What are good things to ask hermits/noobs/small towns for?

[Sevenless]

I know this is a bit beyond our usual noobie questions, but seeing trade threads with "buying tokens, silver, gold, Q60+ resources" is driving me nuts. I prefer trading with hermits and small-mid sized towns, but what can I ask them for that they can produce? I'm always stumped when someone says "Can I buy a horse". And as much as I'm a bleeding heart, noobs who get given everything tend to quit because it erodes personal sense of progress. I've spoiled several hermits into not playing and don't like repeating that.

Cast iron is an obvious gimme, but a lot of people are pre or never-metal stage.

[Sethfire]

Two I can think of

Local natural resources, such as Heartwood leaves and Fairy mushrooms - All you need is just a timer.
Leather, Hardened leather, wax - Most of these were traded around early game

[Sevenless]

Two I can think of

Local natural resources, such as Heartwood leaves and Fairy mushrooms - All you need is just a timer.
Leather, Hardened leather, wax - Most of these were traded around early game

Yeah, point about localized resources although most are grabbed by people timing them/alting them. Hermits rarely have any.

I have cupboards of wax. Month or two ago it would have been crucial, but now that I've got bulk farms going and an established mine we don't have a huge need for it. Most hermits also farm on a scale of 1-2 hives worth, I have 40-50 hives running. I could burn it for seals, but we're no faction so I don't see minmaxing LP for that much work as worth it.

only thing hermits got that I ever want is tar, wax & world resources

What use is infinite wax? Seals or am I missing something. Tar for more knarr I guess?

[DamJNeT]

As a 3 person team, that was the question I was asking myself.

I'm looking at the trade topics, and basicly every item costs 100's of points, when most of the stuff they are buying is worth nothing. So I'm left wondering, are people just trading for $$ now ? (subtokens)

And then, what else could I trade for. Except for those localized ressources, I honnestly have no idea. They'll most likely have way better Q or quantity of anything we could offer. So in the end, we don't trade.
Like, crafting curios takes time, I'd be down if someone who wants to buy a metal pick or w/e from me give me curios, a few days worth of feather trinket for example would alleviate a lot of my time. But when people buy metal for 0.1 point, I seriously doubt they'd be interested in a trade like that.

[Grog]

good trade items are always sinks

mats:
wax, leather, rope, glue

food:
blueberries, grubs,....

medicines
waybroad, red deer antlers, poppy pods,...

and no-lifer's gold:
steel and even more silk

edit:
how could I forget good old slave labour?

-bring me 30 barrels of this water
-dig these 3 grids for me and transfer the soil to the next continent
-cut this forest and bring it to me

[iamahh]

maybe seaside products versus inland products?

tbh i avoid trade because of time and risk investment, it's often a lot of time to negotiate and deliver, plus the risk...

would be awesome to see how trade would flourish if classic RTS Market structures were implemented into villages... it worked by connecting partner villages and allowing offers and requests, delivered by NPCs... this solved the time problem, but delivery NPCs could still be attacked

[Sevenless]

good trade items are always sinks

mats:
wax, leather, rope, glue

I produce all of these on an industrial scale compared to beginners. I also get better quality due to having developed survival characters in the village.

food:
blueberries, grubs,....

I wish these were good, they aren't. And even then if blueberries were good it'd just be garden potting them because quality matters a ton in this food restricted systme.

medicines
waybroad, red deer antlers, poppy pods,...

Medicine is trivial to get for your needs, but noobs often come to me to ask for things they can't see yet. Poppy pods is more of an established village thing, but it's an idea that sounds palatable to me. Then again, I could plant 1000 tiles of poppies if I really wanted opium.

and no-lifer's gold:
steel and even more silk

These are things advanced villages are far better able to produce than newbies. It's easier to do on a bigger scale with light botting to aid tedium here and there like de-leafing mulberries. Steel has also lost a lot of sinks, so it's not nearly as valuable. Cast iron is better, but the unfortunate truth is that the majority of the people wanting to buy from me have little or no metal production. Which is why they want to buy metal products.

edit:
how could I forget good old slave labour?

-bring me 30 barrels of this water
-dig these 3 grids for me and transfer the soil to the next continent
-cut this forest and bring it to me

30 barrels of water from the well across the continent is a knarr thing, and doesn't cost me much effort. I was debating picking a location for a pyramid and asking for literal slave labour. Villagemate thought that was too cruel. At this point though all the digging/flattening I need is done so it'd be purely cosmetic, something my miner bro would frown very heavily at for me trading away his valuable metal.

maybe seaside products versus inland products?

Good point there, I do live a ways from the sea. There's some sea forageables I'd like more of. Sadly the value to me is pretty low compared to what the noob living beside me would have to go through to get it. Not sure many would really feel it's fair to sell at the prices I'd buy but i can try.

[jock]

As a trader, I do my best to offer lower-end trades.

Tar, Wax, leather Floatsam, bluebells, Pearls, cast iron, silver, gold

small villages can attain 200+ bones that sell

MOST traders will work with you to make up the points.

[Grog]

"I'm not trading this, because I could do these myself." is a weak point Sevenless.
Eiter you trade for it or you don't.
If you want to no life all these things instead of trading for them it's your decision, but not mandatory.

And Jock:
You calling this "lower-end trades" is part of the problem.
That's trades for established villages.

[jock]

"I'm not trading this, because I could do these myself." is a weak point Sevenless.
Eiter you trade for it or you don't.
If you want to no life all these things instead of trading for them it's your decision, but not mandatory.

And Jock:
You calling this "lower-end trades" is part of the problem.
That's trades for established villages.

How is it part of the problem?
I straight up try take morr of the low value goods at often better prices. Hell i throw in some deals if i need anything specific.

I adjust my prices based on demand and flow. I don't push to be the max 500+pts goods as it's hard for many small groups or hermits to attain that.

I will however expand my buying section based on feedback from this thread.