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[Leif]

Greetings to all.

I have recently began a project, The primary goal of which is the destruction of demons and colonization of hell. The main plan is currently this:

Step 1. Establish a self-sufficient fortress.
Step 2. Train an army consisting of 9 Squads, with everyone being at least proficient swords/marks/hammer dwarfs.
Step 3. Identify 3 adamantine spikes to hell.
Step 4. Dig out the area around the spikes fortifying the area around it.
Step 5. Unleash hell!  3 squads will be assigned to each pillar, The demon swarm will be beaten back (Hopefully, I've little experience with demons)
Step 6. Combat engineers will construct a stairway down the pillar.
Step 7. A FOB will be erected at the base of each pillar.
Step 8. Full-scale demon eradication and construction commences.

This is the plan so far. I'm still formulating an exact battle plan, and there is much to do, mainly the armament of the 9 squads. I'm aiming for at least full steel gear, with adamantine weapons for officers.
I value any input from the Bay 12 community.

[DS]

This is all based on my own experiences with the HFS.

First of all, don't face the demons head-on if you expect to defeat them.

There is, of course, the checkerboard method, but I personally prefer a tall passage which can be collapsed. There are various methods which a creative mind can devise.

If you absolutely must do the army method (as you described), adamantine, or at the very least steel weapons and armor will be necessary. With the amount of adamantine you can safely extract from three spires, you'll probably have enough to provide weapons to everyone, if not a few suits of armor.

Face the demons in a tight corridor where their numbers will count for nothing. A well trained military, when the demons are slowed by their own kind, can take down their enemy with some dependability, although you should always expect losses.

As always, a great degree of fun is to be expected.

[NRDL]

Fighting the demons head on, even in tight corridors.  Using obsidianizers, LOTS of razor traps ( just check Deathgate for proof ) and other stuff would help. 

There have been so many demon colonizations on the thread, it's actually becoming as common as various megaprojects. 

[Sallen]

My experience with HFS is also limited, but I can tell you I couldn't handle one spire with two squads of highly proficient (can't remember exactly how much, but there were some legends) dwarfs in full adamantine armor and weapons. They slaughtered my army in seconds. I didn't use the corridor method DS describes though.

In any case, good luck and I hope you post your findings for the sake of Fun.

[DS]

I should point out (but I'll put it in spoilers in case you don't want it to be spoiled - you'll almost certainly have more fun if you try it your way):

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'm pretty sure the demons are released only the first time you breach the HFS.

There have been so many demon colonizations on the thread, it's actually becoming as common as various megaprojects. 

People have been defeating the HFS since shortly after it was introduced. I think that the fact that overcoming what is supposed to be the ultimate threat in the game is a sign that the upcoming update will be much-needed.

[Leif]

Righto, I've began to formulate an attack plan. All nine squads assigned to one spike. A balcony type area will house archers, which will rain hell on the demons. The squads, all nine of them will be in the middle of an epic battle. If shit hits the fan, there is a lever that will seal the spike from the fortress.

[dermal_plating]

I've only dug into the HFS once, but when I did it was underwhelming. Not sure if my map only generated minimal demons, or if my dudes were just uber badasses, but I had about 6 legendary fighters, all veterans of dozens of combats, all with full adamantine armour and weapons. They massacred the demons very easily. I think there were probably less than 10 demons in total, is this abnormal?

[Leif]

The squads are training vigorously, It serves a double purpose. It consists of a restrained, disarmed elf. Squad members take turns, slowly bludgeoning the screaming elf, training the squad and relieving my rage. Otherwise they just spar as normal.

[Sallen]

9 squads of well-trained dwarfs plus archers sounds more like it!

The squads are training vigorously, It serves a double purpose. It consists of a restrained, disarmed elf. Squad members take turns, slowly bludgeoning the screaming elf, training the squad and relieving my rage. Otherwise they just spar as normal.

Epic.

[dermal_plating]

It consists of a restrained, disarmed elf. Squad members take turns, slowly bludgeoning the screaming elf, training the squad and relieving my rage.

Perhaps I've been out of the game for too long, but this struck me as a little sadistic. Though I assume he eventually dies from the beatings, please don't tell me you nurse him back to health then repeat the process.

[Sallen]

It consists of a restrained, disarmed elf. Squad members take turns, slowly bludgeoning the screaming elf, training the squad and relieving my rage.

Perhaps I've been out of the game for too long, but this struck me as a little sadistic. Though I assume he eventually dies from the beatings, please don't tell me you nurse him back to health then repeat the process.

So wrong in the real world, yet so beautiful within DF!
What has this game done to me?

[tommy521]

The squads are training vigorously, It serves a double purpose. It consists of a restrained, disarmed elf. Squad members take turns, slowly bludgeoning the screaming elf, training the squad and relieving my rage. Otherwise they just spar as normal.

You've won me over. Posting to watch!

[Telgin]

I've only dug into the HFS once, but when I did it was underwhelming. Not sure if my map only generated minimal demons, or if my dudes were just uber badasses, but I had about 6 legendary fighters, all veterans of dozens of combats, all with full adamantine armour and weapons. They massacred the demons very easily. I think there were probably less than 10 demons in total, is this abnormal?

Or you could end up like me where the demons just ignore you.  I dug through the last line of adamantine, got the message, and the demons went up the wrong spire.  They seemed to disappear after that.  Was strange stuff.

Anyway, about 15-20 spawned for me, but it's supposedly randomly from 10 to 30 or so.

[Sutremaine]

I've taken on the initial rush by having trained civilians peppering demons with bolts before the demons can get to the barracks at the end of the firing range. I knew some of them could throw fireballs, but they never seemed to bother trying, perhaps because there was always a walkable path to the military, the civilians, and the fortress (this is a recurring problem with ranged attackers on the player's side). I assume the same would hold true for deadly dust attacks. The inorganics and the flame demons crumbled after a few hits, and while most of the organic ones made it to the end they were red on every body part and easy targets.

It helped that the clown car was parked at the end of another street -- had they all come rushing through the breach at once instead of groups of four to six I'd have needed a setup that compartmentalised the firing range so that the marksdwarves didn't let a flame demon through because they were all busy overkilling or failing to kill something else. Something squarer to reduce bolt travel time would be useful too.

Runesmith shows that demons are Accomplished in various martial skills, and this combined with their 10,000,000 size means you need uber-Legendaries to take them on in melee. They can also bite through steel, though that was a random stupid civilian with low Armour User skill. I'm not sure how good adamantine armour would actually be, considering the brute strength demons have.

[Bloogonis]

A good step 9 would be to Quarry Slade. Im not sure if there has been confirmation yet if its possible or not by making the ground obsidianized, then digging down. you would only be getting about 1 possible slade for every 9 uncovered tiles, but hey, Its freakin' Slade!