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v0.31:Caverns
| This article is about an older version of DF. |
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This article contains massive spoilers. If you do not wish to have your game experience spoiled, do not scroll down! |
Caverns are huge natural underground tunnel systems, inhabited by strange and dangerous creatures. They go up, down, left, right, and about anywhere else. Vanilla worlds provide three cavern layers. Number, size and z-position can be altered in the Template:L parameters. The caverns will usually have open map edges, allowing all sorts of Template:L to migrate into and from the cavern. By exploring the caverns in adventure mode it is possible to travel large distances below the surface - the caverns effectively connect all sites that access them.
Upon reclaiming a fort, all mud in the caverns is removed.
In subterranean biomes, Chasm, water, and lava mean land, water (pool), and magma (pipes) respectively.
Geography
The top of the first cavern usually resides about 10 z-levels below the surface. [Verify] Each cavern layer spans multiple z-levels, and is filled with Template:L to a certain degree. This can range from a few pools at the bottom level to the whole layer being submerged, forming a gigantic underground sea, including Template:L and possibly camps of Template:L and other Template:L aquatic creatures.
The average amount of water cavern layers feature depends on your world generation settings, specifically
[CAVERN_LAYER_WATER_MIN:0]
[CAVERN_LAYER_WATER_MAX:100]
Beneath the third layer lies the Template:L.
Other Features
Exploring the underground world, you may find a variety of special geographical features. When your dwarves discover a feature, an announcement window will let you know of it.
Deep pits: deep pits are... deep pits, they go from one cavern level to the next, and they are a fixed shape, when they hit the next cavern level they end up 'merging' into it (no other way to explain it), and the top z-level, the z-level it hits the next cavern level, is un-muddied rough rock floor where the the normal space of the deep pit and the random rock spires of the cavern collide.
Magma pools: Magma pools (despite the name, they are not actually pools) are tubes extending from the Template:L and their shape is fixed, it's really random if you find one, it could extend to the top cavern, or even just a few z-levels.
Passages: Passages are natural tunnels connecting two layers by ramps and short, twisted tunnel sections.
Vegetation
Caverns will, from the topmost to the deepest, feature the following vegetation:
Level one: a benign (or as nice as caverns get) level, it has shrubs, Template:Ls, and Template:L(s).
Level two: a level filled with, in addition to the above, Template:Ls, Template:Ls, Template:Ls, and Template:Ls.
Level three: a level lacking the trees the first level had, while still having those the second introduced, also has, Template:Ls, and Template:Ls.
Removing a layer will cause the layer above to randomly pick from trees that it could have handled and the layer above can handle, here's an example of having only two layers:
Level one: a benign (or as nice as caverns get) level, it has shrubs, Template:Ls, and Template:L(s).
Level two: Randomly picks trees from all layers.
Plants from recently discovered layers will also start sprouting in your artificially muddied areas (but not on the already muddied areas that the caverns are generated with).
Dangers
There are many, many dangerous Template:Ls in a cavern, including Template:Ls, Template:Ls, Template:Ls, Template:Ls, and others.
Cavern level one is as good as things get, and the following levels will Template:L Template:L Template:L. If you can't stand level one, you won't be able to stand level two or three.
Template:L can Template:L if your main stairwell leads directly into the cavern (the bottom of up-down/down stairs can be passed by flying creatures).
Also, any cavern of sufficient size will be inhabited by Template:Ls, which can be both Template:L and hazard.
One thing you really have to watch out for is having your main stairwell lead into a cavern. It doesn't have to be so walking creatures can get in, but just so there's an open hole. Any hostile creature sitting under your open stairway will spook any dwarves trying to use it, causing a flood of job cancellation messages as they keep trying to reach their destination. When this happens it can lead to all your dwarves starving themselves to death. Only build stairs on the side, preferably with a hatch.
Benefits
Caverns provide ever regenerating resources in form of underground forests, animals to hunt, and fish. On breaching a cavern layer, a variety of ores and gems lining its walls will be revealed. The cavern floors are always Template:L, providing soil to a variety of underground Template:Ls. Also, underground caverns and the water they provide can be used in constructions and traps. Throwing your prisoners into a damp hellhole filled with ravaging beasts is a nice addition, too.
Creatures
If you care to spend the time, filling the caverns with cage traps. You can get some nice pets. Though you will need a Template:L. Still, it's worth the thought.
When should I start exploring?
You should have a working military. The first cavern usually has few hazardous monsters, apart from the occasional giant olm or toad, but just one giant bat can destroy an early fort and uninvited guests will wander in sooner or later. The subsequent caverns will become increasingly Template:L, so don't dig too deep without making adequate preparation. You can handle what tries to attack, presuming you don't have a Template:L to worry about. You can of course explore a cavern without a military, but you will likely get a bunch of dwarves killed.
Not all parts of a cavern are immediately visible; A good portion of a cavern is revealed once you breach it, but other parts remain hidden until your dwarves explore them. Since you often don't know what you'll find in a cavern, they can be exciting places, but also very dangerous.
Methods of Exploration
There are many different methods of exploring, some safer than others.
Dwarf team: The most FUN method, you can have dwarves manually explore the cavern by foot. This can be done by ordering your Template:L into the cavern with move orders. If you use this method, it is recommended that you equip your dwarves well.
Fortifications: as dwarves can see through fortifications, you can carve out a fortification near the edge of the explored area to safely discover more of the cavern. This prevents wildlife and megabeasts from entering your fort, as an added benefit. This method does not work for exploring the magma layers - or rather, it does work, but for a very, very brief time during which there is much fun.
Digging and walling: Instead of smoothing a wall and then carving a fortification, it can be quicker to just dig out the wall and then blocking off the opening with a constructed wall. The disadvantage over the fortification method is that if any dangerous creatures are lurking unseen near edge of the explored area they might get to your dwarf before the wall can be put up.
Digging from above: The only method that works in the magma layers, this method requires you to dig a hole from above the caverns into the cavern. It is advisable to seal the hole afterwards if you wish to prevent flying or magma creatures from entering your fort.
Autonomous Dwarven Cavern Rover: Pit an animal into the cavern through an access tunnel above the cavern floor, walling it up afterward if you wish. The animal will wander the cavern, revealing more of it, and possibly stumble across things you would prefer your dwarves not encounter unaware. Use a female animal when you have a male of the same species somewhere in your fortress to produce a population of self replicating rovers.
Suicide mission: Ideal for exploring the bottom of a deep pit or magma pool. Knock a dwarf into the pit, and they will rapidly plummet. Despite being unconscious, they will report everything they see for as long as they are alive. Nobles make excellent geonauts.
Adventurer Mode
You can enter a cavern with an Template:L and explore it. The dangers are obvious; Nasty creatures, pitfalls, etc. But you also have to watch out because you can't fast-travel underground. That means no easy healing, so you have to be very careful. Make sure you stock up on food, water and (if you use it) ammunition before you head in, though, as caverns are quite massive and it can be difficult to find your way back. Luckily, there are tribes of animal men underground; Unlike in fortress mode, they are your friends. Camps almost always have food, and usually some other items as well, though probably less useful. Since you can't fast-travel, you have to rely on sleeping to heal, which can be dangerous due to the Template:L of caverns. If you sleep in a camp, the tribe will try and protect you from Template:L Template:L Template:L.