Originally posted by StickyPawz:

There's an upper and lower limit to ground manipulation.

I believe 8 units up/down from original start.

This is the deal. If you are wanting a huge but level area for a major base find a VERY short low low hill. Shave the top off the hill and raise the ground around the low part of the hill to get a nice even flat spot to build a huge base on. When you get to the outside and have reached the 8 meter cap for raising ground that's the limit of your nice flat base.

Go out another 4 meters from that maximum spot and raise an earthen berm 8 meters high all the way around your base. That will give you a raised base, surrounded by a dry moat, surrounded by an earthen berm. If you leave enough space in the earthen berm for a cart to pass through you can dibble out enough of the edge of your raised base platform to put in a side by side set of stone or wooden steps. The only place a ground based raid will be able to get into your base will be at that point so when one starts you can head right there. A lot of the time the monsters will break the stairs and then they won't be able to get into your main area. They will be stuck in the dry moat. Once you have killed them all and the raid ends you can rebuild the stairs.