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[ilsadir]

Recently I've taken to assigning all civilians to military squads to get them to equip the copious amounts of extra, lower-quality armor that the Armorsmith cranks out to skill up.  Actual squads take precedence, but even the Haulers will be able to equip *Bronze Mail Shirt*s while the actual Military has =Steel Mail Shirt=.

The problem this runs into, and maybe it's too min-maxy to want both, is that these civilians will ignore the burrow restrictions because they're now "military".

My proposal is to have the ability to get civilians to wear armor.  It makes little sense in the DF world NOT to wear armor.  It's just like asking for death.

[Shurhaian]

A civilian uniform would be a neat thing to have. If you're too picky about it, you run the risk of having dwarves ordered to wear something they dislike(wrong colour, maybe, even if not based on the material), and any dwarf might get mild unhappy thoughts because wearing armour makes them feel unsafe(heavier armour causing a stronger negative thought, as might some prefs)(edit: e.g. "S/He was irritated/agitated/upset/alarmed at needing to wear armour lately."), but it would be nice if you could at least get them to wear leather. In more dangerous areas, the extra protection of mail would be worth the unhappy thoughts because the dwarves would still be alive to have them. And if the dwarf has a preference for that sort of item, they get a happy thought instead of an unhappy one.

I was initially against the notion of civilian squads(edit: not least because squads are currently limited to ten, so the management of a large fortress's kit would become tedious), but you might e.g. be content with leather for the general populace, but want your woodcutters, wood haulers, and herbalists wearing something sturdier, and I'm not sure how to reconcile that. Burrows wouldn't really work as a given citizen might be assigned to several, and they might have conflicts that are not simply resolved by the computer. Perhaps any given citizen could be assigned to a particular uniform category, and would seek out gear to suit? That would allow you to protect civilians according to their needs, without needing to group them into formal squads. There could even be an option in the uniforms interface to designate the default civilian outfit(which would be non-armour clothing by default), as well as each person having their own setting. Leave it at "follow default", and they will change as you change that master setting; assign them something more specific(even if it IS the current default), and they'll stick with it. (Edit: By that I mean that they'll maintain that uniform. Once you tell them to wear "Surface" or "Cavern" uniform, they will do so - but if you change what that uniform entails, they will alter their inventory to suit.)

Addendum: And if you suspect that a given dwarf is going to make a noble upset, you could issue them armour and hope they get it before the guards get to them...

You could even use this in a nonmilitary context if you could specify when dwarves will replace clothing. This could have issues with the economy, though, unless you have control over what they are issued from stores and what they personally own. Giving every dwarf a dyed and decorated +pig tail cloak+ might be a good idea in cold environments - the dye and decoration aren't essential, but the cloak is helpful and the ornamentation could make them happier to have been given it.

[NW_Kohaku]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TwentyFourHourArmor

I remember all sorts of D&D books talking about ways that DMs should convince their players that they shouldn't be wearing their plate mail to bed...

Um, right, anyway, I honestly think that we shouldn't really be encouraging round-the-clock full plate mail just 'cuz you have armor slots to fill.  We're supposed to have a penalty to movement and action time due to the weight of the armor units wear, although it turns out that's not really balanced at all right now. 

Your woodcutter?  Yeah, sure, a chain vest might not be a bad idea when going outside.

Your weaver, who spends his entire time going from stockpile to workshop to stockpile, occasionally going to the booze stockpile to get a drink?  If he's under threat, you're boned, anyway.

[Shurhaian]

On the other hand, it would make sense(and provide more of a use for weapon racks/armor stands) if dwarves remove their military-related gear before going to bed. (They might even remove some degree of clothing, but that's what the cabinet is for.)

For most forts, you don't need to worry too much about your interior, but especially if it's sprawly, you still might want leather in case a kobold thief manages to sneak in - or a beastman, for that matter - or a gremlin, etc. This will be especially the case if someone can be so good at sneaking that they can slip right past a guard, in the adjacent tile, so long as that guard fails his Observation check. You'd never know where that thief might get to before being detected, and you'd never know who would eventually be sharp-eyed enough to spot it - maybe because it's now trying to escape with that ☼gold goblet☼.

(This opens up the question of ambush/observation training, but that's a digression.)

A layer of leather might not be much, but it could be the difference between a dagger slashing a dwarf's chest and a dagger poking into his/her heart.

[loose nut]

It might be nice to be able to order your civilians to suit up if they're going outside. Probably it should come at the cost of an unhappy thought (unless the dwarf really likes armor).

[ilsadir]

My major concern is generally the outside going dwarves.  Perhaps it should be thus, but I wish "An ambush!  Curse them!" didn't mean guaranteed death for 1-5 dwarves.  With outside-civilian armor, it would be just 1 far more often.

[NW_Kohaku]

While it doesn't really have much to do with the suggestion...

The best armor is a wall.  (At least until seigers can punch through walls, but even then, it should stop an ambush.)

So...the fort I started in this thread died horribly. Goblin Ambush + Tantrum Spiral which started with a failed Possessed Dwarf. So I started a new fort.

Traps are by far the easiest way to handle goblins.  Most of my ambushes are "sprung" when I suddenly notice my cage traps are now cages full of goblins.

You don't have to make your traps line just the halls of your fort, you know, you can actually use the terrain to your advantage - Just find a nice hill, and designate for all the ramps up that hill to be removed - you now have a ledge where goblins can't climb up (but can still shoot bows if they have them), but which is still "outside" and will have trees and bushes.   

Basically, build walls or remove ramps or channel to give yourself a "courtyard" while you still need some outside access.  The best defense is to simply restrict all access to any of your dwarves to requiring that every invader has to pass through a mass of traps, followed up by some animals on chains to get the kobolds who can avoid the traps.

Walling off a large aboveground working area is priority number three for me, after setting up a farm and setting up the initial suite of temporary working and living environment.

[TheyTarget]

Maybe just a secondary type of military squad. That stays in burrows, and doesnt train, but will you know act like military, defend themselves, and not get scared of animals. Like a minute men thing.

[Shurhaian]

"Reservists"?

But while useful in concept, it doesn't really address what the post seems to be about - keeping all your civilians at least somewhat armored in times of alert, while not letting them rush into harm's way(because the first-rate armor is reserved for the actual military).

While you can avoid the common reasons to go outside for many dwarves, some people are going to be hard to control. Forbidding death items will help greatly, but there's always the chance that someone unexpected will dash out to recover wounded - and that's a high-enough-priority task that I for one wouldn't want to have too few dwarves have it enabled.

Keeping dwarves indoors also completely fails to address stealthy TRAPAVOIDers getting into the heart of the fortress before someone spots them.

[Shade-o]

Perhaps civilians could simply wear leather armour at most. It would be cheap and easy to make, and give them a second skin. Some could basically be civilian clothes with extra padding, like a heavy leather coat. It could go hand in hand with civilian weapons like knives and crafting tools.

The Goblin's longsword glances off the Stonecrafter's Padded Leather Vest!
The Stonecrafter strikes the Goblin in the head with his Chisel and Mallet!
The skin is pierced!
The skull is shattered!
The brain is broken!
The Stonecrafter has produced a Masterwork Goblin Skull Totem!


Incidentally, where's our Studded Leather armour?

[Silverionmox]

Clothing prescriptions make sense in many cases. (eg. Making miners wear helmets, making furnace operators wear gloves and leather) There should be "laws" tab so we can group all those orders. That also opens the possibility for cultural stuff, or religiously inspired laws like "all female dwarves wear headscarves". Of course a more flexible punishment system should be included (fines, loss of privileges, etc.).

[RenoFox]

Most important function for civilian control would be the ability to quickly command all civilian dwarves as a single ramshackle militia. When a siege has broken through the defenses, a general alert, even with traumatic thoughts to the dwarves, would make a good last stand scenario of unskilled civilians grabbing random weapons and gathering together to fight to the death.