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[GreatWyrmGold]

How do I make sure that the elves bring the useful tamed animals instead of the less-useful cloth and wood? This isn't an urgent question, but I want to know anyways...

[BuGGaTon]

If you murder all of them they'll often bring very useful tamed animals.

[twilightdusk]

The more they like you, the more of a given type of item they'll bring. Cloth is one of the first things they pack on their animals, and if they like you enough, they'll bring so much cloth that there's no room for the animals. make them hate you and they'll bring less cloth, making more room for other things.

[Tai_MT]

I find that the more profit they make from me, the more junk they bring, and the more variation on that junk they bring.

I typically send them away with 5k to 10k profit on whatever I buy, and the next year their load gets bigger.

There's no guarantee to get one kind of item or another...  But if they bring something and you buy it, it tends to make them bring more of it next time.

They currently bring me 200+ logs of wood each year as well as 30+ cages (with tamed animals or not).  And they're bringing me about 10 bags of dye and 20 bags of assorted seeds.

[GreatWyrmGold]

If you murder all of them they'll often bring very useful tamed animals.

Grizzly bears and giant eagles for murdering them?

The more they like you, the more of a given type of item they'll bring. Cloth is one of the first things they pack on their animals, and if they like you enough, they'll bring so much cloth that there's no room for the animals. make them hate you and they'll bring less cloth, making more room for other things.

Yes, I understand the theory.

I find that the more profit they make from me, the more junk they bring, and the more variation on that junk they bring.

I typically send them away with 5k to 10k profit on whatever I buy, and the next year their load gets bigger.

There's no guarantee to get one kind of item or another...  But if they bring something and you buy it, it tends to make them bring more of it next time.

They currently bring me 200+ logs of wood each year as well as 30+ cages (with tamed animals or not).  And they're bringing me about 10 bags of dye and 20 bags of assorted seeds.

Interesting, but I don't want the useless junk! I want the USEFUL junk!


Perhaps I should be more specific. What's the proper balance of kill/steal/trade/gift to maximize the number of notably useful tamed animals the elves bring?

[Tai_MT]

I don't think there is one.  Just buy all their cages all the time, and hopefully you'll get lucky.

My Dwarves bring me anything from Cougars to bluejays.  Random luck of the draw for what animals they bring you.  They decide what to sell you, you don't get to decide.

At least with caravans from your homeland, you can request certain things.

No such luck with any other caravan.

Don't buy the junk you don't want and buy the junk you do.  Pay them handsomly for it, and they'll probably bring more of it the next time around.  At that point, you just pray to the God of RNG.

[BuGGaTon]

No you can't trade murder for animals.  If you murder them they'll be more likely to bring exotic animals but they'll be riding them and attempting to murder you.  I find that giving them loads of monies worth of loot increases their stocks.

[twilightdusk]

Actually, Elves are pretty slow to anger right now. Apparently the main thing that made them angry was breaking the treecutting quota, which they don't give you anymore. Killing them will eventually lead to war, but not before they start bringing less cloth.

[GreatWyrmGold]

So...whatever I vaguely recall as the truth was false? Then why does everyone kill elves?

[Sutremaine]

Either you can sieze their stuff, which means you'll build up a load of unsellable cages, or you can mark their items for dumping via the stocks screen as soon as they get onto the map. Even if the elves reach the depot before the dwarf can reach them, it doesn't seem to cancel the dump order.

With the current fortress I'm running, giving them profit reduces the number of useful animals they bring but doesn't increase the relative amount of cloth by anything noticeable. Usually I steal all their animals, most of their booze, and all their dye and flour. Anything more than that is junk I don't want. If they don't bring anything interesting I just offer them wood to get them off my map.

[Quietust]

I've actually found that merchants bring more cloth when you have less of it (just like wood logs), so if you start making cloth (or possibly just buying whatever they bring and letting it sit in a stockpile), they'll stop bringing it altogether.

[NecroRebel]

So...whatever I vaguely recall as the truth was false? Then why does everyone kill elves?

In previous versions, people killed elves because it made them bring more animals. This is believed to be because the elves used only pack animals (which had a much more limited carrying capacity than now), and so had a very limited carrying capacity. As such, if they liked you, they'd try to bring lots and lots of stuff, but not be able to fit it on the pack animals, so they loaded up with binned items (cloth) first. If one were to piss them off by murdering a bunch of them, they'd stop wanting to bring so much to your fort, so wouldn't be able to totally fill their animals' capacity with cloth, so would bring more other stuff, like exotic animals.

Nowadays, since pack animals' carrying capacity was so greatly increased and most items' weight decreased, it's virtually impossible for them to want to bring so much cloth that nothing else gets loaded. As such, now people kill elves for being cannibalistic hippie dickheads. Which, to be honest, was the main reason people killed them before, but oh well.



As Quietust mentions, it also appears that the amount of cloth they bring is intended to be "emergency supplies," similar to how they bring less wood if you've got lots. So, leave a bunch of cloth unused and unforbidden in your fort, and they should bring less of that. It's unlikely to make them bring more useful stuff, though, since the useful stuff the would've brought probably actually was due to the aforementioned carrying capacity increase.

[GreatWyrmGold]

As such, now people kill elves for being cannibalistic hippie dickheads. Which, to be honest, was the main reason people killed them before, but oh well.

Oh, good, I was afraid that people were just following a cliche.

[Karakzon]

i did find that siezed goods if you put them in the trade deport, will be asked for trade during counter proposals. so if anyone has problems with elves crap goods they seized but dont want to muck about with lava -for some elfish reason- just shoving the goods in and letting them counter proposal when their profit margins arnt high enought should get rid of all your unwanted clutter you nicked from them.

[Fellhuhn]

As such, now people kill elves for being cannibalistic hippie dickheads. Which, to be honest, was the main reason people killed them before, but oh well.

Oh, good, I was afraid that people were just following a cliche.

Replace "Dwarves" with "Everyone". Only a dead elf is a good elf.