Crafting stations, altars, named thralls ALL GONE WTF!?! 😳?!

[Catspaw]

Game mode: [Online PvE Official Server #3731]]
Problem: [Bug?]
Region: [Center Map]

So have I gone insane, forgotten something important or been bitten hugely by a FunCom f-up from the most recent patch, Mercury in retrograde or some other voodoo?

I’ve been playing solo (occassionally co-op) on Server 3731 PvE for about 4 months now with a nicely developed base near map center (Black Rhino boss ponds SE of the Den). For the past few weeks I’ve been developing a 2nd base near Asgareth (sic) ward towers to harvest thralls, etc. I have returned to my main base every few days and every thing seemed fine until tonight. I have likely not visited my main base for about 7 days yet today when I returned I found that all the following items had disappeared completely:

1. Animal Pen (Lvl 2) with 4 Gold vein rocknose,
2. Black Ice door to my main keep (although you can enter from the roof (made it available to those caught in a sandstorm).
3. EVERY improved crafting station (all of them) inside my keep, most of which contained named thrall crafters & tons of raw or finished material like composite obsidian & gold. Strangely, the torturer’s table & most items outside remain.
4. EVERY altar I had including top Mitra, 2nd highest Derketa, Ymir & Jhebbal Sag, 1st level Set & Yog; most with priests & tons of items.
5. top level Wheel of Pain with named taskmaster & 2 Dalinisia Snowhunters being trained.
6. a few chests inside & out filled to the brim with goodies plus the compost bin but every other press, planter, etc remains intact.
7. AND… my chest filled with legendary weapons and all 5 (or was it 6?) quest items that would allow me to finish this run of the game & exit to a glorious conclusion.

When I ran over every structure & station remaining with a star metal repair hammer, everything showed a decay of 168 (or 167).
In reading over some of the other forums, I don’t recall offhand if I had returned to my now decimated main base after the most recent patch on PS4 Lost Connection issues, but I believe I did and had no issues. I’ve got a couple of smaller camps in other places I don’t visit too often & they seem fine so far.

Needless to say, I am seriously disappointed by losing all these hundreds of hours of labor (much of it frustratingly impeded by Funcom glitches & game issues). I am so frustrated I feel like quitting entirely a deeply engaging game I have been regularly playing about 5 days per week, 2-4 hours per day since last August.
… maybe IF the parity patch had arrived sooner, making all our stations continue normal operations (as it used to be & was broken by the last patch), ALL my stations & resources would’ve been still working away & not evaporated to some bizarre decay or other destructive occurrence.

I decided to not wait until tomorrow to figure out how to read the Event Log to see what sort of nonsense may have been recorded… right now that is about as appealing as looking at the flight recorder on a Boeing 737 Max 8… Yup… it seems dozens of loot bags and some fish traps all decayed & were lost around 1738-1743h tonight, about 2 hours before I logged on. No mention of any buildings or stations though & turned proximity & time to max) which is even more annoying as the foundations for all the altars & wheel of pain all have 47-67+ hours remaining & they’re all obviously OLDER than the structures they supported.

Any suggestions how to mitigate this annoying situation in general would be greatly appreciated… I have to buy more whiskey tomorrow.

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Steps on how to reproduce issue:
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[WhatMightHaveBeen]

I have likely not visited my main base for about 7 days yet today when I returned I found that all the following items had disappeared completely:

So it was your main base that “Decayed”. I ask, because you state it may have been more than 7 days since you visited base. IF so, then the decay was normal and is working as designed by Devs, although unfortunate.

[Catspaw]

Thanks for that - I was more or less staying aware of the 7 day limit while developing this 2nd base but I admit I may have not visited my main base for about 7 days last week.
The weird thing is that the base walls, foundations, etc. all say 168 when I equip a repair hammer and the foundations under the now missing altars & animal pen all still have 47-67+ hours left (so obviously they should be more decayed then the structures I’d upgraded on them). Plus the valuable pieces that disappeared would have all been interacted with by me when I last visited (forge, blacksmith, armorer, etc.), yet, they are gonzo.
Given the mass destruction of all my most valuable creations, I’m wondering if some JERK PvE player wandered by when these items were listed as ‘decayed’ and he was thus able to destroy everything at once. If I was on a PvP or PvE-C I’d have to accommodate that aggression but it seems petty here.

Any suggestions for how to minimize decay loss over the summer when folks go on holidays? Does it mean if leave home for more than 7 days, ALL my Conan accomplishments are kaput? What a suck that would be.

[JTtheDestroyer]

Last year Funcom extended the decay timer to take into account summer holidays. If I’m remembering correctly, it was bumped up to 2 weeks. I’m sure either @Multigun or @Barnes amongst many of the long time players would remember better than me. I admit, I do suffer from “sometimers” … sometimes I remember, sometimes I forget.

[WhatMightHaveBeen]

This does seem like a bug if parts of the base are still intact.

[Catspaw]

That’s what I am wondering. Makes no sense that my bed, most chests filled with goods, all my secondary stations (dryer, press, planters, etc.) are all still there but all the most valuable are gone, even though they would have been used as recently as any part.

[WhatMightHaveBeen]

Also saw in the patch notes that sometimes base parts will not load in as a bug, and that may be what happened. They are pushing a hotfix asap for that.

[Catspaw]

Thank you for that - fingers crossed. My Event Log going back 21 days does not indicate decay or loss of any of the major stations I’ve lost (but lots of the lootbag items like demon blood), so maybe I’ll get a reprieve.
Sounds like the patch is imminent & interesting. I’ll definitely want & use the extra feat points - had to reassign points a few times just to accomplish what I want.

[WhatMightHaveBeen]

It is out. Only had a few minutes at lunch after update, but tested Unnamed city and some other quick things. Environment is getting tougher…that is a good thing.

[Barnes]

Over the Summer Holiday last year they increased the timer to 14 days, and then again during this past Winter Holiday. I have been playing pre-patch for the last many nights in a row to soak up as much of them old ways as possible. Today looks really bright for our console, especially with big bases like mine.

On the PC, earlier this week I saw an abandoned base past its timer. It evaporated into bags when I came into the area, but curiously a number of items stuck around. They all said Decayed yet had a timer of 40+ hours remaining. To test a theory, I placed a bomb on top of the vault that remained, and after leaving and returning, the vault had reset to regular decay. This was an enemy’s vault, your presence should be enough to refresh your base. Pre-patch structures and items, even portions of a base, may decay differently.

@Catspaw, make sure you extend the distance to max (10,000) in Event Log and filter by thrall, since you say some are missing with benches. I hope you can get to the bottom of it.

[Kwalya]

If your base was in a “decay” state ie the 24 hour period AFTER your decay timer expired then other players would be able to select “demolish” and interact with it or parts of it to despawn them.
I believe that should show in your event log. Probably as “Player demolished x”. If they did it to part of your buildings then it would have taken down everything linked to that building. But they could also just demolish one placeable (Eg chest, alter) at a time and that would leave the rest untouched.

[WhatMightHaveBeen]

Really, that gets a flag? It was a joke to lighten the mood, not make fun of anyone. People can call other people names on this forum, but bring a dog and his investigative friends, and someone takes offense???

[Catspaw]

Thank you all for the many great tips - in my first (so far) Event Log perusal, I did max out the proximity (10,000) & time (21 days). Sadly I did not find out that any destruction of my stations & chests was caused by any one else but me. So I’m left knowing I missed saving all those named thralls, quest pieces, legendary gear, etc. simply by not showing up at that base about 2 hours earlier… Arrrggghhhh!!!

The biggest irritation so far is realizing that losing my Cimmerian named armorer, Werk of the Lost Tribe, I cannot make or repair exceptional/flawless Cimmerian heavy armor… my favorite for the cold regions. And I’m getting my ■■■ kicked by the upgraded Cimmerian NPCs at the Mounds of the Dead village after the patch upgrades.

[Catspaw]

Do you mean someone flagged your last comment for being ‘inappropriate’? In what universe have we become so idiotic?

[Barnes]

If you were so inclined, and your toon’s character simpatico to the Asian stylings, the Khitan DLC armor has top-notch cold protection. And the Flawless variant can be made by any Named Armorer. I was “scene painting” near the Bridge of the Betrayer for the Building Contest recently and that stuff saved my bottom.

I’ve heard another issue recently, Boxes on shelves. Be careful if your boxes are on shelves attached to the inside of exterior walls. Purge beasts and other external threats can easily kill a shelf that appears to be well within one’s base. Then the box evaporates and so does the loot. Benches are similarly vulnerable if on the inside of exterior walls, but they take a great many more hits.

[WhatMightHaveBeen]

yeah, no biggie, just thought it was absurd, as i have seen way more “flag-able” stuff than an innocent joke about investigating the issue.

[Wak4863]

@Catspaw suggestions to midi gate decay per location. It sounds to me like you have an open base. When I say the I mean you have a wall with different buildings and platforms inside. Whether I’m on track or not you want everything connected. That means you have walkways built out if ceilings or foundations that connect every building piece together. This way every item has 1 timer and you don’t have to visit every shrine, fountain, wheel, carpet, platform, bench, ect. If you do this effectively when you step anywhere on the base everything will update. This may prove difficult to accomplish since you already have things placed and may not be able to link things without entirely rebuilding.

[Catspaw]

Thanks for that suggestion, I will implement the connectivity idea in all my current & future builds.
However, I don’t think that was part of the issue with the recent brutal gutting of my base because ALL the stations (improved; tannery, forge, armorer, blacksmith, cauldron plus carpenter, artisan, armorer, large campfire & cookstove), their thralls, several chests, cupboards & iceboxes that disappeared were INSIDE my keep that was made on one connected foundation. Yet the bed, table, chest on the upper floor were all intact.
The only thing that disappeared outside (but on same foundation) was a compost bin & one chest. ALL my altars disappeared except for an isolated Pit of Yog… which I never visit (?), even the ones connected to my Map Room base that is still there.