Rock Hermit (Oolite)

Rock Hermit
Size (metres, W×H×L)	750 x 750 x 750
Manoeuvrability	Roll: 0.0 Pitch: 0.0
Rotating	No
Energy recharge rate	5
Armaments	None
Defenders	2 Defenders 1 Scavenger
OXP or standard	Standard
Beacon	R

Overview

Rock hermit is a generic name for an asteroid that has been hollowed out for the express purpose of accommodation. This practice began in the early days of asteroid mining by prospectors looking for a cheap place to base their operations. Today, rock hermits are frequently occupied by retired bountyhunters and pirates seeking protection from the law.

Notable Features

Usually small traders are welcome to trade, swap gossip or to get robbed. Often Rock Hermits are home to shady affairs so narcotics can be obtained here at a low price. Food and luxuries are the stuff a hermit cannot produce, so these will go at a premium. Assure you get paid before you offload your fine Ineran Brandy though! Do not let the unglamorous name fool you: rock hermits are not defenceless. Most have a small fleet of ships ready to be launched.

Docking with a Hermit

Insofar as docking with a GalCop station is a similar exercise, some Rock Hermits do not rotate. Commanders should be aware however the standard dimensions of a hermit docking port as set down in the Hermit Almanac (see below), is a relatively narrow 138 x 138 x 330 (WxHxL). Given the standard hexagonal design. A tilted roll angle, keeping your wing tips to the corners is probably the best landing option for ships with a wide beam.

Famous Anecdotes

Xiibli Nbilibli: The legendary Blue Slimy Frog whose 'ColdCrushCorp' mining concern based in Eszara spanned Galaxy Two.

It is alleged that 'ColdCrushCorp' was the front for a massive smuggling ring. Xiibli was said to be the richest amphibian since the 'great marauder' Bloxfod Agriblad of Biabite. After 37 years of complete monopoly the 'ColdCrushCorp' was plunged into a financial scandal. The subsequent investigation promised to uncover corruption that went to the very top of GalCop. However the star witness Mau-Mau Mau-Mau, a feline from Soinuste (Chief accountant of Plyforth/Garand/Plyforth), mysteriously disappeared just hours before he was to take the stand. With Its reputation in ruins and a now hawk-like eye on its dealings from GalCop special anti-corruption department, 'ColdCrushCorp' was broken up into many smaller companies (who were greedily bought by ColdCrushCorp's previously intimidated rivals). Xiibli disappeared and many rumours circulated in dark corners of Corolis taverns about Xiibli having Hyper-spaced to Galaxy 4 to start a new empire of space junk yards. In fact the truth has only very recently been revealed that Xiibli had had a full body transplant and lived out his days as rock hermit dealing in gemstones & precious metals in the Atzaxe system until he was assassinated by Zau-Mau Mau-Mau the brother of Mau-Mau Mau-Mau. A posthumous DNA test revealed his identity. In excess of 100 tonnes of Gold was found hidden in the caves of his asteroid.

The demise of the Lavian Tree grub?

The Hermit Almanac

Weighing in at a hefty 14,000 pages, it is said that the hand-bound pages of Red Chaldo's The Hermit Almanac were responsible in part for the deforestation of Lave.

Covering such diverse topics as GalCop Asteroid excavation regulations (40 chapters) to the finer points of Galactic Brandy tippling. The Almanac will be found in any serious Rock Hermit's quarry. Antique hand-scribed versions (like the one shown) have been known to change hands for over 100,000₢. One particularly famous copy (said to have belonged to Chromebeard) was used as stake collateral aboard FurCorp heiress Magda DeMug's own CoachWhip liner in a no holds barred poker game. This copy is reputed to contain the only sure-fire prophylactic against the Hermit's Bane, apparently involving vast quantities of lethal spotted craboids boiled up in Dileonian lethal water and the resulting concoction dissolved in lethal brandy and the resulting salve then applied to the affected parts. This is usually regarded as sounding too much like someone's sense of humour to have any chance of success. The last person who tried it (another one of those eccentrics who seem to populate Galaxy 7 in vast hordes) died in the process, foaming at the mouth about some sort of Dawn Chorus, which must have been some sort of reference to the Orbelaxe Academy.

Oxps affecting hermits

Eye-Candy

• Griff Station Bundle also includes retextures for Rock Hermits
• Noshader Griff's alternate stations - contains an orange hermit!
• Griff's Glowroids - better known as Hermit's Bane!
• Extra Rock Hermits - different Rock Hermits - some also featuring external docking!

• Accessories OXP - an old ambience OXP with old but different textures for hermits

Finding them

Note - the lore/logic behind these various oxps differs - you need to decide on what makes most sense in your game.

• Rock Hermit Locator an early .oxp (2007) allowing Rock Hermits to be located on the Advanced Space Compass (ASC)
• Rock Hermit Beacons OXP based on the above, adds limited-range beacons to the majority of Hermits, making them visible in the ASC and on the 'In-system distances' F4 screen if in range.
• Mining Beacon Descrambler (from the Mining Contracts OXP) allows location for 15 minutes for every ton of cargo a miner is dispatching on contract terms.
• Smugglers allows purchase of Rock Hermit Waypoints for different systems. Rock Hermits become centres of the Black Market in many systems, and also sell equipment such as Smuggling Compartments.
• Telescope - flags them up from a distance, depending on their beacon strength.

Adding complexity

• Spicy Hermits emphasises the different roles of Rock Hermits and introduces abandoned ones.
• Pirate Coves Makes hard and nasty Rock Hermits (ie Pirate Coves) even harder and nastier!
• Harder Hermits OXP Renders hard and nasty Rock Hermits truly vicious!
• Smugglers allows purchase of Rock Hermit Waypoints for different systems. Rock Hermits become centres of the Black Market in many systems, and also sell equipment such as Smuggling Compartments.
• Life in the Frontier the current development version (File:LitF+v0.06.oxz) features explorable layouts for Rock Hermits

Owning them

• Hermitage - acquire, own and run your own Rock Hermit!

Other hermit-like stations added by OXP's

• Free Trade Zones, Slaver Bases, Salvage Gangs, Astro Mines, Mining Outpost‎ & Imperial AstroFactories exist inside or attached to large asteroids

• And see the Links below!

Custom Paintjobs

Hermit's Bane

• 

  Griff's Rock Hermit

• 

  Accessories OXP
  Rock Hermit

Real Hermits

We have a couple in our community, people who disappear from public gaze and slowly, slowly work away on an oxp or two. Check out CommonSenseOTB's work on Oolite 2.0, Frame's work on Babylon 5 and DGill's work on Feudal States.

I'd like to submit for discussion making the current Oolite Rock Hermits a "Belter Outpost" instead, and creating a new Rock Hermit which is more along the lines of what the original Elite one was - a lonely guy/group hiding from the world in a hollowed-out Asteroid far away from anything else, possibly engaging in the odd spot of piracy if a lonely undefended trader happens past. Micha (2011)

Links

• Appearing, Then Disappearing Rock Hermits (2011-date)
• Oolite Stations - showing what else is available
• Piracy
• Ye Olde Hermit Markets (2015-7) with 2 oxps by Spara: improving market profits (2015 & 17) and to identify the variety of Hermit when docked (2016).
• Owning your own Rock Hermit (2012).
• Owning your own Rock Hermit (2019).
• Owning your own Rock Hermit OXP (Hermitage by Phkb (2021)

Fiction

• Much of Stranger's Hermit takes place at a Rock Hermit in the Usanat system.