nonranged colonies, early armor?

[Sola]

While you wait for devilstrand to grow, how do you prevent your colonists from picking up scars and other bad damage?  Do you make clothes out of leather?  Do you rush armor vest research?  Do you rely on pitfalls?  Do you pick a god and pray?  Do you play with dev mode on?

[Nameless]

I tell them to man up and pick up a gun and drop it after the raid.

[ioci]

Dragonfly: Chief, research that Devilstrand plz plz plz...
Val: What is Devilstrand, Leira?
Leira: Me no idea.
Val: What is Devilstrand, DF?
Dragonfly: For making tribewear Chief.
Val: We DON'T need tribewear! I'm NUDIST! In case you don't understand what nudist is, Imma showing you right now!
DF: NOOOOO!
Leira: AssWeCan!

[Call me Arty]

 Just wait for the devil stand. At this point in the game, there's not a lot of early-game content, like wooden slat armor or turtle-shell armor. Just try to make as many layers as possible to defend against damage, but I'd recommend sticking to ranged for the wide majority of the game. Melee just really isn't worth it when your enemies have the firepower or numbers to pummel your berserkers down.

If you really want melee, use Simple Sidearms. You atleast get the benefit of making your opponent a bit less effective due to limb damage and pain before they swing on you full-force with anything.

[Kirby23590]

If you want to research armor for your melee fighters...

You can buy armor instead from traders if they are selling them. Otherwise scavenge them from fallen enemies.

If you're using a melee only colony... Use surprise and ambush tactics with Doors, i use this tactic with mixed fighters drawing in enemies into cover or a bait like a 1x2 table for them to smash only to draw out melee brawlers out of the doors from behind to attack the raiders. But i think it should work with an melee only colony too. If things go bad or a nasty group or a single raider with a nasty weapon like a incendiary launcher is approaching your brawlers, then retreat to the doors! Don't forget to add escape routes!

Also you can use Tamed Animals that are trained to release if you have an animal tamer. They are a good distraction and sometimes can take a beating before they go down (Grizzly and Polar bears.) or can easily chase down the fleeing raiders (Cougars and Panthers.) but watch out if they are bonded though, if the bonded animals die the bonded tamer can go berserk or go in a binge with the bad mood penalties. You can buy them from exotic traders or just use dogs. Dogs are versatile and helpful and could be in your starting group if they start with one that's not a yorkshire or are sold by any trader who sell animals. Wild Huskies can be found in boreal and tundra biomes and they are easily tamable with an good tamer.

Otherwise if you have an Comms console and a alot of silver. You can call in Allies for help, before the raiders go in your colony or start attacking. They can help drive off raids and give you time or sometimes killing curtain raiders with LMGs or even Grenaders or Snipers. They can be a good distraction too. Even their own dropping armor or better weapons too that they used against the raiders.

*slightly edited and fixed my grammar*

[Jibbles]

Kirby threw in some tips that shouldn't be ignored.  Ambush is key.  Definitely lay out furniture throughout the map  for them to attack so you can pick them off. Lots of rooms but there should always be an exit.  The layout should encourage ambush strategies and easy to retreat.  It's okay to lose items and structures to raiders every now and then if you're trying to keep your original pawns.

So you're going to need animals and traps.  Your pawns will be vegetables in b18 without those, or you look for a mod to heal scars.  Use drugs ^{drugs drugs drugs}

[Razzoriel]

One word: Shields. A naked melee with a shield has potential to outlive a mid-armored, non-shielded one, especially if he flanks the raiders.

[Sola]

Thanks for the tips, but I don't really need help once I make it to late.

This topic is specifically for the first year.  Not a whole lot of shields or armor vests to scavenge in the early raids.

Looking for tips to avoid scarring, pilas to the head, and the like.

[ioci]

In B18, wood mask and leather tribewear should gives pretty decent protection. You don't need devilstrand at all in the first year. I played a lot of tribal start in Intense, just rush for smithing and everything will be ok.
To reduce scar, I think it is more about doctoring skill and the med supply you are using.

[Dashthechinchilla]

If you play tribal, and are ok with mods, Tribal Essential has rudimentary early game armor for tribal players that dont want to rush space tech.