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0010814Dwarf FortressDwarf Mode -- Militarypublic2018-07-05 10:562018-12-27 05:06
Vivalas 
 
normalminoralways
newopen 
Windows 8
0.44.11 
 
0010814: Dwarves will always upgrade their equipment, even when stationed
There are a lot of issues related to the military system, and a few related to equipment, including the infinite loop one, this is related but a bit different, I think.

Dwarves will try to pickup equipment when stationed. This is normal, but they will also tend to upgrade their equipment when stationed, which is annoying. If you have workshops producing uniform items when a squad is stationed, dwarves will continuously leave their posts to go get the newly produced gear, for that sweet, sweet extra quality level (which is common since as dwarves produce they level up and produce higher quality).

Having a central stockpile doesn't really help either, as often the militia dwarves run off to get the item before it gets hauled from the workshop to the armory, meaning your dwarves are constantly trudging around in their heavy armor back and forth between barracks and workshops, as long as production is running.
1. Have dwarf making items that are part of uniform.
2. Station a squad.
3. Watch as dwarves run back and forth for dibs on the new, fresh, gear.
I think this is probably related to how dwarves forcefully update their gear when stationed, in case they hadn't been doing it in their own time. This is nice, but they should probably not try to upgrade their gear while stationed, instead only doing that on their own time.
No tags attached.
Issue History
2018-07-05 10:56VivalasNew Issue
2018-07-05 20:59Shonai_DwellerNote Added: 0038544
2018-07-08 14:09VivalasNote Added: 0038562
2018-07-10 04:47FantasticDorfNote Added: 0038576
2018-12-26 08:29minorukunIssue Monitored: minorukun
2018-12-26 08:46minorukunNote Added: 0039052
2018-12-26 14:24minorukunNote Edited: 0039052bug_revision_view_page.php?bugnote_id=0039052#r15870
2018-12-27 01:19PatrikLundellNote Added: 0039053
2018-12-27 04:47FantasticDorfNote Added: 0039054
2018-12-27 05:06FantasticDorfNote Added: 0039055
2018-12-27 08:07FantasticDorfNote Edited: 0039055bug_revision_view_page.php?bugnote_id=0039055#r15872
2018-12-27 08:13FantasticDorfIssue Monitored: FantasticDorf

Notes
(0038544)
Shonai_Dweller   
2018-07-05 20:59   
Stand here Urist, anything comes through the door, hit it with your wooden sword. No, don't go get a steel one, be a good robot. Doesn't sound like a bug for a dwarf to want to be better protected. Make a suggestion maybe, but I don't think anything's going wrong mechanically.
(0038562)
Vivalas   
2018-07-08 14:09   
The issue here is them constantly running back and forth from being stationed when new equipment is being produced because it is one quality level higher, to the detriment of their comrades because only half the squad is actually stationed when the battle starts.
(0038576)
FantasticDorf   
2018-07-10 04:47   
I've not noticed this behaviour because i set every equipment piece individually, to my knowledge conciously upgrading their weapons is not intended and this is a partial match only implementation probably based on overlapping AI from personal dwarf needs to equip better quality items without strict restrictions specific weapons & armor brings.

> Its a bug, but its a nicely convenient bug if its the kind of outcome you want.

If you want to repair their broken or tattered civilian clothes however for example, they will do it themseves when you clear a month slot in (best left for a season while equipped) military schedules easily from availible fresh clothes piles, so specifically assigning new pants to replace the old is not nessecary unless they're not going to equip them themselves.
(0039052)
minorukun   
2018-12-26 08:46   
(edited on: 2018-12-26 14:24)
>Stand here Urist, anything comes through the door, hit it with your wooden sword. No, don't go get a steel one, be a good robot.

exactly this is that expected from military (IRL too) behaviour - be robots and obey orders. It's annoying when 3/4 of the squad which is sent to guard outside woodcutting area constantly moving to/from magma forge on -120z instead, just because armorsmith working on a gear intended for next squad. Its better to permit militarydorfs to change their already existing uniform pieces only while idle or training but not on active duty.

(0039053)
PatrikLundell   
2018-12-27 01:19   
It can be noted that DF provides a means for the obsessive micro manager to control militia uniform: Manually selecting the exact items to use. When you want them to upgrade you'll either wipe the selection and allow them to get what they want, or manually replace items with new specific ones. This also means it's up to the manager to determine when to replace gear that's damaged.
(0039054)
FantasticDorf   
2018-12-27 04:47   
The Arsenal Dwarf noble used to be required (v.031'ish) to check, like a manager who had to assign themselves and organise at a desk like workshop orders, military equipment changes before they were authorised to squads according to the wiki.

Reintroducing them;(without suggesting anything explicit or indepth, maybe a use in the wider army outside the fortress) could facilitate a fix. Toady has mentioned they were looking for a better and more purposeful implementation.

http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/v0.31:Arsenal_dwarf [^]
(0039055)
FantasticDorf   
2018-12-27 05:06   
(edited on: 2018-12-27 08:07)
On a seperate but related point, there are other layers affecting quality of the military objects dwarves pick up, like shared captain + squad precedence, account exemptions and how valuable a object really or what kind of minimum/maximum allowance as squad has.

Other civs sort by rank for the quality of civilian clothes and presumably military uniform too, meaning there is no dispora about 'elite' troops, Edit - I checked and im not sure where 'Captain' ranks in as generated role precedence wise but its pretty low on average because common soldiers coming to your sieges appear wearing cheap average made gear all the time, dwarf soldiers from other angered dwarf civs will almost never arrive wearing steel or well made weapons & armor as a result. Normally copper & iron.

EI - http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Captain [^] & [COMMANDER:CAPTAIN:ALL] under lieutenants