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1-2

32 (25.6%)

3-4

49 (39.2%)

5-6

19 (15.2%)

7-10

15 (12%)

10-15

10 (8%)

Total Members Voted: 125

[Panopticon]

I start with 2-3 depending on how hostile the area I am embarking in is.

After that I basically draft random peons as needed if I have a large project or exploratory dig to work on, if this means they then wander around with a pick for the rest of their lives then so be it. My last fort ended up with around 20 miners before the bat riders came over the walls and put an end to my whale trap project.

[Necro910]

I don't EVER use cheap labor for mining. I always only use the best of the best, and have the best tools, for the best job of all. We pierce the vein of Armok, then we run. We bring the green boys comin', then we send 'em runnin'! HOORAH!


Short answer: Embark with 2, hire 2 or 3 skilled migrants.

This sounds like elf treachery and orc mischief to me.

I use professional labor so I get maximum stone for my megaprojects, and assign all the proles to the fields and forges. That way I get maximum dorf power strategically placed, as in a iron colossus towering over the land, magma seeping from the blade!

The magma makes all the dwarves, demons, and elves burn a slow painful death, of course 

[Pukako]

Start with two - I used to start with three, but in the early days, mining skill is basically free, and having my trader/admin dwarf doing something useful didn't work too well.

And then whoever comes along with the skill.

But if I've got a pop of 50+ and the digging is too slow (i.e. big plans are all delayed as the mining isn't happening), as no miners have joined, then I'll make either the lowest skilled dwarf, or a child, into a miner, which is painful watching them destroy gems and valuable ore, but they soon get there.

Currently got 144 dwarves and 7 miners, but that's due to some good migration - well, it balances out the 3 legendary fish dissectors...

[tommy521]

I always tell myself I'll get 'round to making more picks for more miners but I never actually do. The starting two work out pretty good for me anyways.

[melphel]

I don't invest any points into mining on embark, but two or three of the starting crew end up as miners.  Then I'll usually make a few more miners with the first couple migrant waves.  Once I have a team of 6 or so miners, I dig out all my rooms and main fort areas.  By the time that is done, most of them are legendary or close to it.  After that, only migrants that come in with really high mining skill (11+) get to join the other miners as I dig for metal veins and gems.

[Therolyn]

Usually just 1. In most cases my settlements are never very deep underground and its very rare for me to mine deep to make any sort of living area. About 1 in 3 attempts I do are aboveground fortresses which rarely last any longer than a year and a half. I will sometimes have 2 or 3 if I'm embarking near mountains for planning to go deep.

[Telgin]

Seems about the same story as everyone else: start with 2 and whatever comes along gets added to the mix.  I haven't ever made a pick, 2 miners is enough that things aren't unacceptably slow, and anyone that turns up with a pick after that is just a bonus.

I haven't seen much need for more than 3 or 4 miners, which is what I usually end up with.  I have a hard time keeping just them busy.

[Peewee]

2, and any that show up later are lava pipe/aquifer/river breakers.

[MonkeyHead]

Typically I use an "Evreybody Mines" style embark - so six miners and a woodcutter. I build my industry around whatever migrants show up in the first 2 waves - forces me to be a lil different instead of just spamming stone crap. On the upsie by the 2nd or 3rd year, I have a small squad of legendary miners that can hold back early ambushes until my military is more use than simply metal coated sacks of stabbing meat.

[i2amroy]

I usually start with two miners, plus I immediately give my "trader" dwarf a pick and set him to mining as well. As my fort population grows the number tends to slowly and steadily increase depending on how many miner immigrants I receive. Usually by the time I hit about 200 dwarves I am up to 8-12 miners. On the other side though since my "trader" dwarf whom I train in other things is a miner my miners tend to become the ultimate dwarves for any new activity that needs to be done, simply because of their immense amounts of strength and speed. Need to get that bridge hooked up without any mechanics? Just make the miners all have the mechanic labor temporarily! Even though they have no skills they will still finish faster than even a competent mechanic since they are so amazingly fast and strong already!

[CriticallyAshamed]

Typically the starting seven. Although sometimes I toggle them on/off depending on who should be brokerising/medicalising.

[kotekzot]

I start with 1, eventually training up a second one, most of the time, not counting military pickdwarves.

[Forumite]

I usually start with 3 miners to quickly finish hollowing out my first halls, but I donīt like unskilled ones, so I try to keep a low number that get a lot of training. In my current fort, I only have a single legendary Miner left, and heīs enough to take care of all the fortress's current needs.

[rosareven]

I always start with 2 to dig rooms out upon embark, then later on I throw useless idlers into the mining squad too when I order mass resource digging. At the moment my highest number of miners is 7 and that gets half the map dug out pretty quickly already.

[JDF117]

  The reason I'm using eight miners in the first place is that I'm leveling the map down to minus 3 z-levels -- and that takes a lot of mining. Thus, I lose little to no ore or stone in the training and then blast through mining projects.