Regarding the militia, personally I've always gone with a mixture of weapons.
That doesn't make sense. Why would you equip a portion of the military with inferior weapons against the opponents they are facing?
The best weapons for the foes that are likely to actually be *dangerous* (aside from rare inorganic foes, the most dangerous foes are larger ones and those with armor) are Piercing Weapons (Spears/Picks, but picks can only be trained through mining).
Let me lay out the best Weapon Types for a given type of foe (I'm going to ignore foreign weapons in each class when specifying examples since the main way to get high-quality specimens of them is through Strange Moods: those available from invaders or trade are usually low-quality)
Small/medium, unarmored foes: Slashing Weapons (axes and swords) are best, Piercing Weapons (spears and pickaxes) less effective but useful
Large, unarmored foes: Piercing Weapons (spears and pickaxes) are best, Slashing Weapons (axes and swords) are moderately ineffective
Armored foes: Piercing Weapons (*especially* against larger armored foes) are best (if made of Copper/Bronze- Iron/Steel cannot pierce armor as effectively), Crushing Weapons (Maces and War Hammers) less effective but still very useful
Inorganic foes: Crushing Weapons somewhat effective, Piercing Weapons mildly ineffective (they can pierce and damage even a Bronze Colossus, provided they are made of dense materials like Copper/Bronze, but there are no internal organs to destroy), Slashing Weapons highly ineffective (as these foes cannot feel pain or bleed-out, if they are made of a material that can even be hacked through in the first place...)
Note that Crossbows count as a subset of (highly effective) Piercing Weapons when used at-range, but are (somewhat ineffective) Crushing Weapons when used in melee. Bows (if Dwarves could used them) are near-useless Slashing Weapons in melee.
The larger the organic foe (one with internal organs and a meaty structure) the less effective Slashing Weapons are (it's much harder to decapitate or de-limb an Elephant than a Badger), but Piercing Weapons maintain their effectiveness (a well-aimed spear is just as capable of piercing the heart of either). Crushing Weapons are more effective the smaller foes (it's easier to pulp a smaller foe), but maintain their effectiveness against armor and inorganic foes.
Piercing Weapons are also quite capable of piercing Iron/Bronze armor when made of Copper or Bronze (these metals are denser than Iron/Steel, and the capability of Iron/Steel to maintain a superior edge to Copper/Bronze doesn't matter much when piercing through metal.) Bronze is usually the best overall choice of material for Spears, as it maintains a sharper edge than Copper (Spears have a highly-effective slashing attack with a very low to-hit-modifier), but is still dense enough for the main piercing attack for which Spears/Picks are best known (which has a much better chance of hitting than a Spear's slashing attack).
1st Limestone 255
Wacksonoff and two other dwarfs have passed away. The first two deaths were beyond the talents of even the most learned, but the third death was brought about by dehydration. It fills me with deep shame to see one of our own die in such a pointless manner.
I don't know why this didn't occur to me before, but Wacksonoff and the other dwarf almost certainly died due to a Forgotten Beast syndrome. Basically, some Forgotten Beasts have gasses or other fluids that can rot away the nervous tissue of Dwarves, starting with the Spine (which, surprisingly, is not immediately lethal) and moving to the Brain (which is quickly lethal)...
If I'm not mistaken, both of those dwarves were exposed to Forgotten Beast syndrome-gas earlier... (which is why I recommended sealing the Caverns)
With Wacksonoff's death I have reorganized the militia and instituted a new training regime. Additionally, a new archery range has been constructed for the Marksdwarfs to practice in; this has delayed the exploratory mining slightly, but that cannot be avoided. The forging of chain mail and helmets is proceeding apace, albeit with an unskilled workforce.
Great, did you remember to build the archery range in such a manner that spent bolts can be recovered? If you're not sure what I'm talking about, you probably did not- basically what you need to do is set up the target end of the archery range so that there is a 1 z-level drop anywhere the bolts can hit besides the targets. This can be accomplished by channeling the space between the targets and where you want the Marksdwarves to stand to fire. Just make sure the space below is nothing but an empty pit (this is where the spent bolts go, and can be recovered from)- you wouldn't want spent bolts raining down into a dining hall!
Also make sure used ammunition is set as forbidden and the area is set as a forbidden Traffic zone- you don't want Dwarves walking in front of the Marksdwarves (wandering, or to recover spent bolts) while the range is still in active use! (to safely recover spent bolts, periodically turn off the use of the archery range and un-forbid the used bolts: Dwarves can enter a Forbidden Traffic zone when they have a job assignment there, such as to dump the used bolts in a Quantum Stockpile...) You can also set up a complex system to safely recover used bolts while the range is in active use with lever-operated Hatches/Grates and a recovery level another z-level further below the archery range if you want an engineering challenge... (with a door that is forbidden or lever-operated to stay closed whenever the Hatches/Grates are open)
Regards,
Northstar
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Topic: Dathateyo: 'The Ageless World' (0.40.16 Succession Game) - More Players Welcome! (Read 46278 times)