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[ZzarkLinux]

I found the previous thread woot
So my general stuff is in the old thread, but that was DF2010

Though to be honest, ever since I started the rabbit huts I haven't seen a caravan yet.
Everyone keeps getting stuck in a perpetual undeath machine (though current fort shows hope).

[Cobaldunderpants]

Right off the bat whenever I start a fortress I make a gemcutter from one of the first two waves of imigrants. Always have him or her cut up all my gems I get from mining out the first few rooms of my fort.

With these I buy the following:
Wood
Leather by the bin
Silk cloth by the bin
Plant cloth by the bin
Animal cloth by the bin
Thread
Yarn

Sometimes I will also buy some more booze if the gems are selling for high prices.

I usually only do this with the first one or two caravans. Only so I will have most of my bases covered early if a dwarf is struck by a strange mood. I don't really care about the artifacts, but enough forts of mine have met an early end from beserking leathworking dwarves for me to ignore the more basic ingredients. After these first two caravans the only things I ever trade for are wood, booze, and exotic animals if the elves are feeling particularly generous.

[Loud Whispers]

I run a strict Laconic policy. No trade. I don't care if I have no metals, all I need are more Dwarves >:£

Although animals occasionally fall in short supply in my fortresses... I can't seem to pinpoint why...

[Naryar]

Flux, steel, pig iron.

[Corai]

DRAGONS. I AKS FOR DRAGONS.



Elves bring me dragons in Masterwork.



MY ARMY OF KOBOLDS AND DRAGONS WILL MAKE YOU ALL PAY.

[Fen]

Usually whatever I need at the time, plus some extra food/booze to make sure the dwarves don't get pissy about having plump helmets 24/7 in their legendary dining hall. I used to get cloth most of the time because I couldn't be assed to make any and just wanted to be sure in case of a mood, but with clothing changes that's also changed.

[Poindexterity]

steel bars
shortest named animal leather
fungiwood
tower caps
pigs
lye
sand
steel anvils

[Morpha]

A 100% discount, my bargaining chip being the idiots keep bringing their goods into my territory. Far as I'm concerned, my house= my stuff.

When I feel like being civil however, more booze is a safe bet.

[Lielac]

Booze, low priority. Basically I just do that so the liaison doesn't make disappointed noises at me, I'm pretty good at living off the land. I do buy out a fair bit of their food every time they come, but I don't specifically ask for it.

[Dohon]

What I buy:

Meat, fish, cheese.
Seeds.
Rare drinks.
Leather.
Cloth.
Cheap metal items.

What I sell:

Booze.
Crafts.
Armour.
Weapons.
Clothing.

I tend to play like the Dwarfs as portrayed in Warhammer. There, Dwarfs make booze, but only basic foodstuff. They prefer to trade what they can melt and forge for foodstuff. I do have farmers, but only for growing cloth and plants intended for the brewery. This also forces me to care about caravans since I do need their stuff.

[Saiko Kila]

I request:
wood (usually the type I don't have, I can use any quantity)
leather (I can use any quantity, even though I don't make any non-metal armour)
gypsum powder (always, never had its substrates occuring)
breeding animals I don't have
sand (if I don't have it in my biome)
fire clay and kaolinite
some metals I don't have
gems (rarely)
ammo
coal (never had it on serious embarks, but they bring only small quantities even if on high priority, little scamps)

Additionally, sometimes I ask for iron ores, but usually I have more than enough. Also, I buy items I don't request but they bring it anyway: a bit of booze, cloth, seeds, thread, trap items and some exotic cheese. Sometimes anvils, because I embark without them on occasions. I never buy flux, because I always have it in my biome.

[Sus]

Wood, fuel, potash and ores mostly. Also metal bars.
Seeds and fish occasionally
Sand and gypsum plaster if the site doesn't have sand or gypsum.
The sand thing probably has more to do with my fetish for green glass coffins for nobles than sand / glass actually being all that valuable.
I could probsbly drop the wood and fuel if I went straight for the sweet, sweet

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 MAGMAAAAAAA!!!

for forges and smelters...  After all, smelting is one of the biggest fuel sinks in the game.

[oven_baked]

Gypsum. (if i don't have any)
Metal (if i don't have any coal and yet to tap magma)
Animals for meat and leather.
Leather/cloth.
Cheap armor and metal items.
Exotic animals. (I'm trying to get a breeding pair of bears so i can start my version of a danger room but with Less spears and more bears.)

I typically sell all the crap crafts i have (vaule of 10 to 50) so any extra i try to get some food or weapons.

[starvingpoet]

Been getting *lucky* with re-animating husk embarks soo.... if the caravans make it - wool, leather, silk

[KodKod]

Food and booze, vast amounts of food and booze.

Because of the way I have modded my raws it is virtually impossible for me to feed a fortress with my own dwarves without dedicating huge numbers of them to farming or fishing, that is unless I get extremely lucky with my hunting. Basically I’d have to sacrifice my military in order to get enough.

What this means is that I have to supplement what my dwarves produce from the various caravans. The primary motivation for making it like this is so that I’m unable to simply close off my fort to the outside world and wait for sieges or ambushes to pass by. Much like in a real siege my attackers can starve me out, so I must have a functioning military and I must fight; if the goblins kill too many supply caravans I’m toast and my dwarves will tantrum spiral.

I also order gypsum, gold and platinum, because if I’m supplying the mountainhomes with the finest unicorn bone crowns then they can bloody well sell me all the bling under the earth.