So, I'm new--ish, I admit - while I have concepts of the game and various things down, there are at times a few things I miss, and I learn new things each day. So, while I'm kinda new, I'm not bad at this, and I'm not blaming others for my mistakes -- I learned after I had stuff stolen from my claim that I should protect myself.
So, I look up what it takes to work with a Palisade - lots of materials, lots of clearcutting. Kinda unenjoyable, and I really don't have the surrounding HUGE MILES OF FOREST to clearcut, so it's not really possible for me - not even remotely in the size of a reasonable claim, -- maybe if I wanted to just palisade around my house leaving a 1-square distance between house and fence to walk...
Then I look into Roundpole fence - very little material cost, but very easy to destroy, doesn't keep you safe from bears, boars, etc, these animals can then camp you to starve you out. Sucks, but whatever. I see that the gate is not lockable - but that makes sense given that the fence sections are destroyable without any weapon, so why would the gate be lockable.
So, I want something lockable - I have to go to Palisade. Maybe I can clearcut something some ways away and slowly carry those logs back. It'll take a while, but I guess I can cope with doing nothing for twenty straight RL hours, but building a palisade, while thieves are still robbing me blind.
Then I see -- if I decide after building my Palisade that I want to do something different (I've, perhaps, built it too small and need to expand), it's going to take a freakin' miracle to do, because I have to blow through so much distance with a battering ram. That's a lot of work and really really concerning.
Why can't there be a locked-gate-capable fence between roundpole and palisade. Make it like... I dunno, like a privacy fence. Takes boards, rope, not nearly as strong as a palisade (maybe require at most 60 str to damage with a weapon, or something like that). Lockable - and suited to keeping out random vandals and thieves, but not good for preventing city warfare which is really what a palisade is built for - a wall around a village, not a wall around a claim. Also, a middle option would be adjustable as needs for a claim increase.
I mean, seriously, the fence serves only the most basic deterrant to someone with Theft, and the Palisade serves a great deterrant to a player NOT wanting to completely clearcut the quarter-mile space around his home, so where's the middle ground? There's got to be a fortification which is not extremely powerful (it's destroyable) but at least is lockable against thieves not wanting to spend a whole day breaking down the wall to get in.
Seriously, a little middle ground for us players who want to move up from being screwed all the time. I'm sick and tired of the game basically rewarding players who spent the first five days of play grinding so they could get theft, and basically live off the efforts of those players who, god forbid, PLAY THE EFFING GAME instead of clearcutting forests to make 1001 arabian baskets with Scheherazade.