Built a massive base with some friends in black forest by merchant, along the shore. We constantly improved over time. Not too long after we discovered stone my buddies decided to dig out under the base to make a "basement". I was nervous that it would harm the structural integrity of our base above , but it didn't. Had a massive portal dungeon down there. More than 20.

Well, I made a cave under a large rock beside a dungeon. Had no problem making room for a workbench and a portal. Had to level out the floor with a hoe though.

Incidently, one side of my cave apparently ran up against the dungeon outside wall and that side has a different texture from the normal rocks.

Originally posted by Ryzilynt:

Not too long after we discovered stone my buddies decided to dig out under the base to make a "basement". I was nervous that it would harm the structural integrity of our base above , but it didn't.

That's all-or-nothing. Tiny shards of the floaty rock will happily hover there and support your giant fortress 100% until someone hits the one cubic inch hotspot that was holding the entire boulder in place. Then bad things.

Something I also found useful was to take over those stone buildings you see. It takes very little effort to board up a few of the holes and put a door on the front. If you build some stairs inside, it can be a nice little sniper tower to take out trolls.

Originally posted by WhamyKaBlamy:

Something I also found useful was to take over those stone buildings you see. It takes very little effort to board up a few of the holes and put a door on the front. If you build some stairs inside, it can be a nice little sniper tower to take out trolls.

Yeah, You can also through core wood poles of the top in every direction and frame it out. Counts as grounded. I've converted a few of those into massive portal forts.

You can dig under the Elder summoning alter with picks and use it as shelter and fire.

No to the dungeons. You can only build a campfire in those.
Yes to any dugout cave. Make the entrance to underneath your boulder or ore cave small or uneven enough and you can trick the path finding of all enemies.

Don't think it'll let you build in a dungeon. But your general reasoning is solid and agree it's a smart thing to do in the forest and mountain; you can still make this work.

I have portals and the crafting table (to build it and prevent nearby spawns) in relatively undefended but useful locations such as the middle of a copper mine or silver mine that I'm mining. It's quite useful as you'll collect huge amounts of stone while mining and this way you can immediately save all of it in your home base without affecting your ore collection.
Just make there are no enemies close by when you use it because if an enemy comes after you and you jump in the portal, it can target the portal and destroy it. But even if that happens, you're already running back and forth anyway, so you're no worse off.

If you want to be a bit more secure, just build a few walls around it or put it in a nearby skeleton tower, but that's not really needed most of the time.

The player can't, at this time, dig a cave. One may dig a trench and cover it with structures but that is a lot of work. Haven't tried a Burial Chamber or a Troll Cave. The Chamber seems awfully cramped for a portal. A cleared out Troll Cave wold have to be close to the shore to be worthwhile.

I would build a structure close to the shore just large enough to hold a portal and a chest or two. Trolls won't go after a portal if they can't see it. Load the ore into the chest or chests until you are ready to sail after it.

You can use some of the crypt entrances as mini camps. I actually turned one into a base for a while. You can fit a bed and workstation in under the entrance rock of the big stair ones. The stand alone ones can fit a bed and workstation as well. Couple of walls and a door and your done. I tend to put the fire outside and house it separately although the one in the wide stairs I had the fire inside as well. The hole in the wall type ... not really anything I could figure out easily to use.

You can also tunnel under big boulders or just dig a deep enough trench to keep out the enemies.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2509631140

This base is under a large copper deposit.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2509633689

Originally posted by warrenchmobile:

The player can't, at this time, dig a cave. One may dig a trench and cover it with structures but that is a lot of work. Haven't tried a Burial Chamber or a Troll Cave. The Chamber seems awfully cramped for a portal. A cleared out Troll Cave wold have to be close to the shore to be worthwhile.

I would build a structure close to the shore just large enough to hold a portal and a chest or two. Trolls won't go after a portal if they can't see it. Load the ore into the chest or chests until you are ready to sail after it.

You can dig a small cave under boulders and ore deposits.

Originally posted by wizard_of_woz:

You can dig a small cave under boulders and ore deposits.

and entrances to dungeons too

Originally posted by warrenchmobile:

The player can't, at this time, dig a cave. One may dig a trench and cover it with structures but that is a lot of work. Haven't tried a Burial Chamber or a Troll Cave. The Chamber seems awfully cramped for a portal. A cleared out Troll Cave wold have to be close to the shore to be worthwhile.

Originally posted by Wariat117:

Originally posted by wizard_of_woz:

You can dig a small cave under boulders and ore deposits.

and entrances to dungeons too

Thanks, Yes I've dug out under a copper deposit . Worked fairly well to keep a troll from squashing me. I have yet to find a troll cave, but since a troll lived there, they could enter to kill me I think.

Once you've killed the troll the entrance to a troll cave can be used, but not inside the cave.

You can totally make cave bases with portals and crafting areas, just make sure you vent properly and do it in the right spot.

Inside a troll cave or dungeon, nope, but you can build over them and make them your own, and that includes the Bonesmass skull spawn area.