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[Slythe]

Nothing crazy, I'm no expert of the game, still learning the new version since I last played 40d.  I decided to embark with 7 proficient miners (though wholly unnecessary) and see how long it would take to either dig a moat or remove all the ramps around the entire perimeter of the map to create a solid defense where there was only one 3 tile wide choke point of entry (except for flyers of course), and I was surprised at how quickly they got the job done.  I screwed up a couple times in trapping dwarves on isolated squares among other things, so accounting for that, I would've probably been finished with the job by the end of early spring, so basically it took only 1 month to seal off the entire perimeter of the map other than 1 specific entry point.

[Frelock]

Oh yea, that's always my first order of business; channel out a two-tile wide moat, then channel the side nearest the fort again so you get:
     ___  ___
       █▲ █
outside██▲█inside
       ████
(side view)

Guaranteed to keep non-flyers out, and guaranteed to not get any miners stuck.  It's always done by early summer(mid-summer if the second layer is stone), and give a good amount of experience to the average miner.

[wuphonsreach]

Oh yea, that's always my first order of business; channel out a two-tile wide moat, then channel the side nearest the fort again so you get:
     ___  ___
       █▲ █
outside██▲█inside
       ████
(side view)

Guaranteed to keep non-flyers out, and guaranteed to not get any miners stuck.  It's always done by early summer(mid-summer if the second layer is stone), and give a good amount of experience to the average miner.

You could also just do a "remove ramps" (d-z) on the side nearest the fort instead of digging the 2nd layer of channel.  Pretty sure it's faster then digging a channel.  Keeps the moat shallower, making it easier to expand the fort later.

     ___  ___
       █▲ █
outside████inside
       ████
(side view)

[Drawde]

I just remove the inner ramps as well.

A few things to remember with that though.  One, you can't remove the ramps directly under a bridge.  Or at least you can't in older versions, haven't tried in a while.  You have to remove the ramps first and then build the bridge over it.

Two, due to the way the game decides which tiles to mine first, don't designate all the points you want channeled at first.  The game starts in the top-left corner of the map and works down from there, clearing a square of a certain size (don't remember how many tiles) before going to the next one down.  So if you designate the entire area at once your dwarves, when they're doing the top and the bottom parts, will go all the way to the top of the map, clear a few tiles, go all the way down, clear a few tiles, then go all the way up for the next section.  Wait for the entire top or bottom of the square to be channeled or cleared before designating the other part.

Three, walls on the surface can only be built a certain distance from the map edge.  Starting on the very edge move over 5 tiles.  That's where you can build them, if you don't want archers attacking you.  So you can build a two-tile ditch and have three squares of the map left over.

Four, if you use a drawbridge (they're considered walls when raised, so block arrows) make sure the lever to activate it is close to, if not inside, your meeting area.  So you can raise the bridge quickly.