Repairing. Degradation of the HP baseline. Requiring resource to repair

[bobucles]

This doesn't actually solve the problem you think it solves. So it's pretty pointless.

It's pretty cool to have colonists sitting behind a door holding it up. It's certainly scary to have raiders beating on a door. Perhaps the only issue is that the repair rate is too fast, but that can be solved by raiders getting bored and setting fire to all your stuff.

[b0rsuk]

If baseline HP (max HP) degrades over time with repair, it would have the effect that player would have to MANUALLY replace all walls at certain intervals.

[Aerial]

If baseline HP (max HP) degrades over time with repair, it would have the effect that player would have to MANUALLY replace all walls at certain intervals.

Yes.  The real question is whether that would result in an interesting/fun additional game play element.

My opinion is that it would add a new element to the game because the player would have to weigh the risk with weaker walls due to damage vs replacement costs in materials and pawn time.  It adds an additional element of randomness to the threat from enemies since the storyteller (I assume) would have no knowledge of the repair condition of your structures.  So what would otherwise have been an ordinary raid becomes a fight for survival because part of your defensive structure is still battle-damaged from the last encounter.  And it means construction skills remain important throughout the game, rather than having their usefulness decline sharply once a base is complete.  I am also speculating that the game re-balance that would be required with this mechanic would allow raid sizes to scale up a little slower and extend the length of the mid-game some.

On the other hand, it might also add a frustration factor because the player has to keep spending resources and time on rebuilding the same things rather than expanding.  That might start feeling repetitive and dull.  Without being able to play the mechanic, we're all just speculating about how it might impact our personal play styles.

[b0rsuk]

I think manually replacing walls is currently very unfun. Try building initially out of wood then replacing it with stone. It takes a lot of micromanagement. Not only you have to designate some walls for deconstruction. You need to prioritize hauling wood left, because otherwise your constructor will haul wood from stone blueprint one by one, and go for 5 stone after hauling each piece of wood. If you deconstruct everything at the same time, roof will collapse. One more thing you need to oversee.

The title of this thread made me think of something else. Small groups of builders can build ridiculous castles in Rimworld because walls don't need maintenance. I think walls should gradually lose HP, not max HP, just HP. Especially after rain, storms and other harsh weather.

[Aerial]

I think manually replacing walls is currently very unfun. Try building initially out of wood then replacing it with stone. It takes a lot of micromanagement. Not only you have to designate some walls for deconstruction. You need to prioritize hauling wood left, because otherwise your constructor will haul wood from stone blueprint one by one, and go for 5 stone after hauling each piece of wood. If you deconstruct everything at the same time, roof will collapse. One more thing you need to oversee.

I agree.  There would need to be a task that deconstructed and rebuilt wall blocks in small sets as part of the game mechanic if the above were to be implemented.  The way deconstruction and construction are ordered now would cause too much micromanagement to be fun in the current scheme, as you point out.

The title of this thread made me think of something else. Small groups of builders can build ridiculous castles in Rimworld because walls don't need maintenance. I think walls should gradually lose HP, not max HP, just HP. Especially after rain, storms and other harsh weather.

I like the idea of weather damage a lot.  And I'd be pretty happy with walls only losing HP rather than max HP as long as there was a resource cost to repair back to full.