Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[kingubu]

Trying to specify leather shields for my military uniform.  Nothing under "Material".  So I'm hoping the color is unique.

Wish I hadn't deleted that default "leather".  For now I'm going to atom smash everything not leather.

[slothen]

I wouldn't be surprised if different species' leather has different colors.  It won't be a problem if you don't try to specify a color.  The only real usefulness of the color option is that you can specify red/silver/midnight_blue/emerald cloth items.  Specifying color for other items should work if you knew what those colors are, but there's almost never a reason to do it besides just specifying the material.  Color could theoretically work in a scenario where you have leather of type a,b,c,d,e,f and a,b leathers are the same color, and you only want your militia commander in those two types of leather, but for some reason can't be bothered to pick.

[slink]

The OP's problem is that the uniform selector won't let us pick leather as a material for shields or bucklers, despite there being a leather shield/buckler entry in the pre-made Leather and Archer uniforms.  It was reported on Mantis last September but hasn't been replied to.  If you remove both of those pre-made uniforms for some reason, you can't ever again specify a leather shield or buckler in that fortress.

[slothen]

The OP's problem is that the uniform selector won't let us pick leather as a material for shields or bucklers, despite there being a leather shield/buckler entry in the pre-made Leather and Archer uniforms.  It was reported on Mantis last September but hasn't been replied to.  If you remove both of those pre-made uniforms for some reason, you can't ever again specify a leather shield or buckler in that fortress.

oooooohhh.  Still, that's a fairly niche (though legitimate) problem.

[GhostDwemer]

Not so niche at all. I'd bet that anyone trying for military might has created their own uniforms and anyone who has created their own uniforms has likely run into this problem, I know I have. How do you get your marksdwarves to carry light-weight shields so they can move quickly?

[Imp]

This is a bit micromanage-y, but should achieve the goal.

Forbid all leather shields already being used as well as any that for whatever reason you don't want used by the soldiers you are about to equip.

Press 'm', highlight the first squad you want to equip, arrow key over to the first member of it.  'e' 'S' press enter.

You're now looking at specific shields.  Forbidden shields are not on this list (this is why you forbade shields being used already, or any others you don't want to see).  It's hard to tell one shield from the next, so just remember the order.

Assign each trooper their own specific shield.

If you later get more shields and/or need to equip new squad members, repeat the process, including forbidding the currently used shields, as the order new shields are added to the list is rather unpredictable and assigning the same shield to several dwarves is totally possible and completely ineffectual.

Note about forbidden eq - it can stay forbidden if you want and it will still be used, until it is dropped or set down for any reason.  So consider a mass unforbidding after this process is done if you prefer to keep these shields handy despite eq changes and other things.

[slothen]

Not so niche at all. I'd bet that anyone trying for military might has created their own uniforms and anyone who has created their own uniforms has likely run into this problem, I know I have. How do you get your marksdwarves to carry light-weight shields so they can move quickly?

wooden shields?

I've never really placed a high value on marksdwarf movement speed, it seemed more of an aesthetic/theoretical benefit than a practical one.  marksdwarves were mean in the open field of 40d when they could fire at enemies and then be deactivated to make them run away before turning to fire again.  Can that even be done in this version?  I generally put my archers in full leather with chainmail and metal shields, then upgrade to full metal armor once my fort is mature.  I don't worry about their movement speed, under the rationale that a longer-lived dwarf is going to get stronger, faster, and higher skills.  I often run into ammo problems, and a metal-clad dwarf with an exceptional copper crossbow is a pretty effective melee fighter.  Although, I suppose for a squad that will only be used behind fortifications, getting into position and refilling ammo quickly is a high priority, and metal armor won't be much better protection than leather against an elite bowgoblin firing metal bolts.  So I see your point, but even with leather-equipped wood-crossbow using dwarfs, i would be inclined to stick with metal shields because of their dual usefulness for any dwarf.  Besides, I would say most of the weight comes from the rest of the armor, not the shield.  But now I'm rambling.