I am having an issue with a trade caravan arriving but me not being able to trade with them. Anyone else have this issue? I have a broker and goods there.
You'll need to check the following;
- Broker is at the depot with 'Trade At Depot' as job (he will also have this job if he is on his way to the depot, but can't trade until he arrives)
- The depot doesn't state 'There are no merchants trading at present' - which it will say if the merchants have aborted their trade stop for some reason (eg. death, insanity, etc)
- If you can select trade but it gives the message about 'still unloading' it usually means there's more wagons/animals/merchants on their way to the depot, and won't let you trade until everyone is there
- Ensure the depot itself isn't forbidden (the objects listed as [ B ] in the inspec't' screen are the building materials, if any of them are Forbidden - marked with an F - it may impair the use of the building) - although I'm not sure if the caravan would be able to use it either in this case
Possible solutions;
- if the broker is not at the depot, either wait until he arrives, or burrow him to the depot by creating a burrow containing only the trade depot, or allow anyone to trade in the depot options
- if the merchants are not at the depot, check that they aren't prevented from trading due to absence / death / other serious issue, ensure that they still have a clear path to the depot (buildings can sometimes get deconstructed by passing trolls or tantruming dwarves, including bridges etc) - also check that they haven't decided to just leave, sometimes this message can get buried if you're experiencing heavy message spam (usually mass job cancellations due to water, magma or badgers)
- if the depot is forbidden, you can reclaim it - if merchants are in the area then you may
deliberately accidentally claim all their stuff too, so you may want to do this carefully to achieve the desired result.
I've never personally experienced the problem - my dwarves have happily exported spiky wooden balls on many an occasion - so I can only give you some general guidance. Hopefully it'll be of some help.