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Author Topic: Easier inventory management?  (Read 3822 times)

randyshipp

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Easier inventory management?
« on: April 26, 2011, 10:54:23 am »

I'm struggling a little with equipping my military.  I'd like to be able to see at a glance what equipment my militia dwarves are actually wearing and carrying, as this would help me know which weapons and armor pieces I need to queue up in my workshop.  Is there a good way to see this, preferably on one screen instead of {u} to each individual dwarf and making a list on paper?

Also, how do I force militia dwarves to keep their armor and other equipment on at all times? Or is there some drawback to doing that?  Seems like the mobilization delay could be a big problem.

Thanks!
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Mickey Blue

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Re: Easier inventory management?
« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2011, 11:06:08 am »

There are two ways to achieve this goal (forgive me if some of the buttons are wrong, I use muscle memory for my keystrokes these days):

1) In the military screen if you hit 'e' to see their equipment list. There will be a green 'check' thing next to each item they are currently wearing (armor/weapon/etc) so you can see if they are equipped with everything you want them to be.  Depending on how specific your uniform requirements are is how specific you'll know (for example if your uniform says "metal armor" then you don't know if they are wearing crappy copper ringmail or supreme steel breastplates.. But if you specify one or the other on your uniform list then you'll know).  You can do this for ammo under the ammo screen (though I think that goes by squad as opposed to specific dwarf, but I could be wrong) by pressing 'f'.

2) A slightly longer way but much more specific is to click 'v' then go to your various dwarves you want to check and click 'i' when you have the dwarf selected.  This will bring up their inventory screen.  It will show you everything your dwarf is wearing (from clothes on up) to carrying (shield, weapon, item, etc).  You can also click on containers (backpacks/waterskins/quivers/etc) and see what is inside them (so you know if your archer actually has any ammo on them).

-MB
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NecroRebel

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Re: Easier inventory management?
« Reply #2 on: April 26, 2011, 11:13:44 am »

I'm struggling a little with equipping my military.  I'd like to be able to see at a glance what equipment my militia dwarves are actually wearing and carrying, as this would help me know which weapons and armor pieces I need to queue up in my workshop.  Is there a good way to see this, preferably on one screen instead of {u} to each individual dwarf and making a list on paper?
The military's equipment screen gives a decent overview of what your people have equipped, so making your uniforms as specific as possible is beneficial. For instance, I always set my soldiers to wear bronze early on (I equip at least 2 soldiers with bronze just after embark), and switch to specific better metals as I get them. When I've got a surplus of equipment, I also occasionally set all of my lower-quality weapons and shields for melting, let a smelter melt until I can't melt anymore, then go back through my stocks menu and set all the remaining low-quality items for dumping; this causes any dwarves who are attached to an item to pick up something better.

There's no way I know of to check specifically what equipment a given dwarf has aside from their personal inventory screen, though. It would be nice if there was a way to check units' inventories from the units or military screens, but that's not possible.

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Also, how do I force militia dwarves to keep their armor and other equipment on at all times? Or is there some drawback to doing that?  Seems like the mobilization delay could be a big problem.
In the military schedules subscreen, there's an option that says Inactive = Civ Clothes or Inactive = Uniformed; use the hotkey "u" to switch between them. If it's set to Uniformed, they'll wear their armor and carry their weapons at all times. The additional weight of their armor can slow down their movement if they're not good Armor Users or quite strong, so off-duty warriors aren't as good at being haulers or craftspeople, but otherwise there's no penalty.
« Last Edit: April 26, 2011, 11:15:20 am by NecroRebel »
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Hyndis

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Re: Easier inventory management?
« Reply #3 on: April 26, 2011, 11:17:29 am »

Dwarves will intelligently upgrade their gear. You don't need to specific what kind of material you want them to wear, they will pick out the best armor they can find.

Just keep churning out the steel or adamantine as you can make it and they will upgrade once it becomes available. You'll also want to make some temporary armor out of copper or iron though just so dwarves have something. Something is better than nothing.

As a result of this your oldest squads will generally be well equipped elites, and the newest squads will be poorly equipped recruits, which is fine. Just keep on churning out the steel and they will upgrade whenever they can.
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