Squad Equipment Storage

[Grimbot]

My guys have spent the last decade or so digging out an "underdark" city near the third cavern layer, and we're juuuust about ready to turn on the plumbing and move in.

One thing I haven't figured out yet is how to reliably get squads to store their military gear. Despite being set to "always wear", they frequently dump their gear wherever they feel like it or at the edge of the map when returning from missions. This leads to dwarves taking literal days to re-equip.

I suspect part of that problem has to do with the dwarves being "off duty" instead of left to "no orders". But I'll figure that out in time.

What I really want to know is... what is the best way to get them to actually have easy access to their gear? Can I put stockpiles in their barracks? They don't seem to use containers or the (apparently bugged) armor and weapon racks.

[liosalpha]

Your right, no orders for the win. the off duty makes them unequipe stuff wich can be even worse with backpacks and the food they will hoard with it.

I do used stockpiles in the barrack just to have some ready for the new bloods. Thou i use quantum stockpiles to save some space. it only need 3 spaces minimum. (its also great for other stuff that comes in great volume. stone wood ores etc)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCEVegl_VPQ

[McOrigin]

The difference between "Off duty" and "No orders" is the uniform setting: If you edit the default setting to "always wear" the name of that schedule changes from "Off duty"to "No orders" automatically.

To be able to control if my squads change to civilian clothing, I have both settings in my schedules:
"Off duty" (civilian clothing)
"No orders" (always wear unform - my default setting for each squad)
"Half training" (4/10 dwarves to training)
"Full training" (10/10 dwarves training)

If they are set to "No orders" and thus war their unform, they will not drop their stuff anymore when returning from missions. Only when you actively push the "Update equipment" they will go to another equipment cycle looking for better stuff.

I really like that new functionality, because the old system, where they were constantly checking for upgrades was very annoying.

[harlequin_corps]

Originally posted by Grimbot:

Despite being set to "always wear", they frequently dump their gear wherever they feel like it or at the edge of the map when returning from missions. This leads to dwarves taking literal days to re-equip.

I suspect part of that problem has to do with the dwarves being "off duty" instead of left to "no orders". But I'll figure that out in time.

What I really want to know is... what is the best way to get them to actually have easy access to their gear? Can I put stockpiles in their barracks? They don't seem to use containers or the (apparently bugged) armor and weapon racks.

So. there is multiple things going on.
so. The chests/cabinets in the Barracks is for when they don't have a Bedroom. The clicky for use barracks at will/need for sleeping, is only for sleeping, as far as i can tell. But I have a feeling that they brought back the noise range so having people spar while trying to sleep stops them from sleeping just like mining wakes people up that are close to the mining. I see a LOT of my soldiers sleeping in the Hospital and not in the Barracks. The chest is for food and drink, the stuff in their Backpack/Waterskins, the cabinets is for their personal clothing. If they have a bedroom though, they won't use it/them.
If they are Off Duty, they take off their uniform, you have to set in the schedule to have it say No Orders for them to use the "Wear Always" function.
And the dumping on the edge of the map thing.. See.. when they come back from a mission. they are actually new migrants, and don't have any of the squad settings in place, you have to give the game time to figure it out and they will go and pick up their gear after it's re-assigned to them automatically from the squad uniform/schedule assignments. It does mean you will have Wild Creatures steal your gear, especially steel items. It's the games way of.. I guess, punishing you for leaving stuff outside?
In a lot of ways and a LOT of genres Dwarf Fortress is the original game the first and foremost before a LOT of other games. Tower defense? Yes I do play Dwarf Fortress, Voxel? yes that too. Civ Sim? Yes, Dwarf Fortress. One of the key .. things.. that is part of the challenge of DF is the constant need to either keep your fortress closed up and secure, and keeping it open so things can work. So I can see where they would want to add the challenge of.. oh your squads dumped their gear somewhere enroute?.. poor leadership.. you should go and recover that gear. You wouldn't want anything to.... happen to it..... now would you?
The best way I have found so far for gear and things is to have a stockpile in the barracks, and I mean a BIG stockpile.. bigly big, like a quarter of the map big. And that stockpile is the only stockpile that has the uniform items/ammo/weapons. So setting the Armor/Weapons/Ammo/Finished goods for quivers/backpacks/waterskins for the items/material. And then using this stockpile as the primary feeder for your Ammo stockpiles at your patrol/station locations. And then having your Archery range above this stockpile and channeling in front of the Archery Targets so the bolts drop down into the stockpile from above. Make sure you don't have Bins enabled for this stockpile and no other stockpile has the specific items/materials that go into this stockpile. if you want Iron bolts in it for example, set it for iron bolts only, and have your smelter/collecter stockpiles NOT have iron bolts, but can take copper/bronze etc etc.