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[Duhwolf]

I've been playing Dwarf Fortress for about a year and a half. I've also never had a fortress over 50 dwarves because I get pissed quit and start another one quit again ect...

This is all becuase of one minor problem I can't overcome. Trading. If someone could please give me a step by step of how to then maybe I can compare and actually have my first megabeast/titan with out altering worldgen.

I allready know to build the depot have a broker move the goods and have my broker doing nothing. In the new version I even place  my broker there with a burrow. No matter what I do though I'm stuck with the t=trade option grayed out. Now 4 out of 5 times my broker is my expedition leader. I don't know if this = a glitch or something. I know people are going to say you can mostly survive without trading but most of my forts can't becuase I trade in an anvil on embark for animals weapons and such.

This happens for me on 40d and the new version. Help would be appreciated. 

[Javarock]

One question, Did you Request a trader at the depot...

If not then All I have to suggest is opening up for everyone to trade...

[Brandstone]

Have you requested a broker to trade? It's in the depot's menu, and I think r is the shortcut for it.

[Minnakht]

Step by step:

1. Hit g, press enter when selecting every bin of crafts to mark them, or whatever you're trading
2. Hit r and wait until the broker and goods arrive in the depot
3. Hit t
4. Select the merchant's goods you want
5. Select your goods until the value-o-meter goes out of the red. Don't select the bins themselves, only the goods inside one by one by one by one
6. Hit t. If you hit o, you're a moron
7. Hit ESC an wait until everything is hauled away
8. Hit r again if you won't change your mind and buy some more stuff.

[Buttery_Mess]

Assign a noble as a broker with the appraise skill

q > g to select trade goods to be taken to the depot

q > r to request trader at depot

If your broker is being a pain, q > b to set it so that anyone may trade.

Trading at the depot is a low priority task it seems, so if you want your broker to turn up, disable all his other labours.

Some things to bear in mind; even with no labours assigned, brokers do like to bring items to the depot; if you add too much stuff to be traded at the depot, they may spend months bringing things and never get round to trading. Brokers are so disinterested in broking that they will (more often than not) choose to wait until it's time to trade to eat their dinner, have a drink, and go to sleep. One way to reduce the chance of this happening is to have your broker's labours permanently off. That way, in theory, she's more likely to be rested, fed, and 'watered'. Brokers are commonly on a break when it's time to trade; you'll just have to get anyone else to trade instead when this happens.

Lately, I've been assigning a broker and then never having him actually do the trading. They're just such a pain in the arse. Any dwarf with appraise is needed as a broker in order to value stuff in your fortress, but beyond that the broker need not do anything related to trading. I find it handy to a permanent cleaning dwarf, and a few other dwarves with no or very few labours enabled, that will often turn up to trade when you ask anyone to do it. This has the effect of training up replacement dwarves with the appraise skill in case something happens to your broker. Having at least one dwarf with appraise is very important to trading, but he doesn't need to be that good at it, or actually do the trading.

Training up appraise is easy. When you get a dwarf at the depot, open up the trade window, select one low value item (low quality crafts are my favourite) and offer it as a gift. Exit the trade window, and repeat. They can only carry so many gifts, but if you buy lots of their wood and animal cages, they ought to have plenty of space for your junk.

It helps to have someone with appraise at embark, but you can train up a broker this way very easily.

[Funburns]

I allready know to build the depot have a broker move the goods and have my broker doing nothing. In the new version I even place  my broker there with a burrow. No matter what I do though I'm stuck with the t=trade option grayed out.

What likely happened is, your broker was also a hauler (or perhaps something else), and they were in the middle of a job when you assigned them to the burrow and set them to Trade at Depot. For some reason, doing this does not cause them to forget the item they are supposed to be carrying; they'll try to move and place it somewhere, or go to pick it up, only to find their burrow does not allow this. I think that this, in combination with the depot order, does not allow them to successfully stop their false hauling job. Check if they have an odd item in their inventory which is set to be hauled, even though they are not doing any hauling.

The cleanest way to get your broker to attend to trading is to disable all other jobs, especially hauling labors. The broker will still want to eat, drink, sleep, harvest plants (can be disabled in the [o]rders menu), deconstruct buildings, and meet with diplomatic liaisons, but if they have nothing else to do (and you can prove it by not having them burrow-restricted), they will gladly go trade. If none of this works, turn the depot to "Anyone can trade," and eat the unimportantly small loss in value.

My broker is a layabout lout. This also helps powerlevel their social skills, and is thus an excellent job to place on your mayor-to-be.

[Duhwolf]

Have you requested a broker to trade?

One question, Did you Request a trader at the depot...
If not then All I have to suggest is opening up for everyone to trade...

As far as I know requesting the trader is having the caravan come to the depot right?

Otherwise because I've never hit the button: Face Slap.

[Brandstone]

Don't worry, I remember when I was trying to figure out why I could build walls and stairs but not chairs, tables, and beds.

[Girlinhat]

Caravans automatically come to the depot, even if you completely ignore them, or even if the depot is located several hundred Z down in hell itself, requesting a trader is requesting your broker, or requesting anyone if you have it set for anyone.