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[Shoku]

Fortress guard beat up dwarves that commit crimes (and sometimes assign them to any prison rooms but the punishment for the crime is often a beating,) so you want them to be weak for fewer dead dwarves. As such they are naturally inclined to train themselves up the legendary against your wishes.

What you want for defense from sieges is military squads from the m menu. Until they become super-skilled you can un-draft them back into peasant work so if you don't want your hunters dieing you can train them up in some wrestling or make them very deadly with uber crossbow skill. In some version or other training up hammer skill past crossbow skill will make them treat crossbows like hammers and only ever use them as such thus it becomes impossible to have them train crossbows anymore so be careful about that.

[zchris13]

That's an old bug, and no longer applies.

[Hippoman]

Thanks guys.

[Elliott_Thinas]

I once had a legendary weaponsmith; he had been struck by a fey mood, rounded up a few bars of steel and some diamonds and proceeded to make a beautiful mace. He was married to a nice young dyer, had two kids; productive, well loved. Dozens of friends. Enjoyed helping others. When he wasn't producing helpful weapons for my military, he was always giving food to the wounded; rarely partied. Upstanding citizen material and he had a whole great life ahead of him; probably in the running for mayorship.

A woodcutter, a loner, a drunk who hated others got angry from being out in the hot sunlight and a lack of work. Friendless, one day he just lashed out. Carrying with him his steel battleaxe (a beautiful weapon, lovingly prepared by my weaponsmith to be used for good) he smashed down a door in an area near the forges.

I did not have a fortress guard. I had been told I could increaes the happiness of a fort by not having one. Oh I was wrong.

The woodcutter hacked down the door; in a policed fort this act would have brought a horde of guardsdwarves down on him, but in this one nothing happened. Did he feel any better? It didn't matter.

My weaponsmith rounded the corner, carrying a steel bar in his hand. He just had one more pick to make (a mandate for the mayor, but my smith didn't mind, he liked the mayor and picks were a sensible thing to ask for) and was looking forward to finishing his job and going home to his family. In the next hallway he noticed their was a missing door and a woodcutter; odd, as the woodcutters rarely came into the forge areas.

The crazy woodcutter charged the unsuspecting weaponsmith, slicing off his left hand. The smith, tough, didn't fade out quite yet and but tumbled to the floor. At this point, guards should have been everywhere, carrying the woodcutter to prison and helping the poor weaponsmith to a bed. No one came.

The woodcutter hacked off the smith's other hand; he would never forge a masterpiece short sword again; never haul a steel bar; never carry a wounded friend to safety again.

The woodcutter, satisfied that he had 'started a fist fight' wandered off, happy with the massive destruction he had caused. While he, completely unpunished, drinks sunshine, parties and takes breaks, my poor smith will rest for the rest of his life. The woodcutter will not spend a single day of his life in jail, or even feel the lightest beating.

This, my friends, is why we have fortress guards.


(in case you were wondering none of this happened but it could have; which is why I have never had a fort without a huge guard force)

[zchris13]

The guards commence pummeling the snot out of the woodcutter.  Woodcutter dies because of severe fist related problems with his major organs.  Family tantrums. Beatings commence. Friends tantrum. Beatings commence. Fist fights start. Beatings. Unhappiness. Beatings.  Jail time.  Goblins show up, get lucky, kill a legendary hammerdwarf.  Already unstable fort collapses under the tantrums and beatings.  "Your fortress has crumbled to its end."

[Puck]

Whenever I have off duty squads, they seem to be ready to respond to any tantruming dwarven threat.

Is that just coincidence? (Their barracks are not too far off the heavy traffic areas)

Either way, seems they would do the same things as a fortress guard. Whatever, I like fortress guards, they add to the atmosphere, when they jail somebody. Just gotta be extra careful with your dwarves. And have free coffins, at all times.