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[Sorcerer]

Welcome one and all to this introductary course in dwarven warfare, if this lesson is popular i might be persuaded to make more!

Edit: Changed the text under the barracks designation in light of recent clarifications

There are many people that are having some problems getting their little dwarven army to behave, and i cannot blame them,
the interface isn't exactly what you would call intuitive, and the bugs havent exactly been helping either.
BUT, there is still a rumour going around that normal training is broken, and that the only way to train is via danger room. This is false, my current fort has a twenty dwarf strong legendary army trained without the use of danger rooms or caged goblins.

This will be a VERY basic tutorial, so some of the more experienced people might groan a bit.

I started out a quick fort just to show how this will work, i'll just be building a barracks and equipping my dwarves with brought gear.



Bringing some basic copper gear (note that i realized halfway through this that i had forgotten any means of getting a bed, so i restarted, so you might see some different dwarf and squad names further down, ignore this.. this never happened)



Step one is to set one of your dwarves as a militia commander through the (n)obles screen.
The dwarf i chose had a few skillpoints in hammerdwarf and teacher, something i have done alot lately since it seems to really speed up training an early militia.


Now open the (m)ilitary screen, and press (c) to create a squad using the commander as their leader
you will now be prompted to select a uniform, you can edit these yourself, but that is outside the scope of this particular tutorial.


Add all the dwarves to the squad, leave the screen, unpause and go back. if you press (e) you should see a green weapon rack on the side of some items, these mean that that item is currently assigned to that dwarf, a missing rack means there are no available items that fit the criteria of the uniform. You can use the keypad to scroll through the dwarves to make sure all of them have their proper weapons.
You can also use the equipment screen to assign specific items to dwarves, but that is again, outside the scope of this tutorial


Back on the military screen press (s) for schedule. This is where we will set up what your dwarves will do, and when. Start by clearing all the orders by pressing (x) on each month. then press (o) to start a new order. (note than you can give several different orders on the same month, more on this later)


Cycle through the different available orders with (o) you want the one called training. The important thing here is to reduce the MINIMUM number of dwarves required to follow the order (+ and - to change). In this example i use two, if this number is too high dwarves will stand around waiting for the correct number of people, and will stand around doing nothing while doing so. This is the minimum number however, so more can join a demonstration, they are just not required.
IMPORTANT: You finish an order by Shift+Enter pressing escape will clear the order


To avoid burning out my recruits, i usually start off with a 2 months on 1 month off schedule. As dwarves in the military has a tendancy to train themselves to death trying to follow your orders, this is a safer alternative (and they'll still train in the barracks in their offtime if they feel like it)


Now comes the time to activate your squad. On the military screen press (a) to open alerts, arrow down to select Training/Active then press right and enter to set the squad to this alert state.

Note  that you can set up several different schedules for different alert states, for instance, you can have all your military dwarves automatically station in the killing hall while all your civilians run for the bunkers, all at the press of one (or a couple at least) button!

Your dwarves should now activate, if you don't already have a barracks (a bed, armor stand or weapon rack is required to make a barracks) you may need to deactivate your military and have them make the preparations.


Here is one i prepared earlyer. The important thing to note is that i have attached the squad to this barracks, this is now their home and they will spend their idle time here. If you prefer a people's militia that are armed and ready to fight if needed, but also do actual work, you can't assign them a barracks.
Also note the three letters behind the squad, this lets you know that the squad will (T)rain or store their (I)nduvidual Equipment and s(Q)ad Equipment. (Note that i have never seen dwarves actually store any equipment in the barracks if they don't have a designated bed with their name on it)



When you unpause (if you havent already) you will see your squad happily running towards their barracks, and if you've done everything right, and you haven't encountered any silly bugs. you should soon have your reward



That should do it!
If anything is unclear, let me know and I'll update the tutorial accordingly
Feedback is welcome!

[JacenHanLovesLegos]

I thought Q and I meant S[q]aud Equipment and (I)nduvidual equipment?

[Sorcerer]

Hrm, you know, you might be right... strange tho if it is, I've gotten dwarves to never do squad drills with Q off, and never to induvidual training with I off... bears more research on my end, so take it with a grain of salt for now

[Hiiri]

Good post, even though it didn't offer much new to me. (Dwarves still painfully slow at training without a danger room...  )

I also think that (Q) and (I) are meant for the place to store their gear at. Never really inspected it any further than that really.

[ral]

This would be a good thing for the wiki. I offer to help transfer it if you want help.

Generally I think its easier for people to find things like this searching the wiki rather than the forums....

[dagger]

I use the Active/Training screen for when there is an alert but not for a training schedule. In other words, I only set a squad to Active when I need to have them defend a burrow or patrol.

I use the INACTIVE schedule screen and to set the training schedules.

[Dwarfoloid]

I use the Active/Training screen for when there is an alert but not for a training schedule. In other words, I only set a squad to Active when I need to have them defend a burrow or patrol.

I use the INACTIVE schedule screen and to set the training schedules.

Pretty sure that inactive squads ignore the schedule. They will still do individual combat drill if you have assigned a training area for the squad, but they will never spar or do other forms of group training.

[Nyxalinth]

Thank you!

Now it finally makes sense to me.  I am so thankful you did this

[Nilik]

I've noticed the "2 months on, 1 month off" thing works pretty well too. They don't seem to train weapon skills other than by sparring in group training, so the only way they're going to get weapon practice is through individual drills. It also gives them time to change out their equipment for better stuff without holding up the rest of the group.

Now I'm just having trouble getting my marksdwarves to train, who I usually don't have a problem with. Any chance you could cover them next?

For reference, they've got everything they need (bows, quiver, bolts, range, range zoned and assigned) and they do train occasionally, but its more like once or twice every couple of months. I want them to use the training bolts till they're gone. I even unassigned all the bolts from my non-existant hunters. When I look at their assigned ammo I can see the piles of wooden bolts, but nooo, they "Cannot follow order". Grr.

[psychologicalshock]

I've noticed the "2 months on, 1 month off" thing works pretty well too. They don't seem to train weapon skills other than by sparring in group training, so the only way they're going to get weapon practice is through individual drills. It also gives them time to change out their equipment for better stuff without holding up the rest of the group.

Now I'm just having trouble getting my marksdwarves to train, who I usually don't have a problem with. Any chance you could cover them next?

For reference, they've got everything they need (bows, quiver, bolts, range, range zoned and assigned) and they do train occasionally, but its more like once or twice every couple of months. I want them to use the training bolts till they're gone. I even unassigned all the bolts from my non-existant hunters. When I look at their assigned ammo I can see the piles of wooden bolts, but nooo, they "Cannot follow order". Grr.

Try assigning them to your range - it wont make them train a lot but they will do it once in a while.

[obeliab]

Assign marksdwarves to train at one or more Archery Targets, but don't schedule them for training in the military (i.e. don't put them on alert for monthly training).  You may also want to limit their jobs so that they idle a lot (this may or may not help).  Having Hunting labors on can sometimes cause conflicts, as well, so I turn it off.  Don't forget to make sure your target has the right shooting direction.

This is, at least, what I do.

[dagger]

Pretty sure that inactive squads ignore the schedule. They will still do individual combat drill if you have assigned a training area for the squad, but they will never spar or do other forms of group training.

Not if you actually go to the Inactive screen and give them a training order. Also if you do the 1 month on 1 month off on that same screen that do go on and off duty.

[Naz]

Thanks for posting this Sorcerer. Been playing 2010 since it came out and have had to rely exclusively on traps since I couldn't figure the military out. Maybe now I can go clear the 6 or 7 FBs out of my basement...stupid fire breathing dinosaurs made of vomit...