Cut upkeep with the decay and repair trick

Interior walls decay at only a tenth of the normal rate, yet an upkeep payment repairs them as fast as an outside wall. So if you let your inner armored...

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Interior walls decay at only a tenth of the normal rate, yet an upkeep payment repairs them as fast as an outside wall. So if you let your inner armored core lose a little health and then pay upkeep in one go, you pay for the repair and not for 24 hours of full upkeep. Written up for armored cores, the saving can be large. It only pays off for blocks you are happy to see damaged for a while, such as an interior that nobody can reach.

TIER MAX HEALTH TIME TO FULLY DECAY HEALTH LOST PER 10 MINUTES (OUTSIDE) INTERIOR (A TENTH)

Twig 10 1 hour 1.67 0.167

Wood 250 3 hours 13.88 1.388

Stone 500 5 hours 16.67 1.67

Metal 1,000 8 hours 20.83 2.08

Armored 2,000 12 hours 27.78 2.78

How upkeep works: each block has its own 10 minute timer. When it ends, the block takes its share of upkeep if the cupboard has it. If not, it takes damage. If it was already damaged and upkeep is paid, it is repaired. The cupboard checks every 10 seconds for expired timers.

Tax brackets match the Upkeep and decay times guide: 10% on blocks 1 to 15, 15% on 16 to 65, 20% on 66 to 190, 33.3% from 191. Each block pays its own bracket and the total is rounded up.

The circuit: the small battery's fully charged output powers a timer. The timer feeds the blocker's block input. The battery's power output goes into the blocker, and the blocker's output powers the conveyor. The conveyor's pass-through goes to its own turn-on input. Its filter fail output goes back to the timer. When the timer runs out, power flows, the conveyor transfers and then trips the timer again, which blocks the power. Keep the battery fed with 2 rW so it stays full.