Change to decay: different materials for repairs

[Granger]

I'm taking the risk of getting flamed for this:

Currently decay hits add a fixed amount of damage to a structure and lead to repair requesting a fixed item type.

My idea is that decay is distributed over all intrinsic materials in a structure (the ones needed to build it in the first place, damaging by fractions of full units) and for repair the needed items would be a list of the materials completely destroyed through this.

Examples:

Timber house (Blocks x200, Boards x100, Bough x100)
Now the house only eats boards, with my idea a decay hit to a timber house would be split over the built-in blocks, boards and boughs.

Stone Mansion (Straw x600, Stone x300, Block of Wood x50, Board x25, Bar of hard metal x5)
Now a mansion would eat only stones for repair, with the proposed system a decay hit would mainly destroy straw and (to a lesser extend) stones, while the blocks and boards will decay more seldom - and metal is rarely requested for repairs (but after a while it will need a bar).

The distribution of decay to the intrinsic materials of a structure could be weighted to balance the game (like soak against decay is doing it now for complete structures). Structures will become unuseable in case level of a single material falls below a set watermark for that structure type, or the (maybe weighted) sum of all missing material reaches a threshold set for the structure.

This approach will have (among others) the following up- and downsides:

+ More realistic feel to maintenance, thus better suspension of disbelief
- Amount of data the server needs to remember will go up (since instead of a single damaged value the amount of the intrinsic materials will have to be tracked)

Along the lines of current threads about maintenance grind this would make sense to be implemented the same time some form of mass-repair function, or something like the proposed decay shield mechanic, is introduced.

Please discuss this idea in a constructive manner.

[Paladir]

Agreed, it just doesn't make sense that a cabin would only need repairs for the floor and door.
+1

[Gulluoglu]

On the one hand, yes, I agree that it doesn't make sense to always need x item for y repair.

On the other, I am glad for it because I think it serves to save a tiny bit of our sanity in carrying out the tiresome chore of repairs. It would suck to have to manually check everything in the red only to find you need a new motley assortment of shit every few days instead of simply seeing a red house and knowing that you need boards.

And if this is included in a decay shield type system, I think it loses the flavor it is trying to provide. The 33 fir boughs, 21 boards, 37 blocks, 35 stones, and 21 bricks required for repairs could belong to any number of different constructions in my village at any given time and I wouldn't care which ones so long as everything was fixed.

[Granger]

The info you get when trying to repair could be changed to something like: You need x of y [,...] to fully repair this.

As structures should survive some weeks before going *poof* you could one day fill in boards, the other some blocks, etc.
Or (in a village) work in a group where one repairs with stones, the other with bricks.

I just see no point in eg. building a mansion, digging a cellar in it and then have all the stones to repair it till world 5.

[martinuzz]

As for more realistic maintenance, and suspension of disbelief: If stone walls would need repairs only every few decades, and houses only some minor repairs once or twice a year, that would make repairs somewhat more realistic.
If repairs were like this, yea, it would not hurt to use more types of materials for the repairs.

But, with repairs being the absolutely infuriating unrealistic grindfest as they are now, with brickwalls and houses and everything needing repairs every few days:

-1

[SacreDoom]

As for more realistic maintenance, and suspension of disbelief: If stone walls would need repairs only every few decades, and houses only some minor repairs once or twice a year, that would make repairs somewhat more realistic.
If repairs were like this, yea, it would not hurt to use more types of materials for the repairs.

But, with repairs being the absolutely infuriating unrealistic grindfest as they are now, with brickwalls and houses and everything needing repairs every few days:

-1

Exactly.

[Granger]

But, with repairs being the absolutely infuriating unrealistic grindfest as they are now, with brickwalls and houses and everything needing repairs every few days:

-1

So i'll extend my idea with plea for less harsh decay.

[burgingham]

Well decay as it is serves a purpose. A really important one. I don't mind reducing the complexity of repairs to one material for the sake of the players sanity.

[sabinati]

Well decay as it is serves a purpose. A really important one. I don't mind reducing the complexity of repairs to one material for the sake of the players sanity.

it is quite important, for several purposes. however i'd have no complaints about a little less damage from decay hits.

[Zamte]

I still say if you want to really go for realism, then items shouldn't take damage simply from sitting outside. Rain (which we don't even get) does not have such a high acid content that it's shearing layers of metal off of my plow, yet I'd have to repair it every day if I were to leave it outside (I don't). The ram I repaired last night is only going to be able to move a few tiles tonight while knocking down left over palisades. Why? Apparently the wind blew overnight, or something.

Decay should work as it does currently on structures, containers, and other "non-used" items. Other items like rams, ovens, smelters, crucibles, and every other item that is used for item processing, should take damage due to use (like plows currently do), but ONLY from use. These items should require more items than they currently do to repair, but much less frequently. This means the maintenance I have to do is directly related to how much I am doing. If I'm not overly active, and not doing things, then my maintenance is low. If I'm actively smelting or baking like a maniac, I better keep some bricks on hand. This means players can go away for a week without coming back and losing all motivation to play, just because everything is now red, like they currently do. Items would still be consumed for repairs, and thus proverbial inflation is limited, and it would be more realistic too.