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[Ianflow]

I wanted to see what the rest of the community thinks of bins
I thought they were good initially
I soon learned, that I was unable to get my wooden training spears for a danger room because they were all in a bin
I later find that despite their tantalizing storage capacities, they can get buggy

Any bin lover (who is probably an elf) want to convince those frustrated by bins why they are holy to you

[krenshala]

I see bins as the compromise between excessive stockpile areas and a single quantum stockpile.

Not sure what bugs you are talking about as the only issue I've had with bins are that you can't access the items in one when it is being carried around. This is, of course, easily solved through the use of stockpile sourcing (stockpile A, that accepts bins, only takes from B, that does not use bins and accepts from anywhere). [see previous discussions on seed stockpiles and the barrels that store them for more details]

[BoredVirulence]

I see bins as the compromise between excessive stockpile areas and a single quantum stockpile.

Not sure what bugs you are talking about as the only issue I've had with bins are that you can't access the items in one when it is being carried around. This is, of course, easily solved through the use of stockpile sourcing (stockpile A, that accepts bins, only takes from B, that does not use bins and accepts from anywhere). [see previous discussions on seed stockpiles and the barrels that store them for more details]

Thats the only issue I see as well. And its annoying, but I like having a way to store things more realistically than the previous system. I never understood why, if I made a stockpile of socks with no bins, I get a grid across a room where each cell is several feet wide(a single tile), with a single sock in each. And of course quantum stockpiles were good, but were actually an exploit. Now minecarts make them a feature, but I like having an alternative that makes sense.

Then again, I myself don't often encounter many stockpile bugs. Probably because most of my stockpiles are poorly optimised. Seed stockpiles are the only ones I heavily optimise, because seed cancelation spam sucks.

[Drazinononda]

Here's my take on bins: They're great for trading.

I've largely stopped using stockpiles at all, preferring to streamline by way of sticking all the relevant workshops near each other. I still use stockpiles for some raw materials: stone, wood, uncut gems, craftable butchery products, etc., just to get them gathered up from their various origins. This cuts down considerably on my hauling dwarf-hours overall, leaving more of them available for building structures and bringing 'round wood or stone.

The one time I use bins regularly is for export goods. I set up a stockpile near the depot that accepts all the unusable Finished Goods (i.e. excludes bags, clothing, waterskins, etc.) and, later in the fort, only high-quality items. This stockpile uses bins so that when the caravan shows up, I can quickly shift thousands of dwarfbucks worth of totems and such in just a few seconds, rather than having my haulers carrying them individually from the workshop all at once.

[Ianflow]

I've tried to make a danger room trap, only to be told there are no palm training spears
When a bin sitting in the general stockpile is full of palm training spears

With seeds, I'm still trying to fix the 'no plump helmet spawn' when there are barrels full of plump helmet spawn

[Necrisha]

you'll either have to dump the bags of seed and unforbid them, or the seed itself... and good luck!

[Larix]

Seed hauling with barrels is utterly terrifying. AFAIK it goes like this: dwarf becomes aware of a solitary loose seed -> dwarf walks all the way to the seed stockpile -> retrieves the appropriate seed bag from the seed barrel and carries it all the way to the solitary seed -> puts the seed in the bag, drops the bag -> walks all the way back to the seed stockpile to collect the barrel (the moment the bag is dropped, the barrel will be reserved for the hauling task, making all seeds inside unavailable for everybody) -> drags the barrel all the way to the bag -> puts bag in barrel, moves barrel all the way back to stockpile. Basically, if your fort isn't ridiculously optimised with dining and plant processing practically on top of the seed stockpile, all seeds will be unavailable about 80% of the time. Unless you keep your seeds outside of barrels.

I've tried to make a danger room trap, only to be told there are no palm training spears

That was just the game trying to save you from the moral corruption that is danger rooms

Hauling can cause all sorts of annoyances, especially in forts with long distances involved. Nothing like the [TSK] marker signalling an active hauling job going on and back off three times on a single item, because the hauler got too tired/thirsty/hungry on the way and decided to blow it off.

Bins have their problems when collection tasks are done the wrong way round - an ultra-heavy bin moved over insane distances to collect a single item, when bringing the item to the bin would consume a tiny fraction of the time and save at least one complete trip - but they save so much stockpile space and make trading so much easier i wouldn't want to miss them. And elves are my favourite non-dwarven trading partners, and my preferred species in adventure mode.

[Urist McDwarfFortress]

I loved them at first (storing more than a single sock per 9 square feet FTW!!!), but they have become completely obsolete since the advent of the automatic quantum stockpile.

[Ringsea]

Honestly, they're the best we have.
The alternative is 1 sock per square, which is unrealistic, but bins can hold like, what, a cajillion socks? Stockpiles should hold more per tile in some scenerios; 1 furniture or stone per tile makes sense, but that is no logical reason I can't store several bones in one tiny tile. Bins should hold less, of course, if stockpiles were changed like that.

My MAJOR issue with them, however, is that I can't control them (as far as I know.) I hate having to not use bins, or use them sparinly, because I don't want to export my clothes and tools with all my crafts, since I need the former 2 and not the latter.

But really, bins FTW for now.

[smakemupagus]

My MAJOR issue with them, however, is that I can't control them (as far as I know.) I hate having to not use bins, or use them sparinly, because I don't want to export my clothes and tools with all my crafts, since I need the former 2 and not the latter.

I usually make 2 goods stockpiles, one with clothes and tools enabled (bins or not, as you prefer), and the second for crafts (with yes bins)

Lots of things work OK in bins, or quite well with a main stockpile with bins giving to a small stockpile without.

[Necromunger]

Never had an issue with bins in any way. I expect the next thread to ask about peoples opinions on buckets and cabinets. (just as pointless)

[i2amroy]

I've tried to make a danger room trap, only to be told there are no palm training spears
When a bin sitting in the general stockpile is full of palm training spears

You have 1 of a few problems:
1)You have already used up all your spears, but they haven't been installed yet. Make some more.
2)Your spears have been assigned to your military, make some more/de-assign them.
3)Either your spears or your trap room can't be reached from the other. Check to see if both are accessible.
4)The spears or bin is forbidden. Unforbid it.
5)The bin has been selected for a hauling task, check back in a while and possibly check the job screen and try to find a "store item in bin" task that matches your bin.
6)Your game is broken. Very highly unlikely, but possible. Regen a new world.

With seeds, I'm still trying to fix the 'no plump helmet spawn' when there are barrels full of plump helmet spawn

You can remove 99% of these problems with a simple dual stockpile setup.
1)Stockpile 1 takes from anywhere and gives to stockpile 2. Barrels are not enabled.
2)Stockpile 2 takes only from links. Barrels are enabled.

Stockpile 1 can be a small stockpile (1-5 squares) and stockpile 2 can also be a small stockpile (since seeds fit in barrels at a very high ratio).

Storing your seeds should then work like this:
1)Dwarf notices a seed, checks stockpile 1 and sees that the stockpile is empty. It then grabs the seed and hauls just it to stockpile 1 (without grabbing any bags or barrels.
2)Dwarf realizes that it can carry this seed it just dropped in stockpile 1 to stockpile 2 where it can be stored in a bag/barrel.
3)Dwarf grabs the bag/barrel for the briefest of instants, walks 1 tile to grab the seed and 1 tile back to drop the barrel/bag back in stockpile 2.

Unless your farmer happens to try to grab a seed in those 5 seconds when the dwarf is carrying the seed those 2-5 tiles from stockpile 1 to stockpile 2, this will not generate any cancellation messages.

On the exact topic of bins, I've never had any problems or drawbacks with them, and their benefits greatly outweigh any potential slowdowns they might cause.

[weenog]

Bins aren't holy to me, but a wooden bin full of charcoal is a nice way of saying "Fuck you, elves. I'm practical, not diplomatic."  At least before you reach precious magma and can save on fuel and send the elves the message more directly.

[Stargazer]

As far as I remember, the last version of DF had bins working fine. Dwarfs would bring the item to the bin, not vice versa. In the version, though, it's really annoying. I still use them, since I find quantum stockpiles a tad cheap, but I don't find them to be terribly convenient either.

[Hamiltonz]

Bins?  Hate 'em.  Space is cheap and quantum stock piles are even cheaper (pun intended).

I make 9x9 stockpiles with a central stair.  That's 80 squares of space to drop things on.  Immediately to the east of the stairs just off of the stockpile I place a one square dump zone.  When the stock pile fills up completely I dump all to that dump zone.  Those zones are always a multiple of 80 even when I undump them (when the stockpile gets empty I un'd' the entire zone, then re'd' it when the stock pile is full).

I can always easily see how much of whatever that I have.  I hate bins because I have to look inside them to see how much is there AND they always have mixed items.

Redesignating what items a stockpile takes is trivial.  Setting only one dump zone active allows me to easily move whatever to where ever.  I used a "sorting" floor of stockpiles just under my depot.  I use it mostly to sort out the wood that I buy off the treehuggers.  All my traps are made of Alder.  All power generation and distribution uses Oak.  This is how I keep things organized.  Bin just mess everything up.

Bins, bah!