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[mareck]

Ok, i just recently switched to new version. (I really did not want to abondon my old world.)

Is it just me or does the new military system suck in some respects?
The squad system is great, I will give it that.
But i want a soldier to be a soldier. and I want them to train when they are supposed to train. In most of my games i end up with a vast military of over 50( sometimes 150). i use them for battle and sport(aka Arena of gobbo smashin).

But i don't know if i am missing something but i just cant get my soldier to stay soldiers. I want troops, not some slackjaw deserters that runs off and carries luggage rather than train and die for their overlord.

Am i missing something or is this the new system.

[Girlinhat]

You're a little vague on that, but it all revolves around schedules.  A military and civilian dwarf are the same dwarf, just that one has extra duties.  This allows you to have a part-time militia, so that you can train soldiers for a few months, and have them be productive the rest of the year, and have this soldiers able to go topside and fire bolts when needed.

Full-time soldiers can be made easily as well.  Just make them train or station every month, or disable all their civilian duties like hauling.  Military dwarves who are off duty with "No Job" will automatically go to their barracks and train, more often than not.

If you absolutely want people on duty, you can change the minimum required personnel.  By default it's 10, meaning "the entire squad" but this can be troublesome.  If the entire squad is ordered to station, then they'll stand there until they're dehydrating and falling asleep on their feet, so 6-7 required frees up a few to go sleep and eat while the rest stay on post.  You can still give manual orders via the "s" menu to move the entire squad, regardless of their schedule.

[mareck]

I used the schedules...
With a squad of 8 new guys and the required people of any task was 5.
When i saw the guys doing the old tasks i removed them all. But then when the training started only three trained and 2 later joined. The commander kept standing there till the day he died of thirst and hunger!?

The old system was easy, give 30 new guys armor and steel weapons and see who survived the training. it was a good way to breed strong soldiers and to spend the time watching while the workers build/mined.

With the new system you have to spoon feed them to get them to do their basics.

[thegoatgod_pan]

Make sure of the following:

Does your squad have an order?

Is the order staffed correctly? (e.g. if you have 5 soldiers, and you never changed the default minimum of 10--those five will never go off duty and might starve or get unhappy_

Is your squad on alert?--options include inactive, active/training and custom alert.  They will not train except of own accord (e.g. nothing else to do) when on inactive alert.

Also don't worry about them training all the time--they'll rotate in and out each month if the system is working, if you want a quick military set up a danger room, otherwise sparring is totally fixed, they'll even spar with steel and blue stuff with no injuries, so a few years and goblins will cease to be something you have to worry about much.

[mareck]

Make sure of the following:

Does your squad have an order?

Is the order staffed correctly? (e.g. if you have 5 soldiers, and you never changed the default minimum of 10--those five will never go off duty and might starve or get unhappy_

Is your squad on alert?--options include inactive, active/training and custom alert.  They will not train except of own accord (e.g. nothing else to do) when on inactive alert.

Also don't worry about them training all the time--they'll rotate in and out each month if the system is working, if you want a quick military set up a danger room, otherwise sparring is totally fixed, they'll even spar with steel and blue stuff with no injuries, so a few years and goblins will cease to be something you have to worry about much.

Hi,

The squad does have the order. at the moment it switches monthly between training and patrolling. (The captain does not die this way it seems.)
They are on alert for active.
My squad is of size 7 now and the min troops for every task is set to 5.
From your statement it seems that the required time to upskill has increased?
What type of danger room is best for training?
My yhe oldy method was just have them fight or die. those who lived became gods quickly, those who died was remembered for their sport.

[martinuzz]

This guide might make you happier, if you want absolute and direct control over your military:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=75200.0

[mareck]

This guide might make you happier, if you want absolute and direct control over your military:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=75200.0

Awesome tips. hmmm, gonna rig my danger rooms to 50% mortality rate. Weed out the weak.

[Girlinhat]

Bronze spears instead of training, and weaker armor that gives sub-optimal coverage, like caps instead of helms.