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

Question

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.

Answer 1

"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.