Bay 12 Games Forum

But what is a good military to civilian proportion?  Should 1/3 of my dwarves be in the military?  1/5?  What?

I personally recruit the best warrior from each migrant wave (not counting the starting 7). So for example, a 3 year old fort will have seen 8 migrant waves and therefore I will have 8 dwarves in my military (unless someone died).

For a beginner I would recommend melee squads training 24/7 at a "choke point" in your fort entrance.

I also sometimes make use of Hunters for civilian defense. They won't aggressively attack invaders, but they will defend themselves if cornered. Legendary hunters are also great for dealing with pesky wildlife (like giant cave spiders).

The best advice anyone ever gave me about military in Dwarf Fortress is, dig your exploratory mineshafts outside your fort's main entrance and defenses. Lots of rookies make the mistake of building their fort in such a way (i.e. putting stairs to the cavern near the dining hall or workshops) that they need to two separate militaries: a military to defend the surface against invaders, and a military for cavern defense.

Don't underestimate the value of Hunters in the early/mid game. Not only do they keep the map clear of pesky wildlife, but they are also good early-warning against invaders. They will reach Legendary status in a couple of years, and then they can retire from civilian life (be sure to turn off hunting labor) and join the military.

I usually just leave migrants with the skills they came with. If I have lots of idlers, I think that's great, it means my fortress is productive and efficient.

It is good to create bedrooms, dining room, clothes, etc. by about Year 5. But it is totally unnecessary to do this in Years 1-2 like most players do. Dwarfs can be perfectly happy for a couple of years sleeping on the ground, eating plump helmets.

No way in Armok the % is in the single digits. (At least not around these parts.)

I leave them where they lie, and line the road to my fortress with engraved slabs.

Quote from: Mushroo on December 26, 2013, 11:19:30 am

I'm currently doing a fun "challenge" embark:

cook, peasant x 6, 1 pick, lots and lots and lots of rock nuts

The fort's sole export is biscuits consisting of 1 rock nut oil and 1 rock nut press cake. The 6 peasants are trained in: miner/herbalist (the pick helps vs. wildlife), mason/stonecrafter, miller, presser, brewer. Farming is not allowed.

What?

How do you get the rock nuts to make press cakes and oil, if you aren't allowed to grow rocknuts? Do you at least get to use a big growing chamber to set your herbalists loose on?

I embark with 1,000+ rock nuts, which lasts the first few years, then beyond that, I get more rock nuts from the caravans.

Probably it's in your Finished Goods stockpile (it is considered a "tool") and that's why your Cooks aren't cooking it? This is a known bug, the workaround is simply stockpile management.

Press "s" followed by "." repeatedly to one-step.

Or lower the FPS cap in init.txt.