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[Asmodeous]

So I just had the dwarven traders show up (by the way it's year FIVE now and I've still never seen a liaison show up), and all of their carts but one got to the trade depot and unloaded, but every time I tried to trade it said "We're still unloading, sorry!"

I went through the unit list a dozen times until I found the cart that wasn't there. It was moving 1 square about every 25 seconds.

Now, this wouldn't be a problem, save for one thing:

The whole time, they're saying "We're still unloading, sorry, but we'll be ready soon!"

Then they packed up and left before the other cart got there.

Is this a bug, a mishap, or what? Would it be possible in some way to flag it so they DON'T LEAVE until they get around to finishing unloading? Or that you could trade before they're all there?

[KenboCalrissian]

I show this movie every time someone brings this up.

It's because the traders don't correctly load-balance the weight in their wagons.  Chances are they put a ton of metal items on that slow wagon.

[Asmodeous]

Which I understand, obviously, the question is why isn't the game set to understand that they haven't even UNLOADED yet and wait for that before triggering the disembark?

Seems silly that they would disembark BEFORE THEY ARRIVE, doesn't it?

[Keevu]

It seems silly that they even showed up in the first place if they were carrying that much. My suggestion is create a trade depot closer.

[Asmodeous]

Only problem with that is it would require 4 depots (or more) on opposite ends of the map, because they tend to show up from different areas. I would suggest the solution isn't in making extra, closer depots, but resolution of the code that either makes a cart end up being slower than mud going uphill or makes them disembark before they finish unloading.

[Earth Striker Lurin]

This should probably be in bug reports.  There is something wrong to be sure.  Perhaps we can get Toady to sneak this in the forthcoming expansion?

[Stargrasper]

Well, if you have such a slow single wagon, it seems the obvious solution is to scuttle it.  Namely, if it's moving so slowly, you should be able to predict where it will be when...just kindof...collapse the ground it's rolling on.  Drop it a few dozen z-levels to destroy it.  Traders get started trading(if they aren't too pissed about losing a wagon) and you get to keep all that really heavy stuff in that one wagon.  Useful for melting, if nothing else.

Also, with intelligent placement of natural boulders, walls, and other constructions around the map, along with intelligent placement of the depot, you can make it totally and completely impossible for a wagon to get to the depot except from one very narrow path.  Just build the depot near the edge and surround the intended path with walls so that the wagon can come from ONLY the one path...  Remember, wagons need a 3 wide area to path, take advantage of that so your dwarves can easily get there but a wagon only has one path.

It's probably the best you can do until Toady gets around to the caravan arc.

[Footkerchief]

Well, if you have such a slow single wagon, it seems the obvious solution is to scuttle it.  Namely, if it's moving so slowly, you should be able to predict where it will be when...just kindof...collapse the ground it's rolling on.  Drop it a few dozen z-levels to destroy it.

You'd THINK that'd work, but...

# 000961 □ [cave-ins] (Report) if a floor is removed from under a wagon, it will float in the air

I suggest magma.

[Rafal99]

I suggest dropping a floor on it from above.

[KaelGotDwarves]

# 000961 □ [cave-ins] (Report) if a floor is removed from under a wagon, it will float in the air

I'm pretty sure bridges can drop wagons and destroy them. I've had engravings of the such before/

[smjjames]

You forgot the fastest trader cart ever. The one that goes at 90% the speed of light almost always accompanies the one which goes at a glacial pace.

[Asmodeous]

On a slightly different topic that I mentioned in the first post here, I'm on year ~5 at this point (maybe 6) and have never once seen a Liaison, in fact I don't even recall the announcement in year 1 of the liaison showing up.

Now, it's plausible that I missed that on the first year and he died because I'm in an 8x8 embark grid with all but 4 of the embark tiles being "Terrifying" and those four being "Haunted", and there's a chasm (which breaks out of the side of a cliff that my migrants seem to want to use for travel) a bottomless pit (which I still haven't found), HFS, and an underground pool... somewhere, and nearly everything is undead. Outside of my dwarves there are exactly two living creatures, and both of them are harpies.

There is also a Giant Cave Spider somewhere on the map (I had to savescum after a stack-overflow crash after I found it. And when I say "I found it" I really mean an entire wave of migrants walked into its web and got eaten), and I would note that the GCS was not listed in the group of living creatures.

So it's possible he died, but I had looked over the entire log before even my first exit from the game, and I saw no sign of his arrival.

Is it possible he died OFFSCREEN somewhere during worldgen? Or is the only real possibility here that I missed it and a zombie trog ate his brains? And would that never give me a replacement? (According to the wiki it says I don't get one, but I dunno how outdated some info is on there because I only just got into the game recently).

Edit: Oh, and for the record I mean the Dwarf liaison, not the Human one, if that makes any difference. Also, do you have any idea how frustratingly hilarious it is when you have 15 dwarves, are still trying to get the fortress up and running, and most importantly get more troops, and you watch 20 dwarves spawn and walk right into a ZGCS web?

[Quantum Toast]

Ah, that's what it is. I've been getting the same thing with my dwarf caravans the last couple of years, though as far as I could see the slow one was only carrying a load of cloth bins. I've been working on things to force caravans to spawn near the fortress anyway, like Stargrasper mentioned, so once that's done it shouldn't be so much of a problem.

[piesquared]

Only problem with that is it would require 4 depots (or more) on opposite ends of the map

Ah, you've failed to understand how the starting location for a caravan is decided. It goes like this:

1.) Do they have a depot?
2a.) If not, spawn in a random spot on the edge of the map and don't bring the wagons (if any).
2b.) If so, is there walking access to it?
3a.) If not, spawn in a random spot on the edge of the map and don't bring the wagons (if any).
3b.) If so, do we have wagons?
4a.) If not, spawn in a random spot on the edge of the map with walking access to the depot.
4b.) If so, is there wagon access to the depot?
5a.) If not, spawn in a random spot on the edge of the map with walking access to the depot, and don't bring the wagons.
5.b) If so, spawn in a random spot on the edge of the map with wagon access to the depot.

The idea, then, would be to put a depot right near the edge, and make sure that there is only one spot on the edge of the map with depot access. Then all caravans will spawn on that spot. Heavily wooded areas and areas strewn with boulders are ideal, but you can build walls and (for the last few squares where you can't build walls, bridges) to control access if required.

(At least, this has been my experience.)