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[Megawott06]

Here's the deal, I'm currently playing a fort in an almost completely evil area (only Haunted though, I'm not good enough for higher difficulty level yet) and it is going pretty well (first undead didn't appear until I already had dug down and moved everything I brought inside). Now, however, I'm faced with a problem, my first migrant wave is soon to arrive and I have three undead two-humped camels outside. I have one Competent Hammerdwarf without any armor (forgot to bring an armorsmith at embark) and one Competent Wrestler, also without armor. Can they take down the camels or should I wait and see if the migrant can take them or not? Note that I don't know if corpses rise in this biome.

Edit: One camel have apparently walked off the map but two still remain on the map.
Edit2: Only one remain on the map, maybe I don't really need any help. Would still be appreciated if you could tell me what my dwarves can handle, though only undead camels have appeared at all yet.
Edit3: Now there's an Ibex corpse on the map instead, what about it?

[BlackFlyme]

It will take a bit of luck and skill, but the hammerer may be fine. The wrestler will probably not be, if they grab more than they punch or kick.

Camels are quite large, and undead get boosts to some stats, but are a little slower than normal, so they would be able to kill your militia if given the chance.

Ibexes are much smaller than camels, and are a bit smaller than dwarves, so they won't be quite as bad. Despite having horns, they cannot ram you, but they can still kick you with their hooves.

Best advice is tread with caution, maybe save before sending the militia, just in case. If there is a raising biome, you will have to be very careful with the way you handle corpses. Keep a tanner and a farmer's workshop near the butcher's to lower the time in-between butchering and tanning hides or spinning hair to thread, so they won't spring to life.

[Dutchling]

Everything with hooves is extremely deadly.

So yeah, try it. What's the worst that could happen?

[Megawott06]

Ok. I think i'll wait and try to make some armor. No dwarf has any skill in any metalsmithing of any kind and not even Wood burning but I'm just gonna try, besides, Iron armor is enough to tip the scales in my favor is it?

Edit: Aaaand now I discovered that the fiendish fog in this region turns wjoever steps into it into a thrall.
       Wonderful.

[Panando]

On zombie maps I make a bridge-wall zombie smasher.

Code: [Select]

##########################
       p!!!!!!!!!!!!
       #############
       #############
####   #############   ######
####   #############   ######
####   #############   ######
####                   ######
####                   ######
####                   ######
#############################

p = pressure plate
! = bridge raising north

You have a straight-through path with a pressure plate like to a bridge-wall (the bridge raises north or south, so the bridge is entirely "edge"). The bridge is set to low traffic [strictly speaking, this is optional since dwarves wont trigger the pressure plate if it's set to enemy, but I like on principle for dwarves to not enter death traps at all]
Dwarves (and caravans) go the long way around, but zombies, ignoring traffic designation, shamble onto the pressure plate, and due to the bridge raising delay, then get smashed by the bridge.

Normally my entry-way will have 2 or 3 such bends, each with a short-cut zombie-smasher. It's important to have some strategy for dealing with zombies which re-path while the bridge is raised, causing them to go the long (safe) way. (Another is to have the safe way also blocked off by a raising bridge linked to the same pressure plate, but this is not so good for filtering out immigrants from zombies)

To improve your chances of catching stray zombies which are chasing an immigrant (or idiot) along the entry way, include traps on the inside of corners, where they don't prevent caravans, but they catch any baddies which try to take a shortcut. The bridge walls wont ever jam and leave no mess, so are the preferred way of disposing of zombies, traps are strictly for those which somehow slip through. Cage traps are probably best because they leave no mess and you can pit the zombie into magma.

Immigrants, when they come, will normally set off the zombie camels or whatever, the zombies will chase an immigrant or animal, while the zombies are distracted, the immigrants which aren't being chased will escape into the entry way. Often an immigrant or immigrant's child or pet will end up being 'sacrificed' to the zombies since dwarves (and pets) are dumb like that, they are unable to simultaneously both run away from danger, and towards safety, so they end up being cornered.
You can improve the odds of a single dwarf being chased by zombies survival by having multiple safe underground tunnels into the fortress (i.e. in each corner of the map), each with a zombie smasher setup. You can force a dwarf to always go to the nearest safe-hole (provided they are not running from danger), by setting the entire surface to low or restricted traffic designation, this will make the pathfinder considers any path on the surface extremely undesirable, making it prefer the shortest surface path.

[Megawott06]

Thanks for the tips, gonna use them next time I try an evil biome (lost the entire fort to a water buffalo bull thrall).

[greycat]

I have three undead two-humped camels outside. I have one Competent Hammerdwarf without any armor (forgot to bring an armorsmith at embark) and one Competent Wrestler, also without armor. Can they take down the camels or should I wait and see if the migrant can take them or not?

Your dwarves are not ready for this fight; migrants are probably not either, unless you get lucky and a hunter arrives with a crossbow and steel bolts.  The best outcome you could hope for (other than a migrant hunter shooting 'em deader) would be for everyone to run inside with all body parts still attached.

If you want to eliminate these particular beasties, I would recommend traps, or some marksdwarves of your own.