On my latest run through I just found a fabulous place for a Plains farm, so nice and flat, lovely view. Ha, there was just one small kind of unusually flattish looking rock in the center that turned out to be a huge rock the size of a large copper deposit. I had to dig it out then refill (yes I could have moved the farm but had already trenched all around it) Then I got to fill it all back in with the hoe using a combo of flattening and filling. I still get full frames there, only had a few dimples and it turned out much better than I thought it would. And the plants don't die from having rock hidden underground under them. But it took days to do. Tricky devs.

tldr: Before committing to a farm spot in the plains now, beware the flattish rocks. They are like icebergs.

There is an additional benefit to creating a small village with separate outbuildings, each containing a specific base structure, especially if one tries to space them at least 40 metres apart. The prerequisites for triggering invasion events require the player to be within 40 meters of at least 3 base structures (this is not required for the "You are being hunted..." event).

Most of my remote headquarters are abandoned Draugr villages, where I have repaired and repurposed all the buildings. I never place a forge, workbench, stone-cutter in the same building, nor does my bedchamber have any crafting structures in close proximity. Rather than level ground for gardening plots I will take down an outbuilding or two, leaving me with a perfectly level and decent sized gardening plot. The best benefit is I never get invaded, and no lag means gardening is still fun.

A good way to get a flat ground is trying to understand what the hoe basically does and how it works.
In general it's like
if you stay on higher ground, it raises the marked area to the level you're on and vice versa.
If you want some sort of transition, locate yourself directly on the point you want to adjust and use the hoe right beneath you.

Keep in mind that the effect is also affected by the surrounding materials.
For example if you try to use the hoe on a block (area) that contains both soil and stone, it might have a bigger effect on the soil area than on the stone one.

Another thing you need to keep an eye on is the height difference between two adjacent blocks.
It case the difference is too big, the how can't process a proper transition and the result looks terraced.

To avoid this you might want to extend the way between those two levels.
For example if you want to build a way up a cliff or a mountain, there's a good chance the height difference too big in order to built a nice flat way up.
In that case build serpentines, like you'd do in reality.

If a way becomes too bumby, use zhe pickaxe to remove the bumbs and the how to flatten it again afterwards

So when you get stone, keep in mind the stone path function is not a cover. It works the same as a hoe and will change your elevation again. A ‘feature’ I hate.

Originally posted by Complaintdesk:

There is an additional benefit to creating a small village with separate outbuildings, each containing a specific base structure, especially if one tries to space them at least 40 metres apart. The prerequisites for triggering invasion events require the player to be within 40 meters of at least 3 base structures (this is not required for the "You are being hunted..." event).

Most of my remote headquarters are abandoned Draugr villages, where I have repaired and repurposed all the buildings. I never place a forge, workbench, stone-cutter in the same building, nor does my bedchamber have any crafting structures in close proximity. Rather than level ground for gardening plots I will take down an outbuilding or two, leaving me with a perfectly level and decent sized gardening plot. The best benefit is I never get invaded, and no lag means gardening is still fun.

You can achieve the same thing with a 'living base' and a secondary 'everything else' base. No need to have a million other spots. Also, simply using earthen walls stops a lot of trouble from happening. Any old enclosed stone structure will stop air raids from being overly problematic, too.

Originally posted by cygnusx1:

Has anyone else encountered uncertainty with the Hoe and land flattening? sometimes I notice a big divot or dimple that just will not even out to the height.

I'm not sure why.

In my experience it seems there are 2 elements that lead to dimples:
1.) There is simply not enough land available to distribute the available land in such a way that everything will level out nicely. In the instances of a divot it is necessary to raise the earth where the dimple lies then level.

2.) There is too much land in one spot for the hoe to be able to level that specific area, thus a pimple or high spot will occur. In this case the pickaxe must be used to remove some material.

There are times in both the above scenarios where simply beginning the levelling process from a different direction will fix the issue.

Originally posted by Uthael:

Originally posted by FissionChips:

That, plus I usually stand on wooden floor pieces snapped together to be certain I'm completely level.

Oh, and if you want smoother gradients as well then holding the shift key levels to the target rather than where you're standing.

Standing on a block levels the ground to the point the ground is at straight below you. In other words, blocks are ignored.
Holding Shift averages the target position. This can cause the exact target point to rise or drop as well.

I don't believe that blocks are ignored, but even if they are my point still stands that I use them to be certain I'm completely level. No matter how careful I think I am without blocks, if I check it with blocks it's completely out. Meanwhile standing on blocks works.

Originally posted by Foxglovez:

.. I wouldn't use the new pick for that ...

All of the picks appear to have equal affect on terrain, despite using more stamina to do so.

When it comes to building construction, now I tend to avoid flattening too much land and prefer if needed to lay a foundation by, sinking stone blocks into the ground then building on top of them, or by placing stone blocks under gaps between the ground and the building. I have found that the more levelling and terraforming I do to the ground, the more lag I tend to experience later as I add buildings and items.

Agree Complaintdesk (love the name btw) That is why once things start being difficult then I terrace a bit. Makes the base more interesting unless one likes it to all look like a putting green.
If all of the places you and buddies have made are hooked together as kind of one big base with workbences etc and ditches and walls then yes you will get lag.
It used to be so much worse. When you would get in range of a big base it would just kill frames like 15 or even 5. If you are having lag then you might want to stop building more right there. I will leave it to smarter folks to add how far away others would need to build to not make it worse. You may need to get on reddit or the Discord site to see if there is an answer there if noone comes up with anything definitive here.

You can fill in those dimpled bits using the hoe's pile/build function and some rocks. Then you can flatten out completely. It's a slow process but it does work.

The pimples of higher ground can be hit with your pickaxe. One light hit and then you can flatten better. I wouldn't use the new pick for that though unless tested somewhere unimportant. The pick actually works well anywhere you start to get the visible gray cliff looking areas, even if not very tall.
But one thing to do is not try to make huge area of flat ground for building, terracing is a good option and makes things look more interesting too. If you have your buildings on different levels with gardens out farther away you can take advantage of good views and safety from troll attacks. Their logs don't hurt living plants, unlike pigs...

Originally posted by FissionChips:

That, plus I usually stand on wooden floor pieces snapped together to be certain I'm completely level.

Oh, and if you want smoother gradients as well then holding the shift key levels to the target rather than where you're standing.

Standing on a block levels the ground to the point the ground is at straight below you. In other words, blocks are ignored.
Holding Shift averages the target position. This can cause the exact target point to rise or drop as well.

Land can only be terraformed by the flatten function so much. If it won't go down enough, use a pick. If you need to raise it more or fill a hole, use the raise ground option on the hoe. After that, you can hit it with the flatten function a few more times to try and get it flat.

@Suzaku, Great! Thank you for that suggestion. I'm about to head in now and I'll give it a
try!

That, plus I usually stand on wooden floor pieces snapped together to be certain I'm completely level.

Oh, and if you want smoother gradients as well then holding the shift key levels to the target rather than where you're standing.