This is my first playthrough of the game, on easy. It has taken a very high number of hours to get even close

to winning on Short, so clearly there are aspects I haven't really grasped yet. But my clan is in great shape,

I am king of the tribe, I have the max number of permanent trading routes (7 or 8), tons of allies and trading

partners. But NOBODY WILL SELL ME ANY COWS. I have insanely good bargainers who worship Issaries. I have

lavished other tribes with grand gifts and been celebrated throughout the lands. But regardless if they are

allies, trade partners, tribe members or all three, all I ever get is "they have no cows to trade". I have

tried dozens of attempts with just about every clan. I have tried every mathematical combination of caravan

size and goods offered for sale. I have switched up emissaries. I even dropped one of my permanent trading

partners but removing the Issaries worshipper from my ring, thus reducing the maximum allowed. I have every

single trade blessing on permanent via shrine, and if there are any other ways I can maximize trading via, say,

a Heroquest reward or skillful manipulation of a tribal event, I have done so. Typically I will have every

trading bonus possible stacked during the year. I am basically at the point where I'm assuming this is a bug. I

have found a few minor bugs in the game that gave opposite results, but nothing like this where I cannot move

forward unless I expand my herd dramatically, and without trade I am basically screwed. I raid frequently but

raids are not efficient enough to resolve the issue on there own, and can in fact be a net loss, since I notice

that cattle raids are almost immediately countered by a cattle raid from some other clan. I was thinking this

is pretty much the best game ever, but now I'm feeling burned out and frustrated.

TL;DR: Regardless of relationships or any other factors, nobody has any cows to sell me.

I no longer remember the details, but this is something we improved for 2.x (iOS/Android).

At least I don’t believe you need cows per se to win, even if they are the best form of wealth.

For the same reason you're trying to buy them : Because everyone wants cows.
It's been my experience that it's possible to buy cows at the beginning of the game, but almost never later on. I assume it's because everyone needs them, while other type of goods (horses, goods, food) becomes abundant over time.
Prevents us from robbing the othe clans blind, I suppose (I already find it a little too easy to get their treasures when I become wealthy enough)

When I want cows, favors and, more importantly, raids seems like the way to go.
And magic, of course (Although Uralda's quest is brutal...)


That said, a solid herd is necessary to an healthy clanb, but a huge one is not really needed to end the game.
Why do you need so many cows? Huge clan, or too many temples?

Do cattle raids all the time, not only during fire season.

My post was not so much about strategy, I'm reasonably skilled at the game. It's more of a bug report, I guess. Since this particular session I have not seen this behavior again. In successive playthroughs, there can still be failed trade attempts, but nothing as extreme as this particular instance. /shrug

I would like to know exactly what was changed in 2.0, and if it's possible to play that version instead of this one on a PC. I suppose I could connect my monitor to the phone, but I really need a keyboard and mouse myself.

More and [url=http://kingofdragonpass.blogspot.com/2011/09/whats-new.html]other changes. Android's been confirmed.

No, since it no longer works. Android version is confirmed to work on PC. Which is why that last post I linked begins with the sentence, "Hooray I got it to work on the PC."

maybe you should not eat cows, as the other tribes sounds like they are Hindu's ;)

I think part of the problem is you're not leaving any troops at home when you raid. this will get you the <clan> has stolen <#> cattle. also make sure your Patrolling with your weaponthanes.
I've never had a problem having an excess of cattle. In fact the last time I played I gave away over 500 cattle to start my tribe. probably not the best Idea being that I had 1500 Goods at the time
getting around 40 weaponthanes pretty much gives you the victory at home.
as a side note all those temples cost a lot of cows so make sure when your on the Tula screen your not losing more than your breeding.