I'm still playing around with different ideas though. I figured out an alternative way to make maps; if I can get it to work completely I'll be back into making content.
For instance, instead of using modular printed set-pieces to build maps, you could just make them as one entire brick, which is faster (despite the brick size limit). I can easily make entire maps (with trees, plants, rocks, caves, etc.) as a single brick that uses textures from a single print, which is applied after the brick is planted. Here is an example of an entire island (consisting of 16390 quads, running at over 80 frames per second) - attached. Each segment is about the size of the 8x cube. I didn't set up the textures yet and am still trying to get the collision to work, but so far it's a start! And in the future they can be a lot more detailed/smooth than this, I just like the "blocky" feel. As for the brick grid, you could just use float-cubes to build anywhere.