I've decided to try the terraforming I was intending for later to see how badly it blights the game before I start building. A large artificial island just offshore with an artificial causeway leading to it. A highly defendable location for a castle. But it's a lot of changes to the terrain, so we'll see how that goes. I've been gathering stone at every opportunity, but I'm sure I'll still need a lot more. I think I can get enough done to get some idea of how much lag it will cause.
I see there are some non-cheat mods related to building. The ability to toggle through snap points on the item you're pointing at, for example. That will remove the need to get into a position from which you can see the edge you want to snap to. I think I'll install that. And one that puts the general time of day onscreen, e.g. "late afternoon". I could use that for making sure I leave in time to get home before dark and I think it's realistic in an ingame sense. There's an option for an an actual clock showing hours and minutes, but I think that's too much.
Yeah I definitely think its programmed to put the wind against you as an artifical timesink
A video I saw (from someone called Cohhhcarnage or something like that, who is apparently somewhat famous) mentioned something I hadn't thought of because I'm thinking in more realistic terms. Maybe other people haven't thought about it, so I'll mention it here:
If you place two portals and take the materials needed to build a boat with you, you only need to sail one way. Portal to your destination, build a boat to sail back with your metal or ore, disassemble the boat when you get back. That gets you far more time per trip for exploration or mining.