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Author Topic: Balanced trade goods?  (Read 6639 times)

VerdantSF

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Balanced trade goods?
« on: August 17, 2012, 12:36:04 pm »

After buying out the umpteenth caravan with stacks of roasts, I'm thinking of switching over to trade goods that are bit more balanced.  I still like the idea of trading food, but for my next game I'll stick to non-perishable base ingredients like syrup, flour, and rock nut oil. There's no right way to play DF, so this isn't about dissing anyone else's game preferences.  I'm just wondering if others self-balance the trading aspect of the game in similar ways. 

Facekillz058

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Re: Balanced trade goods?
« Reply #1 on: August 17, 2012, 12:43:17 pm »

Tin Crafts... Lots of tin crafts...
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GoombaGeek

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Re: Balanced trade goods?
« Reply #2 on: August 17, 2012, 12:53:48 pm »

I don't use cooks, just stone crafts. Lots of stone crafts.

Once the metal industry actually works I switch to gold and *maybe* platinum.
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Bobnova

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Re: Balanced trade goods?
« Reply #3 on: August 17, 2012, 01:14:10 pm »

Depends on the map.
Currently I'm buying out caravans with the gold goblets I have set to repeat.
We have a lot of gold.
I'll probably make a few hundred lead goblets and use them for both trade fodder and shotgun ammunition.
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Bigheaded

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Re: Balanced trade goods?
« Reply #4 on: August 17, 2012, 01:29:00 pm »

wooden spiked balls/roasts.

Eventually will probably limit myself to selling stuff which isn't worth as much or is harder to make such as furniture engraved with gems etc.
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I just found a barrel which contained a wheelbarrow. Inside the wheelbarrow was another barrel. I don't even understand how that is possible.

Hyndis

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Re: Balanced trade goods?
« Reply #5 on: August 17, 2012, 01:56:38 pm »

You could try coins.

Coins have no quality modifier, and it sort of makes sense to pay for things using coins. You do need a lot of metal for that, but goblinite is plentiful, and remember that you can melt down coins to produce more metal than what you started with.

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itg

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Re: Balanced trade goods?
« Reply #6 on: August 17, 2012, 02:36:29 pm »

You could go with textiles. High-quality clothing is pretty valuable, but it takes a lot of work to produce, and if you want silk, there's some element of risk.

jellsprout

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Re: Balanced trade goods?
« Reply #7 on: August 17, 2012, 03:24:02 pm »

I like to try out different industries. In one fort I will export only roasts, in the next only green glass items, in another only obsidian goods, after that only metal serrated discs, then only fully dyed and decorated clothes, or simply what the invading armies have left behind on my map. Building your industry around only a single industry like that really teaches you how to manage and optimize those industries.
However, in the end every trading good turns out to be completely unbalanced. As long as you have enough dwarves producing goods and they grow skilled enough, you will always be able to buy anything necessary from the caravans. Some goods are just a bit more unbalanced than others.
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GreatWyrmGold

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Re: Balanced trade goods?
« Reply #8 on: August 17, 2012, 03:48:06 pm »

Not soap! Try exporting soap sometime.
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Mageziya

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Re: Balanced trade goods?
« Reply #9 on: August 17, 2012, 04:13:51 pm »

Unfortantly, I am too stupid to know how to export prepared meals and cannot find coins when I look for them in the haul to depot menu.
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Bigheaded

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Re: Balanced trade goods?
« Reply #10 on: August 17, 2012, 04:24:07 pm »

Unfortantly, I am too stupid to know how to export prepared meals and cannot find coins when I look for them in the haul to depot menu.

use search. (press s)

food can be searched by using these:
1. Search for "roast"
2. Search for prepared (this will be prepared food barrel/pot, pot's are generally more useful as they can be traded to elves)

hope that one helps! or you can try trading wooden spiked balls, as they're worth ~500-1300 each for 1 piece of wood and easily made and helps train carpentry which is handy for beds/doors etc for nobles :)
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I just found a barrel which contained a wheelbarrow. Inside the wheelbarrow was another barrel. I don't even understand how that is possible.

doublestrafe

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Re: Balanced trade goods?
« Reply #11 on: August 17, 2012, 04:38:01 pm »

I usually find prepared meals by pressing 'd' to sort by value instead of distance. Unless your farmer and cook aren't up to snuff, they're generally right after the weapon and artifact bins.
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jellsprout

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Re: Balanced trade goods?
« Reply #12 on: August 17, 2012, 04:50:54 pm »

Not soap! Try exporting soap sometime.

I am intrigued. I will try this sometime.
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Hyndis

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Re: Balanced trade goods?
« Reply #13 on: August 17, 2012, 06:33:27 pm »

You could go with textiles. High-quality clothing is pretty valuable, but it takes a lot of work to produce, and if you want silk, there's some element of risk.

Bins of masterwork cloth was one of my main exports for a while.

Then I realized I was being an elf by selling only bins of cloth, so I stopped doing that.  :(

Dirty laundry and other old clothes is another possible export.
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Mushroo

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Re: Balanced trade goods?
« Reply #14 on: August 17, 2012, 07:12:37 pm »

After buying out a caravan with wax crafts, I've come to the conclusion that there is no one specific particular "broken" export industry in DF.

If you are looking for a challenge then I second the suggestion for soap. Another good challenge is to export only raw materials (wood, stone, plants, thread, gems, ore, glass, etc).
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