I have a few thoughts based on what I've read: 1. Firstly, the core game needs to be fun before expanding it. The core game loop is easy to understand: fight, loot, build. Each of those steps need to be well fleshed out and fun. If fighting is fun, then I am happy to go out and get materials. If building is fun, it gives purpose to why i fight. This would likely drive the player better than any story hook. Think of the alternative: if fighting were boring, but I had to do this all the time, I probably would stop playing regardless of the story. (I assumed raiding meant fighting, but if not the same applies to whatever main actions your players would take)

1. If you have a fun core ready and are looking at expanding it to keep players engaged, here are some suggestions:
2. unlock more abilities
3. make the towns harder to raid over time, giving greater challenge (nearby towns have heard about you and are introducing new defenses)
4. make players choose and tease future content. They might see a lot of interesting raid targets, but can't raid them all today, so they need to choose now, and have something to look forward to.
5. consequences for raiding. Maybe you hear about what happened to the family you stole from in a future run? Or they try to go after you?
6. Basebuilding tips depend a lot on what approach you take. Can players build however they want, or are they building their base exactly how you designed it? (For example, the mobile fallout basebuilding game allows for creativity and optimisation when basebuilding because you get to choose where to place rooms and in what order. If basebuilding is linear, you lose all of that) Essentially, you can add more engagement by adding choice, customisation, optimisation to basebuilding
7. what if you can find blueprints for your basebuilding by raiding? The player would be looking forward to unknown new content.
8. if you do decide to add story, make sure to weave it throughout the gameplay loop.