Originally posted by sarteck:

The main problem with this method is that you lose a bit of stability, since your "floor" is not directly touching the ground. For smaller builds, this doesn't really matter, but if you're building a few stories up, those foundation pieces touching ground are crucial.

I see... thank you.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2434814390
;)

Originally posted by sarteck:

but I always destroyed the bottom row of stairs after each use. With no ways for the enemies to get in,

another thing that works, if a bit on the cheesy side, is to leave a small 'air gap'. i use floor panels. it should be small enough that you can walk over it w/ or w/out a cart (about the width of the horizontal item stands). it breaks the path finding of mobs and they wont cross over it. works just like a cattle guard.

as mentioned before. you can get it "level enough" for easy building with every necessary piece touching the ground.

The raise ground ability with the hoe and the lower terrain ability of the pickaxe snap the terrain to certain increments. The "level ground" ability of the hoe allows you to move the ground within one increment. This means that just using level ground, you'll find areas with slight divots or mounds that won't go away no matter how many times you level them...because the mounds are at the lowest point in that increment, and the divots are at the highest point in the increment.

Now, of course, you just go and use the hoe to raise those divots and OMG!!! now its a giant hill! WTF?!? Don't worry! You just raised the terrain into the next increment....NOW the level terrain feature of the hoe will work, and it will level it even with the rest of the terrain. Same thing with using the pickaxe to lower those mounds.

It takes trial and error, it takes going over the same area of ground sometimes several times (you fix a divot, but then after re-levelling it, you only fixed HALF the divot, so you need to raise the area a little to the side of the first one, etc.). Eventually, though, you end up with a completely flat area for building, where wood floors or stone slabs will easily sit flat and be supported.

Basically:

1. Get it "close" - level the area with the hoe, and get any lower areas to be raised up with the hoe, and any higher areas smacked with the pickaxe.
2. use the hoe on the areas you needed to raise or lower with hoe/pickaxe. this will likely "overcorrect" and give you a hill where you had a divot, or vice versa....do NOT attempt to fix the overcorrect with raise/lower...instead:
3. use the "level ground" on the overcorrected areas, they should be perfectly flat now....or at least that exact spot should be....you might have a divot or a mound right next to the one you just fixed that wasn't included in the area of the first "fix"
4. repeat as necessary until the entire area is good.

I also suggest you work on the moat FIRST, since the game is made up of hidden squares of terrain. If you try to make a straight edge moat along a line that isn't a straight edge of the squares, you'll get a zigzag cliff face that looks like \/\/\/\/\ instead of -------

One thing that can help somewhat to avoid accidental rising or lowering of the flattening of the terrain is to use wooden logs or similar as sort of a guide. Not a perfect solution by any means, but more of an extra tool.

Also, sometimes you get to sort of lumps in the terrain that do not want to flatten. A pickaxe can be a good friend in those times.

Originally posted by Daft Unikorn:

Originally posted by sarteck:

For example, this:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2799324054

was that just raising ground or digging around the shape? cause I want to build a castle style building with a moat, and a drawbridge im guessing isn't possible so I could do just multiple layers of walls

It was a little of both. Do you see the trees in the middle? I started smoothing the land in that area, and while I was waiting for the trees to grow (for stability reasons) I expaned the smoothing outward.

In the "front," I ended up having to raise the land a bit, in the back I had to lower it a bit. Then I dug the trench around it. I made sure that the building itself was far enough away from the edges so that stone-throwing trolls would not be able to damage it.

The trenches occasionally filled with enemies from raids (particularly blobs, though I'd get some fulings in there every now and then).

Regarding a drawbridge, I'm afraid that's impossible (at least without mods). I had a front "gate" that I would use to move carts from the nearby harbor I made to that "palace," but I always destroyed the bottom row of stairs after each use. With no ways for the enemies to get in, I was able to safely AFK there while I was not concentrating on the games, mostly because of the trench.

If you're particularly interested in how it's set up, I could re-open my server and shoot you an invite. Mind you, I haven't actually played for quite a while, so it may take a bit for me to work out any connection issues.

As of late I have been repurposing abandoned Draugr villages. I will make a shelter with portal out of the largest building, then I will demolish all or most of the remaining buildings. The ground under these buildings is perfectly flat and is the perfect size for garden plots. I have even come across a couple of villages that had half their area in the meadows biome and half in the plains biome providing me with a plot for barley, a plot for flax, and 2 plots for vegetables. I was left with a smaller building I use for forge, workbench, chests for seeds & sundries and hooks for cultivator & butchers knife. A large remaining building I used for taming boars, placing doors on both ends, then getting the 2 star nearby boars to chase me into it.

Flattening is always done at the height your character is, no matter where you aim. Whenever you are flattening, make sure that your character is standing on an already flattened part.

Thanks for the help exactly when i need to know it

Originally posted by Daft Unikorn:

impossible to get a a perfectly level ground, most games I wouldn't care but seeing how the building works in this game, I feel like it's vital

Alternatively, you could worry less about an impeccably flat terrain as a foundation and simply raise the floor of the building and then it's a much easier task to build a flat floor ;)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2440186645
What is it you want to build?

Originally posted by BaLuX:

Flattening is always done at the height your character is, no matter where you aim. Whenever you are flattening, make sure that your character is standing on an already flattened part.

This is very true for building flat areas for foundations. However, here's another tip...

If you are looking to build roads, it's often times advantageous to flatten relative to your surroundings, and NOT relative to where your character is standing. For this, hold down the "CTRL" key (or maybe it was SHIFT, but I'm pretty sure it was CTRL) while flattening. The area will then be flattened relative to its surroundings and NOT relative to where your character is standing.

As I mentioned, this is a very nifty feature when trying to build roads and paths, especially if you plan on using carts.

Originally posted by grapplehoeker:

Originally posted by Daft Unikorn:

impossible to get a a perfectly level ground, most games I wouldn't care but seeing how the building works in this game, I feel like it's vital

Alternatively, you could worry less about an impeccably flat terrain as a foundation and simply raise the floor of the building and then it's a much easier task to build a flat floor ;)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2440186645
What is it you want to build?

The main problem with this method is that you lose a bit of stability, since your "floor" is not directly touching the ground. For smaller builds, this doesn't really matter, but if you're building a few stories up, those foundation pieces touching ground are crucial.

Originally posted by sarteck:

For example, this:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2799324054

was that just raising ground or digging around the shape? cause I want to build a castle style building with a moat, and a drawbridge im guessing isn't possible so I could do just multiple layers of walls

level enough to build.. yes, totally possible.

Rick and Morty style of "level," is a no way in Hel.

Yes, it's very possible. With the hoe, stand in one place, and get everything as level as you can. in areas that are higher than normal, go whack them once or twice with the pickaxe, then go back to your "level" area and use the hoe to smooth it out. In areas lower than your level areas, use the hoe to raise the ground one, then smooth it out with normal how usage.

Rinse and repeat.

I've made some very large flat areas doing this.

There is also mods that can increase the hoe radius, I believe.

For example, this:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2799324054