I was playing a sea ice colony, lots of mods. I had never attacked a caravan before. Since I was low on steel and it was a bulk trader and I had 450 silver I set up an attack and noticed no counterattack. OK, I'll be honest, it was an exotic goods trader and I didn't care.
Since then I gleefully slaughter every visitor and caravan as they do not attack back. I figure this has to be a bug or messed up mod conflicts or something. Anyone have experience with this? It's made "sea ice" a much bigger challenge, as I can't manage the loot.
Sounds like a mod conflict - that is certainly not normal behavior. I attacked a trader the other day and his faction got angry - I bandaged him up and released him later. But, I got the food my pawns needed to avoid starvation. I also captured a pawn who was carrying impressive weaponry and his faction turned on me. So it seems working normally for me.