Bay 12 Games Forum

So I've been training an army and switched from spears and hammers to axes. Every squad was doing well, but I was utter confused why one squad was progressing so slowly. Forgot to activate my conscripts, derp : P

First fortress must have been about two years ago. I was playing Minecraft and saw some mod tool thing which imported dwarf fortess worlds into minecraft, and I was like wth is this Dorf Fort thing?

Read the quickstart guide, downloaded LNP with Phobeus graphics and started a little fort (or dug out hole in the side of a cliff.) It was all on one z level since I had no idea what I was doing, I had no idea what Dwarf Therapist was so I was manually setting tasks for each dorf. I put some beds, tables and stockpiles down and set up a gem craft shop and started cutting gens. I also ran out of wood trying to build a wall around my outdoor depot and naturally nothing had doors on it.

Survived the first year without a farm or anything and traded gems for food and some stuff that I now know is junk. Then a Rhesus macaque got into my food stockpile and started interrupting everything. I then created a squad of dorfs and then waited, wondering why my military wouldn't kill the creature, for a while I thought the thing was invisible (since I had no idea what the citizens/creatures menu was and was just starting to get z levels.) It got so bad I had to abandon the fort and I abandoned DF until my computer died and I had to borrow one from the graduate school (which prohibited me from installing everything, so had to learn how to play dosbox games and DF.) NO DEATHS AT MY FIRST FORT THOUGH!!!

Second fort had lots of drowning and possessed mood resulting in floodgates. Lots of floodgates...

They will choose the hood over the helmet.

Though, once you get a squad good enough they will start training weird skills.

Right now my champion has been training everyone in biting. He is a skilled biter and legendary speardorf. Guess he got bored of stabbing goblins.

Well the squads I set up are all hammer dorfs, cause ya know... undeath.

Axes are a good balance.

As with anything in dwarf fortress, violence is the solution. Kill all animals, kill everything that waltzes onto your map.

You can also deconstruct the wagon, channel underneath it and build a bridge or tiles over the hole. Be sure to make a way in though for the dorfs left on top.

Recommendations would be to embark with some hammers, shields, leather armor + copper helms.
That should be enough to deal with zombie ravens and the like. Make sure you have at least two dorfs with military skills, like 4 hammer, 2 shield, 1 armor, 3 dodge.

Danger rooms increase skill but not attributes. So instead of getting unbreakable dorfs who have increases in toughness, strength, agility, and willpower, you get skilled but weak soldiers. This will increase causalities.

An easy army to set up uses mass conscription of civilians and crossbows. Use leather for body armor, boots and quivers only. Bone for greaves, helms and gauntlets. Wood for bolts, shields and crossbows.

Set up uniforms to take only white helms, greaves, and gauntlets and leather armor. Go to ammunition, increase the amount of bolts on the squad. Keep the sqauds inactive or set only two to train. The rest will be working (also ensure none of your conscripts have mining, woodcutting or hunting enabled, otherwise they will just go stark naked.)

Now if you have an open area, say the end of a long hallway, and enemies are approaching you can station your squads at the end and enjoy the hail of bolts. Most will miss, but the success of this strategy is numbers. And for an added bonus, you don't have to clothe the dorfs anymore since they now have unrottable unis.

-Missive to the Sacks of Muscle on the War of Salts

The Turquoise Shield shall never yield, THE SALT MUST FLOW FROM THESE WASTES TO THE WORLD OVER.

The demon general Arstruk has come leading the third siege this year. Stilled Hames is still reeling corpses of the last attacks. Workers are struggling with the mass of refuse, terrified of the next necromancer attack. Suddenly, War Cave Dragons approach and corner the few brave men stationed outside to guard the clean up. Surprised and outnumbered, the men of The Organized Ropes hammer the beasts. The demon, ordering his army with hast, charges forth, spewing noxious fumes.

This deadly dust, which blinded and put foes to sleep, was our salvation. With luck, the enemy army was asleep, drugged and helpless. Not knowing how much time we had left, Countess Aban mandated the conscription every able bodied individual, armed them with whatever I had lying around, and sallied forth. Hammers and spears, crushed and skewered the skulls of the dazed enemies. Giant beasts reared up and gored the unlucky. A wall of dwarven flesh descend upon the goblins. The Demon Lord dismounted his cave crawler and proceeded to strike down valiant mortals. Volleys of bolts and arrows exchanged sides. Bronze met iron, steel met copper, and flesh met flesh. But through sheer fortune, a lone speardorf was seized by the General. This was no conscript, no slag, BUT LIKOT "THE WAR OF GROUNDING" the demon lord had chose the wrong victim. Likot thrust his shaft into the throat of the Demon, black blood came gushing forth. Wails were heard throughout these wastes and the few surviving goblins fled in terror to let the world know THESE SALTS ARE DWARVEN!

Year 311
-Bomrek Alathmelbil
Chief Smith and commander of the Rearguard