I never intentionally murder caravans in order to steal their stuff (I only murder them for additional fun and usually atom-smash their stuff)
Never have I ever... intentionally murdered a caravan. I
did seize a bunch of goods from the tree huggers
once, when I was almost out of food and they got all uppity about a clear glass encrusted stone craft or whatever, but that's it. I usually try to deal with caravans as fairly as I can, even giving them outrageous profits just to get rid of all the -pig tail fiber thong-s littering my fort. Yes, even the elves; I don't exactly hate them, either. It's just they usually don't have a whole lot of stuff worth trading for, beside a bunch of plants and the odd +prickle berry wine barrel+.
Not exactly going out of my way to protect the merchants from sieges, ambushes or other hazards, though.
(Boy, was my militia red-faced when that one forest titan got its scaly squirrel tail handed to it by a bunch of human bowmen...
)
If their goods happen to fall on the wayside as they get slaughtered... well, if it's left unattended on my fort site, that means it's mine now.
Also, +1 to:
I love the vanilla game and stay away from mods.
I don't want a magic system.
I half expect the were- and vampire syndromes will be too much
!!Fun!! for players of my skill level who haven't yet turned the Clown Town into their personal playground.