Indeed.
After much deliberation, and very reluctantly, we have decided to scrap most of the claim changes entirely, and simply make these changes.
- All claims now have a "Power Level". ranging from 0 to 1.
- The "Power Level" of a newly established claim increases from 0 to 1 over the course of four RL weeks.
- A Battering Ram requires 24h * the Claim's Power Level of drying time to destroy Palisades on the claim, and 32h * the Claim's Power Level of drying time to destroy Brick Walls on the claim.
- The stronger claim always applies in case of overlapping claims.
- Anyone can find out the "Power Level" of claim by inspecting it.
We, again, reluctantly, recognize that the problem of overlapping and enveloping claims is too great to solve naively, and that the system as it stands would be plagued by too many of the problems we saw with shields in W10. We believe that the establishment time mechanic, which was one of the primary reasons we wanted the change, can still be salvaged, as it acts as a strict debuff on younger claims.
We have not abandoned the mechanic as such, and still believe that it could show some promise, but not unless the problem of overlapping and enveloping claims is solved more forcefully than we are presently able to do. If and when we decide to change this again, we will consider doing so in a context more singularly dedicated to testing.
Thank you for your insistence in pointing out problems, and your feedback in general. We are still making changes, so there is plenty of time to complain about other things should you desire to do so.