So I have had situations with my first and most skilled squad hanging onto the starting pistols long after the stockpiles are full of muskets ect. Can I make them use the better weapons?
I suspect this is something that will come about with the enhanced officer behaviour. I recall reading in a developer blog some time ago, that part of a officers eventual duty will be to handle allocating supplies to their units from what is stored in the colony after which the NCO assigns appropriate gear to each troop under their command from what is allocated to them. Edit: Found it: https://www.gaslampgames.com/2014/12/10/gamifying-synergy-through-delegation-or-more-combat-design/
I see. Well that's interesting...and really no point in building weapons until you're going to get more soldiers than the 5 starting pistols then
I asked a similar question on the Steam forums, and Nicholas replied that it will be a feature of the barracks in the future. That's why I always start with the conditions that only give me one pistol. I still end up with a bunch anyway though.