what armor pieces makes up for a fully armored dwarf?

[Wakko]

for some reason my metal and leather armor users refuses to pick up their high boots (its red in the equip screen even tho i have loads of them) what armor pieces do i need to make a full armored dwarf?

[whit]

Head, chest, two hands, two feet, pants. They can't wear armor over shoes. so you'll need to get rid of "wear armor over clothes" if you care about their feet.

[McFuzz]

You can stack mail shirts/breastplate, I think you can also stack greaves/legging, though you usually need to up a custom uniform worn over clothing in order to get them to co-operate

Helm
Mailshirt
Breastplate
Gauntlet
Leggings
Greaves
High boot

Someone might correct me, but that's my usual system.

[Thom293]

So, dwarves can and will layer armor. So you can pick leather armor, chain mail, and breastplate and they will wear all 3. Don't do that early though because it will slow them down until they are well trained.

If you pick leather shoe and high boot, but it only equips the high boot or shoe, it will show red or yellow.

I normally do it in stages/layers. For each, I use helm, chest, leggings, boots, gauntlets PLUS LEATHER CLOAK. Cloak will block a lot of stuff.

Stage 1: Mail or leather or mixed.
Stage 2: Mail set plus leather set. (2 helms, 2 boots, etc.)
Stage 3: same as 2 plus breastplate.
Stage 4: same as 3 plus greaves.

Wooden shield is better early because it's lighter. Metal later. Dwarves that are WEAK or TIRES EASILY should not be put in anything heavier than Stage 1, or they are really really slow.

I usually keep 1 squad in Stage 1 or 2 always as they can get where you need them very fast.

[Valstra]

Originally posted by Frank McFuzz:

Helm
Mailshirt
Breastplate
Gauntlet
Leggings
Greaves
High boot

This, BUT there are few more things to consider. Armor has weight, and it will weight your dwarfs down, different dwarfs have different strength, which leads to some performing better with heavier gear.

The other thing to note, is that extra layer of armor doesn't really add protection to already protected parts. An iron axe will chop thrugh copper mail and breastplate, as easy as if it's were just a breast plate. However, mail shirt protects more of the body, compared to the breastplate, thus, is still usefull.
This is however is diffrent when dealing with weapon and armor made out of equal metals, as then, to my understanding, it can penetrate a breastplate, but then fail to penetrate a mail shirt.

All of that assuming the attacker is using an edged weapon. If they have a good hammer or a mase, that extra armor would not stop the blunt damage, and thus will do nothing.

[The Trashman]

Originally posted by Frank McFuzz:

You can stack mail shirts/breastplate, I think you can also stack greaves/legging, though you usually need to up a custom uniform worn over clothing in order to get them to co-operate

Helm
Mailshirt
Breastplate
Gauntlet
Leggings
Greaves
High boot

Someone might correct me, but that's my usual system.

Plus leather cloaks, hoods, gloves - leather is very cheap and those can help take the edge off some attacks

Only thing I'd say is thay dwarves with no/low armour user skill will be encumbered by heavy armour. They'll move slower and tire easier, which can be rough in combat. I use a light armour uniform for unskilled dwarves, with mostly leather gear and bucklers. I then swap them out to big boy armour when they're able to use it effectively

[Wakko]

Originally posted by The Trashman:

Originally posted by Frank McFuzz:

Only thing I'd say is thay dwarves with no/low armour user skill will be encumbered by heavy armour. They'll move slower and tire easier, which can be rough in combat. I use a light armour uniform for unskilled dwarves, with mostly leather gear and bucklers. I then swap them out to big boy armour when they're able to use it effectively

will they get stronger armor wearing skill if they wear it out of combat regularly?

[The Trashman]

Originally posted by Wakko:

will they get stronger armor wearing skill if they wear it out of combat regularly?

They gain skill from fighting in the armour, extra if it absorbs a hit. I haven't seen them gain experience just from walking around in it.

Leather clothing counts as armour, I'm pretty sure, so if your civilians are walking around in leather clothes they may get some experience as random things attack them. I usually have a worn-over-clothing uniform with leath caps, hoods, cloaks, boots and gloves plus individual choice of melee weapon and a buckler. I put every dwarf without military skills into squads with that uniform, so they're always walking around with some armour/weapons. As a benefit, they'll also sometimes go train when they have time, which takes care of some of their needs

[Riddle]

A few things to keep in mind:

Certain armour items are SHAPED, meaning that they fit the bodypart they're worn on exactly and CANNOT be worn with other shaped items. Logically, this means that a Dwarf cannot wear two helmets, but it extends to other armor pieces:

Both leggings and greaves are SHAPED, so if you assign a dwarf with both, they will wear the greaves and carry the leggings around with them, but without putting them on, which is why it shows up as green on the equip menu. This is bad, as they're lugging the extra weight around for no reason.

Breastplates are SHAPED, obviously, but leather ARMOUR is also SHAPED, meaning a dwarf can only wear either or. Similarly, given both, they will wear the stronger piece and carry the other around. Important thing to note: leather armour is a different item than leather clothing; dwarfs can wear leather clothing just fine underneath their armour and it does protect them a small amount.

Caps, Helms, Gauntlets, High Boots, Low Boots are all also SHAPED.

Another important thing: SHOES are also shaped. If you don't tick "uniform replaces clothing" in the equipment screen, a dwarf won't wear his steel high boots if he already is wearing some silk shoes. It won't kill him, but he might lose a foot in the next fight you send him into.

[LastChime]

Best check the wiki article, they can literally wear like a season's harvest of pig tail clothes with their armor.

https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Armor

[Thom293]

Originally posted by Riddle:

A few things to keep in mind:

Certain armour items are SHAPED, meaning that they fit the bodypart they're worn on exactly and CANNOT be worn with other shaped items. Logically, this means that a Dwarf cannot wear two helmets, but it extends to other armor pieces:

Both leggings and greaves are SHAPED, so if you assign a dwarf with both, they will wear the greaves and carry the leggings around with them, but without putting them on, which is why it shows up as green on the equip menu. This is bad, as they're lugging the extra weight around for no reason.

Breastplates are SHAPED, obviously, but leather ARMOUR is also SHAPED, meaning a dwarf can only wear either or. Similarly, given both, they will wear the stronger piece and carry the other around. Important thing to note: leather armour is a different item than leather clothing; dwarfs can wear leather clothing just fine underneath their armour and it does protect them a small amount.

Caps, Helms, Gauntlets, High Boots, Low Boots are all also SHAPED.

Another important thing: SHOES are also shaped. If you don't tick "uniform replaces clothing" in the equipment screen, a dwarf won't wear his steel high boots if he already is wearing some silk shoes. It won't kill him, but he might lose a foot in the next fight you send him into.

I dont think this is right. My dwarfs have metal and leather helms, and leather armor, mail and breastplate. And they are wearing them. Not carrying.

[Sinclair]

Originally posted by Frank McFuzz:

You can stack mail shirts/breastplate, I think you can also stack greaves/legging, though you usually need to up a custom uniform worn over clothing in order to get them to co-operate

Helm
Mailshirt
Breastplate
Gauntlet
Leggings
Greaves
High boot

Someone might correct me, but that's my usual system.

Add a hood and cloak/cape on top of this for a dodge bonus.

[tokenwhite85]

Originally posted by Wakko:

for some reason my metal and leather armor users refuses to pick up their high boots (its red in the equip screen even tho i have loads of them) what armor pieces do i need to make a full armored dwarf?

https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Armor

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=65284.0

There's a list in here somewhere for what you need to fully armor your dwarf.

[Goatseface Killah]

Helmet and no other clothes, strike fear into the hearts of your foes!

[Emilie Sackenball]

Originally posted by tokenwhite85:

Originally posted by Wakko:

for some reason my metal and leather armor users refuses to pick up their high boots (its red in the equip screen even tho i have loads of them) what armor pieces do i need to make a full armored dwarf?

https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Armor

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=65284.0

There's a list in here somewhere for what you need to fully armor your dwarf.

These list some people provide in the old forum posts are not correct or good for the latest version of the game, since we have "Force" on attacks now. Stacking in some case will just add weight and not any protection or advantage at all.

[Erei]

For ease of use no "cheesing" of multiple layer (sorry but a dwarf with 6mail shirt, 3breastplate and so on that need a specific order to be worn is cheesing). Assuming you want the best :
helm, greaves, breastplate, mail shirt, shield, high boots, weapon of choice. Crossbow can have shield to.