What is the logic for ammo pickup sorting?

[XuaXua]

I am an alternate slings/thrower. I pick up sling bullets, needles and darts.

In my inventory (tiles), it's my opinion that they are completely mis-sorted.

Currently it is "needles, bullets, darts, bullets, bullets, needles, darts, darts".

Logically I'd expect "bullets, bullets, bullets, needles, needles, darts, darts, darts" or similar.

Is there some logic during item pickup for sorting purposes?

[jpeg]

I'm a bit confused because you mention both pickup and inventory, so I'm not entirely sure which of the two you mean.

The inventory is generally sorted (within a category) by the slot letter. Items on the floor actually aren't sorted at all, but simply output in the order they happen to lie in the stash. Sorting the latter by type (even roughly by base type name) would be an improvement indeed. If it's not already on the wiki, you might want to add that.

Does that answer your question, or did you mean something else?

[Grimm]

Somewhat related, I'd like to see ammo renamed so that it sorts on the floor like wands do. Currently ammo is:

bolt of flame
poisoned bolt
bolt of frost
steel bolt
etc.

They should all be
bolt of foo

I'd also like to see ranged plusses and brands rationalised:
plusses only on launchers (to prevent twenty different stacks of ammo)
frost/flame only on missiles (to make launchers more useful)

[XuaXua]

I'm a bit confused because you mention both pickup and inventory, so I'm not entirely sure which of the two you mean.

The inventory is generally sorted (within a category) by the slot letter. Items on the floor actually aren't sorted at all, but simply output in the order they happen to lie in the stash. Sorting the latter by type (even roughly by base type name) would be an improvement indeed. If it's not already on the wiki, you might want to add that.

Does that answer your question, or did you mean something else?

I think so.

Basically, I'm trying to find out why certain ammo items get assigned inventory slots in a seemingly complely random order.

I took all my various unordered bullets, needles and darts, dropped them all, then picked them up, all bullets first, then all needles, then all darts, but in my inventory (bottom right of screen, sorted by letter), the items were still completely jumbled: a square of darts, two squares of bullets, a square of needles, more darts and needles and then bullets. Simply didn't make sense to me; felt like a hash was being used instead of a list.

[dpeg]

Grimm: sounds good -- make a proposal, and off we go!

[XuaXua]

Somewhat related, I'd like to see ammo renamed so that it sorts on the floor like wands do. Currently ammo is:

bolt of flame
poisoned bolt
bolt of steel
etc.

They should all be
bolt of foo

This is an unrelated semantics argument, but I agree on naming standardization.

I'd also like to see ranged plusses and brands rationalised:
plusses only on launchers (to prevent twenty different stacks of ammo)
frost/flame only on missiles (to make launchers more useful)

This too. Won't have to carry BOTH a bow of flame and a bow of frost with whatever ammo I have available.

[Grimm]

I put my suggestions on the wiki.

[ElectricAlbatross]

plusses only on launchers (to prevent twenty different stacks of ammo)

What about thrown missiles? Do you plan to make them a special case?

frost/flame only on missiles (to make launchers more useful)

What about casting branding spells while wielding launchers? There's already a precedent with things like Warp Weapon and Excruciating Wounds not working on launchers, but I feel that something would be lost if Skald-like characters couldn't brand their launchers with flame, frost, or poison.

[Grimm]

Thrown missiles - yes, those would be considered differently.
Branding spells - not sure, hadn't thought that through.