Hermit vs Village

[karabamov]

What can a hermit contribute to the area/community if he's neighbors with a village?

Is there something he could specialize in to be on even terms with the village trade-wise, or is a village superior in every way and any trade with hermits is basically out of pity?

[Audiosmurf]

Realistically you can do bitch work for chump change (stuff like making bulk ropes or whatever)

[karabamov]

Was hoping to avoid unskilled manual labor like that or collecting butterflies or whatever

Looking for something that takes a high skill set and can be traded for a decent profit. But what skill can a hermit develop easier than someone in a village? I can't think of anything

[Hesufo]

Speaking in terms of raw stats, nothing really. But you may have comparative advantages: take mining, for example. Most villages are still limited by the space they can cover and by the weekly timegate of Mine Holes, so you might be able to keep up for the first couple of months and provide valuable tradeables - maybe the caves below your base have rare resources that you can trade. Or metal/gems which may be needed in bulk (gold and silver have no quality).
Animal husbandry and cheese are other two areas where you can stay relatively within the power level of a village in terms of qualities and can produce worthwhile tradeables.
Exploring and keeping tabs on the respawn timer of some natural resources may also provide you with valuables to trade if you’re dedicated and lucky to snatch them.
Basically, think of industries and products that are timegated or need rare resources and where you could contribute with good base products.

[Dawidio123]

Well there is one thing i can think of but I would never do it myself because it's hell. You go all in on mining and try to get big starshards which you can later sell for tokens. Starshards AFAIK (i might be wrong but i never saw one respawn) don't respawn so you need to basically uncover as many unexplored caves as possible which if you focus 100% on it can be done quite easily, just get yourself A LOT of energy food, some basic stats to mine, a decent tool and go all in on making tunnels.

[TheServant]

if you get good alchemy recipes early on u can trade lots w villages, also

very goodQ animals
salt driftkelp fairy mushroom
stuff for realm

[Robben_DuMarsch]

Was hoping to avoid unskilled manual labor like that or collecting butterflies or whatever

Looking for something that takes a high skill set and can be traded for a decent profit. But what skill can a hermit develop easier than someone in a village? I can't think of anything

Probably the most valuable thing you can offer as a hermit without access to quality goods is, if you live remotely, local resources (driftkelp, fairy mushroom), and herded animal products. This is because as long as you can tame animals, you probably aren't going to be softcapping your herded animals as long as you've got access to market bought tools.

So:
1) Access thingwall
2) Go to market
3) Sell herded animal products/local resources
4) Buy other things you would want

It may not be a particularly exciting way to play though

[SavageFox]

one thing is a village or a Hermit you have to be concerned about why trading with another party if you're trading valuable metals like gold and silver they might choose to take you down for it instead I recommend trading valuable services like gilding items if you choose to specialize in that that can get you somewhere Alchemy products if you find a very good recipe they rather trade with you than kill you in that case cuz they'll lose that recipe if they kill you as long as you don't have a copy of it written down somewhere in game you'll probably come Priceless to them if it's a really good recipe for getting rid of annoying wounds or gives insane Buffs

trading bricks if they need them some people like building a brick wall as soon as possible at that point the quality of the bricks don't matter this is a rare opportunity you might get a hold of

dungeon locations some groups might give you something for those if you're not strong enough to do them yourself you can trade them to a village it's not commonly a profitable opportunity but it could be useful

there's certain roles Villages need but don't always have because certain people don't like doing them or get burned out and leave the village no longer has a farmer or like say a miner not everybody uses bots so critical roles can quit so you might be able to replace that role for them

so simple answer villages and Hermits they're not all 100% independent of one another they all can feel roles either party could need so neither one's really inferior so play the game the way you want to play it

a tip build a quarantine Shack for any items you trade with large groups or anyone for that matter cuz it can be used to track you down if it's stolen and don't build it in your main claim wait for 2 weeks to use some items cuz they could be stolen from somebody else or they made an alt it's stole it and traded it with you so they could track you down

[merlin4]

What can a hermit contribute to the area/community if he's neighbors with a village?

Just play the role.
Make friends with other villages.
Build strong relationships, get into trading, show confidence.

Playing hermit is cool, just get diplomacy upped

[AlexNT]

Was hoping to avoid unskilled manual labor like that or collecting butterflies or whatever

Generally speaking, whole H&H is labor theory of value in action. Anything that doesn't require labor ultimately will not have any value.

You cannot avoid putting in time, you can just choose an area into which you don't mind putting the time. And also need to be mindful of not picking something that a) can be botted, or b) is overproduced as a result of being a less valuable byproduct of another activity.