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[Jazzeraint]

My favorite moment is still the time a dwarf corpse slapped my fort to death with a leather glove.

Glove slap!

[Bakaridjan]

I'm still trying to find the right site for my next fortress. I'm looking for lots of FUN and so far seem to be finding it. I'm trying to embark at least part way in to a haunted tropical savannah that is also near a necromancer tower. The first one, I underestimated the power of a single elf corpse to kill off 11 dwarves and 6 children, some of which were armed. It's ok, because there were a number of things not to like about the embark.

I just started my second one. It's halfway into the Haunted Savannah and the other half is a desert with an aquifer. So far it's not going great. Beginning with 3 harpy corpses on the map was a bad sign. I managed to get 4 dwarves underground and walled in. All the other animals and dwarves are dead on the surface along with the wagon and all supplies (except the picks!). The cat head now walking around outside is also a bad sign (fortunately everyone else got killed in the desert). The good news is that the caverns were only 14 z levels down. So I've not got stuff starting to grow in the deep layers of soil above and I cut into the aquifer to create a 4x5 pond for drinking and Armok have mercy on us, fishing (I promise if you let us live now, there will be much much more blood later). Bad news about the cavern is that there are reptile blow gunners down there and what I've uncovered so far is in the reanimating zone. So even if I felt like risking my few remaining dwarves to fight them, it would be a fools errand.

If the Harpies leave soon and we can go recover some supplies, we might just be able to make a go of it!

[Jazzeraint]

"It's just a terrifying ocean," I thought. "Only in the corner of my embark. This will probably be a boring fortress."

Giant Albatross Corpses wiped out my first three embarks.

I managed to save (most of) my dwarves and livestock on the fourth embark.
But they knew.
They knew they could wait me out.

Fifteen dead migrants, three dead merchant parties, and two herds of dead wandering animals later, they started appearing two flocks at a time.

On the plus side, they usually (usually) wait until after I've traded with caravans before harvesting their plump bodies.

[Iamblichos]

My past two only have unholy murk, which rolls in two or three times a season and causes nausea, fainting and unconsciousness.

Founding these forts is always touch and go, as I have to build the airlocked butcher shop to test for reainimation.

[customlemon]

From my (short) experience this is a hit-or-miss - recently settled next to a tower.
It'll be fun, I said.
And it indeed was fun - a single human zombie climbed my wooden trenches and murdered all 7 dorfs.
I'm still getting it pictured on the walls of mu current fort.
I went and reclaimed it. After some time a necromancer showed up.
He was an unucky guy - stepped right into a goblin ambush and got shot.
After no zombies and only a single siege showed up in the next 15 years or so, I retired that fortress.

[The Big D]

Honestly i tend to park my fortress only partially inside of an evil biome. That way i can increase the amount of Fun and make the game more interesting while also ensuring that i don't end up with an undead apocalypse in the first year or two. I tend to like longer games.

We are of like minds. I tend to do this with an evil glacier/nice tundra.

[Niddhoger]

I only settled on one evil embark.  I read about the need to rush underground first and foremost, and then open up to the outside only when you are ready.  I brought actual tools and a military dorf+equipment instead of forging stuff next to the wagon.  Other than the tools/armor, I even brought large stacks of food that would still fit in a single barrel (like 200 pineapple and 100 eggs as food...only 2 actual barrels).

I lasted maybe a minute.  A flock of undead ravens was waiting for me.  They immediately swept over the wagon and killed 4 dorfs before my maceman could even finish equipping.  The miner had barely started digging when he was chased away.  Everyone was dead within maybe a couple game days.  So... yeah.  Hit or miss.

I thought bringing any livestock is a bad idea until you know fr sure if the biome reanimates or not.  Eventually the turkey's will die from old age, so you need to check their ages and occasionally lava toss/atom smash the older ones, right?  Also.... why swordsmen? Zombies neither feel pain nor bleed out.  If the biome does reanimate, any lost limbs will keep moving on their own.  Isn't it a bad idea to start with those over macemen (zombies with no bones and pulped internal tissue can't move if they wanted too).

My original plan was to bring a mechanic and immediately go underground/turtle up.  This would only last a couple months, as I planned to find the caverns asap and get some traps going.  Before the migrants arrived I'd have a line handful of cage traps and 2 macemen (training the whole time) as "escorts" to make sure the migrants got there in time.  For food.. I was planning on those huge barrels with a few (early) years worth of food/booze material to tide me over.  200 fruit in one barrel is just one hauling job (and when tested didn't seem to slow the hauler down).  Once I got the trap line up, the "military" trained some more, a "bath" at the entrance to wash off abnormal rain/blood, and hopefully a metal industry running to forge more zombie-repellant (as well as living quarters and hopefully a cistern), I'd get around to a proper food industry (mostly farms and caravan imports).  Textiles aren't needed for the first year, but I'd likely just expand the farms and go full pig tails.  If the biome was non-reanimating I'd try going into the cavers for silk (instead of raiding it for "wood" only). 

One of these days I'll build up the courage to try again... I'm stlll scarred from that immediate raven attack though :S

[Jazzeraint]

Check the unit list st embark. If the Undead horde isn't immediately there, then you can re-embark from the initial save.

I had several do-overs on a map where flicks of Giant Albatross Corpses spawned while I was getting dug in. It can be very hit or miss.

But Raven Corpses are murder.