Never heard about the food stockpiling before, which food is it, and what are the stockpile options for the stockpile it should be in ?
About the padded armor not working: It most certainly does work. They have to put on the underlayer first though. So assign specific padded stuff first, then assign the actual armor. A bit micromanagy, but the only way. Most people wont use it I guess. I think the best is padded drake/lamellar leather stuff, then adamantine plate armor, and a nice fireproof cloak/hood/robe above it.
And I succesfully transformed thieves that flee into single ambush untis that attack. Think no one did that before. This thief here sneaks up on people and tries to murder them, instead of fleeing. Think of them as assassins, I might even rename them to that
Fun stuff: (or wtf)
@ashnal: Currently Beds, Bins, Barrels and Beds need blocks. I still have problems with a block factory, it collides with the simple settings (will have to do a lot of modding there) and worse: All stones that are used in a reaction are economic stones since 34. (or even earlier ?) This would mean that ALL stones are economic, and every player would have to manually change them in the stone stocks screen in every game. Any way around that ? If the used stones could stay non-economic I will add it at once.
EDIT: I also tested the macro for uniforms. True, it selects cloaks instead of armor. I think the new optional clothing did throw it of. Will make a new one. I also thought about chainmail overarmor. Essentially mittens, hoods and cloaks made of chainmail. Should also add extra protection, especially against cutting, while the actual armor protects against piercing, and the padded stuff blocks blunt. In theory. Of course equipping just one dwarf with all this will take enormous effort.