Merchants stuck on map

[Its Almost Harvesting Season]

So this still seems to be an issue? I keep having my trade depots clogged with merchants who embark without taking everything, then stand at the edge of the map never leaving. When this happens it seems all migration stops and all my forts are going years and years without any new dwarves. Any way to combat this? I've already made the surface as safe as I can, but giant birds spawn at random and are the only thing I can imagine causing a problem... and if this is a problem I feel the dev really needs to reconsider why something so common, random, and out of the players control would cause a problem such as this. It's on par with bricking every fort I've started since replaying after a 2 year break.

[Frullato di ratti]

I have asked chatgpt, these are the results:

If merchants in Dwarf Fortress are stuck on the edge of the map and won't leave, here are a few possible reasons and solutions:

Possible Causes & Fixes

1. Blocked Exit Path

Check for obstacles: Ensure there are no walls, trees, or items blocking the wagon's path. Wagons require a 3-tile wide clear road to exit.

Clear debris: If there are loose items (like logs or boulders) blocking their way, use d -> b -> c (Dump Items) to mark them for removal.


2. Merchants in Combat or Fleeing

If a merchant was scared by a wild animal, goblin, or forgotten beast, they may be stuck in a panic state.

Check for hostiles (u screen) and clear them if necessary.

Build walls or doors to block dangerous creatures from approaching.


3. Game Bug / Glitch

Sometimes merchants fail to leave due to pathing bugs.

Save and reload the game to force a recalculation of their path.

Use DFHack: If you have DFHack installed, try running fix/stuck-merchants or fix/loyaltycascade if they became hostile.


4. Merchant Animals Died or Were Stolen

If pack animals died or were stolen (by keas, kobolds, or other thieves), the merchants may be stuck without a way to leave.

There's no direct fix, but eventually, the game should remove them.


5. Season Transition

If merchants overstay past a season change, they might be bugged and stay indefinitely.

Deconstruct the Trade Depot (q -> x): This may force them to leave.

If none of these work, they might stay until the next caravan arrives.

[Aradar]

Just kill them and things should resume.

[I blame Earthshaker]

Originally posted by Frullato di ratti:

I have asked chatgpt,

That was your first mistake...

[Flavalicious]

Yea its a bit of a mess. lol

I had an elf caravan in my trade post when a Titan attacked and despite sallying forth out of my fortress, all the elves died, leaving their entire caravan worth of supplies forever trapped in my trade depot.

Then I had a human caravan that departed and I found 2 different members of the band 1 square from the exit of the map, with pack animals beside them, just stuck on nothing but never moving (and seemingly able to survive for literal years, I assume because of the cargo they are hauling)

Then I had members of another elven trade caravan fall into a 1 story water pit, get trapped and drown, leaving their pack animals sitting outside of the hole (been about 6 months and they havent died or moved).

Game probably needs a script forcing traders to teleport to the edges of the map and just leave after X amount of days since the caravan departed.

[Its Almost Harvesting Season]

Yea it turns out it was a merchant "stuck" in a depot even though they were at the edge of the map. I think a large bird might of dropped them or something, but eventually got it resolved. Just wild to see this issue still so persistent when it doesn't seem like it should be too hard to resolve.

[Ordinary Cat]

It happens rarely, but a murder-free solution is just to deconstruct and reconstruct the trade depot. The traders will also usually leave their goods behind when they leave, so free extra cheese!

[Frullato di ratti]

Originally posted by I blame Earthshaker:

Originally posted by Frullato di ratti:

I have asked chatgpt,

That was your first mistake...

Why? I was here asking for everything but gpt helped me on df so much

[xX_COD_KID_Xx]

Originally posted by Ordinary Cat:

It happens rarely, but a murder-free solution is just to deconstruct and reconstruct the trade depot. The traders will also usually leave their goods behind when they leave, so free extra cheese!

But I want to murder the freeloading elf traders when they don't leave that adds to the FUN after all.

[Ordinary Cat]

Originally posted by xX_COD_KID_Xx:

Originally posted by Ordinary Cat:

It happens rarely, but a murder-free solution is just to deconstruct and reconstruct the trade depot. The traders will also usually leave their goods behind when they leave, so free extra cheese!

But I want to murder the freeloading elf traders when they don't leave that adds to the FUN after all.

Okay, obviously the elves are fair game. They don't even sell cheese, those savages.