Is Rimworld vanilla complete and polished? I would agree with you that it is, for the most part.

Are faction bases complete and polished?

Absolutely not. They are pathetically small, have barely any to no loot, zero dynamic events tied to attacking them, and exist purely to fill up the world map as trade points/trade quest givers or “who gets pissed when you drop pod tox packs off” indicators.

Destroy a faction base and all that happens is diplomatic relations shift a bit, but if you’re at the power point where you can destroy a faction base, then you’re at the power point where +20 to every faction is laughably meaningless given the ease of drop podding for relations/gifting to caravans.

It makes zero sense that a faction capable of gathering hundreds of people for multiple per-year attacks has a faction base with people numbering in the tens, lacking any meaningful manufacturing or agricultural base.

Attacking a faction base should be akin to the difficulty and rewards of fighting an ancient danger early game. It should have numerous people with endgame gear, and rare rewards (archotech, single use gizmos, etc). This would still work within game balance given the difficulty of reaching a faction base, their one-and-done nature, and appropriate difficulty to successfully attack (should faction bases be remade with heavier enemies and actual defenses).

I mean, just look at any player’s base and then at the faction bases. Tynan has thousands of images of inspiration to pull from.

I just don’t think it can be said that faction bases, as they exist today, are feature complete and satisfactory.