Help a newbie learn how to trade.

[S1]

So I've decided to jump into DF with the fancy new mouse controls and sprites. I knew this game would be a bit of effort to work through and i've been taking it in bite sized pieces at a time, with a heavy use of google to help me work through my problems. However short of working through time consuming tutorials i'm absolutely stuck on this one.

So like the tutorial promised me, i have my first traders. I don't have much to offer them and I know this fort is doomed but I'd like to figure this mechanic out before my next fort. It all started when I noticed my dwarves were pissed off they didn't have a cup to drink out of. So i made way more cups than such a small fort needed, we're the cup emporium. I was hoping to sell these cups for something that would help us survive, maybe food? Short of that, just anything so I can learn.

I told all my dwarves, lets take the cups to the trading depot, they did. It mentioned something about a broker, so I assigned my expedition leader, perhaps not the best, i don't know, i don't care, i just wanted to engage this mechanic.

Here's where I'm at, my "broker" is hanging out with the leader of the trade expedition in his bedroom (no judgement). the 'trade' button is greyed out. My goods do appear available for trade but the coin button is greyed out and I just can't figure out what the hell i'm suppose to click to make this work. Any help would be much appreciated!

[RadCon One]

Click on the trade depot and make sure that he is actually set to man the station. Assigning someone to trade with is just part 1, making them actually show up is part 2. Once the broker is at the station the trade button should be clickable.

[AlP]

Originally posted by Sheks:

so I assigned my expedition leader, perhaps not the best

Not the best, because your expedition leader or mayor spends a lot of time conducting meetings, and may not be available when you want him to trade.

I recommend using dwarves that have a low-priority profession that can interrupt their jobs when you need them. Farmers are some of the best.

[RadCon One]

Originally posted by AlP:

Originally posted by Sheks:

so I assigned my expedition leader, perhaps not the best

Not the best, because your expedition leader or mayor spends a lot of time conducting meetings, and may not be available when you want him to trade.

I recommend using dwarves that have a low-priority profession that can interrupt their jobs when you need them. Farmers are some of the best.

No, you want to leave your farmers alone. Plants wither and die quickly in this game if not harvested, and so they are one of the ones you need to go as far as locking tasks for to ensure they aren't interrupted by other things. Craft centered professions and miners (after a starting hole is made) are low priority and can be pulled from as needed. Personally I tend to make my broker and accountant the same person.

[AlP]

Originally posted by RadCon One:

Originally posted by AlP:

Not the best, because your expedition leader or mayor spends a lot of time conducting meetings, and may not be available when you want him to trade.

I recommend using dwarves that have a low-priority profession that can interrupt their jobs when you need them. Farmers are some of the best.

No, you want to leave your farmers alone. Plants wither and die quickly in this game if not harvested, and so they are one of the ones you need to go as far as locking tasks for to ensure they aren't interrupted by other things. Craft centered professions and miners (after a starting hole is made) are low priority and can be pulled from as needed. Personally I tend to make my broker and accountant the same person.

Literally anyone can harvest plants. Farmers have the most flexible schedule.

[RadCon One]

Originally posted by AlP:

Originally posted by RadCon One:

No, you want to leave your farmers alone. Plants wither and die quickly in this game if not harvested, and so they are one of the ones you need to go as far as locking tasks for to ensure they aren't interrupted by other things. Craft centered professions and miners (after a starting hole is made) are low priority and can be pulled from as needed. Personally I tend to make my broker and accountant the same person.

Literally anyone can harvest plants. Farmers have the most flexible schedule.

Farmers do not have the most flexible schedule by any means, they need to be maximizing yields, and if you have just anyone harvest you will be spreading yourself thin on the herbalist skill, which means you won't get better yields when harvesting non-plot crops. Plots themselves may depend on the planting skill, but herbalist (leveled by harvesting) is for everything else.

Although I suppose you could have 2 different people for those jobs there is no benefit to doing so.

Craftsmen on the other hand have 0 schedule what-so-ever and just pump stuff out whenever they have downtime.

[Krelp]

As long as you have assigned a Broker that isn't busy with other labors, and set the Trade Depot to request the Broker, the Trade button will light up after everyone is done unloading and ready to trade. Also, something that can cause issues is if the Trade Depot is inaccessible. There needs to be an uninterrupted 3-tile-wide path to the edge of the map. Also make sure you build bridges across any rivers. Wagons also can't drive over cage traps. If you want my input to help with your next fort, please keep reading.

In my embark I give one dwarf good Negotiator, Appraiser, Organizer, and Record Keeper skills. I make that dwarf my Broker, Bookkeeper, and Manager. With an office they can do all that. I also max out the Stonecrafting skill for one dwarf. This is our money maker. Do not mix this up with Stoneworking, Stone Carving, Stonecutting, Stone Engraving. On the Work details tab, create a new work detail and scroll all the way down to the Crafts section and set only Stonecrafting. Then set a craftsdwarf workshop to make rock crafts endlessly. I also max out a Jeweler and place their workshop right next door. They can encrust rock crafts with gems.

Create stockpiles nearby for Finished goods: Amulets, Bracelets, Crowns, Earrings, Figurines, Rings, Scepters, and Totems. These stockpiles will be loaded with bins full of rock crafts. I prefer to set one stockpile for low quality and one for high quality.

With this setup, it is now possible to target those bins to be brought to the trade depot when traders show up. This will result in only as many trips as you have bins. An issue is when elves visit. They won't buy wood, so if your bin is wood, you need to specifically trade the item and not the bin it's in. Ideally you can get a few thousand coins for the rock crafts you make before the first Trade shows up. That Stonecrafter can handle labors like tree chopping or early carpentry or whatever until you get a craftsdwarf shop deep underground. They need to be next to the stone they are hauling.

One last tip. Stone is heavy and takes time to transport by hand. With a stone stockpile, configured and customized properly, dwarves can use wheelbarrows to move stone much faster and deposit it in the stockpile.

[AlP]

Originally posted by RadCon One:

Originally posted by AlP:

Literally anyone can harvest plants. Farmers have the most flexible schedule.

Farmers do not have the most flexible schedule by any means, they need to be maximizing yields, and if you have just anyone harvest you will be spreading yourself thin on the herbalist skill, which means you won't get better yields when harvesting non-plot crops. Plots themselves may depend on the planting skill, but herbalist (leveled by harvesting) is for everything else.

Although I suppose you could have 2 different people for those jobs there is no benefit to doing so.

Craftsmen on the other hand have 0 schedule what-so-ever and just pump stuff out whenever they have downtime.

Farmers have the most flexible schedule, because after they plant something, they have nothing to do. A 5x5 plot can feed the entire fort. There is practically no planting skill lost when everybody harvests, and you can easily train more planters using guilds.

Craftsmen have zero time to spare, they are the ones that have to gain a lot of skill levels and stats.

[RadCon One]

Originally posted by AlP:

Originally posted by RadCon One:

Farmers do not have the most flexible schedule by any means, they need to be maximizing yields, and if you have just anyone harvest you will be spreading yourself thin on the herbalist skill, which means you won't get better yields when harvesting non-plot crops. Plots themselves may depend on the planting skill, but herbalist (leveled by harvesting) is for everything else.

Although I suppose you could have 2 different people for those jobs there is no benefit to doing so.

Craftsmen on the other hand have 0 schedule what-so-ever and just pump stuff out whenever they have downtime.

Farmers have the most flexible schedule, because after they plant something, they have nothing to do. A 5x5 plot can feed the entire fort. There is practically no planting skill lost when everybody harvests, and you can easily train more planters using guilds.

Craftsmen have zero time to spare, they are the ones that have to gain a lot of skill levels and stats.

Farmers are typically also your harvesters to level the herbalist skill so you can actually get decent yields from non-plottable resources, and they do not have time if you are actually configuring that right, and although a 5x5 of plump helmets plot may be enough to eek by with your survival, if you want to actually do more than the bare minimum there will be more than that. You will want plants to produce oil, plants for dye, plants for paper, so on and so forth.

Craftsmen have all the time to spare because the fort having slightly less toys or figurines made isn't as big of a deal, especially since there isn't an actual economy in the game anymore, and so you aren't gaining money by selling things, you are just increasing your exported wealth, which will actually hurt you if done before you are all set and ready to go.

Originally posted by Krelp:

In my embark I give one dwarf good Negotiator, Appraiser, Organizer, and Record Keeper skills. I make that dwarf my Broker, Bookkeeper, and Manager.

I tend to make those 2 separate people as the manager (and eventually mayor) tends to prioritize holding meetings. You won't want that guy set to anything vaguely important. I make 1 dwarf have high pacifier and consoler stats and assign him as my manager (nothing else seems to have as much of an actual effect, despite them naturally gaining skills like organizer), and then I make a second dwarf my bookeeper/broker and give him record keeper, appraiser, and negotiator.

[AlP]

Originally posted by RadCon One:

Farmers are typically also your harvesters to level the herbalist skill so you can actually get decent yields from non-plottable resources

Farmers are NEVER your herbalists. Going outside to gather plants is strictly for disposable dwarves with no useful skills.

[RadCon One]

Originally posted by AlP:

Originally posted by RadCon One:

Farmers are typically also your harvesters to level the herbalist skill so you can actually get decent yields from non-plottable resources

Farmers are NEVER your herbalists. Going outside to gather plants is strictly for disposable dwarves with no useful skills.

Farmers are absolutely also your herbalists, when you have 7 dwarves none of them are being locked up inside and none are flat out disposable, and when you have a bigger fort you will also have indoor trees to be able to get the fruits at will.

[Googley Eye'd Bastard]

Here is a tip I've learned for trading, create your trade goods stockpile right beside the depot (rings, scepters, crowns etc only) and make it so it only takes items that are below artifact quality so as not to trade away these and always TURN OFF bins for any other stockpile you have. For every other stockpile bins are a pain in the ass (as they cause job cancellations at times) but without them for trading actually putting the goods inside the depot will take forever.

One way I help insure this stays well functioning is by setting a task at the carpenter/mason to only craft 1 bin and only if there are 0 empty bins available.

[AlP]

Originally posted by RadCon One:

Originally posted by AlP:

Farmers are NEVER your herbalists. Going outside to gather plants is strictly for disposable dwarves with no useful skills.

Farmers are absolutely also your herbalists, when you have 7 dwarves none of them are being locked up inside and none are flat out disposable, and when you have a bigger fort you will also have indoor trees to be able to get the fruits at will.

When you have 7 dwarves, you don't need herbalists or farmers.

[RadCon One]

Originally posted by AlP:

Originally posted by RadCon One:

Farmers are absolutely also your herbalists, when you have 7 dwarves none of them are being locked up inside and none are flat out disposable, and when you have a bigger fort you will also have indoor trees to be able to get the fruits at will.

When you have 7 dwarves, you don't need herbalists or farmers.

You absolutely do, in fact, need herablist and/or farmers (hunters are a toss up on if they will even work in this version, and are less efficient anyways), unless you are just absolutely dumping starting points into pre-bought food and drink, in which case you can do you, but that isn't the best use of your points.

[AlP]

Originally posted by RadCon One:

Originally posted by AlP:

When you have 7 dwarves, you don't need herbalists or farmers.

You absolutely do, in fact, need herablist and/or farmers (hunters are a toss up on if they will even work in this version, and are less efficient anyways), unless you are just absolutely dumping starting points into pre-bought food and drink, in which case you can do you, but that isn't the best use of your points.

That is the best use of your points, because there's nothing else that's worth buying for those points.

[RadCon One]

Originally posted by AlP:

Originally posted by RadCon One:

You absolutely do, in fact, need herablist and/or farmers (hunters are a toss up on if they will even work in this version, and are less efficient anyways), unless you are just absolutely dumping starting points into pre-bought food and drink, in which case you can do you, but that isn't the best use of your points.

That is the best use of your points, because there's nothing else that's worth buying for those points.

I would MUCH rather have a choice of what livestock/pets to bring and allow them to breed for a couple years and then have a very steady meat income too than just outright buy 200 tripes and plump helmets. Straight food and drink are NOT the best use of points, they are the worst as they are the things you can take care of the most casually straight from the spawn unless you are in certain extreme environments, and even then I wouldn't devote all of my points to them, just more than normal, as even said spawns tend to benefit from early wood more-so than food.

Livestock/pets on the other hand can't reliable by obtained except by trading, and even that will occur 1.5 years after spawn since you can't request what the first caravan brings, and they will only bring so many due to the relatively low donkey caravan weight limits in the beginning meaning you will need to wait a number of years more for even more caravans to bring a decent number of everything you want.