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Author Topic: *Spoiler* Help with HFS  (Read 775 times)

alexgoss

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*Spoiler* Help with HFS
« on: May 14, 2011, 11:16:21 am »

I embarked on a site with both shallow and deep metals, unfortunately, the only metal to be found is zinc. I bought up everything I could from merchants, and had managed to equip all my military with steel weapons but couldn't get enough for much armour for them so they are all in leather. (Is this the best strategy, or is it best to have only two or three fully equipped dwarfs?)

Anyway, I decided to dig down and through the caverns to try and find any better metal, and managed to find an adamantine vein. I made the decision to risk it, but to leave a few layers above the cavern floor so I wouldn't breach into hell to soon. Unfortunately this plan didn't work. I managed to stockpile 80 odd units of raw adamantine before it happened. My two miners were killed straight away, and I immediately set dwarfs to masons to block the route into my fortress. I managed to stop them getting to me just, one poor fella built the wall from the wrong side, sadly, but he did finish it just in time to force them to divert through the caverns, buying valuable time for the rest of my dwarfs to finish their work.

As it stands now...
I have ~55 dwarfs total. (thankfully only three were lost)
I'm in a cold biome with liquid water on the surface for a small part of the year, in small quantities. I've had to block access to my only permanent water source in the caverns.
I have ~80 units of adamantine, ~10 steel weapons and ~units of iron and bronze. Military is currently equipped with leather/no armour.
I can't access the caverns or my dwarves will be slaughtered.
I have plenty of food and access to lots of wood and flux stones.

What should I do? I intend to try and take on the demons, but how should I go about it. What traps are effective against them? (I can't access water or magma) How should I equipped my dwarves, and how should I take them on?
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EmperorJon

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Re: *Spoiler* Help with HFS
« Reply #1 on: May 14, 2011, 11:25:45 am »

Drop a cave in bomb on them. Or fire ridiculously huge numbers of ballistae down a corridor at them. Then engage with experienced adamantine axedwarves.
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I think it's the way towns develop now. In the beginning, people move into a town. Then they start producing tables, which results in more and more tables. Soon tables represent a significant portion of the population, they start lobbying for new laws and regulations, putting people to greater and greater disadvantage...
Link for full quote. 'tis mighty funny.

utuki

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Re: *Spoiler* Help with HFS
« Reply #2 on: May 14, 2011, 12:10:49 pm »

About water: you can build a drain tunnel from cave lake into reservoir with bridge acting as floodgate. Open, it drains in few seconds then you can close it.
Demons probably wont be as agressive in caverns as when you first penetrate a tube and will attack one by one if they are close as normal creatures.
Simple way to take them out is cavein trap but doing it hard way with military is much more fun.
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A Random Passerby

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Re: *Spoiler* Help with HFS
« Reply #3 on: May 14, 2011, 12:35:22 pm »

About water: you can build a drain tunnel from cave lake into reservoir with bridge acting as floodgate. Open, it drains in few seconds then you can close it.
Demons probably wont be as agressive in caverns as when you first penetrate a tube and will attack one by one if they are close as normal creatures.
Simple way to take them out is cavein trap but doing it hard way with military is much more fun.
This practice should work, If you can do that, do it.
Would it be possible to forge the adamantine into armor and weapons to beat the demons back directly and wall off an area of water? Would it be possible to dig into the caverns in another direction and wall that off so you have water there?
« Last Edit: May 14, 2011, 03:13:41 pm by A Random Passerby »
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Azated

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Re: *Spoiler* Help with HFS
« Reply #4 on: May 14, 2011, 01:12:56 pm »

I embarked on a site with both shallow and deep metals, unfortunately, the only metal to be found is zinc. I bought up everything I could from merchants, and had managed to equip all my military with steel weapons but couldn't get enough for much armour for them so they are all in leather. (Is this the best strategy, or is it best to have only two or three fully equipped dwarfs?)

Anyway, I decided to dig down and through the caverns to try and find any better metal, and managed to find an adamantine vein. I made the decision to risk it, but to leave a few layers above the cavern floor so I wouldn't breach into hell to soon. Unfortunately this plan didn't work. I managed to stockpile 80 odd units of raw adamantine before it happened. My two miners were killed straight away, and I immediately set dwarfs to masons to block the route into my fortress. I managed to stop them getting to me just, one poor fella built the wall from the wrong side, sadly, but he did finish it just in time to force them to divert through the caverns, buying valuable time for the rest of my dwarfs to finish their work.

As it stands now...
I have ~55 dwarfs total. (thankfully only three were lost)
I'm in a cold biome with liquid water on the surface for a small part of the year, in small quantities. I've had to block access to my only permanent water source in the caverns.
I have ~80 units of adamantine, ~10 steel weapons and ~units of iron and bronze. Military is currently equipped with leather/no armour.
I can't access the caverns or my dwarves will be slaughtered.
I have plenty of food and access to lots of wood and flux stones.

What should I do? I intend to try and take on the demons, but how should I go about it. What traps are effective against them? (I can't access water or magma) How should I equipped my dwarves, and how should I take them on?

Ever wonder why the elves don't believe in demons?

Use Elf leather armor and wooden weapons, and claim the circus for Armok.
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Then it happened. Then I cringed. Then I picked it up and beat him to death with it, and then his buddies, too.
You beat a man to death with his dick?

"I don't feel like myself. Maybe I should have Doc take a look at me" ~ Dreamy
 "You're gonna trust a dwarf that got his medical degree from a pickaxe?" ~ Bossy

Zaik

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Re: *Spoiler* Help with HFS
« Reply #5 on: May 18, 2011, 08:20:51 pm »

The easiest ways I've ever done it was:

A: Dig out 5-10 z-levels in the exact same shape(easiest is just a long rectangle, longer distance requires less z-levels) with stairs on the ends, then at the top detach the ceiling from the walls big enough to hit the whole thing with one support under it attached to a level somewhere safe. Wait until they're all inside it, then flip a switch attached to the support holding the top ceiling up, and it will cave in the entire thing. Done right, it'll kill most or all of the clowns.

B:Force them through a 1 tile hallway lined with 20-30 maxed upright spear/spike traps attached to one lever set to repeat. I don't know if this one still works, haven't really tried it since 31.16 because A is so much easier.
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[MILL_CHILD:ONLY_IF_GOOD_REASON]