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[AzuredreamsXT]

So this is the area i need to improve upon most. I've got a military set up with a training schedule, but it seems their skills raise so slowly despite being on an all year training regime (8 minimum every month out of a squad of ten). I don't want to use this danger room technique i've heard about because it sounds exploit-ish. Should i just send them after enemies whenever possible to give them more real combat experience?

As well, they grumble often about long patrol duties and "the draft". Their mood rests around fine to quite content despite this, but i'm sure there's measures i can take to make them happier.

Tips? Suggestions? All are welcome, and appreciated as always!

[restricted]

Try to draft migrants with military skills into your military to speed up training time. Also, relatively low skills can be compensated for by having high quality armors so most races can't hurt them anyways. Also, that grumbling about military duty will quickly turn into them becoming enraged about it, which then turns into a berserk militarydwarf. And more likely that not that dwarf will be your militia commander, with the artifact candy longsword and full candy armor. So, only have them train actively for about 3 months a year. Granted they don't have other jobs, they'll do "individual combat drills" for the time they are not actively training, still raising skills.

[krenshala]

Make two squads of 5, or better yet three squads of 4, and have them train for 12 to 18 months.  They will be Adequate to Skilled after about nine months of training (even if using training weapons instead of the real thing).  The training goes faster if you have at least one dwarf already Skilled or better in the weapon the squad is assigned to use.

After 18 months, switch them to an on-training/on-duty/off-duty schedule if the majority are complaining about long patrol duties.  In my current fort I have the three squads off four months, train four months, stand guard four months, so I always have one group on duty and one group sparing/training.  The original ten are all Competent or better after a year, while the new recruits are gaining skill faster now than I have a competent cadre to train them.

If you have caged wild animals/kobolds/goblins you can have your dwarves battle them in an arena.  They always gain skill fastest in live combat, and this gets more true as their skills improve.

For humor value, and longer "training" battles, ensure your troops are armed with training weapons. You could also leave the goblins their armor. 

I'm sure others have better info, but the above (except the arena thing, which I haven't tried ... yet) is all stuff I've used in multiple forts with success.

[edit] As restricted said, letting the militia get unhappy enough to tantrum is a bad thing.  The last thing you want is them to have the happy though "enjoyed a good slaughter lately" when you haven't encountered any hostiles in a season or three.  For this reason I normally only do constant training for one year, then shift them to an on/off schedule.  That initial year is to get them up to at least Adequate skill in their assigned weapon.

[AzuredreamsXT]

So i should rotate my squads between active/training and inactive to give them breaks periodically? And they will do their civilian jobs or train alone during their off months?

[AzuredreamsXT]

You were right about combat patrol anger becoming a problem. My militia commander tantrumed and hacked off the leg of one of my civilian dwarves and "the severed part went flying off in an arc". Lmao at first i couldn't believe it, that seems very extreme. He is sentenced to 26 days in jail. I hope he goes willingly and doesn't fight my captain of the guard.

[NRDL]

You were right about combat patrol anger becoming a problem. My militia commander tantrumed and hacked off the leg of one of my civilian dwarves and "the severed part went flying off in an arc". Lmao at first i couldn't believe it, that seems very extreme. He is sentenced to 26 days in jail. I hope he goes willingly and doesn't fight my captain of the guard.

Who's the better fighter? 

[krenshala]

So i should rotate my squads between active/training and inactive to give them breaks periodically? And they will do their civilian jobs or train alone during their off months?

In the schedule (m -> s) you can set the squad to have "no orders", which effectively takes them off duty and civilian, until their on-duty time again.  Can't remember exactly how, at the moment, however.  Its been a loooong week at work.

[OwlEpicurus]

So i should rotate my squads between active/training and inactive to give them breaks periodically? And they will do their civilian jobs or train alone during their off months?

In the schedule (m -> s) you can set the squad to have "no orders", which effectively takes them off duty and civilian, until their on-duty time again.  Can't remember exactly how, at the moment, however.  Its been a loooong week at work.

For Azuredreams first point, are you talking about changing the alert the squad is on?  There's an easier (i.e. less micromanagement) way to get the same result: you can go into the schedules tab and change the alerts' orders for each month.  For example, in kreshala's on-training/on-duty/off-duty schedule, you would have one month set to train, one month to defend burrow/patrol/etc., and one to no scheduled order.  You can cancel all scheduled orders by selecting the order and hitting x.

During their off months they will mostly do civilian jobs, but sometimes they will train.  I am not sure what factors impact their choice.  Getting rid of all civilian jobs does not guarantee that they will train.  Military dwarves are just as happy to sit around the dining room and chat as any other unemployed migrant.

Actually, that is one other point to keep in mind when trying to build a successful military.  You do not want your soldiers making friends.  Otherwise you might find yourself in the middle of a tantrum spiral when one of them meets their inevitable fate in battle.

[Sutremaine]

I just give them really nice rooms and make them eat the unhappy thought about long duty. Frequent sparring keeps them pretty happy, and I try and keep them above ground to stop them getting cave-adapted. The mood hit from even being irritated by the sun is surprisingly significant.

[krenshala]

I haven't had a problem keeping my military active year round lately, as I've managed to give them decent individual (2x3) bedrooms and a booze selection.  Of course, i haven't had a fort last more than two or three years lately, so it could be I started a new fort shortly before one of my militia went nuts and tried to de-arm his neighbors.

[SenorOcho]

Just make a really nice barracks for them to train in.  Then, you know, actually use them in combat so they get all the fun "took joy in slaughter", "doesn't really care about anything anymore", etc.  If your military dwarves are going berserk from long duty, you're doing something very, very wrong.

[Couchmonster]

If you use station a lot, they will get angry if they are fresh in your military.
Sparring sessions make them happy.
So it is no problem to make them train 24/7, but you cannot make them stand arround 24/7, because of only bad thoughts and no good ones.#

Also very good meals and drinks will keep your military dwarfs happy even if they are having bad thoughts about duty.

[King DZA]

Yeah, my military is enraged for their long patrol duty or something like that, but most of them never fall below content.

I'm thinking of simply making entire squads train for half the year(instead of letting one have a break now and then), and then just giving them the other half of the year off while other squads take their place.

[Delta Foxtrot]

In my experience, keeping dwarves in squads of three with a minimum of two set to train year round keeps them in a fairly good mood. One of them chills as a civie while the other two usually spar. Cue few years and I fairly reliably have legendary weapon-dwarfs. Depending on individual dwarfs attributes, I've had them hovering on content for the first few months or so. But they level up in weapon skills quickly which in my understanding gets rid of the "enraged by long patrol duty" thing. Also Good food & engraved barracks help to boost their morale up.

[thegoatgod_pan]

Moods are easy--count on a tantrum or two right off the bat, but if they see action once or twice and make it out alive, most dwarves will be too traumatized to complain again.

If you find training goes too slow, make a gladiatorial rink to wipe out caged goblins. Otherwise look for sparring--sparring will level them up very swiftly.