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[Riddlist]

For some reason I can't identify, I no longer receive caravans or migrants from my home civilization.

It is the year 255 of my world, and so far I have received the initial two migrant waves (and a third in 253) and one trade agreement made with my civ in 252, but no dwarven caravans. I can see that my civ is still alive and well. Elven caravans come regularly. I get plenty of guests (some dwarven). I have upwards of 20 artifacts and a total wealth of over 1,000,000 gold. But now my population has dwindled to 33 dwarves (pop cap is 200), and the children are only good to drain resources.

I've considered some possible explanations but still cannot get to the root of the issue: 1) I have, in the past, slaughtered some guests for their tasty artifacts and culled some citizens when the pop got too high. But I know culling the citizens cannot be the issue because I would euthanize (undesirable) dwarves in the hundreds in my last fort, and I still would get regular migrants. 2) My home civ is at war with the main goblin civ. But, I don't see how they wouldn't have access to my fort; the nearest enemy does not appear close enough to the route (I assume) they'd take.

I have tried a somewhat cheaty alternative in DFHACK: 'migrants-now' but get the same message every time: 'The fortress attracted no migrants this season.' And now, I'm at a loss. Is there any way in DFHACK that I could force caravans to come or change my civilization?? That might work, but I can't find any way to make it happen. A gradual decline in population would not be a FUN way to end this fort.

[wierd]

If all you want are more dwarves, you can spawn "Generic" dwarves with dfhack. They tend to be a little buggy in my experience, but it can help you get over certain humps in terms of reaching a stable population.

https://dfhack.readthedocs.io/en/stable/docs/_auto/modtools.html#modtools-create-unit

It could be that there are simply no more histfigs in the world *TO* send to your fortress-- it already has all the dwarves that exist in the world.  In which case, using create-unit (and then giving them nicknames, because they will all be named "dwarf") is one way to get a stable breeding population. (Then retire the fortress, and start a new one in the same world. Then there is an established site and population to serve as a source for migration waves)

[Loci]

I can see that my civ is still alive and well.

Check if your fortress is at war with your home civilization.

But I know culling the citizens cannot be the issue because I would euthanize (undesirable) dwarves in the hundreds in my last fort...

You can now expel unwanted citizens with little effort and fewer repercussions.

It could be that there are simply no more histfigs in the world *TO* send to your fortress-- it already has all the dwarves that exist in the world.

The game will generate "void dwarves" for immigration and trade when necessary, so a lack of histfigs wouldn't stop either.

[Riddlist]

RESOLVED:
So, I looked into wierd's suggestion about spawning dwarves, and with trial and considerable error, I was able to get that to work. But in the process, I also found how to force a caravan with the 'force' command (which worked), and I found that after dealing with the caravan, the 'migrants-now' command also began to work! I guess somehow, my home civ just hadn't realized we were still alive.

And per Loci's suggestion, I will also begin to 'expel' most undesirable dwarves from now on. But since I always have such a nice euthanization chamber in my forts, I predict I won't be able to subdue that urge for every dwarf.

Thanks guys

[PatrikLundell]

High loss rates in fortresses tends to scare of migrants, which is an argument for dispelling undesirables rather than killing them.

Caravans can go missing for years on end. Some guessed reasons for this is that the capital might be under siege (or conquered) when the caravan is due to be sent out.