[2023] Removed building stuff...why?

You couldn't build the deco cables between power poles previously, so this wasn't removed.

Concrete update was re-designed for a number of reasons. You aren't likely to see the old system return.

Wood log spikes were removed due to an exploit. They are buildable now in the current block system, but no longer deal damage. A block like that doing damage is not likely to return because of how it screwed up AI pathing, and was exploitable by rotating it 180 degrees vertically.

Originally posted by Santa Heavy:

Originally posted by SylenThunder: Wood log spikes were removed due to an exploit. They are buildable now in the current block system, but no longer deal damage. A block like that doing damage is not likely to return because of how it screwed up AI pathing, and was exploitable by rotating it 180 degrees vertically.

Although surely they would have found a fix for them, instead of removing them? Unless it was more effort then what it was worth.
It doesn’t make sense to remove things when you could instead fix them.

The issues with it were twofold. First there was the fact that any of the sides dealt damage. The other was that the block shape would trip up the zombie AI when they encountered it. The AI bit has been fixed I believe, but it is not as easy to exclude the damage from only one face of the block.

Originally posted by DL Jack: Thank you for the info! There were cables in the past, it could be that they were added automatically when poles were placed. Are there now any deco cables to place?

You might be talking about the electricity system. Hanging wires are drawn between electrical components (e.g. generators, relays, and anything that takes power), but only while you have the wire tool equipped. I believe it was decided that this looked better aesthetically, though not drawing them most of the time probably marginally improves performance too.

If you are talking about cable-shaped blocks between big utility poles, I don’t think those were ever a thing except for within a POI here and there. If you’re talking about the shape I’m thinking of, it was just a flat ‘card’, and they’ve been updating those kinds of shapes with better looking, more 3D replacements.

The cables used to be visible all the time, when electricity was first implemented. It was always controversial. Some people wanted to see them. Others wanted a clean base without the clutter of wires. They had to go to considerable lengths to hide the wires in the walls, or else live with it. Since the devs have tried it both ways, it seems unlikely they’d change it back now. Maybe it could be an in-game option, the way you can turn the bounds of a land claim block on or off. If your biggest gripe is seeing the relays unwired, you could use the same techniques used before to hide the relays in the walls.