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[nepereta]

I've been trying to militarise my whole population via a nice big danger room. The trouble is when I hit Grandmaster Axeman (Insert other weapon here) they can't labour anymore. So my 2 latest training squads I have dwarfs with Picks. I assume Picks aren't that good as weapons.  However when I reach Grandmastery in Pick (Miner) They don't get stuck in a military role. They can still perform as civilians.

Q. Will selecting 'inactive - must wear uniform' on the scheduling screen force them to keep hold of their equipment?

 ( I am considering training the woodsman to only reach a standard competence in Axes) Or will the occasionally have to drop stuff to lug cargo around?

Q. What metal is best for Picks ( I've been using Steel where I can as it makes 'sense')

Q. Is Legendary (15+5) Miner better at fighting than a non master Axe/Hammer/ etc.
NB I do have some dedicated military already and will increase this. Leaving people in the Danger room for too long would causes masters to pop very quickly.

[FoiledFencer]

Legendary miners can be quite deadly, even against armoured opponents, due to the small contact area of the pick.

But be aware that miners switching between mining duties and pick-armed militia duties will attempt to change their picks in for other picks due to issues with the unofficial woodcutter/miner-uniforms.

[nepereta]

Does the way I suggested above seem ok? Are there any other ways to attain full mobilizations? The other thing I've noticed is fully trained dwarves move at what seems to be extreme speeds. What skills are upping the speeds all the time is it Dodge perhaps?

[thegoatgod_pan]

Picks bad weapons??!  Honestly I don't use picks for militias because it is practically cheating! They kill anything!  Dismember with every blow, then cave-in the skull+ the ease of training up legendaries even without a danger room.  I think against unarmored opponents picks are the second most effective weapon in the game (after axes).

Just ran arena tests, 5 dwarves per side, all iron armor, adequate in all combat skills except weapon skill (since I don't think you can add mining skill in arena) and pick vs major dwarf weapons (again all iron)

Axes beat picks,
Spears beat picks,
Picks beat swords
Picks beat hammers

Tried same experiment with one on one set up, including whips and maces
Axes beat picks
Spears beat picks
Swords beat picks
Whips beat picks
Picks beat hammers
Picks beat maces

Next experiment: unarmored competition, 5 dwarves per side, no skills, no armor, just the weapon (iron)
Axes still won, but picks beat every other weapon.

As such, in the hands of a totally unskilled user picks are at least as good as hammers, but generally speaking, since a pick user is really really easy to level up (dig out clay layer=10 legendaries in minutes), they should be much more effective than arena might indicate.  As these limited tests suggest picks are less effective against armored shielded opponents than axes, swords or spears, but more effective against unarmored opponents than everything but axes

[Girlinhat]

Picks are devastating weapons by any yardstick you use, to the point that many people invest in steel picks and a mining "emergency squad" in case any invaders get past the axelords.  An armored miner is terrifying.

If you're using Therapist, it doesn't let you assign jobs by default, but you still can I believe.  It's just that the soldier gets a bad thought when forced back to civilian life, and therapist prevents this by default, it can be changed in options.  Even still, there is the issue of mood, because even if you do assign them labors, then they get the bad thoughts.  So, it's generally not advised.

Either way, having miners as your last "true civilians" is the only option if you want *-Lord soldiers for your entire population.

[Monkeyfacedprickleback]

How effective are danger rooms? Are they the worth the effort? On my current I'm aiming at having 4/5 dwarves in the milita ( not full time army but useful for zerging). 3/4 (about 150 dwarfs) have crap training but with good to excellent equipment. (only fairy floss is better)

[thegoatgod_pan]

Danger rooms are something everyone should try, succeed at and eventually give up, since they make the game a tad too easy.  Sure the occasional lucky spear to the brain, or installation accident (everyone put an upright spike in there once push them out of pure exploit territory, but it is still too easy to make a legendary squad in two seasons with a danger room.  I don't know if I would have ever got a fort up and running without one when I just started playing, but eventually its much more satisfying to let the troops train-up via sparring

[Monkeyfacedprickleback]

Never used a danger room... I just send my military to kill any thing that moves with a overwhelming advantage in numbers.

Mind you it'll end the forts when it doesn't work. 

[Girlinhat]

A properly fitted danger room can train any given number of dwarves to Legendary +5 in shield user and fighter, OR dodge and fighter, OR a weapon skill, shield user, and fighter, and takes somewhere on the order of in-game days.  With 10x training spears in an upright trap, with a recycle rate of one jab per 200 ticks, you have 1,200 ticks a day and 6 jabs per day.  For those paying attention, that's once every 4 hours.  Each jab will level up a zero skill by as much as 2-3 whole levels, and once you get to level 5-ish then it's 1-2 levels, and around level 10 it starts to take 1-2 jabs per level, and progresses further.  Even with that in mind, you can pretty much cap out a dwarf's skills within a week, longer if you stagger their equipment.  A level 20 shield user will rarely dodge.

It's extremely hax, but it's very nice to have one around in case of emergency.  Military just died to FB syndrome from 3 years ago?  Goblin bowmen just show up?  Grab that Urist McMigrantLyeMaker, toss him in copper, and turn him into a killer in the time it takes the greenskins to walk from the map's edge to the front gate.

[Di]

Dwarven instant noodles, like ordinary noodles but they're dwarfs and with legendary skill in axe.

[Girlinhat]

Danger Rooms shall now be referred to as Microwaves.  This is a euphemism now.

[MarcAFK]

Danger Rooms shall now be referred to as Microwaves.  This is a euphemism now.

So if i need legendary militia i'll just pop em in the box and nuke em?
I like it.

[nepereta]

Picks are devastating weapons by any yardstick you use, to the point that many people invest in steel picks and a mining "emergency squad" in case any invaders get past the axelords.  An armored miner is terrifying.

If you're using Therapist, it doesn't let you assign jobs by default, but you still can I believe.  It's just that the soldier gets a bad thought when forced back to civilian life, and therapist prevents this by default, it can be changed in options.  Even still, there is the issue of mood, because even if you do assign them labors, then they get the bad thoughts.  So, it's generally not advised.

Either way, having miners as your last "true civilians" is the only option if you want *-Lord soldiers for your entire population.

Wow! Thank you, I can go with a mixed force then. I am rather surprised how quick these Miners have levelled in the danger room vs Miners killing stone ( most soil is already done on this map) even though I always levelled them first with the shield then remove it to give the other skills a good chance. The mad thing is the insane speeds these military guys seem to zip around the map after a long time in the 'tank' anyone know what skill is cranking it up? Certainly would make a huge difference on these long winded megaconstructions.

[Girlinhat]

It's agility.  Being in a danger room increases all military-related attributes.  The wiki has an article on attributes and on speed, but the DF2010:Attributes page and 40d:Speed page is what you want, the DF2010:Speed page is rather lacking.  Either way, a perfectly trained dwarf (about 2 months of danger room for total max speed and strength and such) will move about 3 times faster than a generic dwarf.  To train up haulers with a danger room, just give them armor, no weapons or shields.  Time spent dodging and taking blows will train up attributes.  Screw pumps are another way to train stats.

[nepereta]

3 times??? Wow! Thanks! I will check this.