I honestly believe they need to add more ways to get iron.

For starters, more mobs in the swamp should drop iron bits occasionally. This would allow bold players to carefully get a bit of iron earlier. They we could access the stone cutter earlier so we can use stone walls before the raids that trash wooden bases. Just maybe this would encourage players to not moat every single base.

After you have access to the crypts there should be other ways to get iron as you progress and not just the [REDACTED] you find later. As in, there should be iron found in mountains and plains too.