Few ideas...

[darnokpl]

So you want a direct bonus to town's defenses when citizens are active. That's very lackluster, boring and unintuitive "solution".

More active (playing the game each day) towns are more civilized, more civilized town got better protection.

And that's what I meant. Active as in doing stuff in game, not just being online

Game mechanic should reward active and dedicated players (dedicated doesn't have be mean no-life) and make easier to raid and robb dying towns.

[Procne]

Game mechanic should reward active and dedicated players (dedicated doesn't have be mean no-life) and make easier to raid and robb dying towns.

But not in this way. It begs for bucket bots doing stuff only to boost the meter. No, if you are active and want to defend yourself then you build defenses. There were plenty of ideas in the past better than this one, most about new defensive structures or enhancements to the existing ones.

[Thor]

I think you are trying to fix something here that is not broken.
Salem already has a few good defence mechanics on it's own to help more peaceful crafters.

Is there a limitation on how many braziers you can make? NOPE. So stop being a lazy bum and make a ***** of them if you want defence.
Wall splash damage? Now requires a bit of work planning the town (which is a good thing I think), but walls are still pretty damn useful.
Legacy-QQ-titans? Not a problem anymore soon.

And there's the town claim. If someone wants to raid you they actually have to use resources and silver from their bell to do it.
You also get a pretty damn good heads up if someone intends to do so. You can also destroy it in the last 4 hours to make your town invulnerable again.
And what stops the peaceful town from defending their property?

[darnokpl]

I think you are trying to fix something here that is not broken.
Salem already has a few good defence mechanics on it's own to help more peaceful crafters.

Ok, can you give me any example of such? Anything except Mushi vs tribe please.

Is there a limitation on how many braziers you can make? NOPE.

Yes, in-game time is limit here.

So stop being a lazy bum and make a ***** of them if you want defence.

Does "*****" of braziers can protect town for 8 hours of sleep + 8 hours of work/study/etc?

Wall splash damage? Now requires a bit of work planning the town (which is a good thing I think), but walls are still pretty damn useful.
Legacy-QQ-titans? Not a problem anymore soon.

Here I can agree with you.

And there's the town claim. If someone wants to raid you they actually have to use resources and silver from their bell to do it.
You also get a pretty damn good heads up if someone intends to do so. You can also destroy it in the last 4 hours to make your town invulnerable again.
And what stops the peaceful town from defending their property?

Yes I get heads up that while I will be at work someone will destroy few weeks of my work, great news!

[darnokpl]

Game mechanic should reward active and dedicated players (dedicated doesn't have be mean no-life) and make easier to raid and robb dying towns.

But not in this way. It begs for bucket bots doing stuff only to boost the meter. No, if you are active and want to defend yourself then you build defenses. There were plenty of ideas in the past better than this one, most about new defensive structures or enhancements to the existing ones.

Bots that level up profs or make auto-gluttony that would be interesting:)

[Procne]

Game mechanic should reward active and dedicated players (dedicated doesn't have be mean no-life) and make easier to raid and robb dying towns.

But not in this way. It begs for bucket bots doing stuff only to boost the meter. No, if you are active and want to defend yourself then you build defenses. There were plenty of ideas in the past better than this one, most about new defensive structures or enhancements to the existing ones.

Bots that level up profs or make auto-gluttony that would be interesting:)

For the purpose of this mechanic they would be easier to make than haybots or limebots :/
Plus it would add whole another layer for balancing - what would be the maximum bonus, how much would gluttony and proficiencies increase it and at what skill levels, how would it scale with number of people in town, should it be feasible for both small towns and big ones, and so on...

And it leads to people leveling up alts to bump the bonus instead of building actual defenses

[darnokpl]

For the purpose of this mechanic they would be easier to make than haybots or limebots :/
Plus it would add whole another layer for balancing - what would be the maximum bonus, how much would gluttony and proficiencies increase it and at what skill levels, how would it scale with number of people in town, should it be feasible for both small towns and big ones, and so on...

And it leads to people leveling up alts to bump the bonus instead of building actual defenses

Bots are problem, but I've never heard about gluttony bot so far and I think that more complex gluttony will only make botting harder.
As for balancing well yea, but it could be one more thing that would force people to make bigger groups.

updated OP, forgot about one important thing:/

[Darwoth]

but it could be one more thing that would force people to make bigger groups.

contrary to popular belief most people do not want to be "forced into bigger groups" *****.

[darnokpl]

but it could be one more thing that would force people to make bigger groups.

contrary to popular belief most people do not want to be "forced into bigger groups" *****.

You are right, but it is salem issue in any other game people like large guilds/groups because they can chat/talk each other and game is more fun for them and they doesn't feel forced it is natural to stay in group.
In salem solo game is mistake, towns with 10+ people are more interesting and more fun, sadly terrible town management and key to every gate in every noob pocket does work like you said, people are avoiding larger groups and prefer to play only with real life friends.

[Thor]

Treachery, spying and backstabbing are the charm of Salem no matter what you think. Better town management would just make everything boring.