I start with 2-3 "woodcutters". They get axedwarf/armor/shield/dodge skills; swim if the map looks watery. They never have skill in woodcutting--it's a freakin' tree, you hit it with the axe 'till it falls over; how hard is that to pick up?!--but they always get a point something useful & moodable. (Weaponsmith, armorsmith, mechanic, whatever suits their preferences/your needs.) Weaver might not be bad dual-class for your military if you're harvesting silk--same with mechanic, if you like to use a lot of traps.
Take an anvil, a bunch of tetrahedrite, and at least one point of armor- and weaponsmithing somewhere in the embark party. (Trick stolen from the tower-of-babel succession game, afair.)
On embark: Secure the perimeter after excavating the emergency bolthole. Sequester squishy dwarves and make armor/additional weapons. Trap the bejeebus out of danger zones. Curse as the traps get wasted on zombie marmots and skeletal mountain goats. Watch as your poor "woodcutters" stop caring about anything any more.
Oh, and cluttering the map with eighty crap-quality statues to distract building destroyers?
Incredibly effective.
Give your woodcutter a few points of Axedorf skill, draft him when required.
Of course, making him remember not to drop the axe when drafted is another matter.
You, sir, seem to have felt my pain. I've found that waiting until your woodcutters are accosted and just letting them flail about in blind civilian mode for a bit instills the proper survival instincts.
Yeah, nothing in the game can get past a raised bridge.
Unless it's a building destroyer, or can fly, or, god help you, a flying building destroyer.
Actually, I'm pretty sure that even a building destroyer 2 can't destroy a raised bridge. They can destroy lowered bridges, but once a bridge has been raised, it effectively becomes a constructed wall.
Hunh... really? I've been playing so far under the assumption that BD2s could knock out anything except constructed walls/floors/ceilings/etc. I guess that explains why the FB hasn't charged through my obstace course to the waiting military yet...