An improvement to item rot?

[MrDudeBroMan]

Hey all, quick idea here.
As it is, an item the degrades past the 'crumbling' stage without being repaired disappears entirely, right?
Well, would it be possible that instead of just ceasing to exist, it returns to being the materials it's made out of?
For example, if a shovel is sitting in storage for so long that it degrades entirely, instead of nothing being there, there will be an amount of iron (or whatever shovels are made of).
It doesn't necessarily have to be the full amount of materials either... An item that originally needed 300 grams of steel and 50 leather (just picking random numbers, here), if degraded, would end up as 200 grams of steel and 35 grams of leather, or something like that. I'm not too concerned with the amount lost, as long as there is at least SOMETHING left.

[Wolfsong]

I had always assumed degrading meant - rotting, rusting, etc. To my best knowledge, you can't reclaim stuff like that.

[returner]

Yeah. The intention for rotting is to create a resource 'economy', so that the world of Cantr isn't filled to the brim with junk. Imagine if there was no outlet for resources.. eventually we would be knee-deep in junk. Of course, I know that your suggestion still allows for rotting to happen eventually (in that the resources will rot away too) but it's too slow. The current system is good, if not fast enough.

[catpurr]

. eventually we would be knee-deep in junk.

We are knee-deep in junk in repair projects.
We are knee-deep in junk of buildings nobody cares of.
We are knee-deep in junk of vehicles nobody cares of.
We *are* knee-deep in junk!

[returner]

. eventually we would be knee-deep in junk.

We are knee-deep in junk in repair projects.
We are knee-deep in junk of buildings nobody cares of.
We are knee-deep in junk of vehicles nobody cares of.
We *are* knee-deep in junk!

Exactly right. This is why we don't want more junk being made. This is why we don't want to slow the process of junk removal.

Think of it this way. The binman comes to your home every week in real life and collects your rubbish.
If this idea was implemented, the binman would come every month, and you'd have a lot of junk piling up. If the binman only takes a certain amount of rubbish at a time, you'd get to a point where you can't get rid of all your rubbish.

[Kaizerwolf]

. eventually we would be knee-deep in junk.

We are knee-deep in junk in repair projects.
We are knee-deep in junk of buildings nobody cares of.
We are knee-deep in junk of vehicles nobody cares of.
We *are* knee-deep in junk!

Exactly right. This is why we don't want more junk being made. This is why we don't want to slow the process of junk removal.

Think of it this way. The binman comes to your home every week in real life and collects your rubbish.
If this idea was implemented, the binman would come every month, and you'd have a lot of junk piling up. If the binman only takes a certain amount of rubbish at a time, you'd get to a point where you can't get rid of all your rubbish.

Now, who's to say that iron and wood from a shovel are junk? Hell, I think this is a great idea. But, let's say we make it only for things that don't use bone or stone in them, like a shovel for example, or a degrading iron trowel. Why not have it degrade back into the iron and wood it was made out of so it can be used AGAIN?

[BZR]

I don't like this idea, Cantr economy is toward infinity without this.