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[catten]

Darn.

I thought the title was "burying all the caravans" and thought this was going to be something really twisted, like a row of 20 trade depots (ten on each side of the road), each with a bunch of insane merchants and animals stuck behind fortifications, babbling at this year's caravan as it heads to trade depot #21 at the end of the line. Will the newcomers notice that their depot has a roof and walls on three sides?

Oh well.

[Merendel]

In my case, I make almost all of my clothing out of leather (or steel, since I recently drafted everyone to inactive squads, so they would carry weapons and wear helmets if they want to insist on charging at every wild animal they see).  I usually only keep a small stockpile of cloth for moods and hospital use, and don't bother building a loom (the headaches they cause are endless), so the elves stubbornly bring me mountains of rope reed fiber cloth, instead of another giant black mamba.

Just buy out their cloth supplies a few times and stockpile it somewhere.   If your not useing the cloth for anything eventualy you'll be over the limit and they should stop bringing more.

[orbcontrolled]

I thought the title was "burying all the caravans" and thought this was going to be something really twisted, like a row of 20 trade depots (ten on each side of the road), each with a bunch of insane merchants and animals stuck behind fortifications, babbling at this year's caravan as it heads to trade depot #21 at the end of the line. Will the newcomers notice that their depot has a roof and walls on three sides?

The dwarves terribly misguided attempt to start a wagon farm. Ten years and they still haven't found a breeding pair.

[Thisfox]

I thought the title was "burying all the caravans" and thought this was going to be something really twisted, like a row of 20 trade depots (ten on each side of the road), each with a bunch of insane merchants and animals stuck behind fortifications, babbling at this year's caravan as it heads to trade depot #21 at the end of the line. Will the newcomers notice that their depot has a roof and walls on three sides?

The dwarves terribly misguided attempt to start a wagon farm. Ten years and they still haven't found a breeding pair.

This is because it's more like werebeasts: if one of the really insane ones down aisle one happens to bite someone, they will turn into a wagon next full moon.

[Bumber]

I thought the title was "burying all the caravans" and thought this was going to be something really twisted, like a row of 20 trade depots (ten on each side of the road), each with a bunch of insane merchants and animals stuck behind fortifications, babbling at this year's caravan as it heads to trade depot #21 at the end of the line. Will the newcomers notice that their depot has a roof and walls on three sides?

The dwarves terribly misguided attempt to start a wagon farm. Ten years and they still haven't found a breeding pair.

This is because it's more like werebeasts: if one of the really insane ones down aisle one happens to bite someone, they will turn into a wagon next full moon.

Or like night trolls.

[MobRules]

Wait, the elves still bring cloth? I haven't seen a single piece of cloth in an elf caravan since version 40 came out. Just "grown" fabric clothing, "grown" wooden objects, fruit, and animals.

[TheFlame52]

Me too, although my memory is a little fuzzy since my 12-year-old fort doesn't get elves.

[Wheeljack]

I have not seen a single piece of cloth on any elven caravan in the 20+ forts I've played on the newer versions. I wish they would bring cloth because I use caravans to supplement my own supplies since I don't want to have to deal with the fields and sheering very often.

[Niddhoger]

Early on its a huge mistake.  If you spam prepared meals (trap components, gold/platinum furniture, decorate with gems, etc) you'll trigger a massive population boom.  When you buy out the dwarven caravan, or at least make a -very- strong showing, it encourages migration.  You can go from being ~15 strong when the caravan leaves to ~100 by the next summer.  Since you've tipped that 80 mark so soon, you are barely a year into your fortress and already getting hit by sieges and megabeast attacks.  So, not only are you 50 short on bedrooms and possibly stripping your food supplies bear, but you don't have proper defenses set up yet alone a proper military. 

If you are going to push wealth early, it better be in cold hard steel.  At the very least get a bridge set up to seal off your fortress and a civilian alert set up in your dining room.  Cage traps are definitely overpowered and on the exploity side- Ginormous bronze colossi and FIRE BREATHING dragons shouldn't be foiled by some rickety wooden trap.  The same wood that mighty hamsters defeat in weeks! However, you can set up pit traps and other less OP defenses easily enough.  These just need to start asap. 

Later on? Hell do whatever you want.  If you have an established fort, a caravan will never bring anything useful except the occasional breeding pair of awesome from the elves or some bits of metal/flux stone you lack for your military.  As has been stated, the more profit a caravan leaves with the larger it's showing next year.  So if you are chasing specific materials, then buying out the caravan one year should encourage them to bring more of everything the next.  However, if you don't want them to waste space (there are weight limits), you need to make sure you have enough food/cloth/wood stockpiles.  I think its 5 food, 2 cloth, 1 log? Its on the wiki.  Conversely, you can trick the caravans into bringing more if you just forbid -most- (I don't recommend forbidding all your food >.>) of the relevant stocks in the first few weeks of a caravan season.  I find textiles a chore, so I love it when they bring bins of (preferably leather) for use. 

[NeatHedgehog]

Since you've tipped that 80 mark so soon, you are barely a year into your fortress and already getting hit by sieges and megabeast attacks.

Depends on what you've been focusing on during the first year how much a risk you're taking. You might trip an invasion, but invasions are less common than they used to be, so I'd say you'd have at least a year or so to wait before you go anything too dangerous.

You can buy all the first human caravan's metal objects, melt them down, and make any missing armor / weapons you didn't already buy from the dwarven caravan for a squad. By then I will have 4-5 dwarves close to or at master level (I always start with two dwarves in military training upon embark, too), and half a squad of trainees. That's almost always enough to take out the first little "invasion" you get, which tends to be a pretty rag-tag group of bums.

If you got a beast, ehhhh, then you might have more problems.

Food shouldn't be too big a concern, really. Just get a farm set up in the first couple months and get cranking on surplus booze and easy meals while you're still under a couple dozen dwarves. At the least, you can get enough stored up to buffer for a while as you get the newcomers to work.

All this assumes your embark conditions support said preparations, of course.

I typically have over a hundred by the 2nd winter. Of course, I usually embark in evil areas, too, so I use up a lot of unskilled dwarf labor on outdoor activities while burrowing all my important dwarves who operate the workshops indoors.

[Niddhoger]

That is exactly my point though, if you focus on wealth first you will easily be caught by a small invasion/beast attack in aproximately a year's time.  Absolute bare minimum is prepping your military/defenses ALONGSIDE your wealth generation.  Seeing as you get military rolling from the start, that is fine.  But you need a handful of armed/semi-trained soldiers and at least some rudimetary defenses set up by the first winter if you push wealth early.  Otherwsie, you can caught facing a squad or two of goblins without a military, line of cage traps, or at the very least a bridge to seal off your fort. 

I was simply warning that buying out the caravan invites trouble.  If you are prepared for said trouble, its fine.  If you were just pushing wealth and "were just about to" set up your defenses? Screwed. 

[NeatHedgehog]

I can agree with that. Back in the 34.x when I was learning things I lost more than few forts that way. You either pull it off with near perfect timing, or you get reamed out.

[Skullsploder]

My current fort has exported huge quantities of wealth from the start in the form of clothes, then later meals, unwanted furniture, and occasional wooden junk. All this to import every scrap of metal available from the humans and dwarves while I was stuck above the aquifer (for four years). I only got my first goblin siege in year 6, alongside my first big population (50 to 100 in two waves).
How you ask? Easy: migrants' clothes count as imports, and are therefore not part of exported wealth when traded. If you have an all military fort with leather and bone for all, don't dump those clothes, you sell them without attracting unwanted attention.

Note that Necromancers will still attack you whenever they feel like it. I had 2 undead sieges before the goblins came, the first of which lasted a year and a half from the second spring.