Here is my advice to the OP
You will be raided, it will probably be while you are off line, So plan for that.

Misdirection is your friend. I used to make it look like I cared about decorations.
And one of my best tricks was,

I had raiders blast their way into my base and waist all their explosives
only to find nothing. Because my stash was in the stable they walked right past.

Obviously that cat is out of the bag, but hopefully you get the idea of what I mean by misdirection.

Some will level/destroy an entire base, so a small build in an inaccessible place is also advised.

Because I have been and am inactive I will exit by introducing myself.
I was a day one early access player in 2017, 5000+ hours before I went inactive.
PVP almost exclusively. But I did PVE when I wanted to just build.