Nothing attacks your structures unless you purposely hide in them while being chased, its pretty much just for looks and storage. The crafting is just collecting a list of items.
You really need to play with a group of friends for it to be extremely fun and addictive, especially when new. Don't play this game if you hate having to mine and chop from time to time because there is a large amount of it, as well is managing and organising large amount of items