Mechanic Suggestion: Explosive Degradation and Special Storage System#3934

The Current Problem:
In version 1.9 (PTS), the scarcity of explosives solved part of the problem but created others, such as the frustration of spending days farming explosives only to have the bad luck of raiding an empty base. Furthermore, large clans can still accumulate explosives with good organization, maintaining absolute destructive power by hoarding them in the inventories of offline characters (“alt accounts”). This severely hurts newcomers and overall game balance.

The Proposed Solution:
Implement a “Lifecycle” system focused on Time Degradation and Specific Storage for the game’s 3 main explosives (Dynamite, C4, and Advanced C4), using the base maintenance (upkeep) system itself to balance the raid economy.

How it Works (Mechanic Rules):

Controlled Storage: To prevent degradation, explosives must be stored in a specific “Explosives Depot.” The limit is strictly 1 depot per base. This depot has only 3 designated slots, respecting the game’s existing stack limits:

1 slot for Dynamite (up to 40 per slot)

1 slot for C4 (up to 20 per slot)

1 slot for Advanced C4 (up to 20 per slot)

Impact: If a clan wants to store more than this, they will need to build multiple robust bases and pay the high daily upkeep cost for all of them; after all, you can’t have a weak base guarding the most valuable resource in the game.

Degradation Timer: Outside the special depot, any explosive loses 10% durability for every 1 hour of real server time. One hour is more than enough time to travel across the map to the final objective, requiring players to organize their attack properly before taking the explosives out of the vault.

Scaled Damage and Use Limit: The destructive power of the explosives drops proportionally to their durability (e.g., for every 10% lost, damage is reduced by 10%). If the durability reaches 50%, the explosive becomes inactive, forcing the player to return to base to repair it or cancel the raid. Note that 50% gives players a generous 5-hour active window.

Proportional Repair: Repairing degraded explosives can only be done at the base’s workbench, costing exactly the proportion of lost resources (e.g., if it lost 30% of its life, the repair costs 30% of the original crafting materials).

Disconnection Rule: If a player logs off with explosives in their inventory (trying to use alt accounts as immortal safes), the degradation keeps running in real server time until it reaches 0% durability. The item doesn’t disappear from the inventory but becomes practically unusable scrap, since repairing it from 0% will cost the exact materials needed to craft a brand new one.

Planting the Explosive: The degradation timer does not freeze when the explosive is stuck to a structure. If a player plants the explosive on an enemy’s or their own base, durability will continue to drop until it detonates. This prevents future exploits born from certain players’ “creativity” (like using walls as fake storages).

Why is this excellent for Deadside?

Guarantees Quality Loot: Puts an end to massive clan bases holding absolutely zero physical explosives. Those who own explosives must physically store them in their base, ensuring successful raiders are fairly rewarded.

Balances Solos and Clans: Punishes the infinite accumulation of resources in offline vaults without punishing the actual effort of farming out in the map.