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[Urist_McArathos]

With traps blocking wagon access, I figured I'd post my simple remedy to the problem since it seems to be a recurring question or concern for people.

The following design is easily incorporated into any setup, and takes minimal effort to maintain.



The bridges lift towards the Depot, so they cannot be destroyed by building destroyers.  The longer hallway can be filled with traps (including a dodge-me trap run), and dogs at the last curve catch sneaky types before they enter the fortress proper.  Obviously this is a simple hallway to demonstrate proof of concept; the actual trap hallway you use can curl around, have cave-in traps and whatever else you like.  The important point is that your entrance has the Depot just off what would ORDINARLY be the main entrance to your fort.

When not in use, simply close the door closest to the fortress (that would be the Southern one in this screenshot), allowing constant Depot access.  Two dogs chained north of the depot will allow thieves to be spotted before they can pilfer supplies left at the Depot, but the raised bridge will force building destroyers to patch the long way around through the trap corridor.

When a merchant caravan arrives, simply swap the bridges; the Northern bridge raises, securing the caravan from any unexpected guests.  The Southern lowers, allowing haulers to load and unload the Depot.

Both bridges can be raised to lock the caravan in, either to seal them off during a siege (for safety reasons), or to spring a horrible deathtrap on them (for other reasons or no reason whatsoever).

There you go, a simple and easy way to keep your trap lined entrance, Depot access, and prevent thieves from sneaking past.  NOTE: For above-ground forts, all the usual safety concerns about aerial attack still hold true, so don't forget walls and ceilings.

[Loud Whispers]

Although I still follow the whole ideal bridge raising philosophy AND even add ditches to them, I've still never seen a building destroyer take down a bridge before. I don't think I'd want to really, but still.

[rhesusmacabre]

As has been pointed out elsewhere, it's probably better to have the depot in the long corridor, and your traps and things in the short one. Invaders will always choose the shorter path, and wagons will still head for the depot.

[Halceon]

As has been pointed out elsewhere, it's probably better to have the depot in the long corridor, and your traps and things in the short one. Invaders will always choose the shorter path, and wagons will still head for the depot.

Or to just keep the northern bridge raised at all times when you don't specifically want to expose the caravan to your friendly visitors.

[Urist_McArathos]

As has been pointed out elsewhere, it's probably better to have the depot in the long corridor, and your traps and things in the short one. Invaders will always choose the shorter path, and wagons will still head for the depot.

Or to just keep the northern bridge raised at all times when you don't specifically want to expose the caravan to your friendly visitors.

Whenever the northern bridge is raised, it blocks Depot access (since the wagons would have to path across your traps).  That means wagons will bypass your site immediately once they arrive on the edge and the bridge is up.  Leaving the northern one down constantly ensures you don't get bypassed because you forgot to lower the bridge in time.

As for the long/short tunnel idea, I just personally don't like leaving the Depot vulnerable at all should something chaotic happen.  It's certainly a viable idea, but I just wanted to share my solution to this frequently discussed problem.

[malimbar04]

If you're going for airlock, it's better to have 2 trade depots with one available at any one time to caravans. When they come in, lock them in and open up the second one. My prefered method is with a switch attached to a bridge and a few floodgates (one is always down, while the others is always up, making a great toggle between the two depots).

Then access from your own dwarves can be done in any number of ways. Bridges, locked doors, fancy minecart physics, etc.

This ensures that you never are shut off from a caravans carts, but you're always protected as well.

[dash27]

If you're going for airlock, it's better to have 2 trade depots with one available at any one time to caravans.

How does having two depots work?  I have never done it and now i am curious.

[Saim]

dash,

It basically just gives the caravans two places to stop, it's nice for the rare time you get 2 caravans in. Nothing really do to from your end to manage them unless its opening airlock doors to make sure they can get to it.

[MrLobster]

I think it's better to have two separate entrances; one for caravans that is never open to your fort, and one for foot traffic that is almost always open to your fort.

[SixOfSpades]

Actually, I'm going for a design with a total of 8 Trade Depots. Aboveground, my outer curtain wall encloses about 98% of the embark, and it's pierced at eight regularly-spaced points by drawbridge-on-both-sides Depot airlocks like the one pictured above, but minus the dogs & traps. This isn't to avoid 2 groups trying to use the same Depot (only a very minor consideration), but to protect the merchants: No matter where they spawn on the edge of my map, they are only a few tiles away from the safety of the nearest airlock, which can be crucial if you tend to get sieges only a few seconds after the merchants arrive (which is very true in my case). When it's Merchant Season, I leave the outer bridges open but the inner ones closed, then reverse that once they're in. In Late Fall, though, I leave both sets open, so the liason can path through there as well.

Invaders are routed through the four tunnels that run under the wall and lead to my "Kill Box," which is liason-safe, so he's actually a little bit better protected than the merchants, because he has 12 paths to safety instead of their 8.

[CaptainArchmage]

The thing about trade depots is wagons can clog up with small entrances. I'd recommend you have two depots or more to filter them as people have pointed out, but you should also have wider entrances (7 tiles wide) to make sure wagons do not clog them up.

[dash27]

Tangent Idea:

Would it make sense to put a garbage pit above a Trade Depot?  That way, instead of burying all your trash (like your worn out clothing), you can just sell it to the elves?  And since it will fall onto the Depot, selecting it for trade shouldn't require any hauling and be relatively easy.

[thegoatgod_pan]

I like it, elegant, but instead of bridges you should use magma