I wish there was a middle ground...

[Ogrim]

Between hermit life and village life.

I love being a hermit. I like having my own things. I don't trust anybody to safely 'hold my keys'.

That said, I also recognize...

The benefits of cooperation. The faster growth that comes with specialization. The importance of high quality facilities.

Which leaves me wishing for a middle ground.

Just a safe place to trade/transact business would be a sufficient start. Aside from dictatorships and communes, safe trade is a needed foundation for any community to grow.

[Amanda44]

But there is a middle ground. There are plenty of safe and reputable traders, coming up is Em's trade hub and then there are trades between neighbours.
As a hermit with little time at times, I certainly wouldn't experience much growth without them.

Have you read Em's thread? Here's the link in case you haven't seen it:

viewtopic.php?f=34&t=34273

[Ogrim]

Yeah, found it a few minutes after this post. I don't mind boating but I'm on the eastern border... dunno how far of a trip that'll be.

[romovs]

The problem with Em's place is that if you don't live in the area it's pretty much no use to you.

There are number of villages which don't require you to live inside or 'hold your keys' or force you to assume a specific role.
In any case, you can always setup an idol and trade. It doesn't require too much effort/resources. Yes it might take longer to grow without ready-to-go village facilities, but you will have all the benefits of hermit life plus trading access.

[Ogrim]

Those idols invite raiders.

I was considering building a trade idol with just a timber house and a palisade in the middle of nowhere and using that to trade. Either that or building a subterranean one.

Thoughts?

[romovs]

From my experience everything invites raiders
At my last area of habitat, two really small camps (not villages) were hit in one day with much more to follow the next week. They even stole rope

Trade idol in a middle of nowhere is a good solution imo. A lot of people do that from what I have seen.

[Amanda44]

An idol is pretty much essential, imo, if you want to be a successful hermit and the advantages far outweigh the slim chance of being raided - slim if you have b/walls ofc, if it's just behind a pali you are inviting trouble. There's not just trading, but xrd's, I love xrd's, lol, I have loads of them, xrd's within each section, xrd's on all sides of the village and xrd's to rescources - travelling to Em's trade hub is not such an issue with xrd's, agility ofc, but you can raise that quite quickly.

I have both an underground idol and an above one, both are behind their own seperate b/walls, within a b/walled village, to get to my above ground idol you are going to need to get through three b/walls first, lol, it's always just a matter of security when it comes to raiders. Obviously no-where is infallible if the raiders are determined enough but very few are going to make all that effort unless they think you have something worth having or it's a revenge issue.

An underground idol at least has the bonus of not being visible on the map, which is why I started with that one and built the second after i'd secured above ground.

It's a lot of work, I admit, for a hermit to undertake but worth it in the long run.

[Cranny]

I think underground idols have a down side. We need the LS to be in the same level than the char to be oathed.
So either your trade mates are underground, in the same level you have your idol, to be oathed; or you have to move the LS to where you have the chance to oath the char you are trading with.
This can be solved making the LS travel to your main home above ground and keep it there for oathing and feeding curios to keep up auth, but if both places are far away it can be an issue.

[borka]

You simply assign a chief who's living overground for oathing your trader back

[ydex]

for trading a small pali with just a idol inside it is pretty much safe, no point in bashing if u can see from the edge of the pali that it is empty. then just keep ur main place a bw as usual