-Build your base on as flat of terrain as you can find. This is because your Pals are incredibly stupid and have a very hard time finding their way up or down any terrain to do their jobs. If possible, cover almost all of your base with foundations, but not all of it, because . . .

-You want to build your base so that one or more Ore spawns (big rusty iron lumps) are within its zone. Your Pals will automatically harvest anything that spawns inside your base (as long as they have the right proficiency), and Ore is the biggest bottleneck. You can build farm plots for Wood and Stone, but not Ore, so having a natural spawn to exploit is important.

-Did I mention your Pals are stupid? Be ready to go back to your base regularly to rescue Pals off of terrain features and any buildings you've built before they starve themselves into KO.

Overall, the game is jank and the AI is bad, but the crafting and base-building is very nice (deconstructing structures and workbenches refunds 100% of the materials used, which is nice coming from other open-world-survival games), and above all the game is fun, which is a good part of why it has exploded in popularity.

"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."