If your base had an upkeep cost related to it’s land claim size and total number of components, along with upkeep for thralls, to prevent decay…
Many existent resources could become important.

But not at current harvest rates, and not with their general dispersion. Resources are too abundant on the maps. Spice, is by nature, somewhat limited, perilous to harvest, and the majority of Arakis is a big ole no build zone for anything permanent. So the resource has to be acquired and moved.

Builds require the material they are made of, thralls require food, perhaps land claim requires corrupted stone to fuel the Malevolence that prevents others from building in your sovereign zone…

But we run afoul of an issue.
Build exclusion zones would need to be significantly expanded. Otherwise we would see some pretty awful stuff.

Unless they added a new harvestable and a new clan limitations system so that your land claim and thrall count are limited by the clan’s current running 7 day productivity of the MacGuffin it wouldn’t really feel coherent would it? And that is a radical change.

Dune makes it easy, Spice is the reason people are on Arakis.
V Rising has blood, because vampires.

Why are we in the Exiled Lands?
To acquire ancient swag for Toth Amon basically.

Conan Exiles could have what then? Fragments of Power that must be tithed to Toth Amon or he sends his Starcaller mages to destroy your hut, and removes his protection that facilities are not to be destroyed if they are productive and let’s everyone else do the deed? Legendary weapons that must be deposited in a cart in Sepermeru?

In short, it would require the addition of an upkeep system of some sort, and those are always contentious.