How do I know a place is abandoned?

[bryan2384]

Besides the deed not being there, how else can you tell? Do items decay overtime?

Thanks!

[xTrainx]

if you can enter a personal claim without turning criminal acts on, it's abandoned.

if you can dig inside a village claim without turning criminal acts on, it's abandoned

[Granger]

Should you mean claim (or presence, so it is not enforcing permissions), then yes:

Stuff should decay, but abandoned places most likely won't as decay is only applied to active map regions (so unvisited areas are basically frozen in time) and suggestions to address this flaw didn't get a reaction from the devs, so far.

[iamahh]

right click something inside the claim to interact, if you get a warning it's probably not abandoned

Amber client has an option to show decay as %

[bryan2384]

Can you build stuff without creating a claim?

[Aethyr]

You can, but they will decay and other people have full right of trespassing / vandalism / thief there

[MagicManICT]

"If there's no claim, it's fair game" is the maxim of H&H. At a minimum, build a lean-to and put a container inside to "claim" the storage so that people have to use criminal acts to remove anything. Also, without an active claim, as noted, items decay over time, so if you build a big house, it's going to need to be maintained constantly, along with anything else outside.

[bryan2384]

Great. Thanks for the info!

Do crops also decay? I'm asking because I seem to have found an abandoned place, but the crops are still alive. There are a couple of hearth fires so I'm wondering if it's because people around are growing crops there.

[MagicManICT]

Crops don't decay. If you can pick them, go for it. My only suggestion is to replant the crop after you harvest so that the next person to come across it can get what they want or if the people that were living there come back, then they'll have seeds and plants to restart with.