I play vanilla.
wood has it's limitations, you're only gonna get SO high. corewood beams that touch the dirt at the bottom is as strong as you're gonna get at this stage. it's about the number of pieces away from the ground a given piece is. if you put a vertical pole in the ground then attach 2 walls vertically and put a roof piece on, you'll notice that the roof piece color is better than if the roof piece were merely attached to the two wall pieces only. because it's touching the corewood, it's only 2 pieces away from the ground as opposed to 3. apply this principal to your building decisions and you'll be good.