shows up :p

[sneakey pete]

Squads? what squads. ever dwarf is their own squad, this way your force concentration doesn't just depend on what the leaders are doing.

[EvilCheerio]

I always thought a cool addition to the military screen would be a forced march kind of command. You could set it so that your military dwarves would a) do as they please, while following the leader, b) sync up with there leader so that they would forgo sleeping, eating, and drinking until the leader wanted (good if you have dwarves that patrol) or c) an "all hands to battle stations kind of command where (at a cost to happiness and if it gets to bad combat effectiveness) military dwarves forgo their automated tasks to fight.

  what kind of half assed army can't control their meal and sleeping times, ... o right a dwarven one.

[forsaken1111]

You know you can set "Sleep on ground" and "Carry food/water" right? They will sleep/eat/drink AT their post. It should at least cut down on trips, as they'll run off to get new food less often.

[Eruonen]

I usually make squads of one or two dwarves. Champions are alone, but get war dogs. Recruits are paired up. Marksdwarves are always alone.