Decay.

[brayan]

Howdy folks. I have a question about decay. How exactly does it work?

For example, could I take a boat, put two cupboards in it, go do some stuff, take the boat with me, a cupboard out, put the items in, then put it back in the boat, all without it breaking (As I know they only can take 1 point of decay damage before they break)?

Basically, if decay is a timer (x amount of time until a damage point is done to it), does it go back to zero when you put the item in a boat/wagon/cart/house, or does it just pause, then begin counting down again once it's removed from the cart/boat/wagon/house?

[Potjeh]

Just pauses, and you can only lift empty cupboards.

[cobaltjones]

Also, as far as I know, decay "ticks" aren't an exact timer that counts down whenever an object is on unpaved/unclaimed land. Decay is simply a random chance thing that affects all possible tiles every so often on a map.

[Sevenless]

From what I can see, there are two types of decay. Corpse decay runs differently than normal decay ticks.

Decay hits occur occasionally and hit anything on the tile they effect. I believe deforested land turning into grassland is actually caused by decay hits so you can watch how long it takes every square to get hit by decay at least once (I'd guess it's 1.5 weeks on average). Each object takes damage from a decay hit. Some objects are particularly sensitive such as cabinets and looms. Cabinets only ever take a single decay hit to die, and looms simply decay very quickly when outside (need repair 1-2 times per day). Inside a house and in caves there are no decay hits whatsoever. Claiming an area (village or personal) is supposed to stop decay on most objects except the really sensitive (looms are a good example, just put them inside lol). At the very least, it will slow it, but palisades have been reported to decay eventually without repairs inside a claim. Another thing that lessens the impact of decay is having the object/building on paved ground. A crate on grass will decay in a single decay hit (all items inside lost). On paved tiles, it just barely survives the first hit.

Corpse decay is inbuilt. They will decay anywhere they are put based on an internal clock. I don't know if there's a random variable or not attached to this.

So? To avoid decay: Claim it, pave it. Ultimate storage: keep it inside.