Caves

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	Last updated for version 0.12.0.3 Last mentioned in changelog 1.4.4.1 The current game version is 1.5.9.2 Stub Notes: new feature, pictures, details

A Cave is an environment feature that found in every biome and on islands in the abyss. They are small tunnels accessible by divers only, and often contain various obstacles and valuables within. In total, there are six types of caves, each with it's own unique challenges.

Cave Types

Bioluminescent Cave

Bioluminescent Caves are colorful, brightly lit caves that have a mild hallucinogenic effect on nearby swimmers. They are most commonly discovered in The Great Sea while less commonly being seen in the Hydrothermal Wastes.

Crystal Cave

Crystal Caves are caves whose walls, as their name suggests, are covered in crystalline formations. They are commonly discovered throughout Cold Caverns while less commonly being found in The Great Sea. There are also crystal spikes that shatter on contact, inflicting some damage and bleeding onto the diver (see below).

Forest Cave

Forest Caves are caves with tough plant matter that slow movement and gas vents that quickly drain oxygen from Diving Suits. They are equally likely to be discovered in the Europan Ridge and The Aphotic Plateau.

Ice Cave

Ice Caves are caves lined with icy spikes that explode on contact, dealing damage to divers. They are almost exclusively found in Cold Caverns and in the Abyss.

Mushroom Cave

Mushroom Caves are caves with mushrooms that explode and cause damage to nearby divers. They are exclusively found in the The Aphotic Plateau.

Rock Cave

Rock Caves are caves with gas vents that quickly drain oxygen from Diving Suits. They are found throughout the whole of Europa.

Loot

A sheet of ice blocking a path into a Forest Cave

Caves often have large deposits of minerals (one or more groups of mineral clusters, which contain 4-5 types of minerals). Sometimes, one or more Artifacts can be found in caves.

Medical Plants can spawn inside caves.

Obstacles

Caves have various obstacles, making exploring a risky activity. Caves sometimes have icy chunks that can be cut through, spikes that explode on contact, and toxic gas vents that drain one's suit of oxygen.

In addition to terrain hazards, small Creatures can sometimes spawn inside caves.

In some caves, and very often in the caves contained by the Abyss boulders, strong currents will be present, pushing the divers around. However, this makes said caves easier to spot on the sonar.

Spikes

Ice spikes that explode upon contact.

Spikes explode on contact and deal damage to the diver that collided with them. Spikes are fragile and can be safely destroyed with small arms and Plasma Cutters. Individual spikes do not deal significant damage to a diver due to the resistances of a diving suit, but the overall damage can add up quickly to a careless diver.

Item	Target Type	Context	Range	Afflictions on Hit	Kinetic Force
Spikes	Character	Touch	3.0m	Lacerations : 20 Bleeding : 20 Stun : 0.5	10

Gas Vents

A gas vent on the mouth of a cave

Gas vents are hazards that release a green gas that drains nearby (4.0m radius) Diving Suits of Oxygen Tanks and Welding Fuel Tanks at a rate of 3%/second. As such, it is not advised to linger in these formations for too long.

Media

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  A diver encountering 4 decorative fish in a crystal cave.

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  More cave loot scattered around a crawler nest inside a Forest Cave.

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  2 divers exploring a crystal cave. A spike can be seen on the left.

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  A cave above the submarine as it appears on the sonar.

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  A cave below the submarine, as it appears on the sonar. Currents are visible in some spots.

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  A cave with some enemies visible on sonar.

Cave Generation Probability

Biome	Identifier	Probability of Type of Cave						# of
		Ice	Crystal	Rock	Mushroom	Forest	Bioluminescent	Caves
Cold Caverns	coldcavernstutorial	-
	coldcavernsbasic	1/6	-	5/6	-	-	-	1
	coldcavernsadvanced	-	1/6	5/6	-	-	-	2
	coldcavernsmaze	6/9	1/9	2/9	-	-	-	3
	coldcavernstransition	6/9	1/9	2/9	-	-	-	2
	coldcavernsoutpost	-
Europan Ridge	ridgebasic	-	-	1/2	-	1/2	-	3
	ridgeadvanced	-	-	1/2	-	1/2	-	3
	ridgetransition	-	-	1/2	-	1/2	-	3
	ridgeoutpost	-
The Aphotic Plateau	plateaubasic	-	-	-	1/2	1/2	-	3
	plateauadvanced	-	-	-	1/2	1/2	-	3
	plateaugarden	-	-	-	1/2	1/2	-	5
	plateautransition	-	-	-	1/2	1/2	-	3
	plateauoutpost	-
The Great Sea	greatseabasic	-	1/3	2/3	-	-	-	1
	greatseavertical	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
	greatseaopen	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
	greatseatransition	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
	greatseaoutpost	-
Hydrothermal Wastes	wastesbasic	-	-	1/2	-	-	1/2	2
	wastesgraveyard	-	-	1/2	-	-	1/2	2
	wastesabyss	-	-	1/2	-	-	1/2	2
	wastesoutpost	-