world edits increase your world file size, which affects load/save speed.
I can't think workbenches are that much info.
Performance other that file size? The game appears to load a radius around the player where enemy are active and spawning and wandering etc. Past that radius nothing is loaded, and nothing is happening, so your workbench and boat dock in the far north are not affecting your house at the spawn point.

Originally posted by Jaggid Edje:

Originally posted by FissionChips:

It would prevent automatic item despawn for dropped etc items in it's radius, that could eat up some disk space on the save file and might even contribute to slightly longer save times. If you don't leave a bunch of stuff scattered around my guess is it shouldn't be a problem.

That's a very good point. I generally don't leave anything lying around, even stuff I don't want, I trash rather than drop. A mod that adds a trash item is one of the few mods I have chosen to use for this, my first, playthrough. (I have pretty bad OCD about tidiness, so just 'dropping things' is not something I like to do.)

you are not alone there - i also prevent dropping stuff around if i can
but sometimes i perform the "removedrops" command. especially on my village with a lot of workbenches around.

later on when a lot of creatures are around (fighting each other) getting drops removed is something that can save performance

so be careful with many workbenches and think about cleaning up from time to time

I doubt very much that single items scattered about can hinder game performance to a noticeable degree. In my experience the only things that have negative impacts such as lag on my game-play, are multiple light sources and ground alteration such as levelling. Light and fire sources when in close proximity to one another, and especially when in the proximity of an active portal in a confined space, contribute to lag, stutter and disconnect.

I dont have the best system personally so I do tend to be a bit sensitive to lag in this game, but even so it still only really comes up in the areas I have a ridiculously massive base or base features like patrolling pets that leave a ton of drops all over the place as they chain aggro on nearby mobs. I also end up leaving workbenches all over the place, especially in the early game where I only get a relatively short distance of the map uncovered before night falls again so i will find myself making mini-camps with a fire and workbench out of various shelters I find along the way (or sometimes just the fire in some places like inside of caves, shelter is already a given in those areas).

The only real issue I've come across in doing so is that if the workbench is left out in the open/visible, then nearby mobs will attack it on sight; but as others mentioned, unused areas are also unloaded while the player is away so this is an occurrence you mostly stumble across when running through an area you havent been in a while and seeing damage numbers pop up in the mid-distance as you approach those structures. If they get destroyed while Im completely away, I at least havent noticed it (which admittedly, is possible for how many i end up placing and how little i care to check on them later).

i think its somewhat fine
the game handles things you pick up once in a new way
so every pickup will get removed from your savefile data

in generell ye more you build ye more your fps drops
but i think if you place a workbench somewhere and leave the game notes where you put it ( position / rotation / height and the percentage of health) and then unloads it

so this means the savefile might get a bit bigger
depeneds on removed objects

its just theory from my side
as long as your game runs fine its allright

Most structures are static objects with few dynamic or changing values to them, and the simulation is paused for most of gameplay while no players are around.

I've been placing hundreds of 1x1 stone wall pieces inside each other around my home and never noticed any issues. More dynamic objects like fires which expend fuel might be capable of causing some losses in the long run, but if no players are around, they too are paused while players are not present AFAIK.

So are you talking about your own local world or a server?

Originally posted by Rhapsody:

So are you talking about your own local world or a server?

Local world currently.
I prefer to experience a new game the first time all on my own because I like to take things slow and really dig into all aspects of the game, so I haven't done any multiplayer yet.

It would prevent automatic item despawn for dropped etc items in it's radius, that could eat up some disk space on the save file and might even contribute to slightly longer save times. If you don't leave a bunch of stuff scattered around my guess is it shouldn't be a problem.

Originally posted by FissionChips:

It would prevent automatic item despawn for dropped etc items in it's radius, that could eat up some disk space on the save file and might even contribute to slightly longer save times. If you don't leave a bunch of stuff scattered around my guess is it shouldn't be a problem.

That's a very good point. I generally don't leave anything lying around, even stuff I don't want, I trash rather than drop. A mod that adds a trash item is one of the few mods I have chosen to use for this, my first, playthrough. (I have pretty bad OCD about tidiness, so just 'dropping things' is not something I like to do.)