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[Solace]

Personally I think that the whole 'pile' system is a bit clunky... as far as embark goes, "throw all the food in that corner over there" might work, but once I'm managing a 28X7 farm block, leaving hundreds of food items sitting around is a little silly. How about being able to build specific storage buildings instead? A downside could be you'd need a different (2X2?) building for each type of food (either 'dwarven ale' vs 'dwarven beer' or 'plants' vs 'fish', whatever works), so you'd only get into it when you actually have enough of a single item to require it. If a barrel can hold 5 items, how about a 2X2 building holding up to... 50-100? It wouldn't obsolete barrels, since only one dwarf could use it at a time; maybe set it so that items can only be added or removed by taking a barrel over there, and then taking the barrel over to either the place food is being produced or eaten. This would seriously cut down on clutter, and not only make your fortresses look tidier, but also improve fps, since a hundred items in a building would count as 1 thing with a list of 100sub-things, rather than 100 separate things that all need to be checked for pathing (I think).

Similarly, but stylistically different, how about designating a refuse or stone/ore pit, like we have pit/ponds? So if you mine out a few hundred stones and ore, you can put them all somewhere they won't get in the way, but can still be accessed easily. Maybe involve some sort of stacking thing to help with the fps-related object count... or just make it buildings too if that's easier. Maybe multi-zlevel buildings? Expandable buildings? Whatever works.

[Silverionmox]

More multi-tile buildings is not the direction the game should take imo.

What we need to increase storage is some way to keep track of bulkiness of items. Seeds, for example, would score very low and you'll probably only need eg. one barrel for each type of seed. (Things like wheat, where the crop is the seed, excepted of course.) Tracking objects in containers (or pseudo-containers, like piles of stuff) can be reduced quite a lot. In fact very little influences would make a difference in a tightly sealed barrel for example, and therefore it's only necessary to track time, in normal circumstances. The contents would then be suspended in Schrödinger's cat-like uncertainty, and the effects of the passed time (decay, ripening) can be calculated when time permits (game paused) or circumstances necessitate it (barrel opened, extreme temperature differences).

Stockpiles could even be a kind of zone or room where you can prompt the dwarves to build shelves on each space. That takes 1 material and would allow to place, say, three barrels or 4 bins in one space, or several bags, depending on bulkiness of the items or containers.

[Pilsu]

Shelves shouldn't fit more than 2 items.

[Silverionmox]

I'd let it depend on the bulkiness rating, but double capacity for shelves sounds like a sensible standard.

Shelves aren't even the only option: cabinets, coffers, chests, armour stands etc. all are a way to store things. It's time they are used as such in stockpiles.

[Dakkan]

As soon as other fluids make it into the game, I'm hoping for something along the line of less pre-designed buildings as well, and moreso "Dig out a pit, smooth/treat the walls and floor, then use it as a mass stockpile for flour/booze/plant/ect." At it's simplest dwarves could just go up to the edge and make a withdrawl, like drinking from a pool, or you could get nifty and design an access point from below if it happens to be several tiles deep.

Pretty sure that's already been suggested, though.

[Ephemeriis]

Personally I think that the whole 'pile' system is a bit clunky... as far as embark goes, "throw all the food in that corner over there" might work, but once I'm managing a 28X7 farm block, leaving hundreds of food items sitting around is a little silly.

I don't know what's so silly about stockpiles...

A modern warehouse is nothing more than a big room filled with stuff.  A silo is just a tall, narrow room filled with stuff.

How about being able to build specific storage buildings instead? A downside could be you'd need a different (2X2?) building for each type of food (either 'dwarven ale' vs 'dwarven beer' or 'plants' vs 'fish', whatever works), so you'd only get into it when you actually have enough of a single item to require it

I can already customize stockpiles so that they only hold what I want them to.  Why would I want to build individual buildings instead of custom stockpiles?

If a barrel can hold 5 items, how about a 2X2 building holding up to... 50-100?

That seems a little ridiculous.  You want to cram 50-100 items into an area that currently holds roughly 20 items?  Sure, it'd save some space...  But it would also dramatically alter the geography of the game.

I'm not going to say that the current system is perfect.  Everything is the same size now, which doesn't make a lot of sense.  Wheat should be smaller than a rock nut, for example.

But being able to cram 50-100 items into a 2x2 space seems excessive.

[Solace]

You're telling me that an area that can hold a megabeast shouldn't be able to hold more than five mushrooms? I agree that there should be a bulkiness system (a floodgate meant to block off the entire square should take up more space than a single seed); but as a quicker fix, a dedicated storage building makes sense. After all, warehouses and silos don't just throw things on the ground, the objects are stacked in row upon row. Plus, as I mentioned, it'd be an easy way to improve the game's fps, which I'd figure everyone would appreciate.

Besides, these buildings wouldn't replace piles, just reduce clutter. Even with a storehouse section of your fort, you'd still need to make a pantry beside the dining room for easy access.

[sweitx]

You're telling me that an area that can hold a megabeast shouldn't be able to hold more than five mushrooms? I agree that there should be a bulkiness system (a floodgate meant to block off the entire square should take up more space than a single seed); but as a quicker fix, a dedicated storage building makes sense. After all, warehouses and silos don't just throw things on the ground, the objects are stacked in row upon row. Plus, as I mentioned, it'd be an easy way to improve the game's fps, which I'd figure everyone would appreciate.

Besides, these buildings wouldn't replace piles, just reduce clutter. Even with a storehouse section of your fort, you'd still need to make a pantry beside the dining room for easy access.

I think the abstraction is that it's not just 5 mushroom, but 5 piles of mushrooms.  One way is that without a barrel, 5 piles of mushroom is as much as you can fit in one area without it spilling over (while allowing dwarves to walk around/over it without trampling them).
A warehouse will simply be a building that has a stockpile designated in it.

[Lord Darkstar]

The only thing dwarf warehouses are currently missing are the shelves. A building that is a stockpile is a 1 z level warehouse. With shelves, dwarves could then place multiple items/barrels/bags/bins on the same tile, as they'd be in the shelf itself, rather than on the floor.

[Niveras]

I'd let it depend on the bulkiness rating, but double capacity for shelves sounds like a sensible standard.

Shelves aren't even the only option: cabinets, coffers, chests, armour stands etc. all are a way to store things. It's time they are used as such in stockpiles.

Bins pretty much take the place of cabinets, coffers, chests and other holding furniture with respect to stockpiles.

These furniture objects do actually get used for storing items, but only items owned by a dwarf, and only if that piece of furniture is in a room assigned to the dwarf. That said, I'd like to see the amount of storage space allowed by these furniture objects increased - an armor stand should manage a full set of armor, but only 1 of each armor piece. Weapon stands are more ambiguous, but anything between 4 and 8 one-handed weapons seems realistic. Chests and especially cabinets need to have their space increased significantly; I'm pretty sure I can fight more than 4-6 robes in my cabinet or chest, presuming the items are even remotely folded, and my cabinet is only 4ft in height.

[Hyndis]

A stockpile is just the ground level of a warehouse. Most warehouses are more than one story tall, requiring extensive use of ladders to access all levels.

Creating a warehouse in DF is very simple. Just build a multi-story building (if outdoors) or dig a multi-floor storage structure underground. Link the varying levels with stairs. Designate the area as a stockpile and customize the stockpile to store or not store whatever you want.

You now have a warehouse.

[Solace]

Look, the basic reason to do this is that it'd drastically reduce lag, if I understand things correctly. You have a building to "bank" excess items in, and smaller, less resource gobbling areas to actually use them day-to-day.

[Silverionmox]

Look, the basic reason to do this is that it'd drastically reduce lag, if I understand things correctly. You have a building to "bank" excess items in, and smaller, less resource gobbling areas to actually use them day-to-day.

Spending less cpu power on items in containers would do the same, without requiring to change gameplay.

Bins pretty much take the place of cabinets, coffers, chests and other holding furniture with respect to stockpiles.

Sure, but I'd like some differentiation in them. After a while your fortress is just room after room full of bins. Bins can still be the standard catch-all for dry goods, but it would be nice to differentiate them if dwarves placed armor stands in armor stands, weapon racks in weapon racks (besides, a halberd in a bin? ha!), gems and coins in chests, clothes in cabinets, etc. Alternatively, let an image of the stockpile type float above the stockpile from time to time, like the minimap in Dungeon Keeper. That's also very effective.

[Solace]

Look, the basic reason to do this is that it'd drastically reduce lag, if I understand things correctly. You have a building to "bank" excess items in, and smaller, less resource gobbling areas to actually use them day-to-day.

Spending less cpu power on items in containers would do the same, without requiring to change gameplay.

Well, not necessarily... how many more items would get put into a single built cabinet or shelf or whatever? If, say, a dedicated built structure could hold four times more than a more movable barrel or bin, you'd only cut down on the pathing by 1/4. If you had a 2X2 or 3X3 (or even massive 5X5) building with the same logic, you could cut down on pathing by 16, 36, or even 100 times!

[Silverionmox]

Look, the basic reason to do this is that it'd drastically reduce lag, if I understand things correctly. You have a building to "bank" excess items in, and smaller, less resource gobbling areas to actually use them day-to-day.

Spending less cpu power on items in containers would do the same, without requiring to change gameplay.

Well, not necessarily... how many more items would get put into a single built cabinet or shelf or whatever? If, say, a dedicated built structure could hold four times more than a more movable barrel or bin, you'd only cut down on the pathing by 1/4. If you had a 2X2 or 3X3 (or even massive 5X5) building with the same logic, you could cut down on pathing by 16, 36, or even 100 times!

Pathing is not the problem, but checking the items and running the interaction with their environment is. Since items in containers are somewhat insulated from the environs, it makes sense to skip the checks there.