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[assimilateur]

I already upped the ubstep value of my chain mail to protect the throat and face. Tested it on the arena and it seemed to work.

What I need to know is how I can get them to wear caps, socks/chausses and gloves. I covered my bases as best I knew how by embarking with spares (since I apparently need twice the number of gauntlets and one and a half the number of boots to get those equipped reliably) the last time I tested it. I don't know what the workaround to this issue is, if it even exists. And seeing as how clothing under armor is often recommended for optimal protection, including on the wiki, the workaround to this is either common knowledge or people just haven't been paying attention when determining whether their recommendations even work.

[i2amroy]

For me it's no cloak (I modded chain shirts to cover throat and face; modding helms that way would have been preferable, but alas I don't think there's a way) but with chain leggings under the greaves (which wouldn't have worked without modding).

You can mod necks to attach to the upper body instead of the head. Looking at the raws it should be as simple as changing the neck's connection type from 'head' to 'body', but given that mail shirts don't seem to protect the upper arms and shoulders I don't know what will happen.

Just want to point out that a side effect of this would be that shots that target the head will no longer damage the throat. Instead the only time when throats will have the possibility of taking damage will be in shots that target the upper body, where they would have a larger chance of being damaged then before (since they would be connected to the UB directly instead of through another part) but they would be unable to be damaged through the head.

[Sutremaine]

What I need to know is how I can get them to wear caps, socks/chausses and gloves. I covered my bases as best I knew how by embarking with spares (since I apparently need twice the number of gauntlets and one and a half the number of boots to get those equipped reliably) the last time I tested it. I don't know what the workaround to this issue is, if it even exists. And seeing as how clothing under armor is often recommended for optimal protection, including on the wiki, the workaround to this is either common knowledge or people just haven't been paying attention when determining whether their recommendations even work.

I've never had a problem with dwarves reserving extra gauntlets and boots, but I don't even bother trying to get them wearing anything but metal. I do use dresses if they're available, since they have full coverage. Dresses are about the only armour I can consistently add to the mail / plate / greaves / gauntlet / helm / boots / cloak / hood set and still have them equip everything without any further input from me.

I've got a theory that the order of the list affects the order in which dwarves attempt to pick things up (they probably don't look for equipment in a random order, and the order things are listed in the raws seems as good as any), but I've never had to do anything because all my fortresses before this one have known how to make dresses.

Just want to point out that a side effect of this would be that shots that target the head will no longer damage the throat. Instead the only time when throats will have the possibility of taking damage will be in shots that target the upper body, where they would have a larger chance of being damaged then before (since they would be connected to the UB directly instead of through another part) but they would be unable to be damaged through the head.

Seems pretty reasonable. The neck is as close to the head as it is to the body, after all. Throats are also directly targetable, though they're often 'impossible' shots unless the target is unconscious (it's my favourite adventurer mode finisher, since helms are more common than mail shirts). I think it's the spine that would switch from head-related damage to body-related damage. As for the neck flesh itself... apparently there isn't any such thing. The humanoid body goes straight from the torso to the head, and the only two parts that reasonably fit between are the throat and the spine. That's actually kind of creepy.

[daggaz]

The best way to equip dwarves is to assign them a uniform.

The optimum arrangement is;

INSERT OVERLY MUNCHKINLY ARMOR LIST HERE.  I MEAN, REALLY, THREE MAIL SHIRTS _UNDER_ YOUR BREASTPLATE???

and they will also pick up waterskins, backpacks, and quivers as they need them.

Well, at least my armorsmith will have something to practise on on his way up to legendary status.  Fucking hell, SIX cloaks?  What in Armok's beard is it in the code which allows for this behavior??

[assimilateur]

I've got a theory that the order of the list affects the order in which dwarves attempt to pick things up

I was under the impression that if I added socks and boots, the latter would invariably show up first on the list. But now I started setting up a new uniform and the order was indeed the same as how I added it, so that's worth checking out later.

I've never had a problem with dwarves reserving extra gauntlets and boots

The question now is whether you just never noticed due to making a surplus by default or if they really did reserve the proper amounts in your games. I think the latter variant is unlikely since it's worked like that for me consistently. I found that problem very noticeable when just starting out or when making a material upgrade (if I make as many clownite gauntlets as I have soldiers and some of them still retain steel ones, I know something is up).

[Finn]

The best way to equip dwarves is to assign them a uniform.

The optimum arrangement is;

INSERT OVERLY MUNCHKINLY ARMOR LIST HERE.  I MEAN, REALLY, THREE MAIL SHIRTS _UNDER_ YOUR BREASTPLATE???

and they will also pick up waterskins, backpacks, and quivers as they need them.

Well, at least my armorsmith will have something to practise on on his way up to legendary status.  Fucking hell, SIX cloaks?  What in Armok's beard is it in the code which allows for this behavior??

Perhaps you are looking at it from the wrong angle.  Dwarven clothing and armor is deliberately designed to be worn in plies.  Dwarven engineers discovered that a 2 ply leather cloak protected better than a single-ply cloak and there was no turning back after that.  The chain shirts, cloaks, socks etc., are all designed to fit snuggly on top of one another.  Dwarves can now easily provide greater or lesser protection where needed/cost-justified.  The only current limitations are how much can be contained beneath a covering piece, and how much can be worn before the dwarf "turtles", which is where the dwarf falls on his back and wiggles his tiny arms and legs in a vain attempt to roll over or stand again.

[SannaSK]

Disclaimer: I am a Newb (playtime < 1.5 weeks).

I've read through the thread and I'm not sure I understand if/how OP's question was answered. It seems like the base question was "how can I check to make sure all the members of a squad (member1, member 2, etc, member 10) are equipping all their correct gear without having to manually inspect all members of all squads." The answer seems to be, "set up your Equipment/Uniforms correctly and they will equip correctly," which doesn't seem to actually assuage the new player's fear that something somewhere has gone wrong. (Not the least element of which is the part where the military screens are omfgconfusing.)

Is this correct? The only way to tell that all 10 individual members are correctly equipped is to v>i?

What about trying to figure out if you have enough, say, breastplates for everyone? I can go into z>stocks>armor and see that I have (type of) breastplate (sum total of types), and if that number is fewer than my squad member quotient then I make more, and if it's enough, then I just hope that every one who is assigned to equip a metal breastplate will pick one up when they go to equip?

[Sutremaine]

The question now is whether you just never noticed due to making a surplus by default or if they really did reserve the proper amounts in your games.

On my current embark I brought enough raw materials to make 8 pieces of armour for each dwarf (10 if you count the second boot / gauntlet). The three dwarves equipped their stuff properly as it came out of the forge / leatherworks, but I did have a dwarf claim two cloaks. On other fortresses I've had I sometimes flick through the exact items they have assigned via inventory screen (I've heard the tales about items being assigned but not worn), and if they are getting greedy it's very rare. The current embark is the only time I've noticed dwarves taking more than one, or one set, of each armour item. I briefly switched them to a 'naked' uniform and then back again once they dropped everything, and after I unforbid the waterskins they picked up the appropriate number of items.

[Finn]

Disclaimer: I am a Newb (playtime < 1.5 weeks).

I've read through the thread and I'm not sure I understand if/how OP's question was answered. It seems like the base question was "how can I check to make sure all the members of a squad (member1, member 2, etc, member 10) are equipping all their correct gear without having to manually inspect all members of all squads." The answer seems to be, "set up your Equipment/Uniforms correctly and they will equip correctly," which doesn't seem to actually assuage the new player's fear that something somewhere has gone wrong. (Not the least element of which is the part where the military screens are omfgconfusing.)

Is this correct? The only way to tell that all 10 individual members are correctly equipped is to v>i?

What about trying to figure out if you have enough, say, breastplates for everyone? I can go into z>stocks>armor and see that I have (type of) breastplate (sum total of types), and if that number is fewer than my squad member quotient then I make more, and if it's enough, then I just hope that every one who is assigned to equip a metal breastplate will pick one up when they go to equip?

There is an easier way than v->i.  If you use m -> e, and move the cursor to the squad you want and it will show you a list of the members, one of which will be highlighted, and a list of the items that s/he is supposed to be wearing. There will be a marker (your milage may vary depending on graphic pack) next to items s/he is actually wearing.  By moving the cursor quickly down the list of members you can see if anyone is missing anything.

Note that it won't tell you if they've equipped something else in that spot, just if they are missing the item you asked them to wear.  For example, if you specify iron helmets in your uniform, along with "partial matches", then forbid all the iron helms in the world, your dwarves will equip other helms instead.  The marker will still be absent by iron helm in this list.

[rhesusmacabre]

I think that only shows if an item is assigned to the dwarf, not if it is equipped. I know I've had times where one dwarf is carrying another's assigned weapon, and then that dwarf fails carry any weapon.

[Grumbledwarfskin]

Yeah, the only way to be certain is to actually view the dwarf in question.

The shortcut that's helpful to keep in mind for checking what specific items have been assigned is m->e->P, the screen that allows you to switch which squads have higher priority for getting the good stuff. It shows exactly what items have been assigned to each dwarf.

It's better than the equipment screen, which just says "yeah, they've got something assigned to them", even if that something is a highly decorated wooden sword that the elves dropped when the goblin siege massacred them. However, it still isn't a list of what they actually have equipped, you can only get that by viewing their inventory.