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[Togre]

Ok, first let me say Wow!  Not at the complexity, but at the utter awesomeness and fun of DF.  I got the game less than 40 hours ago and I've already lost sleep because of it.

I think I'm getting the general hang of things.  The wiki is a boon (thanks to all who've contribution to it).  I've built 2 fortress (or mini-fortresses) and haven't had any catastrophic failures...yet. But...

I've got questions.  Tons of them.  And thoughts.  Lots that are crazy, maybe a few that make sense.  I'm hoping that this can be my brainstorming, question asking, idea bouncing thread.  'Cuz, unfortunately, I don't have any rl people to talk DF with.


So, my actual question for this post--the caravan.

I've built a trade depot and assigned a broker.  I've gone through negotiations for stuff and to sell stuff.  I've hauled stuff to the depot.  So, umm...how does any of this equal me buying stuff or selling stuff.  I've read the wiki, but something isn't meshing in my head.

Correlated question: Can I just sell tons of garbage (stuff I have tons of and no use for--stones, logs, simple furniture, etc.)?  Or do I need to find out what items are "in demand" and focus on building/creating them to sell in the second year?

I've probably worded this all wrong, but any input, corrections, suggestions or even answers are appreciated!

[Il Palazzo]

To trade, you need to assign a broker and haul merchandise(which you did), then tell the broker to go to the depot - there should be an option to do that when you view the depot. Once he's there, view the depot again - the "trade" option should be now enabled. From that menu you can choose stuff buy and sell. Watch out for what you press at the end of the transaction, as you can either trade, or simply offer(for free).
Sometimes the broker might be too busy to attend his broker's duties - try disabling all the other types of labour.

You can sell whatever you like, but stone and wood is just too cost-ineffective for all the hassle it takes to haul this stuff to the depot. Use the stone(and wood if you've got too much) to make crafts at the craftsdwarf's workshop - these are basically cheap trinkets for the tourists, which can be stacked in bins(made e.g.at the carpenter's workshop), for easy storage and hauling(you can designate whole bins to be taken to the depot). Heaps of high-quality crafts(and toys, and mugs, and instruments) can buy a whole caravan and then some.

I hope that helps.

[Teneb]

Correlated question: Can I just sell tons of garbage (stuff I have tons of and no use for--stones, logs, simple furniture, etc.)?  Or do I need to find out what items are "in demand" and focus on building/creating them to sell in the second year?

Merchants will accept wathever crap you throw at them as long as it doensn't go over the weight limit and they make a profit.

Those "in demand" items are simply items they consider more valuable than they really are.

[knowbuddyuno]

hit q, move over to the depot, and hit r to request your broker's presence. (if you have no broker, you can appoint one under the nobles screen (n). When the broker arrives, you again hit q and then t to trade. You can tasse anything you own, but stone weighs so much the caravan won't be able to accept much.

[randyshipp]

Yeah, in my experience (limited, only a bit more than you) it's not worth trying to sell most raw materials.  The merchant caravans can only haul so much stuff, and ore and wood is largely too heavy.  I find that Lavish Prepared Meals are a pretty effective trade good, along with the other crafts.  I haven't gotten to the point yet of being able to buy entire caravans, but I'm getting better.

[Syrup Roast]

Merchants will accept wathever crap you throw at them as long as it doensn't go over the weight limit and they make a profit.

Those "in demand" items are simply items they consider more valuable than they really are.

Watch out for elves, though. They don't like wood, and some of the glasses.

You simply get bonus credit for "in demand" items, like he said. Simply put, the items you sell cost more the next time the caravan comes for a visit.

And don't forget to tip your merchants. Unless they're elves, in which case you should seize all their stuff. Later on you'll find an industry you'll like and start producing high quality trade goods, be it clothes fit for a king, prepared meals like mana from heaven(see username), or magnificent statues decorated with costly gems and studded with precious metals beyond recognition.

[Togre]

Awesome help!

I think the problem my first time was the broker was not present--the "trade" option was grayed out.  I'll give that a whirl this weekend.

Making crafts and trinkets sounds like a good idea to use up all the stones I dig up too.  Thanks!


And stay tuned for more simple problems and beginner stuff.

[Necro910]

Awesome help!

I think the problem my first time was the broker was not present--the "trade" option was grayed out.  I'll give that a whirl this weekend.

Making crafts and trinkets sounds like a good idea to use up all the stones I dig up too.  Thanks!


And stay tuned for more simple problems and beginner stuff.

Make mugs. You get 3 a stone, so you get a crapton of money.

Happy hunting!

[Il Palazzo]

Make mugs. You get 3 a stone, so you get a crapton of money.

IIRC it's the same for crafts, toys and instruments. My memory might be faltering though.

[Sutremaine]

Not always, you can get one or two at low skill levels. Flasks and waterskins are always generated three at a time, not sure if there are any others.

[Vercingetorix]

Not always, you can get one or two at low skill levels. Flasks and waterskins are always generated three at a time, not sure if there are any others.

Really?  I never knew that, actually.

[MythagoWoods]

For easy skill, and easy money, set one dwarf on a Craftdorf station and have the dwarf have crafts/mugs/instruments/toys on repeat.  Within a year you'll be flooded with pieces worth "Loads 'a' moneh!" with realitvely little material.  Keeps dwarves busy and assists in clearing up stone.

Plus the idea of rock boats is confusing.

[Shook]

Rock boats?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Yeeeeeeeeah. Anyways, once you get lots of weapon-grade metal, you can also make serrated metal disks to sell for crazy monies. A masterwork iron disk goes for approximately 15k dorfbux, which, in daily terms, is a holy fuckload. That being said though, you may want to hold on to those if you plan on making weapon traps.

I didn't know that crafts and such yielded multiple objects per rock, though. Now i know what to do with all those large clusters of useless rock i mine out! (other than making large dorfbombs to drop on invaders)

[wuphonsreach]

For easy skill, and easy money, set one dwarf on a Craftdorf station and have the dwarf have crafts/mugs/instruments/toys on repeat.  Within a year you'll be flooded with pieces worth "Loads 'a' moneh!" with realitvely little material.  Keeps dwarves busy and assists in clearing up stone.

To level up the dwarves skill before wasting it on crafts/mugs, make 30-60 rock pots first.  Then you'll find that your stonecrafter will be more likely to make the higher quality crafts/mugs (which means more dwarfbucks).  Plus you can never have too many pots to hold ale, beer & wine.

My forts used to always have 4-6 stonecrafters working 24/7 on crafts/mugs.  But now I just have 1 or 2 that are near-legendary and they only make 30 crafts at a time (the max # you can queue up using the job manager).  I now focus on cooking eggs into lavish meals, silver/glass serrated discs, and a few dozen mechanisms (I sell off the low quality ones to the caravans).  Stonecrafts ends up being about 15-20% of my exported wealth.

[JmzLost]

Stone crafts are easy money from cheap resources that (almost) everybody has.  Unfortunately, they require a lot of hauling, so they might not be the best if you're short on dwarfs.  The wiki page on value can give you an idea of what items/materials are good combinations for the resources you have available.  I find green glass/silver serrated discs and spiked balls have a nice profit/effort ratio.

JMZ