What determines which items a caravan will buy?

[asanbr]

I had lots of human meat and other things lying around. I called for a tribal bulk trader caravan, planning to sell it.

Also, my cook had time over so I thought I'd make simple meals to increase the value of the meat.

Caravan arrives, and they are willing to buy raw human meat for 0.40 , but they aren't buying simple meals at all. Why is this? Is there anything I can do to change that? I can see the meals in the trade menu, but they are greyed out.

It says I can only trade with orbital traders if things are lying outside and within range of a beacon, but this is a caravan, not an orbital trader.

I previously had a trader (I think it was an orbital) and they would buy all meals of all kinds.

Edit/ Update: I also had hundreds of insect meat lying around at the same time.
Same thing: I made lots of simple meals with that. Caravan doesn't buy simple meals at all, but buys insect meat at $0.99 . So cooking that up was a big waste of time.

It would be nice if these things were a little bit predictable. I don't expect a bulk tribal trader to buy scyther blader, but I do expect them to buy basic food items.

[Snafu_RW]

Are those meals in a suitably configured stockpile? If they're not 'piled (ie if chef is set to 'drop on floor' or similar, outside a 'pile) they're not counted as tradables IIRC

An OTB /may/ be necessary, but I'd suspect not given it's a caravan

How much silver do they have? Caravans (esp Tribal) often only have low silver (<200); unless you barter (ie swap goods for goods) they may not have enough to take your meals..

Another thought occurs: if the caravan is starving maybe they'd get a (faction?) mood or (player) silver trade bonus from selling the meals? Need to do some !!science!! on that

[jamaicancastle]

A caravan's purchase list is usually determined by the items it brings to sell. Anything it's selling you, it will also buy, and if it generates from a group of items (say "any stone blocks") it will buy any member of that group whether it generated them or not (e.g., a bulk goods trader with granite blocks will also buy sandstone blocks). There are also a few "weird" categories that have hooks to be bought even though they're never sold, but those are exceptions.

The caravan's needs don't enter into it at all; they'll always spawn with a certain amount of food and other necessities.

[Limdood]

Are those meals in a suitably configured stockpile? If they're not 'piled (ie if chef is set to 'drop on floor' or similar, outside a 'pile) they're not counted as tradables IIRC

Not true....goods only need to be in a home zone to be sold to traders.  It is possible to just zone a battlefield as home to sell the stuff.


My thoughts are that you called a tribal trader maybe?  They might buy pemmican but not meals

[Dashthechinchilla]

It seems in A17b that the faction and type of trader matters. Bulk tribals buy herbals but bulk advanced factions don't, for example. The same is true with neolithic weapons and arms dealers/war band traders.

[asanbr]

Are those meals in a suitably configured stockpile? If they're not 'piled (ie if chef is set to 'drop on floor' or similar, outside a 'pile) they're not counted as tradables IIRC

Not true....goods only need to be in a home zone to be sold to traders.  It is possible to just zone a battlefield as home to sell the stuff.


My thoughts are that you called a tribal trader maybe?  They might buy pemmican but not meals

Yes it was stated in the OP that this was a tribal trader.

My question really is if it is possible to know beforehand what kinds of exact items a trader will always buy and sell (like can we look in the game files or on wikipedia), or is it randomized for each trader so that we can never know.

Like, will an orbital bulk trader sometimes buy human meat and sometimes not? Will an outlander caravan sometimes buy sniper rifles and sometimes not? This is my impression of how it works now.

But I'm also quite certain (from limited experience) that when I call an outlander exotic trader, I can always sell my thrumbo horns and AI cores to them. They may not have the full cash amount to buy it, but they will always be willing to buy it and usually I can take all their cash and then some items that are useful to me.


I know already that they will sometimes bring with them gold, plasteel, uranium, and other things I might really want, but is it like someone said, that if they bring it they will also buy it, and if they don't bring it, they don't buy it either? It's not really logical from a real world perspective, so I would like to know what the design is. I'm not asking to change it, just understand it.