Hello,
Tried to browse around to see if anyone has ran into a similar situation, but at least no solution came up. Alas, tis a true old tale of Traders not showing up - with the twist that the Diplomats do come out to discuss what's up, and at least for the human caravans, their bodyguards show up, drink all the free booze in the tavern, and then leave (rude).
When checking with DFHack, it shows that the caravans would still be on the map, in "Leaving" status with 0 days remaining. If I do the command Caravan Happy, it shows they are approaching, with 0 days remaining. However no trader with pack animals ever show up. Except for a singular elven caravan in the spring (yes, yes, but I like to experiment with different animals for Fun!).
I have tried to establish new trade routes by sending The Bad Speech squad (a single, very rude elf) to approach with demands of single time tribute to different sites, but no new traders have so far hauled their goodies over.
The save file is old, carried over different build of the Steam version, and I'm running the current newest update on both DFHack and Dwarf Fortress Steam version.
Anyone else ran into a similar issue or have any suggested solutions? It's not a game ending issue for me, the fortress can live on without trading, but trade is one good way to dump off so much of the item load.
Thank you for any assistance.
[EDIT] Well, now the bad influence of the human bodyguards have spread to the dwarves, as a dwarven merchant tagged bodyguard popped into the tavern, drank for awhile, and then left. No sign of the people he was supposed to escort.
I've also rebuilt the Trade Debot in hopes it'd fix the problem, but no such luck. The Debot is accessible, I've built roads from all directions to the fort to have a clear path for any traders to take, since my fort is in a heavy forested area and the trees tend to grow in rather quick.