I play with a sort of middle ground between having an actual plan and just doing whatever. I generally have a sort of to-do list with various goals that lead into larger goals, but will constantly switch between which parts of those I feel like doing.

For example if my main goal is to beat Bonemass in this scenario, it will have various sub-goals like gather mead ingredients for poison resist, health, and stam potions (functionally, wander around randomly in various T1-T3 biomes grabbing a bunch of ingredients whether they are for these specific meads/potions or not), acquire good fight foods (functionally, serpent hunting for the fun of it and the cooked serpent and serpent stew and farming, onions if I'm lucky), make a temporary forward base reasonably close in case the worst happens (includes scouting the boss area and constructing workbenches to minimize spawns joining the fight beyond what I already have to deal with), prepare weapons and armor (mostly a bunch of crypt farming for iron, maybe a visit to the merchant so I can go make the iron sledge as well).

I never specifically focus on one at a time, just sort of shift between these goals as I feel like it. If I feel like building that day, I'll work on that forward base goal. If I feel like fighting that day I'll probably go raid some crypts. If I feel like just putzing around then I'll probably work on ingredient gathering and farming. The serpent hunting bit tends to be a personal past time and just sort of happens when RNG allows as I sail between various places or search for leviathans because I wanted a harpoon and knife. If I really don't feel like working towards anything in particular, it's time to explore some more. It all ultimately works towards my main goal at the time, but still lets me just sort of do whatever and progress at my own pace.

I love all of these replies. So much diversity in thoughts and ideas and even plans!
Thank you for the notes Kings

Definitely gonna lean into the grind. I think, if its anything thats blocking me, its the grind. Never been one for grinding, but I absolutely love RPG's and MMO's that involve heavy Grinding.... Cursed Mentality.

Keep the ideas coming brothers!

I do what am in the mood for, I like a good battle but not that often. Go weeks in game sailing/building new base or outpost. Scout a bit. Battle. Then get caught up on farming, hunting and fishing. About 100 hours into new world and only in the swamp as far as game progression.

With over 1000 hours played now I still set plans. My plan was to build a raid proof base on a small island in the middle of the ocean. Completely comfortable, with all amenities, fully leveled workbench's , smelter, furnace, kiln, blast. !00 black metal chests, containing every item in game in multiples. Portal hub, and a dock with 8 boats.

That part of the plan is finished. Backed it up. Started a server with OG chums from back in March.

Then the plan was to build a mega-base in each biome.

Working on Meadows base now, Plains are next. Mountain/Swamp/Black Forest are all nearly finished.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2633924339

On my first run I mostly started with a small build idea that just expanded more and more. A stone tower turning into a castle. Small walls turning into elevated stone roads etc. I finished the last boss and started over without using portals. It is very nerve racking as you get closer to the swamp level biome. Boats are your friends and pre-planning everything is essential. I think the challenge of no portals makes everything new and exciting.

I love exploring the lands and just finding unique landmarks. I recently came across the swamps. So I’ve only explored meadows, forest and ventured a little in the ocean. I like to mark locations of great scenery or places that could make for new homes or structures.

I also hoe out paths and put torches on the paths to light the way to places like my lumber yard, main base, mining station. All so I can use a cart with ease when hauling supplies. And I still haven’t even killed the second boss.

I have benchmarks for weapons and armor that I achieve before moving up. I guess that’s a plan.

same happened to me took my time getting to the plains.after the 2nd boss told myself id build a huge stone base which i did.but at about 120 hours and only yag left it felt empty nothing else to do.but once they start adding more bosses/biomes ill be back :)

i normally plan stuff as i go, starting with a small house, then hunting, collecting, equipping
when i found a nice spot for a base i mark that spot, and start planning out what im gonna place there - latest project are rounded houses - so it took some time planning the build, building it and handling the issues or flaws i have with that build

if im not in the mood for building i love scouting and picking a ton of berries on the way
but all the planning might be messed up for unplanable events raids. a troll visit and stuff, so i take that sort of stuff as it comes

over 800 hours of pure solo gameplay and still the game surprises me

this is usually how it goes: my buddy and I will make a plan to go exploring. we'll get somewhere and awestruck we both go "wow. this is a really beautiful spot. let's just put up a little base here for a portal so we can come back later." 100 hours later we have a new base and still haven't gone very far with our exploration.
or i'll pop on to do some building and end up spending my time logging.

This is my first base building game and I am enjoying it and playing very slow solo game.The building is great and hopefully more to come.I finished all the dark souls games so the combat does not really interest me but I like the RPG and exploring parts.The game does need more content but its still early and it seems to be getting slowly optimised and thats a good thing.My goal is to build a base that can withstand a Roman assault , you never know who is going to show up.I think this is a good game to take a break from , if your bored come back in 3 months and start over.

I try to plan out what I'm going to do but get side-tracked. I like to explore and get into fights (I love taking out villages). Maybe I'll plan to explore a new island then end up tweaking my base, or, farming/hunting for food stock I'm running low on.

By the way, I've taken all the bosses out and am still having a great time.

I enjoy visiting my base network via portals or ship. Stocking up key locations with supplies and defenses. I slowly expand my map mostly sailing and then setting up more outposts.
I do not care about leveling or fighting bosses other than unlocking tech that allows me to build more interesting bases/ outpost etc.

I've never been to Plains (except accidentally) and have 650+ hours clocked.

I do plan some, but also get sidetracked a lot. Progressing is not a main thing for me, it's more about exploration, building, and just having fun.