So I've been playing for about a week now, started a few games over as I learned how more things work, and I still get really frustrated with bins. Using 31.10 now.
Bins are just excellent for storage of course, I build a bunch of them, and I'm cranking out stone crafts for trading. Likewise, I'm turning lots of my stone and metals into blocks and bars, which is all being binned for storage. Now the elves roll on in to the trade depot, and *all* my valuable items, bars, gems, crafts, etc, are all in bins and I can't get them out to trade! Since of course giving the elves a wooden bin will upset them.
I've tried all sorts of things with no success (using gems as example):
Set Gem stockpile to only rough gems (it has bins of cut and uncut gems)
Create Gem stockpile that only takes cut gems.
Set Cut Gem stockpile to take from Uncut stockpile - Nothing Happens.
I've used the above also with trying to use dump, and tried various combinations of claiming forbidding items, and I just can't for the life of me empty out a bin...
The only thing I've managed to do is micromanage my stockpiles using a Max Bin setting so I have some items on the stockpile once the bins are full.
I would kill for an (e)mpty bin operation that would forbid the bin, and unload any materials inside it to relevant stockpiles!
Isn't there an easier way?? Help!