Doesn't follow: You can make a CLAW material/tissue and a NAIL material/tissue. Put
[USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:NAIL:NAIL_TEMPLATE]
[USE_TISSUE_TEMPLATE:NAIL:NAIL_TEMPLATE]
[TISSUE_LAYER:BY_CATEGORY:TOE:NAIL:FRONT]
in one caste and
[USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:CLAW:NAIL_TEMPLATE]
[STATE_NAME:ALL_SOLID:claw]
[STATE_ADJ:ALL_SOLID:claw]
[USE_TISSUE_TEMPLATE:CLAW:CLAW_TEMPLATE]
[TISSUE_LAYER:BY_CATEGORY:TOE:CLAW:FRONT]
in the other, I think that should work.
The game goes straight to the material template when naming the butchered part. But after using a different material template for the clawed caste it worked, thanks. What I had before trying out the claws as things created in the body file was
[USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:CLAW:CLAW_TEMPLATE_STR]
[USE_TISSUE_TEMPLATE:CLAW:CLAW_TEMPLATE]
[TISSUE_LAYER:BY_CATEGORY:FINGER:CLAW:FRONT]
[TISSUE_LAYER:BY_CATEGORY:TOE:CLAW:FRONT]
in one caste and
[USE_MATERIAL_TEMPLATE:NAIL:NAIL_TEMPLATE]
[USE_TISSUE_TEMPLATE:NAIL:NAIL_TEMPLATE]
[TISSUE_LAYER:BY_CATEGORY:FINGER:NAIL:FRONT]
[TISSUE_LAYER:BY_CATEGORY:TOE:NAIL:FRONT]
in the other. The (material > tissue > tissue layer) line ordering hadn't been changed, the position of the lines within the creature entry hadn't been changed, the position and calling order of the castes themselves hadn't been changed... I have no idea why it wasn't working before, and now that it works I still have no idea why it wasn't before. I have constantly been making changes to the files that the creature file relies on.
I'm not sure what you mean here. All body parts are targetable unless they are INTERNAL. INTERNAL body parts can be damaged when the parent body part is damaged.
....
Tissue layers may be added to existing bodyparts within the creature entry. This is how nails and claws work by default, they are a layer of tissue added to the front of specified body parts, rather than being body parts in their own right. That is why they can't be targeted by attacks.
I think we're talking about slightly different things. I was speaking from a programing point of view: From what I can tell based on the error messages we get when we mess something up, the body part is created using the BODY token, the BODY_DETAIL_PLAN token adds important information to already existing body parts.
Yeah, I don't think I'm expressing the difference between body parts as things pulled out of the body file by the BODY command, and body parts as... simulations of parts of real life bodies. It'd be easier if I could call the body+material+tissue combo a body part and the things in the body file something else, but they're hogging the 'body part' label.
I also seem to be using 'create' to describe both the creation of something within the game, and the metaphorical creation that happens when you tell the game in the creature entry that you want... (something that isn't actually a body part within DF but would reasonably be described as such if the creature were there in front of you) added.