always embark with a warlock/witch with the apprasial skill, if you care to see values in anything
ethereal gate gives you infinite blocks (and free WORTHLES (0 worth) furniture, blocks are worthless too can be used in the stonecutters workshop) the point is. 4 of them can summon up a whole mothershitton of blocks very very quickly
consider embarking with all the dusts to make the philosphers stone. as Mithril is hard to come by, and an early milita of Ghouls wearing milithril = evicerate all life on the map at their rediclious speed (they can run down leprichauns)
untill its fixed dont bother having the idea of having skeletons in the military, they just drop out and go Awol. even if you have them in los of a pylon
cut rocks for gems. make gems into large gems. construct additional pylons, strip mine whole levels for mats, for bonus wood/underground plants mine out z-lv of dirt and breach cavern
skeletons are fantastic as you can train them to be whatever you want them to be. just not in the military -drop out issue, (legendary skeletal farmer that ONLY does farming (no hauling) never eats . never sleeps never complains.. hehe... brewer. mechanic, chef.. armorsmith/weaponsmith.. list goes on..
your warlocks are there to cut gems. summon blocks. and do the magic reactions. and complain about things.
also stab grave cats in the face if you get them on the list, generally it takes a kitten getting squished to make a ghoul go insane.
warlocks can be ressed, but i've only had it successfully work when they are not rotten yet. so gotta be quick.
you can sell to the drow alcohol for souls. but i dont know if its a bug but it takes 30 of their souls to make 1 soul hourglass thingy. seriously tho . highly trained ghoul milita clears the map. (wearing mithril, with a piece of dreadnought - i choose scourge =)
my current warlock fort is building a tower out of ethereal blocks in the middle of a major river, the biggest problem comes from the 0 worth on the furniture (leading to terribad rooms) but i did embark with a philosphers stone. so i'll eventually make all 6 of them platnium furniture or something with a master blacksmith
i havent bothered to give ghouls any real rooms just a dorm. they seem to do fine im sure they'd resist having their kittens skulls bashed in if they had their own rooms
Pylons are currently 25 space range and walls block their LOS to controll skeletons, plan around features as it were... ugly squareish tower it is! 1 on each Z-level on the stairs. protip . in your mine place them first before strip mineing the whole z-level (remember rocks = gems = large gems) Bonus for Channeling everything
Embark with rope reeds and bloated tubers ( for cloth and glue ) Warlocks dont need beer, but its good for the spirits (oh the pun!) and its generally better than a trip to the well. - skeletons can steal your warlocks clothing so be aware of that.
the ability to have undead ignore your civ is a special bonus given at the start of the map where your civ members might fight each other briefly.
also if you build a graveyard you can search for lost souls (never paid attention to the ratio per hourglass) search for slabs / coffins (eh?) and try to find a ghoul (i belive its a stack of meat for a 5% chance to get a ghoul and 2% to have a ghoul attack you. as i haven't gotten it to work. nor sacrifice my precious meat for it...)
while they do drop out of the military it is fun to summon up a whole bunch of armor / arrows / bows from the etheral forge (they do dissappear over time, and high sorcery warlocks make masterworks, make damn sure you got personal palaces for them if you do this) enlist all your skeles to archers and go man the wall to drive off sieges (or help your ghoul milita)
also Skeles + wooden bucklers + pickaxes = stabby when it really matters..
i embark with 1 of each dust. at least 10 anvils, some animals to slaughter 10 seeds (rope/tubers) 1 warlock broker/recordkeeper (try to get 3 ghouls as milita) some mithril and some anthricite, a few hourglasses. some stone and wood just cause. dont bother with drinks. or food (water depending for obvious) set up the minor production chain for milita armor/weapons, butchery/tan/syphon. i usually put 2 ethereal gates and forges up, then make some blocks for housing (initial dorm either in the dirt or a pillar with a ramp and some floors on the upper z-level for a celing for beds =)
you will get sieged in autumn, and 3 ghouls in armor will fend it off if they been training since day 1, feel free to summon up some armor/arrows for everyone else if your so inclined, invaders give the MOST meat / scalps for books, and tastey tastey souls
also consider feeding your milita souls..
my 3 are at 5000 to each stat they can devour and +30 speed, they zip around murdering everything lately