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[DrKissinger1]

In my first foray into the new version of DF, I eventually built a squad of 5 dwarves, disabled all of their civilian labor, and gave them a barracks set to "sleep" and "train". I hadn't equipped them with any arms or armor yet, so I assumed they would be busy training wrestling. When I pop in to check on them, they do seem to be in the barracks doing "individual drills" or whatever it's called, but when I took a peek at their military skills a year later, I saw that they hadn't gone up a single rank in Wrestling, or any military skill, for that matter. I took a look at Dwarf Therapist and saw that, while they had a smattering of experience in wrestling, it was still 1/3 the amount needed to upgrade one "level" in the skill. Is there something in the squad or military menu that I missed? Has anyone else's dwarves behaved like this before?

[celem]

check that they arnt set to the 'Inactive' alert still, squads use this by default when created

Otherwise Individual training is slow yeah.  once you kill a critter or two theyll start to pick up skills and sparring should kick in

[DrKissinger1]

Is there another alert that should be set? Or do I have to make my own?

[tolkafox]

It's faster if you have one dwarf with high military and teaching skills to instruct them. I embark with a novice archer/marksdwarf, proficient teacher, and competent ambusher. You could probably do the same thing with a warrior, but it's a pain to watch them chase groundhogs around the map (cut them off at the pass! No, don't follow everyone else, oh for Armok's sake)

The alert should be training, you can do this from the {m}ilitary menu or {s}quad menu under alerts. Be sure to read about schedules so you don't train them to death as well.

[DrKissinger1]

Will do, many thanks!

[Quietust]

Be sure to read about schedules so you don't train them to death as well.

There's no need to worry about dwarves "training to death" - even if the Training order is set to 10/10 dwarves, they'll still take breaks to eat, drink, and sleep. As an added bonus, leaving them training 100% of the time means they'll eventually reach Elite status, at which point they will no longer get bad thoughts about long patrol duty (which seems to happen any time they're in Military mode, even if they're only training) - if they ever go back to being peasants, they'll temporarily lose their Elite status and will get a few unhappy thoughts once they go back on duty (until they become elite again).

Also, giving individual dwarves orders through the (s)quad menu seems to be problematic, since when the order is cancelled the dwarf returns to civilian mode until they realize they need to go back to training - when you give an order to the entire squad, this seems to not happen.

[madmaxxam]

I've found that if you have a bunch of equally inexperienced dwarfs squads of 2 helps them train quicker, as they seem to spar more, which is the best (non-danger room) way of them to gain skills. 

I've not used any danger rooms and tend to have dwarfs get up to about lvl 6 or 7 fighter after the first year or so if I put them in a squad of 2 together and have them train at least 9 months of the year.  Later, I add more dwarfs to the squad so the experienced ones can teach them up (although I'm not sure about how quick that process is).

[Hyndis]

One thing I've been doing is to have custom workshops set up as classrooms.

The workshops have practice dodge and practice block as possible jobs. I put them on repeat, and adjust the profile so that dwarves stop training at master. This leaves them some room to become legendary on their own.

I'll then build about 10+ of each workshop and just ignore them from then on. All new migrants or dwarves who reach adulthood will head to the school for training. After they have graduated from the classes they will be able to do other jobs, but at first they need to go to school.

On maps with water I'll also build another set of classrooms with a practice swimming job on repeat. Everyone gets swimming lessons! No exceptions. Training can take several years, but it seems fair. Its much, much slower than a danger room however it is also completely safe, and it will train up all dwarves, including your monarch, so that everyone will have at least the basics of how not to block axes with one's face.

[Calathar]

As an added bonus, leaving them training 100% of the time means they'll eventually reach Elite status, at which point they will no longer get bad thoughts about long patrol duty (which seems to happen any time they're in Military mode, even if they're only training) - if they ever go back to being peasants, they'll temporarily lose their Elite status and will get a few unhappy thoughts once they go back on duty (until they become elite again).

I have noticed my dwarves alternating between elite and non elite but did not know why since I thought elite only meant greater than Great (as does the wiki).  If Elite only corresponds with being in military mode for an extended time, then that would definitely explain why my dwarves keep switching.  Is this a new change?

[o_O[WTFace]]

Military is SLOW at first if you don't have anyone with military skills to teach them.  Individual drills seem to be more useful for dorfs who already have some experience. 

Get them wearing a few cloaks each and then set up a danger room, or make some real armor and training weapons and have them go beat groundhogs and horses to death. 

[Nameless Archon]

One thing I've been doing is to have custom workshops set up as classrooms.

The workshops have practice dodge and practice block as possible jobs. I put them on repeat, and adjust the profile so that dwarves stop training at master. This leaves them some room to become legendary on their own.

I'll then build about 10+ of each workshop and just ignore them from then on. All new migrants or dwarves who reach adulthood will head to the school for training. After they have graduated from the classes they will be able to do other jobs, but at first they need to go to school.

On maps with water I'll also build another set of classrooms with a practice swimming job on repeat. Everyone gets swimming lessons! No exceptions. Training can take several years, but it seems fair. Its much, much slower than a danger room however it is also completely safe, and it will train up all dwarves, including your monarch, so that everyone will have at least the basics of how not to block axes with one's face.

I quite like this idea. May I inquire how you went about it?

[Hyndis]

All it is is a custom building with some custom reactions. The reactions don't produce anything nor do they consume any materials. They just let a dwarf work there. I tried to make the workshop look sort of like a study area for a dwarf. Actual combat training is vastly faster, and so is a danger room, but going with the classroom method dwarves can learn in safety, albeit slowly.

Dwarves usually attend school from the age of 12 to about 18-20, and then they're ready to be a productive member of the fortress. Takes a few years of school for them to learn all of the important skills, like not blocking axes with one's face or to hold up a shield to avoid incoming attacks, as well as how to swim, but I find an educated population is a more productive population.