G Peterson

Well... I don't see how filling in a single block in the surface of a lake is "easily creating large bodies of water". As it is I have to be careful when I am building a base around water because I can accidentally destroy a water block and then have some strange "pit" in my body of water - with fluid pouring into an infinite black hole or something... I'm not worried about game balancing - I'm just looking for something that behaves even remotely like real world.

I tried searching for more information, but I can't see a discussion about the strange water mechanics. I am experiencing weird behavior where water isn't filling in when I remove a source water block from a lake. Put a cube of dirt in a block of water, remove it, and the water doesn't fill back in - even if it is in the middle of an ocean. I find it hard to believe this might be a feature(?)

Packed dirt is the best starter material in the game. You can dig low fertility soil up without tools, and create packed dirt without losing any blocks (a one-to-one transfer from low fertility soil to packed dirt). Packed dirt does not grow weeds. Then you can use packed dirt to make rammed dirt - and there you have a nice-looking gray block texture for your starter home walls and ceiling... with a packed dirt floor.