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[Shiv]

I've just started to get my military going and am trying to figure out how it all works.  I've gotten a pretty good grasp on mobilizing/training/etc through the wiki but one thing it doesn't seem to answer is my armor question.

If I set a dwarf to Plate armor, will he use ONLY plate or will he use lower stuff that's available too? 


I read that you can wear chain under plate, but I don't know if that's an exception for just platemail.


So, if I set a dwarf to chain armor, and no chain is available, but a full suit of leather is sitting next to the empty chain bin, will the dwarf go 'fuck it' (as they're known to do...) or will he use the next best thing?




Also what's a standard military size?  Thus far I have no siege equipment (that's what I'm working on currently) and 11 standing soldiers for a population of 70.  I've defeated two goblin ambushes so far but have lost two soldiers at both battles (so 4).

[zooeyglass]

On whether the dwarf will pick something from a different category:

I do not think so. On the wiki, as I'm sure you've seen, some materials count as a certain armour category- so bone, shell and leather all are under leather. if you set a dwarf to wear leather and they are in the military, they might get bone greaves, a leather cap, what have you. But if they are set to chain, they will not go and get something from the leather category.

I am basing my response on my reading of the wiki, and on the recommended advice that one gives dwarfs first leather, then chain, then plate, so that they layer armour (although it doesn't work quite like that) (and it is known that plate won't always sit on top of leather) for extra protection....but roll on further clarification!

Also what's a standard military size?  Thus far I have no siege equipment (that's what I'm working on currently) and 11 standing soldiers for a population of 70.  I've defeated two goblin ambushes so far but have lost two soldiers at both battles (so 4).

this depends on many factors. if you are losing soldiers in ambushes, it sounds as though perhaps they are not trained up as much as they should be in armour and shield skills - recommend that, and producing helmets, gloves and greaves for their extra protection.

also, do you use traps at all? at early stages of a fortress, when your military is relatively unskilled, you can rely on traps to take up the bulk of your defensive work.

i run by the scale of 10% of the fortress in the military, usually, although now in my 100 strong fortress i have just 7 dwarfs in the military. however, they are all either elite or champions...given that my fortress is a bit of a warren, they can be deployed to choke points and effectively hold up even a fairly large siege....

[Rowanas]

I believe thw wiki mentioned that if you set them to plate, they will get gear up to plate, taking lesser stuff if they have to.

On the military side of things, my training programme is fairly extensive, so I have to have a lot of dwarves (over 25%) in the military to ensure that I have enough troops to defend myself. Once the great wall of Rithodad is built, I'll only need about 10% because they'll be well defended and well trained. Once the subterranean watchtower entrances go up, I'll need substantially more to keep every watchtower active when sieges come (probably back to 25-30%).

All of my military are dedicated military only, doing months of wrestling traning to get them to professional, followed by induction into the marksdwarves. Once I've got a bigger training hall I'll start with spear dwarves, and maybe buy some of those mauls from the humans...

[Shiv]

I do not think so. On the wiki, as I'm sure you've seen, some materials count as a certain armour category- so bone, shell and leather all are under leather. if you set a dwarf to wear leather and they are in the military, they might get bone greaves, a leather cap, what have you. But if they are set to chain, they will not go and get something from the leather category.

Well that table is actually what spurred this thread.  If I recall correctly it has bone greaves as plate, bone gauntlets as chain, and bone helm as leather.  So I began to wonder if I could just slate Plate across the board and they'd gear up in full bone.  Seems like they do, but I don't really have an extensive set of armor to test this with (having wood supply issues, so I can't forge much). 

this depends on many factors. if you are losing soldiers in ambushes, it sounds as though perhaps they are not trained up as much as they should be in armour and shield skills - recommend that, and producing helmets, gloves and greaves for their extra protection.

Yah, they were definitely unskilled.  I know that was a factor and was surprised I didn't lose more than 2.  They were miners fresh out of the mine, I don't think they even had leather armor.  In my defense though, that was my first real encounter and it was a "Holy shit what do I do now?" moment lol.

also, do you use traps at all? at early stages of a fortress, when your military is relatively unskilled, you can rely on traps to take up the bulk of your defensive work.

Not really.  I try to keep things far away from my entrance and have built a channel to act as a moat and filled it with a section of the nearby river.  Also I used that same river to make a third 'wall' so now the front of my fort is like a U with bridges going across.  I'm hoping to reroute some magma (if I ever find it) to replace it but so far the digging isn't going too well. 

I do have 6 guard towers built up along the banks of the river though.  I plan on putting some catapults out there as well soon as I figure out how those work. 

But so far nothing has gotten to my entrance yet.  And if it ever does I have another bridge going across said earlier channel that I can withdraw if I can't get them to retract the other bridges fast enough. 

[zooeyglass]

I do have 6 guard towers built up along the banks of the river though.  I plan on putting some catapults out there as well soon as I figure out how those work. 

awesome sauce on all of your points except the above - i remember a discussion that came to the conclusion that siege engines could not fire up/down z-levels - only on the z-level they are placed. (as opposed to markdwarves who can fire up and down z-levels if they have the appropriate line of sight). so worth bearing in mind if you have towers with siege towers on - looks cool, but might be useless!

[decius]

Yah, they were definitely unskilled.  I know that was a factor and was surprised I didn't lose more than 2.  They were miners fresh out of the mine, I don't think they even had leather armor.  In my defense though, that was my first real encounter and it was a "Holy shit what do I do now?" moment lol.

If you've been mining constantly, you should have legendary miners or thereabouts, and I recall that miners used the mining skill when fighting with picks.

I've found that my miners are often more than powerful enough to take care of most wildlife and early ambushes.

Regarding fuel supply issues, there can be only one resonse. magma don't embark without it.