u/KipOnTheGround

What if Facepunch added upgrades for the TC like there are now for the Workbench?

We all know that it's so easy for people (especially groups) to raid and TC grief everyone, ultimately making people leave the wipe, and killing server populations.

So what if TCs also had upgrades that you could find and install?

They could do things like increasing the raid cost of the TC itself (similar to the "Reinforced" workbench upgrade), so it's more expensive to grief. Or, giving the TC the softcore mode buff that gives it a lingering building privilege if the TC is destroyed, so the base owner a chance to rebuild after the raid.

I'm sure we can come up with other upgrades, like upkeep related buffs or other anti-griefing things.

The boom/raid progression has to be massively slowed down somehow.

After being raided, most people will server hop or quit until next wipe instead of rebuilding. Vanilla server populations die after just 1-2 days and don't recover until the next wipe. It happens so regularly and often that there are Monday-wipe servers for people to go to once their couple days on the Thursday servers are done and the population is gone.

For the raiders, the server is dead because every other base has been raided on the first day, stopping all progression, destroying the pop. Yay.

Raiding should be special and calculated. Getting all the way to the TC and griefing the base shouldn't be the expectation or the norm. Instead, breaking into certain parts of the base with limited boom to try to get some of the loot would be way more interesting and strategic. And if someone happens to get enough boom to actually grief a base, they'll have to choose their target more wisely with their limited boom.

Not being able to afford shooting 50 rockets and griefing the TC nearly every time would allow the base owner to rebuild and continue the wipe, making the server population last longer. It could also make eco-raiding more popular, using siege weapons, battering rams, etc.

Waking up to being offline raided today usually means you've lost everything and are TC griefed. It should instead mean that you check where the people who raided you broke in, and what amount of your stuff they were able to steal by committing their boom to raid, rebuild and plan your revenge or new defenses. But none of that happens, they just quit and wait for the next Mon or Thu server wipe.

A few groups shouldn't be able to get so much boom so easily that they can effectively destroy the entire server's population. It's boring. Extending the experience people get on wipe day, when everyone is trying to progress, is the exciting part of the game. If they progress in a few hours to AKs, it's no longer exciting.

The progression needs to take longer, and the raiding needs to become more rare. Maybe just nerfing boom a little is an option for making wipes last longer.

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Edit (after learning more about Softcore from the comments)

In softcore, if a TC is destroyed, the building privileges linger for 48 hours. This encourages base owners to repair and continue playing after a raid, rather than leaving the server/wipe after being TC griefed.

Regular vanilla servers could try a shorter version of this to prevent raiders from being able to instant-grief. This, paired with a reduction in how fast you can farm sulfur, could do a lot to help the health of a wipe and keep population.

It also makes raiding more interesting. If things changed so most base owners placed a new TC and repaired the base after the raid, they likely also would work to improve their defenses to try to counter the next raid (possibly even from the same group). They're able to learn and try something new with the same exact base, not having to wait for a new wipe. And if they decide they don't want to repair the base, and leave, then the raiders or someone else can later place their own TC after the timer expires, and take it over if that was their goal.

The timer could be shorter on the non-softcore server, maybe something like 8-12 hours instead of 48. You might wake up with your base raided, but at least you can place a new TC, some new walls and/or doors, and get back to the grind without having to find a new server or start back on the beach.

The reality is that servers die within a couple of days of wipe, and the reason might simply be because of the instant TC griefing. Servers losing pop isn't only bad for the people getting raided, but also for the people doing the raiding -- because there's quickly nobody left to raid, and they are then done with the wipe almost just as fast, looking for another server or waiting for another wipe day.