Oh, boy. The foundations again. Yes, the foundations have an effect on server performance. Mostly it’s calculations for the stability graph and the claim. But there’s no reason for that code to run frequently. It should happen at the server boot and whenever there’s a change (i.e. building pieces are placed or removed).
Even if the impact was more significant than that, if you look at the screenshots in the developer stream recap, you can compare the differences in the footprint. Even if you decide to expand your base horizontally, instead of vertically, I doubt that the increase in the surface area will make a significant impact on the server performance.
So this whole “but think of the server performance!” argument really needs to be substantiated, instead of tossed around like it’s some kind of gospel.