Is it a good idea to dismiss traders as quickly as possible after trade?
The trading post has a "Dismiss" button that allows you to dismiss the trader after you're finished with the trade. Is it a good idea to always finish the trade as quickly as possible after the arrival of the trader and dismiss him, presumably so that he can come back to trade again more quickly?
Short answer: Yes, if you dismiss a trader, the next one will show up more quickly.
I tested this hypothesis in an old save with two trading posts.
Data:
Columns:
Dismissed - Whether I immediately dismissed the trader or not.
Trading Post # - I had two trading posts already established in the town. Note: trading post 2 was slightly further away from the river the traders arrived on, it took about 3 extra seconds on 10x speed to arrive.
Arrival - Season and year the trader docked with the trading post.
Departure - Season and year the trader un-docked with the trading post.
Duration of Stay - Number of seasons between Arrival and Departure for that trader.
Duration of Wait - Number of seasons between Departure for a trader and the Arrival of the next trader.
For those unfamiliar with Banished, "Early Spring" to "Spring" is 1 season. "Spring" to "Summer" is 3 seasons.
The first four traders (two at each trading post) I allowed to stay as long as possible. (Unrelated note: I discovered also, that when you select the trading post with a trader, they don't leave (or at least stay longer) until you de-select the trading post.)
Measuring the Departure month of the first trader at trading post 1, with the Arrival month of the second trader at trading post 2 (compare data rows 1 and 3), I came up with Duration of Wait. This shows how long you have to wait from the Departure of the last trader to the arrival of the next.
If dismissing had no effect, I would expect to see Duration of Wait have larger differences of time. The small differences in Duration of Wait can be attributed to distance needed to travel, and the fact that partial seasons are not measurable.