I'd consider changing the setting for items dropped on death back to the default, which is forbidden on death so you'd manually have to unforbid the items to collect them. I use that method to ensure the bodies are collected first and then they can race for the loincloths.
Windmills are a large pain. Firstly, it's basically up to chance if you get 0, 20, or 40 power out of them (if I remember correctly). Technically, it's based on embark latitude, but I think that breaks down on pocket embarks (so, if you're going to try it, build one test mill first to see if you get any power at all). Secondly, there's a lot of building for fairly meager results, especially with the middle yield and that you essentially have to lose a significant percentage in transmission (one gear below for 5, and then any axle losses). On top of that, it's a fair bit of additional work to build it in a building destroyer safe manner that doesn't leave holes for flyers/climbers to enter the axle shafts/tunnels (and that eats away further on the power actually made available).
Edit:
Trying to remember how I made a wind farm (with a fair bit of community help). I'm not 100% certain the description is correct, though.
Essential step: Make sure trees won't grow up under the wind farm. Cutting ANY tree "below" a wind mill (including a tree that just transformed from sapling) will tear down that wind mill, including anything that's supported from it (from my own painful experience). Thus, clear cut the area and either floor it, pave it, or place an empty stockpile over it (or build the wind farm entirely over rock).
The safe power shaft was made by building a 2 tile high frame around a 3*1 N/S tile space. On top of that a screw pump was built "pumping" from the south with the unpassable wall on top of the middle north tile of the box. An axle is built on the south side of the impassable screw pump tile (crossing the passable one) and a gear is added south of that (the "empty" tile above the pump source tile), and axles are added below that down to the ground.
The top of the box is then completed with walls and a roof over the passable screw pump tile. Build a scaffolding to add a three tile long axle out north from the impassable screw pump side and a gear north of that. Add four tile long axle segments out in the other three directions from the gear.
Once you've torn down the scaffolding you can safely dig a staircase from below up under the passable screw pump tile, as well as a shaft south of that to continue the axle downwards.
Now it's time to add the wind mills, one after the painful other. Build one windmill on top of the gear. Build one gear at the end of each of the 3 empty axles and a windmill on top of that. Expand the wind farm by adding axles out to the sides from the gears to the side as well as axles northwards from all of them. Repeat. Note that you only need the sideways axles on the bottom row, while all the other rows only expands northwards (like a many pronged pitch fork). Tear down scaffoldings as you go so the only parts vulnerable to destroyers are the latest ones the furthest out on the line. This basically means one scaffold for each windmill with some additions to allow the axles out from it to be built.
Again, the above was described from memory and might not be completely correct. Caveat Emptor!
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Topic: Answered: Ballista arrow passes through - does not hit - prone target (Read 2931 times)