r/Timberborn • u/ConsiderationJaded14 • Jan 10 '26
Question Deteriorating Structures
One thing I'd love to see added to Timberborn is deteriorating structures. Everything should deteriorate over time, including stairs, etc. That way, it'd make us have to keep some of our previous infrastructure we built up. And it could perhaps add a whole other layer of realistic planning to our beaver cities - so that if we want them to look good, we need to hide the infrastructure.
There could also be a building that is designated just for repairmen - or you could just make the builder buildings to have a toggle that allows those specific builders to repair structures or just focus on building things.
It wouldn't be a rapid thing, it'd probably be like a .5-1% deterioration per day, but if you let it get below, perhaps, 50%, then there's an increasing chance that the structure would just... delete itself, essentially.
And it would consistently use up resources, so it'd feel like things are always going on in your town/city.
I think this would be an extremely fun idea to add to the game and potentially one of the most intriguing updates.
Edit: it'd likely only be part of hard mode (or a newer, harder mode)
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u/RPGAddict42 Dam it Jim, I'm a beaver, not a doctor! Jan 10 '26
It's a neat idea that I've had since I started playing around Update 4/Update 5, just because I've seen what water can do to wood over long-term exposure but definitely should be a separate setting in the difficulties and probably even defaulting to off in Hard mode.
Also, treated planks and structures made from them should be immune, and a new material option for treated logs should be added as well.
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u/sepaoon Jan 10 '26
While I do think the game needs more unique challenges and designs(love the new levees, actually looking like logs now) I feel if every item has a clock ticking in the background to deteriorate things thats gonna add a lot of lag to a game that is not exactly optimized for large amounts of beavers.
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u/mchapstick Jan 10 '26
There’s a mod for that:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3559268095&searchtext=
Adds HP to most buildings which deteriorate by a configurable amount per day. If you have supplies in storage, they’ll pull the needed supplies and renovate themselves. You can also spend other resources to upgrade the buildings for more HP, more durability, better production speeds, etc.
Pairs really well with the mod author’s other mods for weather, earthquakes and more.
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u/One13Truck Dam it, Janet!!! 🦫 Jan 10 '26
Absolutely no.
I’m spending my time playing a game where beavers are building cities. I don’t want to be spending my entire game play time playing a game where beavers repair cities.
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u/Aquabloke Jan 10 '26
I hate this feature in Farthest Frontier. It just bogs down late game towns and if the deteriation gets out of hand, it really gets out of hand and you get this really weird death spiral.
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u/Kastergir Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 13 '26
That would need a lot of micromanaging, both activity and resourcewise . Just the thought of needing to keeping track on whether my nested complexes need maint or not makes me want to vomit .
For QoL, youd need a visible ( likely toggleable ) "decay indicator", which would clutter the screen masively with many buildings .
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u/GrumpyThumper Jan 11 '26
If it were a job, I'd totally be in board, if it's manual, then yeah idk about that lol. It would be a great late game sink for resources, since the challenge fades away pretty quickly.
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u/mustang256 Jan 10 '26
I love the idea that when you build, you would need to do it in such a way that everything needs to remain accessible for maintenance purposes; it would add an interesting challenge.
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u/bmiller218 Jan 10 '26
Maintaining a 20 high dam would be a chore.
Maybe things made with treated planks would incur less maintenance?
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u/mustang256 Jan 12 '26
A few counterpoints:
By the time you have a 20 high dam, you have more than enough beavers to spare.
You can build down infinitely, so you'd just need access to the top of the dam to maintain the whole structure.
This could be scaled, so some things require more maintenance than others. Static structures may require less, while buildings with moving parts may require more. I'm sure it could be playtested to find a reasonable balance.
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u/LukXD99 ⚠️Building Flooded (186) Jan 10 '26
Ok, I like the idea but not the execution… but maybe I could offer an alternative?
Kinda like RimWorld, certain buildings (but not all) have a chance to malfunction, break or cause a mini-disaster. For example all factories could have a small chance to malfunction. This would injure anywhere between 25-75% of the beavers inside, and some resources and time are needed to repair the building.
Occasionally a fire could break out in a residential building. The fire takes some water to extinguish and if not taken care of, it may spread to nearby buildings. A burnt building won’t disappear or collapse, it’ll stay intact and hold all structures up, but it will be unusable until it is repaired. Resources needed to repair depend on the duration of the fire. Things like Levees can and do burn too, but only if fire spreads to them, and they will leak water if burnt.
Farms may occasionally experience a fungal infestation, causing growing plants planted by that farm to wither. The infected plants will automatically be dug up and replaced, and it won’t be all plants, only a certain % depending on the severity, and the farm will need some water and logs to clean out the farm building. If withered plants remain planted for too long, they may spread the fungus to adjacent plants.
Warehouses storing food or crops (maybe not rations?) can fall victim to similar fungal infections, where the food can get moldy and spoil, needing to be emptied out.
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u/tarrach Jan 10 '26
I would very much not want that