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[AzuredreamsXT]

They will use the training room (barracks) i gave them to train other skills, but they do not use the archery targets to actually practice their purpose; marksdwarfship. When i turn off the flag for them to train at their barracks, they sit around with the "soldier cannot follow order" message.

I have the archery targets set up in individual hallways next to each other, they are at the north of the hallway, set to fire from bottum to top, and have the proper squad flagged for training. I assigned the squad bolts to train with on the military screen. Dunno what else i can do to get them to train.

[Diamond]

Remove training sessions from schedule. When marksdorfs are set to train they just go to hang out to barracks, while complain about patrol duties.
They train on archer target when they are off-duty.

[AzuredreamsXT]

Interesting, so do you mean i should turn them to off-duty? Or change what their supposed to do every month in their on duty schedule (other options i'm unfamiliar with using; defend burrow, patrol etc).

[Diamond]

Basically, if you want to train them all the time - schedule/alerts should have NO SCHEDULED ORDER and they will go to train on their free time, just like individual combat drill for melee soldiers. For more rigorous training also turn off all labours and hauling jobs on them.

[Cabbagetroll]

Thank you for this thread. I grant you one internet each.

[restricted]

You've designated the archery targets as archery ranges, right?

[AzuredreamsXT]

Yep, they spend all their time doing individual combat drills at their barracks though (after implementing the above poster's suggestions, ty btw i assume individual combat drills are some progress at least). They still aren't shooting at the archery targets though.

[restricted]

Well, when I had a marksdwarf unit, I had them assigned to train and they still shot at the targets. If you've assigned them specific weapons, they may be carrying the wrong type of ammo.

[Quietust]

Make sure your marksdwarves are capable of picking up practice ammo - if their quivers are filled with combat-only ammo, they will not practice. If you make bone bolts, they should generally have room, but if you make practice bolts out of wood or metal, it won't work very well.

[OwlEpicurus]

I have also seen my marksdwarves using the archery targets while set to train.  I might have seen a dwarf use them once when not set to train, but I'm not sure.  I think that it's probably NOT a good thing for them to be doing individual combat drills, since they are most likely levelling up their Hammerdwarf skill rather than Marksdwarf.  However, I could be wrong.

Usually giving my marksdwarves quivers makes them more inclined to use the targets.  While I have seen them do it without quivers, it seems to be much rarer.  (Note that this is not backed up by any rigorous study of the matter.)  Make sure you have enough ammo; when they do use the targets, they burn through it pretty fast.  Also, what Quietust said:

Make sure your marksdwarves are capable of picking up practice ammo - if their quivers are filled with combat-only ammo, they will not practice. If you make bone bolts, they should generally have room, but if you make practice bolts out of wood or metal, it won't work very well.

Some people have reported success by designating the archery range as an equipment storage area.  Again, I don't think this has ever been confirmed to work, but it might be worth trying.

Lastly, I find that my marksdwarves are the slowest squad to level up without combat, so it is especially important to follow good training practices (i.e. use small squads to increase Teacher skill gain, have them carry backpacks and waterskins, minimize gain in worthless skills, etc).  They will occasionally use the archery range, and at least some of the time in the barracks will be devoted to crossbow demonstrations, which also aid in Marksdwarf skill.

[AzuredreamsXT]

I've seen them do crossbow training sessions now and then, and the squad does have an expert marksdwarf in it. This was when they were told to train.

So should i have them on a training schedule? Or go with the one poster's suggestion of having NO COMMAND SCHEDULED for every month and let them do their own thing?

I'll also disable their combat ammo for now so they hopefully fill their quivers with training ammo, if that was causing problems.

[OwlEpicurus]

I've seen them do crossbow training sessions now and then, and the squad does have an expert marksdwarf in it. This was when they were told to train.

So should i have them on a training schedule? Or go with the one poster's suggestion of having NO COMMAND SCHEDULED for every month and let them do their own thing?

I'll also disable their combat ammo for now so they hopefully fill their quivers with training ammo, if that was causing problems.

Better to have them on a training schedule.  As I said, they will sometimes use the archery range.  In the meantime, they will be learning other useful skills, such as Armor User and Dodger, as well as Marksdwarf through demonstrations.  I don't think dwarves organize or attend demonstrations when they are not set to train (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), and they will waste most of their time doing other jobs or idling.

[sirdanilot]

I have also read that you can have only one archery target per archery range, though I have been struggling getting the archery range to work as well.

You could also make a pit and throw anything you have caught in cage traps in there (be sure to read the wiki on how to safely pit goblins and other dangerous stuff), then let your dwarves "defend burrow". They will shoot at the goblins and increase in skill level. Just make sure that you make the pit very far away from normal dwarf traffic, since dwarves WILL be scared if they see the goblins, even if your pit is completely safe. Putting some cage traps outside and in the caverns will give you enough fun critter to shoot at.

[khearn]

I often have similar problems. I just figured it out yesterday. I had them set to use wood bolts for training and metal for combat. Sounds good, right? But the first time I'd activate them and move them somewhere, they'd fill their quivers with metal bolts. Then when I released them, they'd say "Well, I can't use these nice metal bolts for practice, so I guess I won't practice."

I changed them to use copper bolts for both training and combat, since I have thousands of them from weaponsmith training. Now they happily hang out at the range practicing.

I have multiple targets, each set to be barracks, and overlapping. None are set to be equipment storage areas.

[humblegar]

Edit: moved my post (still applies to this thread as well):

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=95018.msg2743895#msg2743895