Living In Caves

[Emtiq]

Hi guys. So, I have set myself with a simple goal, to have a renewable dragon fruit farm. I have been working on it throughout autumn, winter and spring and it was going really well. Then my first summer ever hit me. And my dragon fruit farm is gone. All crops have withered and turned to grass. However, I do not intend to give up on my goal. This time around I plan to have my base underground. But the reality is that I don't know much about caves. So, I have few questions. 1. Is it possible to live in the caves throughout the whole year? 2. Do seasons have the same effects on things underground as much they have on surface? By that I mean things like crops in planters not growing during winter and summer destroying your crops. 3. I noticed that you lose sanity in caves. Would playing as Maxwell fix that? 4. How do earthquakes work? 5. Can giants visit underground. I played without giants in my world because I was afraid they might wreck my base, but if they can't come down I would not mind trying out my luck against them. Apart from these questions, feel free to give me any advice and tips on the underground living. Happy surviving everyone. 

P.S. This is my third topic post in a week. Is this annoying or is it ok to have and post many questions?

[Wumpus the 19th]

31 minutes ago, Emtiq said:

 1. Is it possible to live in the caves throughout the whole year? 2. Do seasons have the same effects on things underground as much they have on surface? By that I mean things like crops in planters not growing during winter and summer destroying your crops. 3. I noticed that you lose sanity in caves. Would playing as Maxwell fix that? 4. How do earthquakes work? 5. Can giants visit underground. I played without giants in my world because I was afraid they might wreck my base, but if they can't come down I would not mind trying out my luck against them.

(cracks knuckles) I've got nothing better to do

1. of course, although it's slightly harder. less major resources like grass and twigs, a lot less neutral bio-diversity like beefalo and pigs, a larger reliance on mushrooms and maybe bunny-men and spiders.

2. the caves drop your body heat my multiple degrees, making summer nullified and winter significantly harder. as well, of course many problems like frog rain and beefs in heat won't be in the caves systems.

3. Maxwell would of course fix it. it's a 5 a minute drain due to the ambient darkness. you'll just have to contend with a reduced sanity gain from dapper-ness

4. every once in a while, the screen will shake and minerals like rocks, gems, and marble will fall from the ceiling. they're relatively simple, just wear protection and have a good light source, as the falling rocks cast a shadow a few seconds before hitting the floor. also antlion will drop big boulders from the ceiling in summer, so be ready to stand in an open area as to not be blocked off.

5. no giants can spawn underground, however if it's the season and they're spawn comes up, they'll start spawning in once you leave the caves. i.e. if you go into the caves during say winter from day 30 to somewhere like day 34, deerclops will start spawning once you leave. i believe that's how it works.

i have ample free time, so if you've more questions, i'll anwser if i can.

[Emtiq]

3 hours ago, Wumpus the 19th said:

(cracks knuckles) I've got nothing better to do

1. of course, although it's slightly harder. less major resources like grass and twigs, a lot less neutral bio-diversity like beefalo and pigs, a larger reliance on mushrooms and maybe bunny-men and spiders.

2. the caves drop your body heat my multiple degrees, making summer nullified and winter significantly harder. as well, of course many problems like frog rain and beefs in heat won't be in the caves systems.

3. Maxwell would of course fix it. it's a 5 a minute drain due to the ambient darkness. you'll just have to contend with a reduced sanity gain from dapper-ness

4. every once in a while, the screen will shake and minerals like rocks, gems, and marble will fall from the ceiling. they're relatively simple, just wear protection and have a good light source, as the falling rocks cast a shadow a few seconds before hitting the floor. also antlion will drop big boulders from the ceiling in summer, so be ready to stand in an open area as to not be blocked off.

5. no giants can spawn underground, however if it's the season and they're spawn comes up, they'll start spawning in once you leave the caves. i.e. if you go into the caves during say winter from day 30 to somewhere like day 34, deerclops will start spawning once you leave. i believe that's how it works.

i have ample free time, so if you've more questions, i'll anwser if i can.

Thank you for spending your time replying. 

[SeuCrowley]

The friend above already mentioned great tips, so I will only complement what has already been said:

Ifyou intend to spend the whole year in the cave it is essential that you create various farms to ensure that you do not lack food and that you do not starve, you can do farms with the rabbit houses and the houndius shootius to get good meat, and with scratches and rabbits to get bad meat, in the caves it is also possible to grow bees to guarantee their honey but to do this it is necessary that the farm is set up close to the  cave entrance where there is a source of light otherwise the flowers will wither, taking advantage of this is the best place to create a base in the caves, as there is a source of light it is also possible to cultivate farms.

[Mindkontrol]

Caves is an option, but not necessary. Winter is pretty easy to live through once you get the hang of the basics. Food is simple with a crockpot, as mentioned one meat and three ice will get you some meatballs. This recipe alone will solve most of your hunger problems. Even as a nomad, you can get by pretty handily with a thermal stone and a torch for the occasional burning, cook your foraged foods over the fire for maximum nourishment and you can make it work. 

Caves is an option, but not necessary. Winter is pretty easy to live through once you get the hang of the basics. Food is simple with a crockpot, as mentioned one meat and three ice will get you some meatballs. This recipe alone will solve most of your hunger problems. Even as a nomad, you can get by pretty handily with a thermal stone and a torch for the occasional burning, cook your foraged foods over the fire for maximum nourishment and you can make it work. 

[PSV_USA]

Hi!

Wumpus the 19th has great answers for you.

My small group have one game that is completely underground and we actually find it easier to survive down there, especially when you get your Tam-o-shanter (sp?) That will keep you sane easy...just remember to patch it up before it's durability runs out.

Another good sanity trick I learned on here is to plant a circle of flowers (flowers need to be planted near a light shaft...if they are in total darkness all the time they will die), have a friend who dies haunt the flowers and turn them into evil flowers, then you can equip the bee queen's hat and sit in the center to gain sanity...I think it's called a sanity station.

We have bunny men farms, spider farms and pigman farms for constant meat sources and other resources. I made a dragon fruit farm underground and it went well, so long as you remember to place stuff like that where it will get occasional light

Plus, you can go cave worm hunting and make lots of lovely night vision goggles (moggles). A lot of things you find above ground can be transferred to underground (except beefalo) with no problem. We found the quakes really annoying at first, but after awhile we would be running around thinking "I wish we'd have another quake...I need a red gem." XD

You can plant grass, trees, flowers there and even set up your bee hives there

And NO Bearger lol

The only boss that can affect you below is the Antlion...during summer he will chose one of you to try and dump a bunch of boulders on...but hey, free rocks, right?

Regardless, whatever type of meat farm you make, make sure it's at least 3 screens away so you can run around your camp in peace and not get slaughtered by bunnymen for forgetting that beef jerky in your pocket lol

Oh, and try to always keep a life giving amulet on you...can't tell you how many times that has saved my behind...but make sure to not carry it in your backpack or you can't access it should you need it.

Sorry in advance if I didn't name something properly...It's been ages since I actually played DST as my group are kinda addicted to PvZ GW2 at the moment and my memory is crap, but we are getting bored and plan to head back to DST soon

[BeeClops]

On 5/21/2020 at 5:49 AM, Emtiq said:

Hi guys. So, I have set myself with a simple goal, to have a renewable dragon fruit farm. I have been working on it throughout autumn, winter and spring and it was going really well. Then my first summer ever hit me. And my dragon fruit farm is gone. All crops have withered and turned to grass. However, I do not intend to give up on my goal. This time around I plan to have my base underground. But the reality is that I don't know much about caves. So, I have few questions. 1. Is it possible to live in the caves throughout the whole year? 2. Do seasons have the same effects on things underground as much they have on surface? By that I mean things like crops in planters not growing during winter and summer destroying your crops. 3. I noticed that you lose sanity in caves. Would playing as Maxwell fix that? 4. How do earthquakes work? 5. Can giants visit underground. I played without giants in my world because I was afraid they might wreck my base, but if they can't come down I would not mind trying out my luck against them. Apart from these questions, feel free to give me any advice and tips on the underground living. Happy surviving everyone. 

P.S. This is my third topic post in a week. Is this annoying or is it ok to have and post many questions?

You can also still stay overground during summer, but you need ice-flingomatics over your crops to keep them from withering. This also helps with wildfires that will occur in summer and can burn your base if it's not in the oasis desert, witch prevents wildfire (but you still need flingo for plants to grow there too).

That being said, summer is much easier in caves in my opinion. You don't have to worry about overheating, the temperature in caves does not get high enough, while on surface you have to constantly keep yourself cool using a chilled thermal stone ore other items. 

However. in order for plants and crops to grow in caves, you need that area to be light up from the surface fissures, you can see witch areas are light up in caves during day-time (you will see the day-timer on the upper-right when light comes in), those areas tend to be close to cave entrances. In pitch dark areas, crops will not grow, and planted flowers will rot(You can also have beeboxes underground, just make sure planted flowers for them are in naturally light up areas). On a side note, mushrooms work better in caves, mushroom planters in particular, on the surface they will turn to rot in winter, while in caves mushroom planters produce all year round. Also, mushrooms do not night the natural light thing to grow, so they can be a good foodsource for caves if you have excess living logs.

Seasons work a little different, an eyebrella would be a very good item to have in the caves for wetness protection. Autumn and Spring are similar to surface, but in Winter it rains a lot, while summer has lower temperature than overground. Earthquakes are just a free source of minerals, nothing to worry about them. Deathworm waves, the hounds of caves, despite being much stronger than hounds, they are easier to run away form if you want to avoid the fight, but ideally you handle them with other mobs, like bunnymen or rock lobsters. 

That's all i can think of for now, i hope it helps and gl!