TRADESMAN Deal to Dealer Animals, Haulers, and Beasts
The fifth slot is a fighter with a cargo job. Horse, boar, bear, then Bigfoot.
Steam’s store sentence promises a horse-drawn or bear-drawn cart. That is not flavour. The transport slot in TRADESMAN: Deal to Dealer is a mercenary who also pulls the house. This page ranks the beast pipeline for Version 1.0 and tells you which talent actually unlocks it.
Human-only players can skip Animal Handling and live. Everyone else should read carts beside this page because a legendary hauler on a starter axle is still a starter axle.
Horse
Default. Named Horse if you never renamed it. Fine HP for Grampstead wolves, poor identity by the capital. Replace as soon as a boar is legal. No special talent.
Boars
Animal Handling lets you hire boars as mercenaries and haulers. They are the first time the fifth slot starts hitting back. Cheap. Ugly. Perfect for the watchpost human lane in squad builds. Keep one as a fighter even after you find a bear if you like the mess.
Bears
Fishpool sells bear cubs as epic-quality group-damage sponges with fewer gates than legendaries. Cap Fishpool for the roar-bear. River settlements sell hauler bears (Claw-type in community notes) that outclass the horse until Bigfoot. You want these before snow tunnels. Pair with food cargo so you are not also buffing Guards — goods tier list.
Bears eat Leadership plus animal nodes. If the stall is grey, you are missing a tree, not a coin. Talents.
Bigfoot
Southern mountains can offer a fighter Bigfoot with surprisingly few bricks. The hauler Bigfoot is the reputation product of Bigfoot village (10,000 standing). That split matters: you can fight beside a Bigfoot before you are pulled by one. When both slots are filled, the cart finally looks like the trailer.
Bring a lane that is not four comedy peasants. Bigfoot does not delete the 1.0 cargo rule. Combat.
Other creatures you will meet
Wolves and wild boars on the road are enemies, not hires. Moles with lanterns are bosses. A stray cat on the Furryfoot road is a companion sprite without loot — quests. Do not waste a scroll on a cat. Kirya will not trade you a Bigfoot for a fish.
Hunter scrolls that say “beasts” were nerfed. They still work; they are no longer a personality. Two-scroll rules still ban duplicates.
How beasts interact with cargo and sleep
Haulers do not add extra wells by themselves. Wells come from Leadership, books, and cart tiers. Beasts do add a combat body, which means you can escort slightly more danger than a horse. Slightly. A full military legendary well still summons a parade.
Overnight watches can be animals. A bear on watch is funnier and often safer than a chicken peasant. Sleep still writes the save — controls.
Shopping order
- Horse.
- Boar as soon as Animal Handling exists.
- Fishpool cub for the fighting four.
- River hauler bear for slot five.
- Fighter Bigfoot when the mountain road is honest.
- Hauler Bigfoot when the village pillar pays.
Reputation is the calendar. Mercenary hub is the human side. Updates will note if Wasteland adds desert beasts — until then, do not wait for a secret sixth slot. There isn’t one. The Hats supporter pack is hats, not a second wagon.
Treat the fifth slot like a legendary hire even when it still snorts. Because on the next road, it is.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common merchant questions.
Do I need Animal Handling?
For boars and the beast pipeline, yes. Human squads can skip it and still finish towns.
Where do I hire a bear?
Fishpool for cubs and a cap roar-bear. River towns for epic haulers. Exact stall names follow your language pack.
Is Bigfoot a hauler or a fighter?
Both exist. The fighter can appear earlier; the hauler wants village reputation.
Can animals hold two scrolls?
Yes, under the same anti-duplicate rules as humans.