Building

In HEAT, players can create their own structures to protect themselves, their families, and their possessions from threats. Establishing a homestead, no matter the appearance, is vital to survival in the world of HEAT.

## Land Claims

*Main Article: Land Claims*
In HEAT, a playing can claim a plot of land, designated with an x,y coordinate. To claim a plot of land, one must first craft a land claim flag, craftable in the player's inventory by default. Once a land claim flag is in the player's possession, it can be right clicked on the ground as long as certain conditions are met, such as the plot of land not already being claimed and that their are no obstructions blocking the flag from being placed.

A land claim flag located on a plot of land with no structures built on it does not need to pay taxes. Once a flag has been placed and their is nothing in its inventory, it can be moved by the player who placed it or by another player with appropriate security clearance. Once their are structures added onto the claimed plot of land, then the player must pay taxes, adjustable by the President, or else the structures will begin to decay.

## Placing Structures

To place a structure, the player must be in possession of a Building Planner. It can be crafted in the player's inventory with 1 cotton and 1 stick. Holding interact, default "E", will allow the player to choose which building piece they wish to create first. Using the planner the first tier of building will be created, which can be upgraded later using a building hammer.

When placing a structure, the orientation of the building piece may matter for aesthetics. The orientation does not have an effect on the relative hit points of the building piece. The building piece, when using the planner, will be highlighted blue if all conditions have been met and it can be placed, and will show "Interior" and "Exterior" on those respective sides. Some building tiers have a different interior and exterior appearance.

A player can place as structure as long as all of the conditions have been met. Those conditions being the appropriate amount of sticks in the player's inventory, no obstructions in the way of the entity, not within another player's owned land claim without adequate security clearance, and not in proximity to bandit camps or other NPC locations that do not allow building.

A - The controls when using a Building Planner. Z toggles the grid on the ground on/off.

B - How many materials you have/need to build the building piece.

C - The statistics for the building piece. For example, the stick foundation is 100% resistant to piercing damage, but 0% resistant to the other types of damage because they are not shown. Upkeep is the percentage of materials you need to repair the building piece if it becomes damaged.

D - The wheel that let's you select the category of building pieces you would like to use. Once you choose a categorym such as walls, you can then choose exactly which piece you would like, such as a wall with a doorway.

E - Using the scroll wheel you can choose to directly build the building tier of your preference, so long as you have the materials in your inventory.

## Upgrading Structures

To upgrade a structure the player needs a building hammer. While the term "upgrade" is used the structure building tier can be changed to any of the tiers, regardless of ranking. For example, brick can be changed to timber (which may be considered a downgrade), and log can be changed to stone (which may be considered an upgrade). The higher the building tier the more resistant the building piece is to the various types of damage.

There are three different tools the player can use to upgrade a building piece:

## Decay

*Main Article: Decay*
Plots of land that do not have enough money in the flag to pay taxes will begin to decay. The money is taken out of the land claim flag after set intervals and put in the President's Safe. If there is an adequate amount of money in the flag then structures within that plot of land will begin to repair.

Once structures have decayed they will be destroyed over time, not all at once, so if a player returns to a land claim that has decayed there is still time to add more money into the flag before the entire homestead disappears.

## Repair

Damaged structures will repair over time so long as their is an adequate amount of money in the land claim flag for which plot of land the structure stands on. To repair the structure faster, select a construction hammer tool, hold interact (default "E"), and choose "Repair." The player can now repair a building piece if they have the correct materials in their inventory.