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[profit]

I propose adding a separate and entirely optional screen where a player who has spoken to a trading representative and established relations with their caravans can barter without traders actively being at their fortress and has a nearly unlimited source of goods.

Mechanics and balance vs caravans ->

A player can order a specific number of items such as in my case I want 2000 cobaltite because its a pretty blue. It determines a cost based on the things below and a weight limit for the wagons and I now have to select the items to trade for it like a regular caravan.

Cost #1 Special order - The things actively bought this way should cost 3x as much.  Special orders always have in the past raked people over the coals on cost why should DF be any different.

Cost #2 Wagons - Every wagon that they send will Cost an additional 2000 as they have to do a special run that may not be part of the trade route. This will make buying ore more expensive than buying a bar of metal a lot of times and helps balance.

A fortress credit account could streamline this significantly, as you could trade up spare credit when the merchants come and purchase food in an emergency if your farmers die or something.

[Steely Glint]

I like the idea, and I hope something similar will be implemented in the caravan arc.

On a related note, merchants should charge more for goods that are heavy. When they bring a wagon full of wood, that's only 5-6 logs at 3 dbux each (6 if you highly requested it). There's clearly no profit margin for such heavy goods, which is why they should be marked up by the merchant an amount proportional to their weight. So a log, a piece of bauxite, or a stone block would cost an additional 50 dbux or so based on its weight alone.

Unfortunately, trade costs are irrelevant until prepared food value is reduced.

[Milskidasith]

I never got why people complain about prepared food. Honestly, my dwarves eat (or refuse to haul) the stuff fast enough, so I always have about 400 of it. and I'd rather have an (overtly large) military than a squad of haulers. It's gobbo clothes that are overpriced. You get 6k per gobbo meatshield, sometimes more if traders request it. Not to mention the jewlers just LOVE to put diamonds on the stuff and get it worth 20k or more before trade bonuses.

[profit]

On a related note, merchants should charge more for goods that are heavy. When they bring a wagon full of wood, that's only 5-6 logs at 3 dbux each (6 if you highly requested it). There's clearly no profit margin for such heavy goods, which is why they should be marked up by the merchant an amount proportional to their weight. So a log, a piece of bauxite, or a stone block would cost an additional 50 dbux or so based on its weight alone.

That is where wagon costs come into play.  As each wagon only has specific capacity if you need 10 wagons your paying 20,000 in wagon costs alone... with material costs it will be even higher =)

[Impaler[WrG]]

I think some kind of evolution of the trade system as the fortress grows is needed.  The simple traveling wagons that you barter with is appropriate for a small settlement but its tedious when you have grown larger and fails to reflect how large settlements will have a more continuous flow of trade in and out.  Some kind of 'post-barter' trading which requires less micromanagement needs to come into play after the dwarven economy is running.  The most blindingly obvious thing needs to be coin based exchange both buying and selling.  In addition some kind of permanent or semi-permanent exchange orders that evolve from the yearly system currently in place. 

On a related note the entire trade pattern in Dwarf Fortress is bass-ackwards, your tiny settlement imports basic foodstuffs and exports finely crafted finished goods.  This is because you can so easily make high value crafted goods even with unskilled labor and raw materials are hard to export.  A small settlement should be a resource supplier to its home-settlement, maybe even by a 'tribute' system in which the king demands some commodity like metal bars, food stuffs or rough gems that don't involve much processing.  As you grow your exports shift to crafted goods and your imports shift to raw materials and you start collecting tribute rather then paying it.

[Draco18s]

Wood's cheap because it stacks well.

Try hauling the same weight in finely crafted chairs without any of them breaking.

[profit]

Wood's cheap because it stacks well.

Try hauling the same weight in finely crafted chairs without any of them breaking.

Yeah I would hate to imagine the logistical considerations of that.  Their weight is low but their volume is high. The elves know this already -> http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/images/8/8d/Evil_elves.png

[Steely Glint]

That is where wagon costs come into play.  As each wagon only has specific capacity if you need 10 wagons your paying 20,000 in wagon costs alone... with material costs it will be even higher =)

Yeah, that's exactly what I meant by "a related note." My point was that it should apply to the normal caravans as well. Since you don't have any way to directly control the number of wagons in the caravan, the merchants would have to charge extra on a per item basis.

[profit]

That is where wagon costs come into play.  As each wagon only has specific capacity if you need 10 wagons your paying 20,000 in wagon costs alone... with material costs it will be even higher =)

Yeah, that's exactly what I meant by "a related note." My point was that it should apply to the normal caravans as well. Since you don't have any way to directly control the number of wagons in the caravan, the merchants would have to charge extra on a per item basis.

I get it, you mean core game play mechanics.. How it wouldn't be profitable for merchants to be selling wood at 3 coins per log if they can only fit 100 on their wagon  and it costs them 2000 to send it.