40d:Stocks

The Stocks screen, accessible via the Status screen, is a careful record of your fort's entire inventory. It is managed by the bookkeeper, who periodically must update the stockpile records, depending on how quickly your fort's wealth is growing or being depleted.

Layout

The Stocks screen displays a list of product categories on the left side. Next to those categories is the total number of objects you have that fit within that category, split into first column (grey): number available or in use normally, and second column (red): number of restricted items (read more below), both adding up to the total number on the map.

Precision

Precision determines how well your dwarfs are keeping count of all your items. Items are grouped into general categories - for instance, all hand weapons, crossbows and picks are "weapons". The biggest is typically "stones" - all stones you have mined out are included in one category, and viewable by specific type only if your level of accuracy is adequate for that number; anything less, and you will only have a rough total, no ability to view or manipulate the individual items.

The precision of the Stocks screen depends on the settings of the bookkeeper noble. (Use n s to access that screen.) Precision affects three factors - the time spent at that labor (more precision takes more time), the number of significant figures (see immediately below), and whether the Inventory is active or unavailable for a given item type (see Inventory, bottom).

There are five possible settings:

Lowest Precision

This is the default setting, precise only to one significant figure. It's only fine for your initial embark until you feel you need the Inventory feature, below, and have time to designate a chair (perhaps in your first Dining Room, at least to start) as an office/study.

• Any number from 0 to 9 will be exact. Inventory is available only for categories with 9 items or less.
• A number from 10 to 99 will be rounded to the nearest 10.
• A number from 100 to 999 will be rounded to the nearest 100.
• A number from 1,000 to 9,999 will be rounded to the nearest 1,000.
• A number equal to 10,000 or more will be rounded to the nearest 10,000.

Low Precision

This setting is precise to two significant figures. This is fine for a starting fortress, since few will have over 99 of most items, stone being the usual first exception.

• Any number from 0 to 99 will be exact. Inventory is available only for categories with 99 items or less.
• A number from 100 to 999 will be rounded to the nearest 10.
• A number from 1,000 to 9,999 will be rounded to the nearest 100.
• A number equal to 10,000 or more will be rounded to the nearest 1,000.

Medium Precision

This setting is precise to three significant figures. This is a good and practical level to maintain stockpile records at for an early fort, since typically stones are the only item that will number over 999 in the first years. (Note that although you have many types of stone, it is the total that matters for any one such category.)

• Any number from 0 to 999 will be exact.
• A number from 1,000 to 9,999 will be rounded to the nearest 10. Inventory is available only for categories with 999 items or less.
• A number equal to 10,000 or more will be rounded to the nearest 100.

High Precision

This setting is precise to four significant figures, ample for most needs. This setting is most useful for managing stone (like forbidding one type entirely). Eventually other items, like food or drink, could grow to be in this range as well, depending on play style.

• Any number from 0 to 9,999 will be exact. Inventory is available only for categories with 9,999 items or less.
• A number equal to 10,000 or more will be rounded to the nearest 10.

Highest Precision

This setting is perfectly and completely precise for any number of items in any category. All stockpile records will be exact. Inventory available for all items and all categories, regardless of number.

Maintaining stockpile records at this level starts out as a full-time job but becomes easier to maintain once that level is achieved. While this extreme level of accuracy is usually unnecessary, this is recommended as an excellent and speedy way to increase one dwarf's attributes once you can spare them. Many fortresses rotate several bookkeepers a year through to legendary status, and then on to other tasks.

If a number has been rounded, it will appear with a trailing question mark and will be displayed in brown ink instead of light grey. For instance, "20?" instead of "17". Above the lowest precision, your bookkeeper requires a meager office, and for every level of precision, will spend more time there updating the stock record.

Inventory

If you have a sufficient level of precision to count each and every item in the given category, you will see an inventory display on the right side of the screen. If you do not have enough precision, the right side of the screen will be blank, and you will not be able to see (or manipulate) each individual item in that category.

So, if you are Lowest level precision, and you have 9 weapons, you can see an itemized list of each one, and be able to forbid it, find it, melt it, etc etc from that screen. If you have 10 (or more), you will see only that you have 10? items of that general category, and not which ones.

When active, this inventory display has two modes. The default mode is a compacted view which lists objects by type and total number. It is handy to get a general idea of the number of goods you have available. The second mode is an exact view which lists each unique object or stack of objects in your fort. This display is useful for selecting individual items to forbid, melt or dump. To toggle between either of the two modes, press Tab.

In the exact mode, the items text is colour coded.

Colour	Represents
brown	produced in fort
grey	imported to fort
dark cyan	part of a building
dark purple	part of a construction, forbidden or designated for dump/melt
dark red	not owned by fort

Forbidding Stone through Inventory

Note that if you forbid a type of stone (or block) using the Inventory menu, you will also forbid every workshop and building made from that particular type of stone (or block). This is a common cause of dwarfs suddenly refusing to perform assigned tasks in workshops. Use t or <d,b,c> to check for forbidden workshops (or other items) and to reclaim them - use Enter to affect a rectangular area, or click with your mouse on specific items or buildings.

See also Item designations.