You can change world and live peacefully there (just refrain from killing any large deer).

As for this world, I believe that raid events only occur when you stay for long in a base.

I admit that I read the wiki before deciding to no looking for killing any boss until I have explored as much of my world as I could. Basically, I am searching for my first swamp crypt.

Originally posted by pipo.p:

As for this world, I believe that raid events only occur when you stay for long in a base.

Absolutely false, I was in my house only a few minutes after spending several days building a path through the forest to some stone structure that seems like it might have a dungeon in it or something.

Perhaps my mistake was buying this game without watching every cheesy view-grab YouTuber's 15-hour guide with commentary, first... The base game appears to be absolute crap for "going in blind".

At each boss kill, you'll "unlock" new kind of raids on your base (when you're in) that will be harder and harder. The occurence seems to be on a timer

Good luck

Build stake walls all around your land, and make sure the middle is filled with things like workbenches and campfires (they stop enemies from spawning near them). This at least makes it safe to roam your base without having to worry about a sudden raid spawning enemies a handful of feet away. If enemies do spawn, you can quickly run to eat some food if you need it, heal at the campfire, then engage them before they break any walls down.

If raids really bother you, there are mods to disable them.

Odin gave you a pickaxe. Use it to trench around your base, problem solved. Odin gave you the ability to make a hoe. It can make earthen walls to protect your trenched base. Not using Odin's gifts may disqualify you from reaching Valhalla, or certainly make your existence much more difficult.

Moats work very very well. You can run/jump up the walls to get out, mobs can't.

the raids are part of the game and the reason you need to build defences for your base
they get harder but also easier when you know what to expect
they happen randomly and are boss specific
if you dont want your base destroyed , step outside it and fight the enemies away from your structures
if you dont kill the bosses the raids dont get harder
if you don't want to deal with such things you are in the wrong game but i recommend playing through it

Originally posted by umop-apisdn:

...placing a torch next to a path through the forest requires a workbench for some reason,

Other people have addressed your primary concerns, but I thought I'd mention on this one, in case you didn't already know.

You need the workbench to construct that torch, but once you've placed it, you can destroy the workbench if you want. You just need it there to do the initial construction (and to perform 'repairs' if you want to later).

It definitely is an odd choice by the developers to have it work that way though, if that's all you were saying.

Originally posted by Jaggid Edje:

Originally posted by umop-apisdn:

...placing a torch next to a path through the forest requires a workbench for some reason,

Other people have addressed your primary concerns, but I thought I'd mention on this one, in case you didn't already know.

You need the workbench to construct that torch, but once you've placed it, you can destroy the workbench if you want. You just need it there to do the initial construction (and to perform 'repairs' if you want to later).

It definitely is an odd choice by the developers to have it work that way though, if that's all you were saying.

There are also some late game devises which take another turn. I'm thinking of workbenches being the requirement for fuel or other intractability in objects, since wisp torches lack either.

So the answer to "this 'difficulty curve' is a cliff" is to either not advance the game, or not play?

To those of you saying I should have gone outside, I did. I went out to fight, and was inundated by an entire army of Greydwarves, Greydwarf Brutes, Greydwarf Shamans, and Greylings. They poisoned me, threw rocks, and beat me to death before I made it off the porch... and then there was nothing to do but let them destroy my entire house, because the brutes one-shotted me every time I stood up from my bed.

How am I supposed to deal with that kind of offensive, with a leather shirt and my shiny new pick (which appears to be useless until I kill some fire demon things so I can build a smelter)?

I should have built a better base/defenses? Dig a moat? Seriously?

I just got back from getting my ass handed to me by some eldritch horror that looked vaguely like a deer that some Pokemon threw up on... when should I have dug a moat? How should I have dug a moat? With the hoe? That thing doesn't even flatten terrain right, never mind actually dig. When do I unlock the shovel?

The pick is the "shovel".

Get better at fighting. Learn to parry with a shield and then strike. Use a bow. The only threat in that raid is the brutes, and they can still be wrecked in seconds.

Moats are dug with the pick, no need for a shovel.

I had the same raid hit me right after I beat the first boss as well. I went outside and killed them all. But NOT by trying to charge into their midst and tank all of them at once.

I had already planted a LOT of trees around my base, so my strategy was to go into the trees and lure them to come after me. Because of all the trees they didn't all surround me at once and could not hit me with ranged attacks (trees provide cover). I was able to finish them off a few at a time, by always staying mobile, attacking the first few to reach me amid the trees, moving again, maintaining cover, rinse repeat.

As for avoiding being surrounded just trying to get outside in the first place, my base had a back door that is not accessible to mobs (it's elevated), so none of them were there. That's how I got out and into the woods in the first place.

I'm now near the end of what we currently have for the game (only one boss left) and have NEVER built a moat. The game is not at all 'impossible', but the raids are not to be trifled with, you need to have some kind of defensive plan in place and you also need to make sure you don't think the only way to approach them is to 'face tank' the entire raiding army at once.

The very first invasion I experienced with my friends was Eikthyr rallying creatures of the forest. That was easy. This week when I started on another world all over, we never had that event even during a week's time in game time.

The second-ever event I experienced was drakes. Literally a cold shower.

It's up to you how you fortify your home. Terrain, phase of the game and personal preferences play a large part in that. You don't have to dig a moat if you don't want to, but then you will certainly need sturdy walls. You can lay or stack various defenses behind or on top of each other. It's up to you to find the method that works best for you. Good luck.

Edit: Greydwarves are vulnerable to fire, consider making fire arrows.

Originally posted by Suzaku:

The pick is the "shovel".

Get better at fighting. Learn to parry with a shield and then strike. Use a bow. The only threat in that raid is the brutes, and they can still be wrecked in seconds.

The only threat to you might be the brutes, but I'm not wearing platemail, and I don't know what to do about the 20-yard range of poison spray the shamans, do, either. 30-40 monsters from a biome that's a 5-minute jog from my house materializing in my front yard is a bit... excessive, especially when the only warning I received was a brief message on my screen that says "The forest is moving."

The last time I saw a message like that, it was 4 pigs, 2 lizard things, and a Greyling or two... and they trickled in one or two at a time, they didn't materialize en masse right in front of my door.

Originally posted by umop-apisdn:

So the answer to "this 'difficulty curve' is a cliff" is to either not advance the game, or not play?

To those of you saying I should have gone outside, I did. I went out to fight, and was inundated by an entire army of Greydwarves, Greydwarf Brutes, Greydwarf Shamans, and Greylings. They poisoned me, threw rocks, and beat me to death before I made it off the porch... and then there was nothing to do but let them destroy my entire house, because the brutes one-shotted me every time I stood up from my bed.

How am I supposed to deal with that kind of offensive, with a leather shirt and my shiny new pick (which appears to be useless until I kill some fire demon things so I can build a smelter)?

I should have built a better base/defenses? Dig a moat? Seriously?

I just got back from getting my ass handed to me by some eldritch horror that looked vaguely like a deer that some Pokemon threw up on... when should I have dug a moat? How should I have dug a moat? With the hoe? That thing doesn't even flatten terrain right, never mind actually dig. When do I unlock the shovel?

That's correct. Contrary to common sense, the game "rewards" you for defeating bosses by periodically swarming you with mobs during peacetime. Accomplishing difficult things (finding/defeating bosses) necessarily makes the game more difficult (having those bosses' mobs find/defeat you). It makes little sense from anyone's perspective but the developers', because it "gives the player something to do," "keeps the player on their toes," "makes the player die more frequently," etc.