Nah you good, rudimentary boxes made with walls and roof peices will get you what you need. Then you'll probably fall head over heals for the game and get excited to do the things you've never liked doing in games before.

Feeling like an explorer big tick.

Difficulty curve tick, but after dipping your toes and getting them bit off a dozen or so times you'll be heaps better than your initial foray. This game is made to solo aswell and easier imo, I'm always playing solo and constantly hinder myself for a challenge.

If you do ever want to have friends over, some good group activities are serpent hunting, attacking fuling villages, boat sledding. Playing through the game together feels fun but you end up spending double the amount of time finding materials because you need double the amount of materials to make and upgrade each others gear etc, maybe I'm just a cynical loner but friends are overated lol jk