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40d:Appraiser

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Revision as of 17:09, 14 June 2009 by Albedo (talk | contribs) (lower ranks = variations in appraised price)
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Skill: Appraiser
Association  
Profession Administrator
Job Title Appraiser
Labor Admin/Noble
Tasks
  • Trade at Depot
Workshop

Trade depot

The appraiser skill is used by the Outpost Broker, an assigned position from the n screen. If the currently assigned broker doesn't have at least Novice skill, then it is not possible to see the values of goods being traded, only their weight, and you will only be able to sort by distance, not value. What's more, the z status menu will say "You need a broker with the appraisal skill" to show created wealth and any trade information, and no item will show its value.

There is some small disadvantage in having lower skill ranks - when trading, identical side-by-side items will often show different prices, some higher, some lower. Altho' you, the player, see one rope reed rope for 60☼ and an identical one listed next to it for 80☼, you know the latter is overpriced, but if you want to trade for it you have to go with your broker's appraisal of the value. It is not known how different ranks of Appraiser affect these variations, but they tend to disappear after an Appraiser has a few caravans-worth of experience under their belt. (The value of your own goods is always accurate with any skilled broker assigned to the position.) The first appraisal of any caravan is final for that season - you cannot bring a different dwarf in and try again.

However, the skill is learned very fast from just looking at goods in the trade window, even for a no-skill dwarf. Therefore, it's recommended to consider training additional appraisers on non-essential caravans as soon as convenient, having a no-skill dwarf (possibly with advantageous personality traits) view the goods, and possibly making some initial, low-value trades (possibly at around 100% profit for the merchant, to be safe), and then having your main trader finish the important, high-value trading if desired. (See also broker skills.)

When the dwarven economy is activated, shopkeepers also use the appraisal skill when selling goods.

Experience in the Appraiser skill is gained by:

  • Seeing goods for trade at the trade depot (only the first dwarf to view a new caravan's wares on the trade screen can improve their skill in this way)
  • Successful trades at the depot (only the first dwarf who has viewed a caravan's wares can improve their skill in this way; if another dwarf does the actual trading there is no experience gain)[Verify]
  • Trading in a shop

Notable ways that it is not gained include:

  • Proposing an unsuccessful trade at the depot
  • Offering goods to foreign traders
  • Simply being assigned as the broker noble
  • Sitting around at the depot, whether there are traders there or not
  • Meeting with the outpost liaison

Because experience is gained for each trade (and possibly each offer) made, it is possible to quickly level your current broker's Appraiser skill in this manner with a single caravan, but only the first to do so with any one caravan.

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