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[hexrei]

I tried to search but couldn't find the information I was seeking...

I built my depot inside the side of a mountain. The entrance is 3 doors wide (using the wall-removal method to get the central door) and they are controlled by levers and open unless I am drowning elves.

What I am wondering is 3 parts:

First, when traders come I still get the "They have bypassed your inaccessible depot" message, even though it apparently is accessible as they still arrive and unload eventually. What's going on there? Are some of the wagons in the caravan turning back? Which leads into my second question:

Second, Trade goods have gotten less and crappier, by a lot, recently. I'm 14 years in with 190 dwarves. I've never killed any traders but elves (via drowning), however  all caravans shipments have gotten smaller, in fact the elves are the ones still bringing the most, unfortunately just a bunch of crappy cloth. Could killing the elves be angering the other traders? Why are they bringing less stuff? Which leads into my third question:

And Third, Could it be that I'm selecting goods wrong in the trade agreement screen? I tediously go through and set everything I want to 100%  and leave everything I don't want at 0. They usually bring a couple of the things I asked for not everything by a long shot, in fact I'd say something like 1/10 of what I ask for or less. Is there a better way to weight the selections in the Trade Agreement process?

[kurisukun]

Are you making a lot of offerings and trading at a nice profit without angering the traders too much?  That may have something to do with it.  I always give them a ton of stuff.


As for that..  Check your Depot accesibility.  Is it wagon accessible?  IIRC, Wagons cannot pass through doors.  They CAN pass underneath Floodgates, so your problem will probably be resolved by using Floodgates hooked up to levers instead.

Also, Some merchants will show up, just without wagons.  Are you sure that the wagons are coming to your site, or is it just the traders with the camels and such?

[LegacyCWAL]

I tried to search but couldn't find the information I was seeking...

I built my depot inside the side of a mountain. The entrance is 3 doors wide (using the wall-removal method to get the central door) and they are controlled by levers and open unless I am drowning elves.

What I am wondering is 3 parts:

First, when traders come I still get the "They have bypassed your inaccessible depot" message, even though it apparently is accessible as they still arrive and unload eventually. What's going on there? Are some of the wagons in the caravan turning back? Which leads into my second question:

Second, Trade goods have gotten less and crappier, by a lot, recently. I'm 14 years in with 190 dwarves. I've never killed any traders but elves (via drowning), however  all caravans shipments have gotten smaller, in fact the elves are the ones still bringing the most, unfortunately just a bunch of crappy cloth. Could killing the elves be angering the other traders? Why are they bringing less stuff? Which leads into my third question:

And Third, Could it be that I'm selecting goods wrong in the trade agreement screen? I tediously go through and set everything I want to 100%  and leave everything I don't want at 0. They usually bring a couple of the things I asked for not everything by a long shot, in fact I'd say something like 1/10 of what I ask for or less. Is there a better way to weight the selections in the Trade Agreement process?

1) I'm not sure what would be causing this, but the doors stand out as a possible cause.  Check depot accessability like kurisukun said, and I'd bet that the green stops at those door.  If so, try removing them and see what happens.


2 and 3) Killing elves won't affect the human and dwarf traders one way or the other. 

The traders only have a certain amount of space, and the more of your requested stuff they bring, the less space there is for other things.  If you're asking for lots of stuff (especially really heavy stuff like anvils or ore/coal), you're very likely to get only one or two bits of the stuff you ask for.  If you ask for a TON of things, there simply won't be enough space for all of it.  I'd suggest deciding on figuring out what you really need and ask for that, and leave out anything you can get by without.  Also, you'll still get stuff that you set the slider just one notch over on, so you don't need to crank it to 100 unless you absolutely, positively need every little bit of that good that you can get your hands on.

[hexrei]

Thanks everybody! It was the doors keeping the wagons out but letting the camels in.

[Skanky]

If you request a large number of heavy items (metal bars, for instance) this will quickly take up most of the room in the caravan, preventing them from bringing other interesting stuff. Don't request so much and they will bring more of the other stuff. If you request things less urgently, they will be cheaper too.

[Moogie]

Also, bare in mind that in the current version (38f) there seems to be a bug preventing lucrative trading deals from increasing caravan sizes the next year. If you're still getting 2 wagons even after you've traded enough junk to make them all kings, this may be the root of the issue.

[chaoticag]

Also, bare in mind that in the current version (38f) there seems to be a bug preventing lucrative trading deals from increasing caravan sizes the next year. If you're still getting 2 wagons even after you've traded enough junk to make them all kings, this may be the root of the issue.

You forgot to mention that this can be solved by trading for a minimal margin, then offering them a ton of expensive stuff.

[Teeto_K]

Offerings are functioning at attracting bigger caravans, is what you're saying?

[MC Dirty]

I have another question about caravans and also embarking.
I can't buy an anvil before embarking. Is it possible that the caravan brings an anvil or does it only bring stuff I can find on the item list?

[Untelligent]

I have another question about caravans and also embarking.
I can't buy an anvil before embarking. Is it possible that the caravan brings an anvil or does it only bring stuff I can find on the item list?

You should be able to start with an anvil. Every civilization can start with an anvil. If you can't find something on the item menu, it generally means you can't buy them from the (dwarven) caravan, but you can indeed buy an anvil so this is not a problem.

I think the problem lies in the fact that the anvil is one of the free goodies you start with, and you probably didn't notice it and immediately went to the "add more items to my list of crap" menu. Since you already had an anvil, you didn't have an option to add it a second time.

[MC Dirty]

That's certainly not possible because I followed the "Your first fortress" guide in the wiki, which includes deleting the list of crap. And i wouldn't have so many points left if I had bought an anvil. After following the guide, I had less than 1000 points, so I was unable to buy an anvil. I embarked and it wasn't there, either.
I even searched for "ANV" in the item list and it didn't find anything.
Help? Please?

Edit: Okay, obviously, the item list doesn't even show items that you can't afford. Problem solved!