I have been living in my black forest fort for a while now and it's doable, but you do need stone walls because sometimes, a troll comes by :P and if you are not strong enough to fight it and it starts taking down your base, you should probably lure it away to save your base.

But once you're strong enough to fight the trolls, it's pretty doable. Same goes for plains and swamps! Stone walls go a long way in defending. Not sure what you mean by cheese defense tactics though?