When they announced A18, I decided I wanted to try doing experimental for awhile. I knew going into it, that I'd need to wipe and restart with every update. That was a scary thought, leaving my fully wonderful A17 base and totally explored world behind, but I really wanted to experience what it meant to be part of that process.
So, in the past couple of months, since A18 went experimental, I've restarted quite a few times. I decided to stay with ONE map, however, and chose Pregen3 just... because. Every fresh start, I've gone in a different direction using whatever I'm near, usually building near or taking over a POI near a trader. I really do hate the ambient noise in the burned zone, though, so for one of the 2 starts in that awful place, I walked from the trader to the forest biome and set up camp in one of those little trailers out in the wild. They have incredible walls!... like 10k hps or something, and I only had to upgrade the window areas, floors and ceiling, then build a perimeter wall. Worked well and I made it to day 8 before another build dropped.
The second time it put me in the burned zone, I just wiped it and started again... headache. Every other time has either been in the desert or snow, and those have worked quite well since, by now, I'm beginning to know the map fairly well. Whether I choose to take over a small POI or build my own place, I keep it small and neat, easier to maintain and upgrade. I always have a separate main base and hoard base. The hoard base changes, depending on my location, but they are always separate, small, and NOT elaborate. Fewer resources needed makes it easier to progress. The highest I've managed to get before a new drop in these past weeks was today, in a18.1 b5. Level 57, Gamestage 71 (I'm a weenie, so play on Scavenger) When I logged off tonight.. a18.1 b6 was waiting to download, so... guess I'll be making yet another base tomorrow.
Wonder where it will put me this time... I guess I said all that to say, don't be afraid to try different things, different ways of building, different settings and difficulties. I have learned so much doing that, and have really enjoyed finding different ways to make things work for me. Make sure you're having FUN, whatever you do. If it's not fun... stop, rethink it, change some things, and do it again.