Dwarf Fortress How to get military dwarves to create formations (and more)

How to get military dwarves to create formations (and more)
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How to get military dwarves to create formations (and more)

Posted: 03 Jun 2021 05:36 AM PDT

Good evening. My DF dream for a long time has been to do 'real' military tactics rather than haphazardly charging the enemy with every squad in the fortress. With some experimentation, I've figured out a clumsy-but-effective manner wherewith I've come one step closer to achieving basic infantry tactics. Here's how to do it—

Start by creating a squad/squads. More men obviously permit larger formations, but this mode works for any amount. For this demonstration, I'll use a small squad of only four dwarves.
Create a barrow for every single man whom you intend to put into formation. You'll be using these to micromanage soldiers on the individual scale.
Create a new alert in the military menu, open its schedule, and sequentially order each dwarf to defend each burrow. You can name the burrows to help you to remember whom you assigned thereto. This is a huge pain to do, but you only need to do it once; after that, you can directly control all of your military dwarves by simply editing the burrows.
Shape the burrows to whatever formation you want. Each one-tile sized burrow will host one soldier. Some examples.

Once you've done this, the possibilities are endless. You can even make them advance in formation, but variations in dwarves' speeds mean that your elite dwarves make the distance in a few seconds whilst Urist McClumsy hasn't even made it to the half-way mark. You can make them guard your entrances, keep a reserve force, or even flank your enemy. Since the dwarves won't move, you can even safely weave mine-cart artillery shells between (or above!) your own lines and hurl them at your enemy before engaging.

submitted by /u/AcridBrimistic
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Steam Community Update 3 June 2021: "All About the Bees"

Posted: 03 Jun 2021 08:30 AM PDT