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Broker

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Revision as of 23:22, 11 September 2023 by OluapPlayer (talk | contribs)
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This article is about the current version of DF.
Note that some content may still need to be updated.

Broker
Room requirements  
Office None
Quarters None
Dining room None
Tomb None
Furniture requirements
Chests None
Cabinets None
Weapon racks None
Armor stands None
Other
Mandates None
Demands None
Arrival conditions

Appointed on the nobles screen.

Function

The broker is a useful noble with no demands or requirements. A broker has several duties in the running of an organized fortress.

After you appoint a broker with the appraiser skill through the noble screen, you can see fortress wealth and trade information in a status popup by hovering your mouse over your civilization name in the top left of the Fortress UI. (The exactness with which this can be seen is determined by the duties of the bookkeeper.) Your broker's appraiser skill is also used to determine whether to display item values, in general and in the trade depot. The broker is also the noble who will allow you to see exact room values when setting up guilds and temples, along with other zones as well. How much skill they have determines how exact a value you can see for the room.

If your designated broker is currently off-map on a raid, you will lose all specific values during that absence.

At the trade depot, you can specify that only the broker may trade with visiting caravans. The advantage of this is that the broker gains appraiser skill by opening the trade window for the first time, which allows the display of item values at the depot, and gains social skills by trading, which improves returns on your trading efforts. The disadvantage, however, is that convincing your broker to go to the trade depot in a timely manner can at times be frustratingly difficult. Once your broker has gained the appraiser skill and your fortress has plentiful trade goods, allowing other dwarves to trade will spread out the experience gains and ensure a prompt response. Your traders also use the judge of intent skill to see how merchants react to trade offers.

Relevant skills[edit]

Of the social skills, those in bold are known to change the effectiveness of a Broker:

Judge of intent Liar Conversationalist Intimidator
Appraiser Comedian Persuader Pacifier
Negotiator Flatterer Consoler

When selecting a broker, all of the above skills will appear as relevant, but since the broker's actions are entirely controlled by the player, they are not known to affect the broker's job. It is possible that some skills change the way that the merchants respond to your actions, such as Negotiator extending the patience of the merchants when making counteroffers.[Verify]

The Appraiser skill of who ever is trading increases the first time the trade screen is opened for each caravan. The other skills, however, increase very slowly with each successful trade, and in normal play will raise perhaps one or two skill levels through the years; to reach Legendary requires over a thousand successful trades. If you find yourself wanting such a broker, setting up a macro to trade individual worn-out clothes for individual food items (as well as coins, bolts, and anything in a stack) is the fastest method to train these skills. Note that, once Legendary, having such high social skills means your broker is very likely to be elected mayor as well.

Appointed
Military Ranks
Elected
Aristocrats
BaronCountDukeMonarch
Other
Unused
Elven