Editing 23a:Stack

{{quality|Exceptional|23:53, 13 August 2010 (UTC)}}{{av}}

A '''stack''' is a pile of objects, such as food, bones, or ammo, that came from the same source at the same time - the same farm plot tile, animal, or workshop job.  A stack is considered a single object for purposes of [[hauling]] and [[job]]s, but single, individual objects can be used from it, one at a time, such as one bolt shot from a crossbow, or one food item taken for eating.  If the item survives that use (the bolt doesn't break, or the food item is dropped for some reason), it then becomes an individual item, unconnected to any stack.  Individual items cannot be stacked or re-stacked.

Stacks of items are counted as the total number in the stack for purposes of storing in [[barrel]]s or [[bin]]s, as will items produced in [[workshop]]s for determining [[clutter]] - this can occur very quickly with some items.

Items can be viewed a number of ways, but the easiest is via the {{k|k}} key or in the Z-[[stocks]] menu; a stack of 4 [[plump helmet]]s would look like this:

:{{Gametext|Plump helmet [4]}}

Plants usually grow in stacks of 2-5, depending on the skill of the planter (though [[potash|fertilizer]] can potentially boost stack size as high as 10).  Butchering an animal produces stacks of meat, chunks, and bones equal to that creature's size (as does [[rotting]] for bones).  Prepared meals come in stacks of size equal to the total number of items used - since up to 4 ingredients can be used to [[cook]] a lavish meal, and each ingredient itself can be a stack, this can be quite large.  [[Wood]]en and [[metal]] bolts come in stacks of 25 (though [[immigrant]]s and invaders can bring bigger stacks), and [[bone]] bolts come in stacks 5 times as large as the stack of bones from which they were created.

Note that some stacks of items do not behave as might be expected. When making bone [[crafts]], [[crossbow]]s, or [[armor]], a stack of bones will produce the same number of goods as a single bone, making stacks of bones highly uneconomical for making anything other than bolts.