Stockpile or Shelf?

[thevinn]

How does one stockpile tile compare to one shelf tile in terms of amount of space and the number of different types of items which can be stored?

[Kai]

Stockpile is 4 Construction + Other materials in one tile
Shelf is 3 Other Materials slots in one tile.
A Chest is 4 Other Materials slots in one tile, considered 'roofed'.

[thevinn]

Sounds like there is never a reason to build a shelf over a stockpile... another balancing problem?

[Kai]

Not sure, shelves should offer more navigation space for it's shape but it actually just blocks the entire tile.

What would be nice is if shelves has a smaller footprint like torches and such and can fit in between the grid, so you can align it on a wall but people can walk on the same tile.

This means if you have a narrow hallway of say 1 tile wide you can put shelves along it and people can still pass through.

[Arran Chace]

Maybe no real reason to it or benefit in game, but stockpiles i use for crafting materials, and shelves for food ingredients.

As a amateur cook in RL, the thought of having my ingredients laying on the floor gives my shivers down my spine, and losing any appetite

[thevinn]

Yeah I'm not really into the roleplaying aspects of the game, more of a min/maxer myself so I will be using stockpiles.

[thevinn]

Can survivors walk through stockpile tiles or do they block the pathfinder?

[ChaosOmega98]

shelves can hold more but you have to hold and go across 2 or more squares as that makes them connected and gives you 1 extra space for 2 connected shelves

[thevinn]

Hmm no that doesn't sound right. A 1x3 row of shelves allows 9 different item types. While a 1x3 row of stockpiles allows for 12 different item types. Individual shelf tiles are the same no matter how they are connected. Putting multiple shelves together just lets you view their contents as a unit, and control their filters as a unit (unless you twice-click to select an individual tile and change its settings).

[Handbanana]

Originally posted by thevinn:

Hmm no that doesn't sound right. A 1x3 row of shelves allows 9 different item types. While a 1x3 row of stockpiles allows for 12 different item types. Individual shelf tiles are the same no matter how they are connected. Putting multiple shelves together just lets you view their contents as a unit, and control their filters as a unit (unless you twice-click to select an individual tile and change its settings).

No a 1x3 stretched out holds 15 items. They are more space efficient than stockpiles.

[thevinn]

> No a 1x3 stretched out holds 15 items

Whoa!! Yes, you are right. Comparing shelves to stockpiles:

1x1 shelf: one shelf tile, -25%
1x2 shelf: three shelf tiles, +12.5%
1x3 shelf: five shelf tiles, +25%

The sweet spot is 1x3 or larger I guess, because five shelf tiles is 15 items while the equivalent stockpile is only 12 items.

Edit:

1x4 shelf: seven shelf tiles, +31%
1x5 shelf: nine shelf tiles: +35%
1x6 shelf: eleven shelf tiles, +37%

The longer the shelf, the bigger the increase in benefit over a stockpile! The downside is that shelves block movement, while stockpiles do not. Also, shelves can't hold construction materials.

[Scourge012]

As it seems y'all figured out, shelves are definitely more dense, and you have to build more of them. Each type of storage seems to have its place in terms of mechanics. Stockpiles should be reserved for construction items (stone, wood, sticks, scrap metal, ore, metal alloys, bricks, etc). I forget if hay can fit on a shelf...if so, it would be a good shelf candidate, though I'd use hay for building and fuel more than sausages and cloth...

Anyway, if you build yourself a roofed storage warehouse as I tend to do, you can make rows of stockpiles in the middle of the room, and then line the walls with shelves. Maybe a couple out door bins for high volume items that just need the "roof" status and no climate control to be preserved, and you have your storage sorted. I don't bring my colonists in an and out of clothes and armor enough to bother with wardrobes at the moment, but maybe I just haven't played enough.

[Luvz]

Originally posted by Scourge012:

I don't bring my colonists in an and out of clothes and armor enough to bother with wardrobes at the moment, but maybe I just haven't played enough.

One double wardrobe (50 capacity) makes it super easy to click on and see old clothes that you can just right click to dismantle (it has a clearer interface for apparel/weapons than regular storage). Any time a colonists takes something off, they'll put it back in there. I can reequip 5 guys and set all their old ♥♥♥♥ to dismantle in 10 seconds. I always found clothes on regular shelves a lot more annoying to find/dismantle.

[Handbanana]

Originally posted by Scourge012:

As it seems y'all figured out, shelves are definitely more dense, and you have to build more of them. Each type of storage seems to have its place in terms of mechanics. Stockpiles should be reserved for construction items (stone, wood, sticks, scrap metal, ore, metal alloys, bricks, etc). I forget if hay can fit on a shelf...if so, it would be a good shelf candidate, though I'd use hay for building and fuel more than sausages and cloth...

Anyway, if you build yourself a roofed storage warehouse as I tend to do, you can make rows of stockpiles in the middle of the room, and then line the walls with shelves. Maybe a couple out door bins for high volume items that just need the "roof" status and no climate control to be preserved, and you have your storage sorted. I don't bring my colonists in an and out of clothes and armor enough to bother with wardrobes at the moment, but maybe I just haven't played enough.

It is good to just have a single double wardrobe so all crafted clothing will go into there. Your people will change clothes on their own when required if the clothing is available.