What’s the most efficient way of training the skills of a captured ettin

dwarf-fortress

My fortress has recently captured an ettin, and I would like to turn him into an unstoppable killing machine whom I want to use to dispose of captured goblins and other non-tameable creatures.

The ettin, as any other intelligent creature, can have his combat skills trained. I don't know yet if I can make him equip weapons and armor, but I have nothing against letting him use only unarmed attacks.

What would be the most efficient setup allowing me to train the ettin's combat skills? When answering, bear in mind that the ettin is hostile and can destroy buildings.

Best Answer

"hostile and can destroy buildings" isn't much of a problem. Your main problem is that he doesn't have armor equipped; most powerleveling techniques (danger rooms!) are known to be deadly to the unarmored.

Assuming that you can't get him to equip anything, your best bet might be to leave him in a pit and bring him weaker enemies to kill. He'll slowly level his combat stats that way, depending on how quickly you can feed him weak enemies.

Ettins are considerably stronger than goblins, so you should have no problems giving him (naked) goblins to fight right from the start. For best results, deliver the goblins one at a time through a method that doesn't injure the goblin (such as a bridge-based airlock), and check the ettin for wounds after each fight - if he gets injured, give him time to heal before starting the next fight.

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What’s the deal with upward stairways in Dwarf Fortress

to be functional, a stairway needs stairs in both levels (above and below), here's an example:

level 0:     level -1:          legend:
.....        .....              . floor
..>..        ..<..              > down stairway
.....        .....              < up stairway

You can create stairways with two methods: either through mining (d) or through the construction menu (b C). Use the mining menu when there is rock or soil at the location of the future stairway. Use the construction menu when there is nothing at the target location.

If you have already mined out a level and you need to access the floor above, you'll need to create an up stairway (b C u). If there is a natural floor above you will need to mine it out (d j) to have both parts of the stairway.

If there is no floor above (the tile has been channeled or maybe you're building a tower), construct a down stairway (b C d) on the level above your up stairway.

See the example of the construction of a tower on magmawiki for further reading.

What are relevant skills for the Captain of the Guard/Hammerer positions

When you don't have a prison, its kind of important to make sure that your sheriff or captain of the guard doesn't have ridiculous strength. When you don't have a prison, justice is handed out in the form of beatings and he may kill/severely wound dwarfs for trivial crimes.

Also, make sure you have helpers for the Captain of the Guard as if punishment isn't swift for criminals it will be handed out by the Hammerer, i.e. The Executioner.

In general, the only common quality that should be in your justice system are the weaker dwarves that are unskilled in combat. Thus, not killing your criminals. A good compromise is to equip them with Feather Tree shields and Adamantite crossbows so that they can still help out if you are invaded.

It doesn't seem as if though any other skills are relevant to picking law enforcement.

Best Answer

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What’s the deal with upward stairways in Dwarf Fortress

What are relevant skills for the Captain of the Guard/Hammerer positions

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