Originally posted by Tangoblue:

Ha! I've done the same thing. Found a spot in the meadows right by the ocean (I thought). Turns out I built a good base in an inland sea with no river access to the rest of the ocean.

Been there, done that... I've played through the game over a dozen times and made these same mistakes.
-Build a base that turns out to be on a lake/sea ... yup.
-Build a base too far from copper and try to use the pesky cart ... yup.
-Build an entire new base next to a swamp to find out later it has ZERO crypts ... yup.

Each new playthrough I now grab a nearby structure to operate from temporarily. I choose my base location very carefully (ocean access ... not lake/sea), near forest (but not too near) and have at least 3 copper nodes in very close proximity.

Makes for a slower start, but I end up having a better time. By the time I settle on my ideal base location and am ready to defeat Eikthyr and build my base I'm usually rocking good leather or even troll leather armor,

The swamp is another big one for me. Thinner strips of swamp backed up to mountains tend to gave few (or no) crypts. I generally end up needing 6 or 7 for enough iron for the entire game. When I go scouting for swamp, it I don't see 2 or 3 crypts from my boat, I just keep sailing and looking for another swamp. If I see 2-3 crypts and a fire geyser or two ... there's a really good chance there's more than enough crypts in there.