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Author Topic: Lost caravan?  (Read 552 times)

brotundbutter

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Lost caravan?
« on: March 27, 2019, 05:26:56 pm »

This year's caravan from the mountainhome seems to have vanished into thin air. I never got any report that they had arrived or were unloading their goods, but thought nothing of it because I couldn't remember which season they come in anyway. Sometime later I noticed a shitload of barrels and trade goods littering my trade depot (unfortunately the food had already rotted), none of which belonged to my fort. There are two wagons listed as missing in my roster, but no signs of violence anywhere around the depot. The outpost liaison arrived just fine, which is especially confusing, but I fear she's trapped here for the year since she's supposed to leave with the caravan.

What happened? How did the caravan arrive, unload their goods, and disappear without a trace without me ever hearing about it? Is there something I can do to prevent this next year, or do I just accept my yearly deposit of free stuff and take in the liaison as a freeloader?
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anewaname

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Re: Lost caravan?
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2019, 10:19:52 pm »

So, the items were in two piles on top of the trade depot, because something frightened the wagons into exploding. You possibly can find out what did this by seeing if combat reports happened in the gamelog.txt just after the message about the caravan arrived. If there are no combat reports, you should check for body parts such as goblin teeth near the depot, possibly in the trees or on top of a wall.

The liason was not travelling to the depot, but to your expedition leader, so might not have seen the same things.
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brotundbutter

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Re: Lost caravan?
« Reply #2 on: March 27, 2019, 11:48:14 pm »

I've had this fort running for a few years in-game and I've never even seen humans or elves, let alone goblins. I've sometimes seen library visitors start to approach the fort, then turn tail and run back to the edge of the map before choosing a new path, but the only thing in the area I'd consider even remotely hostile is clouds of mosquitoes, which can be easily pathed around and never go anywhere near the trade depot. The only combat reports I can find are from my hunters.

Is it possible that the caravan made it all the way to my depot, suddenly noticed some mosquitoes half a mile away, and fled? I really can't think of anything else on the map that could've scared them off.
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PatrikLundell

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Re: Lost caravan?
« Reply #3 on: March 28, 2019, 04:03:16 am »

If visitors flee, it's caused by something, and that something isn't mosquitoes. It may well be flying pests, though, such as keas. Check the unit list's Others tab to see what wildlife you have around when someone is fleeing.
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brotundbutter

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Re: Lost caravan?
« Reply #4 on: March 28, 2019, 10:21:41 am »

I think it has to be flying creatures, then. We do have a kea problem out here - a kea stealing some parchment from the depot is what originally alerted me to the abandoned goods in the first place. The only other animals around are badgers and owls, but I've watched visitors walk right past the badgers without issue and the owls are similarly harmless. I guess I'll have to take a more active stance on keeping birds away when it's caravan season.
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