Originally posted by Hawk Eye:

Is it a better idea to start a whole new base near the Mistlands? In a black forest biome or something? I've been exploring the Mistlands and I found out too late that I should have brought a stack of black metal with me to make sap extractors. Well that's a full hour long voyage round trip in a longship to my base and back. Or start a whole new chain of production near by. If I can find a decent plain biome close.
I'm a bit confused at what I should be doing. I had no clue I needed to bring raw mats. I figured I could send everything back through a portal. (Researched through the Fandom Wiki first)

I'm guessing that basing out of/near mistlands is completely optional?

Comfy little hut just across the border in the black forest. For crops, I found an abandoned dvergr ruin near the shoreline way out there on the fringe. It's ideal. I have too many hours invested in my main base to abandon it.