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[cephalo]

I did alot of searching on the forums, and I have seen alot of differing opinions on whether you can control where caravan wagons enter the map. My fort is now becoming more self sufficient, but I would really like it if every caravan was not slaughtered be goblins. If I could just know where they would come from, I might be able to help them.

Whatever my solution will be, it will be a major construction project, and if it fails completely, it will be a giant eyesore on my otherwise beautiful fortress.

Can I funnel the wagons into my fortress, or do I have to find a way to defend the whole map edge?

[Skid]

I heard that if you construct wall blocks along the edges of your map so there is no 3x3 spot for the caravans to spawn except one on either side, they will enter that spot on one side and leave through the other.

But I haven't tried it personally.

[Duke 2.0]

I heard that if you construct wall blocks along the edges of your map so there is no 3x3 spot for the caravans to spawn except one on either side, they will enter that spot on one side and leave through the other.

But I haven't tried it personally.

 Actually, it can be a lot smaller. Just make sure the desired path to the trade depot has no 3-wide space connecting it with the rest of the map. You can do this with statues or constructed walls. Looks quite good to have pillars along the path to your fortress.

 Better than having a wagon fence around the whole map.

[Proteus]

If you know where the wagons will appear (they appear every time at the same spot) you can construct a safe way, for example a set of tunnels that lead to your TradeDepot.
If it is the shortest (or even only) way they will take it

[Mohreb el Yasim]

they appear every time at the same spot

i am not so sure about this

[cephalo]

 Actually, it can be a lot smaller. Just make sure the desired path to the trade depot has no 3-wide space connecting it with the rest of the map. You can do this with statues or constructed walls. Looks quite good to have pillars along the path to your fortress.

 Better than having a wagon fence around the whole map.

So that works eh? That would be perfect.

[RyanW]

If you have this:

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................
..........DDDDD.
..........DDDDD.
..........DDDDD.
..........DDDDD.
..........DDDDD.
.................

Do this:

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.........X..X..X
X..X..X...DDDDD.
..........DDDDD.
..........DDDDDX
..........DDDDD.
X..X..X...DDDDD.
.........X..X..X

...where X is any impassible square of your choice (statue, wall, or channel).  There is now only one spot on the map edge from which depot is accessible by wagon, and thus they will always spawn there.

Alternately, build the depot underground with a ramped tunnel entrance at the map edge as the only wagon accessible path.  All visitors must pass through the grand tunnel, in order to enter a proper dorfy state of mind.

[Logical2u]

Depending on your map setup you could also merely wait until your one road is the only access point to your fortress.

Trees grow over a period of 3 years and boulders appear to be somewhat randomly generated. These are counted as wagon obstacles (although boulders are passable terrain for dwarves).

And I'll confirm that the wagons seem to randomly pick a spawn point.

Once they were to my south, the next year to my west... the humans started to the north and moved to the east...

And the elves start anywhere they damn well please, what with their small horse-drawn carriages.

[RyanW]

And the elves start anywhere they damn well please, what with their small horse-drawn carriages.

Hopefully, the elves will spawn close enough that I can show off my nice +bauxite floodgate+

[Hyndis]

Wagons pick a random spot that is accessible. With some simple terrain manipulation you can get the wagon to spawn in the same place every time. Accessibility is also traced from the depot to the edge of the map, not from the edge of the map to the depot.

[Techhead]

I decided to pour my excess stone into building a covered highway. It's nowhere near done, but it's something for my dwarves to do.
Also, you can leave any trees that are "conveniently" placed standing until a proper barricade is placed.

[Randy Gnoman]

I heard that if you construct wall blocks along the edges of your map so there is no 3x3 spot for the caravans to spawn except one on either side, they will enter that spot on one side and leave through the other.

But I haven't tried it personally.

 Actually, it can be a lot smaller. Just make sure the desired path to the trade depot has no 3-wide space connecting it with the rest of the map. You can do this with statues or constructed walls. Looks quite good to have pillars along the path to your fortress.

 Better than having a wagon fence around the whole map.

I do this.  On a map with mountains going all the way to the edge, it's quite nice to have a smoothed 3X3 road lined with statues.  Plop  a few more statues next to the trade depot, to keep the traders from sneaking up from odd angles, and you can indeed control their movement.  It's totally not necessary to cover the entire road, but I guess if it's to keep goblins away... you'd probably have an easier time with a 3X3 tunnel that had a covered ramp entrance near the edge of the map, leading to an underground depot.

[Steely Glint]

My current fortress has a 3 tile wide marble road lined with steel statues, except where the road goes through a tunnel carved through a mountain. Between the statues I have placed various traps. I can report that this works wonders in protecting the caravans from ambush.

[Fossaman]

So, I'm not too sure about controlling depot access this way. Walls can't be built closer than five squares to the edge. I'm not certain what can, in fact.

On my last major fortress I paved a five tile wide strip around the edge of the map with floor tiles, then built a wall inside of that. There was a gate to the depot down at the bottom of the screen. Caravans and such would usually appear wherever they felt like and circle around the edge to get to the gate.

I suppose since all of the edge area was accessible, that might be the reason.

[GetAssista]

So, I'm not too sure about controlling depot access this way. Walls can't be built closer than five squares to the edge. I'm not certain what can, in fact.

Channels.

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eT_____
e...>._
e...>._
e...>._
eT_____
T-trees you can find on the edge of the map, if you have trees at all that is. Ramps lead to 3x wide tunnel leading to my depot. This way even elven caravans spawn on the spot.  It did not work for me only once, when I made this outlet inside natural pit on the edge of the map, back in 38c. Then caravans refused to spawn. However when I relocated the outlet on plain grownd, all worked fine. This is kind of a cheat though, given that caravans and depot become 99% safe from anything this way