Which textiles to use for different types of clothing?

[The Man with No Name]

Which types of textiles work best for different types of clothes? To simplify things for discussion, I've grouped textiles into the following categories:

- Leathers (there's some variation between leathers, as discussed in my leathers thread)
- Wools (including Camelhair)
- Hyperweave/Devilstrand/Synthread (I've grouped these three together, although they have differing strengths and weaknesses)
- Cloth

Here are the main clothing items:

- Pants

- Jacket
- Duster
- Parka

- T-Shirt
- Buttoned Shirt

- Cowboy Hat
- Tuque

[Juan el Demgrafo]

I haven't focussed much on which textiles I use for which clothes, but I will say that in general, it's best to skip the jacket, parka, and T-shirt.
The duster provides better protection against heat and more protection against physical attack than the parka or the jacket (Especially as it covers legs as well as torso). The parka is usually only needed for truly extreme situations, especially since the materials of other clothing can get them to be sufficient for most cold season needs, and the jacket has identical minimal temperature.
The T-shirt does not protect the arms and has less protection against cold.

[Serenity]

When you play in a somewhat colder biome the first wool you get should always go into tuques. Wool tuques are ridiculously good and cost only a few materials. This is strictly a cost/benefit thing. Once you got tuques you can use wool for other stuff too. Wool dusters are great too for example if all you want is temperature protection, but they take more materials.

[ChJees]

Devilstrand and Thrumbofur dusters make some really good armor when coupled with armor vests.
Otherwise it is wise to use all leather you get for dusters and cowboy hats and save cloth for your other apparel.

[XeoNovaDan]

Preferably at least 90% insulating leather for dusters, jackets, parkas, and cowboy hats if you're using leather, or rhinohide for dusters if you want protection but don't have devilstrand or thrumbofur. Pretty much anything's adequate for trousers and button-down shirts unless you're in particularly cold climates, as they have little impact on cold insulation by themselves.

In terms of wool, camelhair is a clear winner for dusters and cowboy hats, and megatherium wool slightly edges out muffalo for parkas and tuques. Alpaca wool is pretty much a compromise, and also easy to obtain as alpacas are easy to tame.

[Toast]

Well, I suppose "works best" varies depending on what you're trying to achieve: climate control, protection, moneymaking, or styyyyle 

Once early-game scarcity is over, I use the hat and coat slot to control for temperature and everything else for protection. Generally, wools are best for climate control, leather is better at protection, and the "advanced materials" and devilstrand are the most protective.

Camelhair is the best way to protect against heat, and camels can conveniently be found in the biomes where you will need it. Make it into cowboy hats and dusters.

In all but the coldest biomes, any kind of wool toque + any kind of duster or jacket is enough to protect you from the cold. I haven't yet played a biome where a parka is truly a necessity, but if it is, you'll want wool. See the "Sea Ice Challenge" thread for details!

In any biome, soon as I get a strong protective material, whether it's a cargo pod drop or an early devilstrand harvest, it goes into pants. That is a personal preference because I have just lost way too many legs to unlucky sniper shots. If you've got a ton of it, and climate is not an issue, devilstrand dusters are very good at protecting almost the entire body from harm.

T-shirts, as noted, are basically pointless once you get over early-game scarcity, and frankly so is cloth--it doesn't really do anything well except keep you from being naked. But it's easy to grow and in the first few months, sometimes "not being naked" is the best you can hope for.

Oh, and, uh--I've heard that if you're just making clothes to sell, human leather makes them ridiculously valuable. But I don't have any personal experience with that because yuck.

As for style: I wouldn't presume to dictate to HAHA yes I totally would, cowboy hats and button-downs made of sweet green iguana leather are the best and I will brook no argument.

[The Man with No Name]

Thanks for the replies.

Here are some temperature figures for Cloth and equivalent insulation value above-average leather clothing items (such as Muffalo leather). Since Cloth has poor protection stats, leather is the better option.

The figures are what the clothing item reduces minimum comfortable temperature by, and increases maximum temperature in the case of dusters and cowboy hats. I've also only included the key stats, such as leaving out that tuques and parkas also reduce the maximum comfortable temperature - since these items are not worn in summer, it's not so relevant.

Cloth/above-average leather Duster: -15C/+17.3C
Cloth/above-average leather Jacket: -15C
Cloth/above-average leather Parka: -40C
Cloth/above-average leather T-Shirt: -3C
Cloth/above-average leather Pants: -3C
Cloth/above-average leather Tuque: -10C
Cloth/above-average leather Cowboy hat: +9.5C

Here are some values for Muffalo wool, a medial wool, for some of those items. Camelhair and Alpaca wool would allow for even higher temperatures.

Muffalo wool Duster: -45C/+54C
Muffalo wool Parka: -120C
Muffalo wool T-shirt: -9C
Muffalo wool Tuque: -30C
Muffalo wool Cowboy hat: +29C

So, from that, we can make some outfits and have a look at the comfortable temperature ranges.

Nudity

n/a

Nakedness's comfortable temperature range is 12C to 32C.

Basic

1)

Cloth/above-average leather Jacket: -15C
Cloth/above-average leather T-Shirt: -3C
Cloth/above-average leather Pants: -3C

This outfit's temperature range would be -9C to +32C

2) Change the Jacket to a (Cloth/above-average leather) Duster:

Cloth/above-average leather Duster: -15C/+17.3C
Cloth/above-average leather T-Shirt: -3C
Cloth/above-average leather Pants: -3C

...and the temperature range is -9C to +41.5C

Winterwear

1) Add a (Cloth/above-average leather) Tuque:

Cloth/above-average leather Duster: -15C/+17.3C
Cloth/above-average leather T-Shirt: -3C
Cloth/above-average leather Pants: -3C
Cloth/above-average leather Tuque: -10C

...and the minimum temperature is down to -19C (and maximum temperature would also decrease slightly, not calculated here)

2) Swap the (Cloth/above-average leather) Tuque for a Muffalo wool Tuque:

Cloth/above-average leather Duster: -15C/+17.3C
Cloth/above-average leather T-Shirt: -3C
Cloth/above-average leather Pants: -3C
Muffalo wool Tuque: -30C

...and the minimum temperature is now down to -39C

3) Swap the (Cloth/above-average leather) Duster for a Muffalo wool Duster (and thereby sacrificing some protective quality for increased temperature range):

Muffalo wool Duster: -45C/+54C
Cloth/above-average leather T-Shirt: -3C
Cloth/above-average leather Pants: -3C
Muffalo wool Tuque: -30C

..this would reduce minimum temperature down to -69C

4) What if one wanted to use helmets and therefore forsake using Tuques? A Muffalo wool T-shirt would reduce things slightly down to -15C:

Cloth/above-average leather Duster: -15C/+17.3C
Muffalo wool T-shirt: -9C
Cloth/above-average leather Pants: -3C

This outfit would have a temperature range of -15C to +41.5C. The Button-down shirt has slightly better temperature stats than the T-Shirt, so a wool Button-down shirt would allow for, I think, three degrees lower temperature.

Then there are other clothing material combinations one could make, if one is prepared to compromise between temperature comfort and protection.

Summerwear

1. Adding a (Cloth/above-average leather) Cowboy hat to a basic outfit:

Cloth/above-average leather Jacket: -15C
Cloth/above-average leather T-Shirt: -3C
Cloth/above-average leather Pants: -3C
Cloth/above-average leather Cowboy hat: +9.5C

This outfit's temperature range would be -9C to +41.5C

2) Swap the Jacket for a Duster and swap the (Cloth/above-average leather) Cowboy Hat for a Muffalo Wool Cowboy hat:

Cloth/above-average leather Duster: -15C/+17.3C
Cloth/above-average leather T-Shirt: -3C
Cloth/above-average leather Pants: -3C
Muffalo wool Cowboy hat: +29C

...and the temperature range is -9C to +70.5C

-------------------

Also, what are people's thoughts on helmets? Having colonists wear helmets all the time reduces speed slightly and means one can't utilize the the temperature benefits of Tuques and Cowboy Hats. There often isn't time to change headwear before battle, so I guess it's a strategic choice that a player must decide on.