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Author Topic: Pool similar items in the Depot together under a single entry  (Read 607 times)

Adrian

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Pool similar items in the Depot together under a single entry
« on: August 10, 2014, 09:16:16 am »

Rather than listing 20 entries of (plump helmets [5]), there should be a single entry of (plump helmets [100])
I really can't explain it any better, other than by showing you this.
Having individual stacks of 5 doesn't really do anything but to make the list longer than necessary and difficult to navigate. There's no difference in quality, value, stack size or weight.
Also in that image, you can see four entries for cave lobster, two for ♂ and two for ♀. And while i don't understand why there even needs to be a difference between males and females after they're caught, even the two ♀ entries aren't listed next to each other, and the ♂s are further down the list still. Again this does nothing but make the list difficult to navigate and longer than necessary.

It doesn't end with food though.
All un-dyed pig tail fiber thread can get a single entry.
All midnight blue pig tail fiber thread can get a single entry.
All steel anvils.
All those bars of metal.
Etc. etc.

Ideally i think we would end up with something like the trade agreement screen listing the category, goods, available qualities and their quantities, unit price and unit weight.
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Deboche

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Re: Pool similar items in the Depot together under a single entry
« Reply #1 on: August 10, 2014, 10:32:43 am »

This has to do with the interface which will likely not change unless absolutely necessary until the game's way more advanced because it would mean a whole lot more work with each update and possibly a lot of discarded stuff. Trading is a drag but macros help
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Larix

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Re: Pool similar items in the Depot together under a single entry
« Reply #2 on: August 10, 2014, 12:05:34 pm »

The way it currently works comes from the handling of stacks. As it stands, items which can occur in stacks are _generated_ like this. They cannot be inserted into an existing stack and large stacks are not automatically split into more reasonable sizes in normal processing.

I.e., to get a stack of plump helmet [100] would require
- different stack handling in the program itself, because they'd still spawn in 5-each stacks, which would then get joined into a big 100-stack.
and
- automatic un-stacking in item handling: a stack of 100 plump helmet is too big to fit into a barrel or pot; there'd be a new routine required so a dwarf with a barrel could remove, say, 20 mushrooms from the stack (actual amount depends on remaining capacity in the barrel, of course).

I don't think that'd be very practical for stuff with quality - at least for masterworks, the game keeps track of who made them; and dyed thread and anvils are items with quality. Furthermore, items that bear images (many decorations, all figurines) have one individually-tracked image per item, so _should_ be impossible to stack.

In short - stacks aren't a display thing, they're an actual in-program construct and would need a good deal of programming effort to change without causing more problems than it'd solve. A better trading interface would be very welcome, but i think standard macro support, integrated search routine in the trade screen and "select everything/select whole page" choices would be easier to implement.
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Getix Kain

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Re: Pool similar items in the Depot together under a single entry
« Reply #3 on: August 11, 2014, 04:34:32 am »

Well, I can see the technical difficulties but..

At least make the number of displayed characters on both BUY and SELL list a bit longer..

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