The Cave

The Cave is a significant point of interest in the Dunkeltaler Forest nearby Romeo. The Cave consists of two sections, the entrance and the deep caves.

The Entrance

The entrance of the cave is located roughly at -650,-580, closest to satellite dish Romeo. This area is blocked off the majority of the time by a wall of what looks to be dry grass. There are two ways to remove this wall, the pumpkin tax and sneaking in at night. While the player is inside the cave entrance, the blockade will not respawn.

The Pumpkin Tax

Coming to the cave at anytime and placing a pumpkin near/inside the cave entrance will spawn Wolfgang, who will eat the pumpkin, remove the blockade, and attempt to run off. This is not permanent, if the player leaves the cave, the blockade will respawn, so bring another pumpkin.

Sneaking in at Night

At night, Antibreather spawns from inside the deepest parts of the cave entrance and leaves, removing the blockade temporarily. The player can sneak into the rest of the cave entrance during this time.

There are a number of collectables inside the cave entrance, depending on when the player enters. There are two collectables outside the blockade that can be collected at any time, a chicken burger right outside the entrance, and a skull inside the entrance.
Past the blockade, there are an initial two pumpkins and some mushroom piles that can be gathered, note that Antibreather will eat the mushrooms and Wolfgang will eat the pumpkins, so these must be gathered quickly. There is also another chicken burger.
The final collectable that spawns in the cave entrance is the Antibreather Plush, which spawns at 3:33 AM.

Finally, the cave entrance contains the boundary into the deep caves. This boundary requires specific light sources to enter, the flashlight is not enough. Light sources tested to work as of now include:

• The Gas Lamp
• The Candle
• Glowsticks
• Spotlights
• Lighters
• Salt lamps

The Deep Caves

The deep section of the cave is the second and by far most expansive section. This is a separate level in the game that generates what is believed to be infinite sections of cave for the player to explore. The game saves on entering the deep caves, so you will spawn inside the entrance at the level boundary for the deep caves if you die or the game closes. If you sleep/pass out in the cave, a short cutscene will play in which Antibreather carries you out of the cave. Upon exiting the deep caves, the game will save.

The main incentive for entering the cave is to obtain Radioactive Crystal Shards, a component of the Radioactive Capsule.

Generation

Upon entering the deep caves, the player will spawn in a level section of cave that goes straight. Behind the player, there is the exit of the deep caves. As the player moves further into the caves, sections will generate. These sections tend to follow the same path as the section preceding them, with slight deviations. These deviations can be in any direction. Two things can happen any time a new section of cave is generated: a branching pathway can be generated, or the current pathway can end. A branching pathway can spawn traveling in any direction respective to the previous pathway as long as they do not intersect. these same rules are typically followed when the current pathway ends, although rarely the new pathway that spawns will be blocked by errors in the generation, or, even rarer, the generation will encounter an error and just leave a hole in the map geometry. Two types of crystals can spawn in the caves, Radioactive Crystals and Life Crystals.

Radioactive Crystals

Radioactive crystals are the more common of the two crystals that spawn in the caves, although they are still quite rare. Radioactive crystals can either spawn alone, or in clusters. Each radioactive crystal emits radiation, and can kill the player. Radioactive crystals crystals drop a radioactive crystal shard each 5 hits of a pickaxe, and can drop 1-3 shards before breaking.

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Life Crystals

Life crystals are the more rare of the two crystal spawns in the caves, with the player, on average, seeing one per trip. Life crystals always spawn alone. Life crystals make the same noises Fossilhounds make. Under all testing as of now, Life crystals are unbreakable, although if one to be shattered, it stands to reason it would drop the same life crystal item that Fossilhounds do. Each time a life crystal is hit with a pickaxe, it will emit a bright light and set the player (and pickaxe) on fire. This fire deals over half the player's HP in total.

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Map Geometry Holes

Map geometry holes are a somewhat common occurrence in the deep caves. They appear most often and are largest at branches and where sections end. They can also generate along sections, although this is rarer, and the holes tend to be smaller. As stated earlier, sometimes sections will fail to generate a new section of cave and leave a huge map geometry hole instead. In the more sharper declining sections of cave, map large map geometry holes can look like the path forward, so be cautious of jumping into one on mistake. If one falls into a map geometry hole, simply ragdoll (default [C]) and you will be teleported to the beginning of the deep caves after a somewhat short fall (around 10-30 seconds).

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Weird Rocks

In some cases, rocks meant to generate on the outside of caves will appear on the inside where the player can interact with them. The most common reason for this are bugs is the branch generation, although a slightly less common cause is due to two sections intersecting with each other. In both cases, the cave sections can often become blocked off, preventing further exploration.

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