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[Masked_Hunter1825]

Hello to you all. I had a question, I know some people just toss anyone into the millitary. I was wondering if some people were like me and forced them through trials and see if they survive it. If you do force your dwarves to say.. get chucked in the caverns with a wooden sword and shield and try to survive for a while against the unending monster hordes then tell me. If you do any special training or trials, do share.

[Mitchewawa]

Caverns these days aren't a very big threat; trial by darkness just doesn't cut it.

Have a set of room with caged, unarmed gobbos. Whoever can wrestle a trained killer to death gets to live/serve their race.

[Wannazzaki]

Nah. I fill my rosters up, stick them in the barracks until they are all no longer recruits. When the next siege or ambush arrives and the traps are clogged or that flying FB/Megabeast gets in, then it's time to test. You know. Whatever goes. My militaries are never any good XD

[Masked_Hunter1825]

Well, cavern training helps if you chuck them a few Z levels down.

[Oaktree]

I'm not horribly picky about who gets initial training.  They stop a crossbow bolt as well as the next dwarf.  And since initial training gear is simply leather armor, a shield, a weapon, a cloak, a hood, gloves, and boots I am also not too worried about running out of training supplies.  Plus I like all adult citizens of the fortress to have at least a passing familiarity with a weapon, dodging, and using a shield.  (This has paid off in having an ambushed mason outrun two armed goblins long enough for a patrol squad to rescue him.)

Once they gain at least a level or two from individual drills I look them over and decide how their career will go from there.  If they're a primary/back up dwarf in a profession they stay in squads with no training schedule and continue slow advancement in their spare time.  Otherwise, their stats get a quick look and they go into a fast-track or slow-track reserve squad, and also possibly earmarked for extended physical training (pumps, mining, etc.) 

Fast-track squads are smaller (for more sparring), have better equipment (first to upgrade after regulars), and also train 8 months out of 12.  They also get patrols and special duty when I see a good opportunity to get them blooded without undue risk.  And they also are the first units on call to backup the regulars.

Slow-track squads are larger (especially the marksdwarf squads), get leftover equipment until armor production catches up, and only train 4-6 months of the year.  They are essentially the middle ground between training towards regulars and spare time training.

If/when fast-track dwarves hit master in their assigned weapon they usually get assigned to a squad of "regulars" (or an entire squad is upgraded to this status).  In training full-time, given the best gear I have (usually a mix of steel and candy eventually), and in barracks near a fortress exit.  Squads of regulars are usually 3-4 in number and called upon whenever something is up; patrol around exits, picket while the civilians are collecting wood, or massing in order to give a camped out goblin unit a working over.

[Masked_Hunter1825]

Cool. Dwarves are fun to train. I like to seperate the weak of the millitary before they are killed in combat against the never ending war with goblins. They have to survive first. Sure, they might have a few broken bones from the fall and sure they might get mauled to death because those wooden weapons aren't good for much but if they do survive, all that have are the finest my fort has to offer. I AM PROUD OF THEM.

[FoiledFencer]

Fill out a squad rooster with candidates and send them to the caverns with whatever equipment can be spared. Often leather and wooden shields. The ones who survive are not only toughened by the experience - they are also bound to one another by virtue of having shed sweat and blood together before they are even deployed against a trained enemy.

The survivors have their own crypt carved out with sarcophagi and slabs to their memory. No green replacements enter to replace the fallen. When a squad is annihilated, the squad name dies with it.

The Furious Sinews. The Red Hammers. The Watchful Picks. All gone. All replaced by fresh faces and strong arms.

The fortress remembers.

The fortress endures.

[IcarusOne]

Depends on the squad; in my military oriented fort i had two elite squads, and two squads purely for training new recruits. AND half the farmers and stoneworkers were drafted into a "people's militia" squad, which basicly had leather

My elite squad, with the militia commander, gets dwarven special forces training;
Initiation:
* Solo cave (savage evil, layer two) survival, in a full suit of copper, including the weapon. Duration: One season. Food and bed dropped into cavern. This is the primary reason why this entire squad has ☼Beak dog cloak☼ 's. Surviving this gets them into the Iron Uniform squad;
* Fight off at least 3 to 5 goblin prisoners; Only stripped of their helmets (and crossbows and bolts, because railguns aren't good initiation.)
* If the dwarf has pets. these pets are impaled on a ☼steel menacing spike☼ infront of him, together with some useless migrants to make him know death.
* The initiates' barracks is in a legendary engraved tomb, made in a magnetite vein. This is the first militia commander's fort, who fought off sieges, a titan, hydra and two forgotten beasts, almost on his own, with an artifact iron spear. I like to pretend this inspires them, especially since all the engravings coincidently seem to be about war, people being killed, etc.

Squadmember training:
* The drowning chamber: Two pumps from the aquifer pump water into this 3 wide, 5 long hallway into grates leading water back into the aquifer. this way i train swimming until they are Adequate, and i believe it trains strenght and agility to. Because no way i'm losing one of these demi-gods on a murky pool.
* Barrack training/sparring in the 3th cavern layer. They have a small temple down there, connected to my central stairway, so they can be anywhere in time.
* The crutch walkers train 24/7 just by walking around. thanks to crutchwalking giving agility.
* Killing any too big threat from below, and absolutely destroy all sieges up close.

Military forts are lots of fun. I also have 4 squads of farmers and crafters, armed in leather/iron mail, breastplate and helm and a spear of any metal, which train in a barrack outside my fort two months a year. They are the people's militia, farmers and craftsmen with pointy sticks; And the first defense before The Golden Bolts arrive.

Yet i still have to figure out marksdwarves. Sigh. I did give my dwarves [PRONE_TO_RAGE:5] though. I give them all months off during trainings to, so they don't get too depressed, and their own engraved bedrooms below the barrack-temple.

[Masked_Hunter1825]

Well, for marksdwarf training you can toss them in the caverns with their crossbow and a knife. Give them no ammo so they can survive melee encounters before dropping in some bolts.

[acetech09]

I've liked the military fort thing, but can never get a siege to arrive on queue, after I set up some sort of crazy tactic.

I can mod creatures to attack after certain wealth/time restrictions, but my endless tinkering makes me often over- or undershoot those deadlines.

[AWdeV]

I pick my militia-dwarves based on already existing skills, physical attributes, relationships and even occasionally on religion. "trials" seem like a massive waste of time, effort and dwarves.

[King DZA]

I try to recruit those who have existing combat skills. Leave the others to doing what they're good at. If none have any actual combat skill, i check their description for things like quick to heal, very strong, ect.

in my current fort, soldiers will be trained in an above-ground keep. When enemies arrive, they will be sent out to patrol the corridors of the DeathMaze in squads of 3-5. Any that become legendary in their respective skill shall be transferred to the Fortress Guard, and be responsible for protecting the fort against any opponent that manages to find its way through the maze.

I never(intentionally)treat my dwarves with cruelty, even for the sake of training. I want them to enjoy their little virtual lives, it's probably not gonna very long anyway.

[Sandrew]

I only allow male dwarfs to serve. This means that I am always short on unimportant males, as that migrant High Master Armorsmith is never a woman, so all males that aren't awesome get drafted eventually. I do try to select on physical attributes, but at some point I'm through all physically able dwarves and when you get the choice between very weak and incredibly flimsy it doesn't matter much. Anyway, I managed to fill six coffins in my first year and a half of my current fort. Tombrock might actually live up to its name.

[MonkeyHead]

In the words of the red army, quantity is a quality all of its own. Through applying natural selection to my useless migrants, I usually end up with a fair few squads of battle hardned veterans after a while. That, and mounds of dead milkers.

[Sutremaine]

I pick anyone who doesn't have red recuperation or resistance stats or a liking for things I like in this particular fortress and order them to spar 24/7. Trials lead to cool stories, but if they do die then all the XP they gained goes to waste.