Dwarf Fortress – Tips on How to Trade

Trading Tips for Beginners

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.