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[Afghani84]

Do you guys use em? If so, why? I mean...if the battle is not huge and very drawn out, military dorfs should have enough time to go back to the dining hall in between battles and refresh themselves. On top of that there seem to be a lot of problems with getting your dwarves to equip flasks and backpacks consistently in the first place.

[Kestrel]

I've never had any issues getting dorfs to equip flasks and backpacks.  I make them, and then they wear them.  Often my barracks are near the entrance and far from sources of food.  The shorter their time away from the barracks the better.

[Argonnek]

I like having my dwarves carry supplies with them, so that they aren't constantly running away from their training just to eat or drink.

[Larix]

I only allow flasks, not backpacks. Had a few too many cases of dwarfs deciding they needed to get a nicer pack, dropping the old one but retaining ownership of their +mule spleen roast+, which they then dutifully stored in their room. It's quite difficult to get rid of a stinky piece of meat that's someone's property and is thus immune from normal movement commands.

I never had issues with waterskins, they get equipped and used just fine. They don't make much difference in DF2014, since drinking from a barrel no longer takes four freaking days.

[Naryar]

Yes, they are important. They make sure your dwarves do not run away from where you want them to grab a drink/meal.

[Eldin00]

dwarves without provisions will often run off to eat/drink at exactly the moment you most need them to not do that.

[utunnels]

Military dorfs have a habbit to drop their food on floor to cause miasmas, if they are interrupted when they are filling their backpacks.

[Bearskie]

Because I'm drowning in legendary roasts and wine.

Also, sometimes they get posted on extended duty, eg. After my guys murdered a defenseless fb, I quarantined em for a while to make sure the syndrome isnt too dangerous.

[Afghani84]

So to summarize:

+ Urist stays in battle/on duty instead of running back to the dining room for food/booze
That means they gain experience faster and might sway a fight in your favor by just being there

- Food is owned and cannot easily be removed if a dwarf decides not to eat it (for whatever reason)
Sources of miasma in your fortress, clutter
- Both backpacks and waterflasks/skins have to be produced - labor could be used otherwise
This is obviously more important for early forts. Once you have 100+ dwarves, you won't even notice it

My own fortress design is very efficient. There is not a lot of distance between the dining hall and any other parts of it. So i might just leave my military without both of them. Or just with waterskins...haven't decided yet. thanks for the feedback guys!

[4maskwolf]

+ Urist stays in battle/on duty instead of running back to the dining room for food/booze

This isn't 40d: your dwarves will stay in battle on their own without leaving whether or not they have food and drink, unless there isn't an enemy in sight.

As for on duty, unless the bug has been fixed dwarves don't eat or drink while doing any action other than training and orders from the squad screen.  Anything you set up in the schedule other than training they won't eat or drink, I believe.

What it DOES do is make training more efficient, since they won't be going off to get food and drink nearly as often.  Because even if they aren't far apart, that's still time they won't be available for leading or joining training things.

[Eldin00]

In my experience, dwarves will not cease combat to eat or drink, even if they're starving to death. But will happily head off to eat/drink/pickup shinier gear before responding to a station or kill order, and will take time out of a scheduled patrol order for eating and drinking as well.

[thegoatgod_pan]

Backpacks are mandatory.  Period. If you play adventure mode, you know why: a backpack allow you to switch items without dropping them.

Without a backpack, a dwarf has a lot of trouble equipping anything that takes more than two hands, especially if you, say, order it to equip five shields, twelve cloaks, an artifact boot and a pair of silver daggers in addition to its normal uniform.

If you've been cranking out steel masterwork and your militia commander is going to war wearing a helmet and civilian clothes, it is likely because you didn't make backpacks.

[ibanix]

Uh, as far as I know, in Fortress Mode backpacks have zero to do with equipping items; that's set by layers (Under/Over/Armor/Cover) and the various UB/LB/LP STEP values.

Backpacks are for holding food.

[Thisfox]

Backpacks are mandatory.  Period. If you play adventure mode, you know why: a backpack allow you to switch items without dropping them.

Without a backpack, a dwarf has a lot of trouble equipping anything that takes more than two hands, especially if you, say, order it to equip five shields, twelve cloaks, an artifact boot and a pair of silver daggers in addition to its normal uniform.

If you've been cranking out steel masterwork and your militia commander is going to war wearing a helmet and civilian clothes, it is likely because you didn't make backpacks.

Uh, as far as I know, in Fortress Mode backpacks have zero to do with equipping items; that's set by layers (Under/Over/Armor/Cover) and the various UB/LB/LP STEP values. Backpacks are for holding food.

I'm pretty sure backpacks are indeed for holding food in Fort mode. There are several subtle differences of that nature.

They don't make much difference in DF2014, since drinking from a barrel no longer takes four freaking days.

...If you're going to do something right, it takes time and effort. Plus, I assume one of those days is for the resultant hangover.