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[Darkriser]

Hi all...
My first fort has a ditch around with a single entrance (3 tiles wide, retractable bridge) to allow caravans.
All tiles (from inside) adjacent to the bridge have cage traps installed (dwarfs have to walk through them if they want to enter).
The same situation is repeated at the main entrance to the fort itself, where I've created a hall (3 tiles wide) covered by
various weapon traps (especially cages, serrated iron discs and giant iron blade axes).
My trade depot is deep inside my fortress, so anyone trying to get into it has to pass all my surprises :-)

The wiki states that: '...Traps will block the passage of caravan wagons...'.
This seems to be true, because when I hit 'D', my depot looks inaccessible (yellow 'D' tiles in vanilla DF).

However - caravans seem to ignore all the traps and calmly walk into my depot every year and I'm able to trade peacefully.
What's 'wrong' here? Is the wiki misleading or I'm getting it wrong?

Many thanks for your explanation.

[Chevaleresse]

Traps block the pathing of wagons. Are you getting wagons, or just merchants?

[Darkriser]

Traps block the pathing of wagons. Are you getting wagons, or just merchants?

I have them in my depot right now. How do I discover whether they are merchants or there are any wagons?

[Chevaleresse]

You csn see wagons in your units list, or just see the wagons themselves in the depot. A screenshot would be useful.

[Darkriser]

The puzzle seems to get resolved slowly.
Indeed, I can't see any wagon in my unit list or examining the depot carefully.
I assume that wiki is correct and I'm getting 'only' merchants.

This is my actual entrance hall and depot (top right)

[PatrikLundell]

Yes, traps have the same effect on wagons as boulders have, i.e. the draft animals can pass over them (e.g. while turning), but the wagon itself can not.
You should have received a message stating that "the caravan wagons are bypassing your inaccessible site" (quote might not be completely correct) when a caravan with wagons (i.e. dwarves and humans, but not elves) appear. It's easy to miss that message, though.

A common defense that allows wagons is a meandering wagon path with rows of 3 traps every 4 tiles.


wwww...wwww
w......wwww
w......wwww
w......wwww
w...tttwwww
w.........w
w.........w
w.........w
wwwwttt...w
w.........w
w.........w
w.........w
w...tttwwww

etc, with entrance from the top and extension downwards
where
w=wall
t=trap
.=ground

[Darkriser]

the caravan wagons are bypassing your inaccessible site"

I really can remember such messages, however ignored them because they managed to get into my depot.
Now I understand, that only merchants did...not the wagons.

Your entrance design looks very good to me, I'll definitely give it a try.

[PatrikLundell]

The design isn't mine, as I've gotten it from the community at some point so you're welcome to it.
I use cage traps exclusively (for true traps; I'm also partial to menacing spike arrays on repeat). They're particularly useful in the trade depot entrance, where they mean there won't be a lot of goblin bits lying around to freak caravans out so they leave (they do that without any message whatsoever).

One or more additional, trap laden, paths for enemy disposal are useful as well.