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[peterb]

Is there any way to know a priori what direction a caravan is going to arrive from, before the first one arrives?  I just wasted a huge amount of time in my last fort because I guessed "A" and they came from "B".

Inquiring minds want to know.

[ March 02, 2008: Message edited by: peterb ]

[Slappy Moose]

Yeah, I wish you could find that out.

I think they appear at the edge of the map that is farthest away from your depot, and down a few z-levels, just to be difficult.

But really, I don't think so. It sure would help though.

[Duo]

I belive they come from whatever direction the nearest relavent town is in on the world map.

Of course once you start your fort thats a little difficult to figure out.

[Thakh]

Where caravans appear depends on you Depot Access, and on your Depot Access only, from what I've found.

This means that if your depot is only accessable from one small part of the map edge, the caravans will always appear right there.
This can be incredibly useful since you can use channelling/walling to cut off a specific part of the edge where you can ensure that the wagons will be properly guarded and won't let anything nasty in with them.

(Upper part of the image is cut off at the northern map edge, since walls can't be built that close to the edge the rest is channeled out (barely visible on the picture).

Thakh

[Kagus]

I've had a dwarven caravan appear up on a rock ledge and make their way down to me via ramps.  They could have brought wagons if they came from the lefthand side of the map, but they insisted that they show up in the worst possible place for traders to come from.

[Areyar]

On my map not a single tile is trader accessable.
This is a lowlands hole-in-the-ground.
Probably the wagons need a rock substrate to move on, as in my last mountaintop home they could move almost everywhere and follow the stream up to my fort.

[nunix]

Thakh: not a hard and fast rule, unfortunately, as I found out one day. They appeared on the same EDGE but the section they came in on did not connect to where the depot was several levels higher. Wagons bypassed.

I've found the best thing to do is build a depot with some extra stone first thing, just place it anywhere. Then keep track of where things come in over the next year or so. Then maybe build another depot somewhere that's more easily protected or whatever your goal is.