40d:Trading

Trading in Dwarf Fortress first occurs in the first autumn after establishing your fortress, with the arrival of the Dwarven caravan. Trading is a good way to acquire resources that are not available or are rare in the local area. It also allows for more freedom in selecting starting gear, because items can always be obtained through trade later, e.g. dropping the expensive anvil to bring 500 extra units of booze or purchase additional skills for the expedition party. New players can look here for advice on trading with the first caravan.

Trade Depot

Trade depot

b-D
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Job Requirement
1 of: Broker noble None (See description)
Construction
Materials	Jobs
3 of Block Metal bar Stone Wood	Architecture and 1 of: Carpentry Masonry Metalsmithing
Purpose
Trade goods with other races.

Building a Trade Depot (b - D) will allow you the opportunity to trade with caravans that arrive at your fortress. Trade depots can be created from almost any material, and construction requires the Architecture skill along with the appropriate craft labor (Carpentry, Masonry, or Metalsmithing). While it may be convenient to build a Trade Depot outside first, it is usually a good idea to move it inside or build fortifications around it to protect caravans and your goods from thieves and goblins.

Hit q to bring up the building interaction menu, and then move your cursor over the Trade Depot to gain access to the following options.

Move Goods to/from Depot

g: This command becomes active when a caravan arrives on your map. Choosing items from this menu will mark them as [PENDING] and dwarves will begin moving them to the depot (all dwarves regardless of labor settings will move goods to the depot when necessary). Items that have been brought to the depot are ready for trade and will be marked as [TRADING]. Items nominated for trading will remain at the depot until the caravan leaves, or the [PENDING] / [TRADING] flag is cleared by choosing the item again. Once no longer required at the depot, items will be available for use or hauling to stockpiles as normal.

No trader needed at depot or Trader requested at depot

r: To conduct trades with caravans, a trader must be present at the Trade Depot. Once requested, a dwarf will make their way to the depot, and remain there until released with this setting, or the dwarf decides to drink, sleep, or eat.

Only broker may trade or Anyone may trade

b: This setting determines who will perform the trade. If "Only broker may trade" is active, then only the Broker noble will respond to the trader request. This can become a problem when the broker is sleeping or otherwise occupied, however dwarves with low Broker skills will receive poorer deals when trading.

Trade

t: Once the goods have been hauled, a broker is waiting, and the caravan has made its way to the depot and unloaded its goods, it's time to trade. After entering the trade menu, select the items to offer from the right, and the desired items from the left. All caravans have a weight limit which cannot be exceeded, and the allowed additional weight is displayed in the lower right corner. If the acting broker has at least Novice or better Appraisal skill, the value of all items will be displayed. Once the proposal is ready, press t to make an offer, but merchants will not agree unless they make adequate profit. Also, be careful of pressing o, as this will make a gift of the selected items. The amount of acceptable profit is determined by the broker's skills and the merchant's mood, described below. Merchants may attempt to propose counteroffers if they do not accept the proposal, which can then be accepted, rejected, or further amended by the broker.

A good rule of thumb for inexperienced brokers is to give merchants a 50% or better profit. For example, if the desired goods are worth 500☼, make sure their profit is at least 250☼ (which would make the total worth of the offered goods 750☼). This should ensure that the merchants are happy with the trading and that they accept the trade immediately without making ridiculous counteroffers. With more experienced brokers or pleased merchants, even marginally profitable trades can be successful, and counteroffers can be rejected safely, offering the same trade again.

Merchant mood

If your broker has Novice or better Judge of Intent skill, there will be a line added below the merchant's dialogue describing the caravan's attitude. Their attitude rises with successful trades (especially if they get lots of profit) and falls when you propose deals they don't like.

• (trader) seems ecstatic with the trading
• (trader) seems very happy about the trading
• (trader) seems pleased with the trading
• (trader) seems willing to trade (Default, at least for humans)
• (trader) seems to be rapidly losing patience
• (trader) is not going to take much more of this
• (trader) is unwilling to trade

If merchants reach the lowest level (unwilling to trade) as a result of repeated failed deals, they will immediately pack up and no further trade will be possible. Since annoyed traders are more likely to reject deals, you should tread cautiously in initial negotiations as the more times you fail to make a deal, the less happy they'll be and the less inclined they'll be to accept further offers. Skilled negotiators seem less likely to offend traders with unsuccessful deals.

Seizing items

Pressing s from the trade menu will seize the selected items of the merchant's. If you seize goods from a caravan, the merchant will respond "Take what you want. I can't stop you." and then leave immediately without the seized goods. Items cannot be seized from the dwarven caravan, and other races will not buy stolen goods (marked in red) unless they are tricked into asking for them via counteroffer, or the items are "naturalized" by decoration or used to create other goods. Seizing goods will hurt diplomatic relations, but is not grounds for an automatic siege.

Caravans

Each friendly race will send a caravan once per year, but only if that race considers the fortress site accessible (as denoted on the embark screen). The exception is dwarves, who always arrive. Caravans appear to enter the map from a random direction which does not coincide with the relative direction of the originating civilization, and they may appear from different directions or z-levels each year. Caravans may leave without trading if it takes too long to reach the Trade Depot.

Wagons

Some races send wagons with their caravans, which have a much greater capacity for bringing foreign imports and accepting dwarven exports. Unfortunately, wagons require paths that are 3 tiles wide to pass. A wagon may enter from a location different than the merchant, if the point the merchant entered was inaccessible to it. If a wagon is unable to find an open path to the Trade Depot, it will turn around and the dwarves will lose access to its goods that year.

Wagons cannot cross stairs or doors (even if the doors span an area ordinarily wide enough for the wagon to pass). Obstructing boulders must be smoothed ( d - s ), and trees must be cut down ( d - t ). Plants do not obstruct wagons, and neither do ramps, bridges, roads, or natural or constructed floor tiles. Building roads, bridges and floor tiles can help keep paths clear by preventing trees from growing, but caravans may enter the map at a location from which they cannot reach an existing road (even if that road connects to the edge of the map), and if alternate unpaved paths exist, they may take those instead. They will leave without trading if they cannot get to the Trade Depot in time.

After a trade depot is built, you can use D to check wagon accessibility. Any tile marked in green is accessible to a wagon. Note that a three-tile wide path will only show up as one tile wide in accessibility view, since the tiles next to the walls are not themselves accessible to wagons.

In order to guarantee perfect, permanent wagon accessibility, a three tile path must be cleared around the entire perimeter of the map, with at least one joining path from the border to the trade depot. Any parts of this path system which have grass must be paved with floor tiles, bridges, or roads to prevent trees from growing. Ramps must be used to adjust z-level elevation.

Liaisons

Liaisons may be sent with caravans to speak to important dwarves. They will allow you to choose the type of items that your fortress is interested in, and will focus on bringing more of that kind of item on the next caravan (however those items will also be more expensive). The will present you with a list of the items they're willing to pay more for next time as well.

Races

The following races send caravans.

Dwarves

The dwarven caravan:

• arrives in autumn.
• employs wagons to bring more goods.
• typically carries food, booze, leather, and supplies. Dwarves alone may carry steel and steel goods.
• tends to be well guarded.
• sends a liaison who will speak with the Expedition leader (or Mayor) to negotiate prices.
• is responsible for the number of immigrants received (when the caravan escapes alive).
• will not cause sieges when repeatedly destroyed or lost.
• is the only caravan to arrive during a fortress' first year.
• always arrives regardless of embark location.
• cannot have its goods seized from the trade menu.

Elves

A typical elven caravan.

The elven caravan:

• arrives in spring.
• does not send wagons.
• typically carries cloth, rope, various plants and wooden items, and may carry tame creatures.
• tends to be unguarded.
• may send a diplomat who imposes a tree cutting quota.
• are very picky about what items they will accept in trade.

Elven traders do not like to be offered any animal or tree byproducts. Forbidden items include^{v0.23.130.23a}:

• Bone, shell, leather, or chitin items
• Wooden items, and items derived from wood (including tower-cap logs), such as charcoal and pearlash
• Clear and crystal glass (because pearlash is used in their creation)
• Items decorated with any of the above materials
• Obsidian shortswords (since they have wooden handles)
• Soap
• Cheese
• Any item they normally would accept that has blood on it, for instance from a slain enemy.

Metal items are acceptable, even when charcoal is used in their production. Items made from silk are acceptable, as are all non-wooden plant-derived products such as cloth and thread. You can also transport your goods to the trade depot in a wooden bin, as long as you do not try to sell the bin. Living animals are acceptable, as long as the cage or trap is not made of wood.

Be especially careful with reselling items from other caravans, as decorated items made out of a non-living material may include decorative materials that were made of living materials. All items that elven caravans sell are also unacceptable to sell back to elves, as the dwarves have no means of proving that they were made in an "elf kosher" way — and all dwarves know that elves have terrible memory.

Humans

The human caravan:

• arrives in summer.
• employs wagons to bring more goods.
• typically carries a very large quantity and variety of goods.
• tends to be moderately guarded.
• sends a liaison who will speak with the broker to negotiate prices.

Destruction

If caravans are destroyed (intentionally or unintentionally), the items may remain for use. Traders caught in a cave-in will flee as if they were attacked but will leave all the items dropped by the caravan behind. Pack animals carrying items are affected just like a normal tamed mule and must be killed in the cave-in for it to drop items on the ground. It is however much more likely that the pack animal(s) will only be stunned or rendered unconscious and flee shortly after recovering from the hit. Wagons will collapse if caught in a cave-in, leaving all that it was carrying on the ground as a result. Wagons can also be destroyed by ocean waves coming up onto the shore if you have settled in the appropriate area. The only difference between collapsing under waves or a cave-in is more probably to recover items if a wave destroys the wagon.

Repeated caravan destruction (intentional or unintentional) will strain diplomatic relations and may result in a siege.