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40d:Trade good
Trade good is a term frequently used to refer to items that are lightweight and only useful for trading until after the dwarven economy begins, when they will become wanted trinkets among some dwarves. They include crafts, goblets, instruments, toys, large gems, and totems, some of which have several sub-types. Once produced, all of the various types and sub-types of trade goods are identical except for their weight; rings and earrings are the lightest with a base weight of 1, but the heavier trade goods with a base weight of 10 are still much lighter than items such as furniture or most armor. All types of trade goods are stored in finished goods stockpiles.
Currentlyv0.28.181.40d, all trade goods other than crafts are listed only under the "All" section of the goods menu at a trade depot, unless they are in bins with crafts or clothes. However if they are stored by themselves in bins they will be listed simply as "finished goods" and appear only under the "All" section. To locate them press s on the move goods screen and type in what you are looking for (e. g., MUG).
There is no way to issue a job order for a specific subtype of a good with multiple subtypes. If you have a mandate to make piccolos, the best you can do is to order instruments and hope for the best.
Some types of trade goods can be produced in multiples. It is possible to get up to three crafts, instruments, or toys from a single resource. The chance of multiples is increased with more experience in the craftsdwarf skill. Mugs will always be made in threes, so they are more productive in terms of value than other trade goods (unless an import agreement offers a high price for another type of trade good).
Types of trade goods
Crafts
Crafts include idols, rings, earrings, amulets, bracelets, scepters, and crowns. They are the only type of trade good that appears on its own page in the Trade Depot menu. In Adventure Mode, some types of crafts (such as earrings) can be worn, but are still better used as deadly projectiles.
Goblets
Goblets have no subtypes, but have different names depending on the material from which they are made: rock goblets are called mugs, and wooden goblets are called cups.
Instruments
Instruments include drums, flutes, harps, trumpets, and piccolos.
Toys
Toys include mini-forges, toy hammers, toy axes, toy boats, and puzzleboxes.
Totems
Totems have no subtypes. They are made from skulls.
Large gems
Large gems have no subtypes. It is not possible to issue a job order for large gems; instead, cutting any gem or raw glass has a chance to produce a large gem instead of ordinary cut gems. Gems also have a chance to be cut into crafts this way, but raw glass does not.
Materials
Most materials can be used to make trade goods. On occasion, a dwarf in a strange mood will make a trade good out of a material not normally suited for it (e. g., a cloth instrument).
| Material | Labor | Workshop | Crafts | Goblets | Instruments | Toys | Large Gems |
| Stone | Stonecrafting | Craftsdwarf's workshop | Y | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Wood | Woodcrafting | Craftsdwarf's workshop | Y | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Leather | Leatherworking | Craftsdwarf's workshop | Y | N | N | N | N |
| Cloth | Clothesmaking | Craftsdwarf's workshop | Y | N | N | N | N |
| Bone1 | Bone carving | Craftsdwarf's workshop | Y | N | N | N | N |
| Shell | Bone carving | Craftsdwarf's workshop | Y | N | N | N | N |
| Metal | Metalcrafting | Metalsmith's forge or Magma forge | Y | Y | Y | Y | N |
| Glass | Glassmaking | Glass furnace or Magma glass furnace2 | N | Y | Y | Y | Y2 |
| Gems | Gem cutting | Jeweler's workshop | Y2 | N | N | N | Y2 |
1 Skull totems, like bone crafts, are also made by a bone carver at a craftsdwarf's workshop.
2 See Large gems above. Large glass gems are cut at a jeweler's workshop, not a glass furnace.
Stonecrafting is a timeconsuming but easy to set up way to make export goods early, as your stone crafter will have access to tons of stone in a typical fortress. Stone goods are not that valuable, but many of these can be made and they will be accepted by any traders. A legendary stone crafter with a stockpile of high value stone or ore can make some very valuable crafts.
Making crafts from bone or shell is easy to set up if you have any dwarves hunt or fish, but it is easy for production to outstrip supply with legendary bonecrafters. Additionally, bones and shell have potentially more important uses, such as producing bone ammo and crossbows, or shell armor. Skulls, however, have no uses other than totems, so making totems has essentially no drawback.
Cloth and leather crafts tend to be very light, and can be more valuable than stone crafts, but it takes more effort to produce cloth and leather than it does raw stone. Cloth and leather can also be used to make clothing, which is as lightweight as most trade goods and, in some cases, is automatically produced in pairs.
Wooden trade goods have low value, the same value as common, non-economic and non-obsidian stone, and cannot be traded to elves. Unless you have a highly skilled wood crafter and a surplus of wood, making these is not generally useful.
Metal goods can be highly profitable; however, if metals are scarce on your map you may prefer to save metal for weapons, armor, and/or furniture.
Green glass goods are as valuable as those made from flux stone, and clear glass goods are significantly more valuable. However, glass goods are difficult to produce in large quantities unless the map contains either magma or an abundance of wood.
Gem crafts and large gems can be very valuable depending on the type of gem, but the most valuable gems are fairly rare and it is impossible to control whether or not a craft is produced.