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[dirty foot]

After scouring the internets for information on equipping gear, I'm starting to get a feel for how gear works in terms of layers and what is permitted. However, I do not know how artifact gear comes into play here. For instance, I have an artifact leather robe. Under normal circumstance, leather would immediately be considered "fitted" gear. In this situation though, it's also considered a robe, which is actually an amazing coincidence for an artifact piece of armor. With a nearly 100% cover area (UB/LBSTEP=MAX), this item is preferable to nearly anything else in the game--at least in terms of coverage area and deflection chance. The downside is that if this is considered fitted gear because of the leather item, then that means I'm losing out on plate mail. If the items were a metal robe, this wouldn't be much of an issue.

Thoughts?

[dirty foot]

By my numbers, if the robe isn't considered fitted, I should be able to wear:

1 breastplate
3 chainmail
1 robe
4 cloaks

Anyone else get the same numbers?

[Minnakht]

Pretty sure the fact it's leather doesn't make it fitted.

I'd personally ditch the robe and replace it with two cloaks for a grand total of six. Cloaks have UB/LBSTEPs at MAX too, I think...

EDIT: Nope, lower LBSTEP. Not that it matters - down there you have greaves, high boots and the lower half of your mail shirts, that's enough leg protection.

[dirty foot]

Pretty sure the fact it's leather doesn't make it fitted.

I'd personally ditch the robe and replace it with two cloaks for a grand total of six. Cloaks have UB/LBSTEPs at MAX too, I think...

EDIT: Nope, lower LBSTEP. Not that it matters - down there you have greaves, high boots and the lower half of your mail shirts, that's enough leg protection.

My whole point of equipping the robe is for the artifact roll multiplier on deflection, which if my math is right, should be better than two masterwork cloaks due to the max cover the robe provides.

[Namfuak]

I believe it is considered a robe for that purpose.  In the same way, an iron bed is still a bed, even though iron can't be made into a bed under normal circumstances.

Hopefully that one guy who seems to know everything about the way the game is coded will see this thread, though.

[acer_palmatum]

I'm sure the extra deflection roll is good, but there are conflicting reports as to the efficacy of robes vs shaped armor. Shaped armor is important for mitigating blunt damage, without it maces have no actual mitigation and as soon as a dodge or deflection roll is missed it will do maximum damage to the bones and organs of your dwarf. This is why breastplates and greaves with rigid protection are absolutely key to your military equipment.

On the other hand, under the ubstep heading of the armor article: "Testing in arena: in three 15x15 dwarves battles where both sides was equiped with iron battle axes and iron full armor and one of the teams was enforced with leather robes, team with robes was a victorious (2-3 survivors). "

Against slashing it seems that it has an advantage ( at least against iron weapons) but in military use you would be subjected to piercing, slashing and blunt weapons which would seem to indicate it is inferior.

You have the choice of either lineup
Upper Body
1 x breastplate
3 x mail shirts
6 x cloaks

Upper Body (cheap)
6 x dress
3 x robe
3 x cloak

Unless the robes/dresses are made entirely out of adamantium I would choose the former option. Mail shirts have an LBSTEP of 1 and greaves have an LBSTEP of max which means that the lower body is adequately covered.

[dirty foot]

I believe it is considered a robe for that purpose.  In the same way, an iron bed is still a bed, even though iron can't be made into a bed under normal circumstances.

Hopefully that one guy who seems to know everything about the way the game is coded will see this thread, though.

lol

Yeah, I figured that would be the case, which I was hoping for. I'm having issues right now with my guy actually putting the armor on properly. I'm currently stuck in a terrible equip loop where he keeps dropping his plate, then picking up some chain, then walking over to the meeting hall, then going to drop his mail, then picking up the plate, then etc., etc., etc.

It's really kind of stupid.

[GreatWyrmGold]

I believe it is considered a robe for that purpose.  In the same way, an iron bed is still a bed, even though iron can't be made into a bed under normal circumstances.

Hopefully that one guy who seems to know everything about the way the game is coded will see this thread, though.

lol

Yeah, I figured that would be the case, which I was hoping for. I'm having issues right now with my guy actually putting the armor on properly. I'm currently stuck in a terrible equip loop where he keeps dropping his plate, then picking up some chain, then walking over to the meeting hall, then going to drop his mail, then picking up the plate, then etc., etc., etc.

It's really kind of stupid.

Emphasis mine.
You're playing DWARF fortress, dirty foot.

[wuphonsreach]

Make sure that you define the uniform in the proper order and make sure that you don't overload the equipment slot.  So even though you could fit 6 cloaks, you might want to stop at three.

My standard armor kit is:

mail shirt (metal)
mail shirt (metal)
breastplate (metal)
cloak (plant cloth)
cloak (silk cloth)
cloak (leather)
helm (metal)
hood (any)
hood (leather)
mittens (leather)
gauntlets (metal)
trousers (leather)
greaves (metal)
high boots (metal)
shield (metal)
weapon of choice

Make sure to use "exact match" and "replace clothing" when setting up the uniform. 

The reason I specify different materials for the cloaks is to hopefully ensure that every military dwarf manages to get at least one.  If I have 10 leather cloaks, 5 silk cloaks and no cloth cloaks, then I'm guaranteed that 10 dwarves will end up with at least one cloak.  If I don't specify the material, I'll end up with only 5 dwarves wearing cloaks because they hogged all of them.

[dirty foot]

Oooh. Thank you, I didn't even think of placing the equipment in the proper order or using exact match. I was wondering why I'd see my guy grab gear the "wrong: gear sometimes. I feel like he also wasn't grabbing the best gear for things like his boots. Does military try and get the best gear possible, or do they really just grab whatever is closest?

As an aside, do you think they're going to make military equip more intuitive and functional when they do the military arc? Pretty much everything associated with the military in this game needs to be trashed and rebuild, personally, but equipping seems to be a nightmarish, never-ending loop.

[wuphonsreach]

If you see things like "can't pickup item due to mismatch" or something, that generally means that they saw better gauntlets / boots on the stockpiles / workshops, but can't find one of an equivalent quality to match it.

Depending on the order in which squads are listed in the military equipment screen (on the "P" sub-page), first squad gets to upgrade first when a new piece comes available.  They then put their old pieces on the stockpiles for the lesser squads to pickup.  The hand-me-down system works quite well. 

If you specify "metal" for a slot and say "exact match" for the uniform (before creating the squad is best), then they will grab low-quality copper, then prefer higher quality copper, then repeat the process with bronze, then iron then steel (and probably candy).  All without having to change the uniform to be a specific metal.

My primary squads get quickly outfitted in steel/iron, the rest of the squads end up in copper/bronze until I produce enough iron/stell.

[dirty foot]

I see that message constantly. So what you're saying is the guy wants to get two exceptional boots no matter what, and will refuse to put anything else on if he already has one boot of exceptional quality on?

[darkflagrance]

I see that message constantly. So what you're saying is the guy wants to get two exceptional boots no matter what, and will refuse to put anything else on if he already has one boot of exceptional quality on?

Yep, that is the case.

[wuphonsreach]

AFAIK, the dwarf won't even go to the stockpile unless there are *2* matched gauntlets / boots (or mittens/socks).

However, due to what is called a "race condition", two dwarves in the same squad might both see that there are gauntlets to be had and both will rush to the stockpile.  One will pickup one, the other will grab the other one, and now neither dwarf has a matched set.

I generally defuse the issue by simply making a few extras of boots / gauntlets / mittens so that the mismatch issue doesn't happen as often.  Eventually all the dwarves get what they want and stop spamming me with the mismatch message.

[ZCM]

AFAICT, the mismatched equipment message means your dwarf changed their mind on what equipment they want while they're going to get a piece of equipment. For example, if Urist McMilitary is going to get a no-quality steel breastplate and Urist McArmorsmith finishes a good steel breastplate, Urist McMilitary will decide he wants the good breastplate instead and cancel getting the no-quality breastplate.

Of course, this can happen even if the new piece the military dwarf wants is not the same piece that was produced, because a higher-ranked dwarf picked the new piece and the lower-ranked dwarf takes the hand-me-down.