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[mek42]

Would warhammers be the best first weapon to train a squad with for a tower embark?

Related, how can one reliably segregate an area of vegetation and trees to prevent the spread of an otherwise map-wide forest fire?  "Burn zombies, burn!  Wait, no, not the trees I had designated for chopping right when the elven caravan approaches!"

Hmm... it would be neat if ash could be harvested after a forest fire.

[PatrikLundell]

DF forest fires are easier to contain than real world ones, since burning items aren't blown by the wind to set fire to things downwind. What you need is a piece of something to separate the burnable stuff, such as a stone/clay paved road, a floor, or a wall. It would have to be wide enough to ensure no twigs touch, which I think is 7 tiles.
Forest fires rarely destroy trees. Most of the time there's a bit of burning in the twigs, but the trunk itself remains unharmed, and new stuff continues to grow in the tree after the fire. I've seen reports trees can get destroyed by fire, but haven't seen it myself.

And yes, collecting stuff would be nice, but that will probably wait until collecting from sand and clay deposits actually bite into the deposits. At that time we can probably collect/move partial tiles of other things as well.

[mek42]

Would a 7 tile wide channeled area with ramps removed be enough to stop the fire from spreading, or is adding something non-combustible over the space (paved road, etc.) critical?  Hmmm... maybe I'll just do some quick geo!!!science!! and find out for myself.

[Urist McVoyager]

You'll probably want it paved or floored. If that ditch isn't deep enough to hit rock, you'll just have to keep cutting down the trees that grow in it to keep them from bridging the gap.

[Khalari]

Just build walls around the trees you want to keep. Or create an underground tree farm.

[Immortal-D]

You'll probably want it paved or floored. If that ditch isn't deep enough to hit rock, you'll just have to keep cutting down the trees that grow in it to keep them from bridging the gap.

This.  The best defense against forest fires is a 2-3 tile paved border.  As to first weapon.. I'm honestly not sure.  The recent changes to zombies makes them relative push-overs, barring a zerg rush (100+).  Probably Mace for the zombies & sword or axe for the necromancer.

[Saiko Kila]

Forest fires rarely destroy trees. Most of the time there's a bit of burning in the twigs, but the trunk itself remains unharmed, and new stuff continues to grow in the tree after the fire. I've seen reports trees can get destroyed by fire, but haven't seen it myself.

Trees don't have to be destroyed completely, parts of the trees are changed to "dead trunk" or similar. It also causes cave-ins, i.e. "collapses". It can be a real spam.

There's one thing about prevention, that fire can be moved down the z-level, because burning twigs can ignite the grass below them. Normally fire doesn't go down it seems, but in this case it can.

Another one, rain can stop fires. When it rains it's impossible to start surface fire by usual means (magma and something flammable), and existing fires stop spreading and are extinguished in time. So if someone uses dfhack, "weather rain" command can be helpful. Snow doesn't stop fire.

[Bumber]

War hammers are sub-optimal against unarmored undead. Maces are best, I think. Especially post-DF2014 with pulping.

[FoiledFencer]

War hammers are sub-optimal against unarmored undead. Maces are best, I think. Especially post-DF2014 with pulping.

Are maces more likely to pulp than warhammers?

[Sadrice]

I believe that war hammers pulp and mangle specific parts more readily, but it will take a while before they pulp all of the relevant parts to prevent re animation, while maces require more hits to pulp a part, but will pulp the whole forearm, rather than just a finger. 


So war hammers are superior against living enemies, while maces are arguably superior against undead.

[zilpin]

This is one reason why i love DF.   There is no Ultimate Super Weapon.
Just like RL, different tools are optimal for different tasks.


Yet I still focus on axes and crossbows for my army...

[mek42]

I think tower zombies are armed and armored.  Would that give the nod to hammers?

[Plex]

What about a morningstar? If you manage to strike goblinite or get a couple of human caravans, you should find yourself a morningstar or two. I'm not exactly sure whether a war hammer or a morningstar is better, but from what I gather a morningstar is basically a mace with the power and size of a war hammer.

[Bumber]

I believe that war hammers pulp and mangle specific parts more readily, but it will take a while before they pulp all of the relevant parts to prevent re animation, while maces require more hits to pulp a part, but will pulp the whole forearm, rather than just a finger. 

So war hammers are superior against living enemies, while maces are arguably superior against undead.

I don't think so. Targeting certainly doesn't work that way. My understanding is that maces have more contact area, so they do more pulping damage. War hammers have less contact area, so they are harder to deflect.

Maces for flesh, war hammers for armor.

What about a morningstar?

Being edged, it's really more like a spear. Not sure if it's suited for undead, as their organs aren't a weak spot.

[Dunamisdeos]

Contrary to popular belief, I have found SILVER MAULS to be quite effective, if you can use them. With the idea being to cause massive damage without severing anything, they do quite well.