Dwarf Fortress 40_24 Tutorial: Part 7 - Trading

Welcome to the Trading part of the tutorial. Whether you've completed everything up to this point your you've jumped ahead because there is a caravan on your doorstep, it's all good. By the end of this section you should have a working knowledge of how to trade along a general direction for what sort of things you should look for when trading.


Alright, so the first caravan that you can trade with arrives in autumn of your first year. In order to trade you will need to [b]uild a [D]epot in an area that caravans can access (trade carts are 3x3).

You will also need to assign a Broker for your fortress using the [n]oble screen.

Once you have a broker q over your trade depot and ensure that the broker is the only one who is allowed to trade. Why? Because dwarves without appraise skill should not be trading.

When a caravan arrives on the map they will make their way to your trade depot and set up shop for a while.

To trade with a caravan you will need to: 

1. Q over the depot and tell your dwarves to move [g]oods to the Depot for trading. (You will want to bring any finished goods ie: rock crafts)
   
2. While still Q'd over the depot [r]equest your designated trader to get himself over there.
   
3. Once all the goods and your trader are present you can [t]rade
   
4. On the left screen is what the caravan has to trade, on the right screen is what you have to trade. Peruse what the caravan has and select things you would like. Then go over to the right screen and select what you are willing to give in return. The caravan will want to make a profit which means you will need to ensure that the value of trade is in their favour by a half decent margin.
   
5. Once you have selected the items you want and the items your willing to give you may attempt the [t]rade. The caravan will either accept, refuse, or make a counter offer.
   
6. After the trade has been made you will need to press [g] again and tell your dwarves to bring everything back from the trade depot to put into your stockpiles. 

What sort of things should I trade for? 

As you may have noticed (or will notice soon) caravans bring a lot of good with them and sorting through them all can be a little daunting for the first few times. For your first trade try to get all of their lignite + bituminous coal (if you don't have these rock types readily available), at least one bin each of leather, cloth (wool), cloth (silk), cloth (pigtail), thread (wool), thread (silk), thread (pigtail), and maybe some inexpensive iron weapons / armor.

Why?

• Lignite and Bituminous Coal are very cheap and can be smelted to create 9 units of fuel each. This will be very useful when you start into metalworking.
  
• Leather / Cloth / Thread serve several purposes. They can be used to make bags, clothing, ropes, and crafts which are useful for your fortress can be resold at a higher price. Try to get keep a variety in stock though as sometimes dwarves are taken by strange moods and are compelled to create strange and mysterious objects using a variety of base materials. If such a dwarf is unable to find all the materials they will go insane and die. I always try to keep at least 2 units of leather and every type of cloth and thread at all times. 

Later on when you have more experience in how the various industries work you will want to purchase things tools / items that you need but are difficult to get or base materials to use in those industries as the resulting items and trade goods are either useful for your fortress or can be purchased at a higher price.

Example: purchasing uncut gems for your jeweler to cut will net you an income.
Example: purchasing cloth for your clothiers to make pants will net you an income.
Example: purchasing raw foods for your cooks to prepare as lavish meals will net you a (surprisingly good) income.

To keep costs down try to only purchase raw materials that you can produce things from. Need a rope / chain? Don't buy the item itself, buy the cloth / metal bar and have your dwarves craft it instead.

When you have materials to keep your industries going or just so much extra that you have value to burn then you can stock up on extra armour, weapons, exotic / ferocious animals, or valuable knick-knacks to keep vain nobles happy.

So to wrap up.

1. Things you need 
2. Things you can make a profit from 
3. Things that are cool 

Things to keep in mind

• Never offer wooden items to elves... they become very insulted. 
• A diplomat may accompany dwarven caravans and talk to your leader in order to make negotiations for future caravan stock and prices. Raising the amount you are willing to pay for certain items will mean the caravan will bring more of them. Paying attention to what sort of things the caravan is willing to pay more for next year can prove very valuable. 
• Elves trade in the Spring, Humans in the Summer, Dwarves in Autumn. (if they don't come then it might be because you chose an embark location that they can not get to) 
• You will eventually want to either wall off or move your trade depot somewhere safer as thieving vermin and raiding parties like to follow along behind and steal goods. 
• If goods are stolen from a caravan you are responsible for them. 
• If a caravan is detained for too long the merchants and guards will start to go crazy. 
• Caravans can enter or leave via any route to / from the edge of the map. 
• Giving caravans a good deal will increase the amount of goods they bring next year and increase the likelyhood that migrants will come to your fortress. 
• It is wise to purchase otherwise unattainable seeds from merchants as the new crops will result in food / drink variety which is sure to increase dwarven happiness. 

That should be enough to get you trading. If you have any questions you can find a more in depth description on the wiki: http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Trading



Continue on to Part 8 - Basic Defense