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[Oaktree]

Sucks to be the engraver who discovers the hole whilst in half a big obsidian caster.

After he went glassy-eyed and started chanting "All glory to the HypnoToad" I figured he was probably a total loss anyways.  I also checked the booze supply to make sure it wasn't contaminated.

The additional risk with the caster set-up of course is that water/magma flowing through it will allow clowns to pass through too.  Besides, a fast-running engraver has time depending on how quickly the caster can be activated.  (The totally paranoid set-up of course is sealing them into a safety room with some booze and a bed first.  They then go out a door, carve, and then run back in.)

[Sutremaine]

Frankly, the only SAFE way to mine adamantine is not at all.

Those single-tile lines come off the main mass and are outside any 4x4 square you can make in the adamantine on that level are safe to mine.

[Lightningfalcon]

Can clowns break through floodgates?

[WealthyRadish]

Keep in mind that the danger zone that needs to be accounted for is actually a 4x4x3 volume around the 2x2 hole, since demons seem to be released even digging a vertical diagonal... since that 2x2 area is always shifting, it makes it impossible to safely mine most of the shaft. Your only hope is to either only mine the one tile wide tentacles that come off it, or just pierce it and get it over with. I recommend either whittling them to death over time with spear traps or using multiple cave ins. After killing all the initial demons, the adamantine is yours for the taking, as thenceforth demons will just casually wander into hell from the edges, and won't fly up to the fort.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Can clowns break through floodgates?

Despite my desire to tease you to find out yourself...
No. They can't.

[Sutremaine]

Vertical diagonal? Are you talking about plain digging, or using down or up/down stairs to manoeuvre through the spire?

[WealthyRadish]

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[Sutremaine]

The demons of Tindalos?

I'll have to check that one out.

[vonduus]

Keep in mind that the danger zone that needs to be accounted for is actually a 4x4x3 volume around the 2x2 hole, since demons seem to be released even digging a vertical diagonal... since that 2x2 area is always shifting, it makes it impossible to safely mine most of the shaft. Your only hope is to either only mine the one tile wide tentacles that come off it, or just pierce it and get it over with. I recommend either whittling them to death over time with spear traps or using multiple cave ins. After killing all the initial demons, the adamantine is yours for the taking, as thenceforth demons will just casually wander into hell from the edges, and won't fly up to the fort.

You should have posted this advice yesterday. I just found out the fun way: "What a funny shaft, shifting position every level. Wonder what happens if I dig into it...".

[misko27]

I've found fortifications are VERY helpful, its a little extra effort, but hell,  it is worth it. Also, yes the stuff is entirely worth it, and artifact axes make love everything. I got one with spikes of iron and FB silk. 2 pictures of itself. Worth the entire fort at the time. Trust me, fortifications are incredibly fort-saving here, unil your military is ready to handle it.

[GreatWyrmGold]

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That really shouldn't release the clowns. It doesn't form a break if you, say, construct that or dig it out, so why does it here?

[WealthyRadish]

Hmm, yeah, I was mistaken... so disregard the diagonal nonsense :/

[Zaik]

Dunno if anything has changed, but it used to be less trouble to just pierce HFS on purpose and get it over with than it was to try to mathemagic up which spire was the right one. If you got the dud, then you have free blue cheese. Cheap method of killing them below:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

You used to be able to set up a long 1 tile windy path and funnel them into it, and make the next 10-20 z-levels all the exact same windy shape. Once they've all worked their way into your maze, you flip a mechanism attached to a support that was holding the top floor up(which you detach from everything so it'll cave in) and it falls through every floor, instantly killing everything inside it. Takes three mechanisms(one lever, two for the link with support), one support, and maybe 20/30 minutes of digging tops. You might want to make a drawbridge to seal off the death maze from your fort after the trap goes off in case there are a few stragglers that manage to dodge the trap, many of them can fly.

No idea if cave ins still instagib HFS. First discovered this back in 32.14 I think, last version I played a serious fort on. Was the most anticlimactic thing i think I've ever experienced, i spent something like 15-20 hours building elaborate traps to kill them to have the very first one kill all but three demons, and those three got executed by a single swordsdwarf after i'd fired a few hundred ballista shots at them(which for whatever reason couldn't kill them, just wound and knock unconscious) for being so underwhelming.

[Mimodo]

Yeah, i think piercing through that will end up with every single dwarf except that vampire dead... For some reason I don't think my military without any legendaries, and a grand total of 15 warriors will hold out against more than just the ambushes I have been getting

[Zaik]

Yeah, i think piercing through that will end up with every single dwarf except that vampire dead... For some reason I don't think my military without any legendaries, and a grand total of 15 warriors will hold out against more than just the ambushes I have been getting

Yeah, if you fight them head on with military, you're obviously going to lose. I've sent 12 max skilled masterwork adamantine geared soldiers at them and lost due to the throw attack that they have to instakill stuff that is much smaller than them. There's hundred(s) of them.

It's only easy if you use cave ins or upright spear/spike traps. But it is *really* easy if you do.