Demolition

[Agar]

No, not of a building already standing.

But, on those half finished projects the have been abandoned with like 738g of 25000g stone added and no stone around to finish it, the effort of completing a project like that is tremendous, and the end result is a building nobody wants.

So why not have a LARGE time limit before you can demolish the building, like the one for cancelling others new projects, but much bigger, then lay on it with sledgehammer. Maybe chisel too. Wood would require hammer and maybe crowbar too.

The materials invested in the projects could be reclaimed, in part. Say, around 50% to 75% with random deviation.

If the project has been worked on, no demolition should be possible, since all the materials are there. Just finish it and deal with it. But abandoned buildings with missing materials should be able to come down after it's positive they're ghosts. Wait time of around 20 or 40 days before demolition, maybe more; but that value could be posted in an error message when new projects are selected for demotion, like "Project may not be demolished for 30 days after initiation." or something.

[The Industriallist]

In theory you ought to be able to just take the resources...at the 'zero work' point they're just sitting in a heap anyway.

Also, your 'long time limit' seems to be a very out-of-character rule... If I can take it apart ten years after it is abandoned, why not 9, or 5, or while the guy is standing there meditating on the meaning of adding resources to a project and then not working on it?

[AoM]

Make demolition a project, with a length of time to complete dependant on how far along the project has been completed. Or however many resources have been gathered for the project.

Sledgehammer sounds good. Maybe a crowbar too.

[Agar]

They're not neccesarily at a 'zero work' state. That would be the pile on the ground thieves keep running of with. When they're added to a project, they get shaped and fitted and mortared and what not, leaving them slightly less than before.

The loss of resources and large time limit, however long the game guys feel is appropriate, is to make this not a friviolous action. It takes a long time to gather such quantities of materials, and one person working alone cannot carry all of it by themselves in most cases. If a person could come along at any given moment and tear down what was going to be a future home on a whim, just to see if they could, it would lead to strife.

"Hey! That guy stole my house!"

I don't want to deal with that, do you?