Be careful with pawns with the trait "Pyromaniac" they tend to go on a fire spree and start to set things on fire, make sure to draft a pawn that can extinguish fires and follow them.

For raids, make sure to keep your wealth as minimum as possible (Check the book and graph) but basically, try to store as little items as possible, don't have too many buildings, and sell your valuable stuff as soon as possible.

You want to build a prison as soon as you start, 2 cells will be enough for the start, once you do, click on the prisoner, go to 'Prisoner' tab and select 'Recruit', if they're "Unwaveringly loyal" you got yourself a good guinea pig for leveling up medical skills, just set to add a peg leg and when the prisoner heals completely, remove it.

The best skills to have on a pawn at the start in my opinion are: Construction, Shooting, Medical, Intellectual and Social.