TL;DR: Caravans now snapshot village economies on arrival, autonomously buy surpluses and sell into shortages at markup, route toward the most profitable destinations, and carry trade news between settlements — turning them into the primary economic artery of the world.
Caravans used to wander between villages carrying goods. Now they understand the economies they’re trading in.
Economy knowledge gives every caravan a picture of the world’s supply and demand. When a trader arrives at a village, they snapshot the local stockpile levels — recording which categories are in surplus and which are in shortage. Over multiple visits across different villages, each caravan builds a mental map of where goods are needed and where they’re plentiful.
Autonomous trading puts that knowledge to work. Caravans sell cargo into shortage categories at 20% markup — if a mountain village is low on food, the trader charges a premium. They buy surplus goods that other known villages need, creating real trade flows between settlements. A minimum profit margin on cheap goods ensures even low-cost items are worth carrying. The result is an economy where caravans actively move resources from where they’re abundant to where they’re scarce.
Profit-opportunity routing replaces random wandering with informed decisions. Each potential destination gets a score: +3 for cargo sell opportunities, +1.5 for buy opportunities, +1.5 exploration bonus for unvisited villages, +1 for biome preference, with penalties for staleness and distance. The top 3 candidates enter a weighted random selection — so caravans trend toward profitable routes without becoming perfectly predictable.
Trade news turns caravans into information brokers. Traders carry economic gossip between villages — “The mountain village is desperate for food” or “The coast has more fish than they know what to do with.” This feeds into NPC conversations, giving merchants and innkeepers something real to talk about when you ask what’s happening in the wider world.
Multi-expedition scaling lets villages in crisis dispatch up to 3 concurrent foraging expeditions, up from 1. The system scales with severity — a moderate food shortage sends one group, a crisis sends three. A hard cap of 3 total expeditions and a minimum of 4 NPCs remaining at home prevents villages from emptying out entirely.
Barmaid cooking adds barmaids to the food production pipeline alongside bakers, innkeepers, and barkeeps — giving tavern-heavy villages more resilience during food shortages.
The economy isn’t a background number anymore. It’s a network of traders making decisions.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do caravans trade in Wanderfolk?
Caravans in Wanderfolk autonomously buy and sell goods based on real economic data. When a trader arrives at a village, they snapshot the local stockpile levels and record shortages and surpluses. They sell cargo into shortage categories at a 20% markup and buy surplus goods that other villages need. Each caravan builds knowledge across multiple village visits, creating trade flows that move resources from abundance to scarcity.
How do caravans choose where to go in Wanderfolk?
Caravans use a profit-opportunity routing system to choose destinations. Each potential village gets a score based on cargo sell opportunities (+3 points), buy opportunities (+1.5), exploration bonus for unvisited villages (+1.5), biome preference (+1), minus penalties for recent visits and long distances. The top 3 scoring villages enter a weighted random selection, so caravans trend toward profitable routes without being perfectly predictable.
What are foraging expeditions in Wanderfolk?
When a village runs low on a critical resource like food, ore, or herbs, it dispatches foraging expeditions — groups of 2-3 NPCs that travel to nearby biomes rich in the needed resource. Villages in crisis can now dispatch up to 3 concurrent expeditions, scaled by shortage severity. A hard cap of 3 total expeditions and a minimum of 4 NPCs remaining at home prevents the village from emptying out. Expedition members are excluded from village production while away.