I prefer security over having to deal with raids. So I tend to take an island or peninsula so I am not looking at moats and walls.

I do like the raids, however, I feel the game needs a balance tweak for fun here.

I would like to be able to find bits of iron earlier in the game. Not enough to where you could easily grind for gear, more so that it's possible to get the stone cutter earlier in the game. Add more incentives to build stone walls and less incentive to moat and earth wall things.