What gear should I bring to the caves?

[HoneyHam]

I'm about to jump in my cave to find the ruins, anything in particular I should bring to make sure I don't get mauled by Xjurwi's family and/or worms? I have a logsuit, top hat, tentacle spikes, krampus sack, miner hat, lantern, 3 honey hams, 8 cooked eggs, gold tools, walking cane, life giving amulet, and resources. Anything I'm missing?
 
Off-topic

I really like the new title screen and thickly outlined text! Good job Klei!!!

[Deacon_Blue]

I fully explored the caves and ruins in my world with a lantern, dark sword, logsuit, tam o' shanter, and a bunch of homey ham.

 

The rabbits will get mad at you, so be wary of that. I just lured them into the swamp and let the mess of tentacles finish them off for me, then continued exploring until I was out of food so they didn't get aggressive on the way back.

 

It might be worth keeping a slot for rocks to help deal with depth worms by feeding rock lobsters.

 

The cave spiders were my biggest problem, as there was a bottleneck with a bunch of the infested stalagmites. I went through a few logsuits working on that section.

 

I know it's less efficient to use light bulbs as fuel instead of making new lanterns, but I found it more convenient to just refill the one I was carrying.

[lupadim]

Some fireflies for refuel purposes. Remember to take a stack of each resource to PLANT it when underground.

[Norman1346]

I would lose the hams. Bunnymen will attack on sight and in force if they see you will meat. Dragon Fruit pie is ideal but even a stack of berries will work.

 

I would bring 5 to 10 healing salves as the caves are much more dangerous than the over-world.

 

Also Chester to help with aggro and help with goodies plundered. Just don't die or you will have to fetch him.

 

A walking cane will help you cover more ground quickly. Can really help you find what you need before you run out of light or food. IT REALLY helps with nightmare beak hallucinations as they are FAST.

 

If hallucinations and worms start swarming you in the ruins it is almost impossible to click that rope up to the next level before you are swarmed, the walking cane makes it just slightly more likely you will be able to move to the right spot, have the rope fall, and click it before dieing.

 

Since Rock lobsters are the strongest allies in the game and they can really help with worms and those all-the-time hallucinations. Some flint or other minerals are good for this. Same amount of follower time added no matter which mineral so flint or stone, not gold.

 

Another important consideration is what to leave behind. Dying in the caves is likely. So I usually have a 'revenge chest' which contains an addition log suit, some healing stuff, some basic crafting materials. Dieing stinks but dieing and losing momentum is even worse. Being able to go right back right away and try to get your stuff is much preferable to having to re-arm and possible not get back down there until a different IN REAL LIFE day.

 

Also you will want a meat effigy of course.

 

Lastly you will need a strong sense of adventure!

[23rd]

For general exploration the materials for a Log Suit, a Lantern, Dragon Pies and the Gnome should be good enough.

[ARamblingSpider]

Here's my prefered list of items:

 

-Jerky

-Full stack of grass and sticks

-A Log sit and football helmet

-Walking cane

-Mining Helmet

-A stack of Gold.

-Weapons such as tentacle spikes and dark swords.

[HoneyHam]

Alright, I'm in the caves, and I'm doing perfectly fine, running a little low on food, but I got A LOT of exploring done. Still no Ruins, though.

I also COMPLETELY forgot about sanity management. Now I'm seeing beardlords(except for the fact there aren't any for miles).

[Crockpot]

Bring a few pieces of armor, tools and weapons, materials to make torches and campfires (In case you need it), taffy for sanity, some food that doesn't spoil quickly and won't make bunny-man attack you , and a lantern or miner hat. Also bring some flint if you want to befriend rockies.

[the truthseeker]

Tam O Shanter works best for Sanity management, but I guess top hat could work in a Pinch. Obviously, no lack of spiders down there  

[Ortorin]

20 killer bees:

Put half a stack in Chester so that when he dies the bees will get some revenge done for you. The other 10 keep on yourself when you need a "bee-screen" to help make a getaway in a bad situation.

 

Walls:

Place walls in the choke points of areas that you have already explored to keep hounds from attacking you from there later on. A wall made by alternating wall segments and trees/berry bushes stops the worms from path-finding around the wall. They will stubbornly try to go through the wall to get you instead.

 

Spider hat:

Make the little guys play nice.

 

If I think of anymore while I'm at work I'll post them up later.

[hotflungwok]

I bring straw to make traps to deal with spider nests.  Set up a few traps, lure the spiders out, run them into the traps, take a pick to the now empty nest. 

 

I usually bring a stack of pumpkin cookies or taffy.  It's food and sanity.  If I dont have those handy I bring a stack of green mushrooms.

 

If you're going down to the ruins bring a hammer.

[HoneyHam]

Even though I'm running low on food and going bat-sh!t insane I WILL find that Ruins entrance.

Is it wise to eat monster meat and blushrooms?

[the truthseeker]

Hmm, follow up question to this OP question to all:

 

When do you all normally go into caves?

 

I like to wait until after or during the first winter (depending on my resources) so I'd have the Tam O' Shanter (edit: ) and walking cane first. 

 

 

Edit: And @TooMuchHoneyHam you can manually type "[ spoiler] [ /spoiler]" (without quotes or the space at the [ brackets) between text to be hidden if for some reason you have trouble highlighting text, clicking the Special BBC Code, choosing Spoiler and clicking OK. 

[papermoon]

i usually get ToS & walking cane first before spelunking esp. walking cane, then good food like d-pie or honeyham, even honey is good, log suit, spear, mining hat, and the usual log, grass, rocks & flint.

and why eat monster meat?

build bird cage & put bird in it with fire pit near cave entrance so you can convert those monster meats to eggs, or build crockpots to make better food.

[HoneyHam]

i usually get ToS & walking cane first before spelunking esp. walking cane, then good food like d-pie or honeyham, even honey is good, log suit, spear, mining hat, and the usual log, grass, rocks & flint.

and why eat monster meat?

build bird cage & put bird in it with fire pit near cave entrance so you can convert those monster meats to eggs, or build crockpots to make better food.

I'm DEEEEEP in the caves and running low on eggs. It's either monster meat or starve.

[the truthseeker]

I'm DEEEEEP in the caves and running low on eggs. It's either monster meat or starve.

 

Why I like the Birdcage.

[papermoon]

by beardlord, eat those monster meat and don't starve then.. lol..

[HoneyHam]

Right, so next time I go into the caves I'll make sure to bring a birdcage. Now, to go play Don't Starve!!!!!!!! 

*Hoedown plays*

[HoneyHam]

Dang nabbit Charlie. 

 

Well, that spelunking trip was overall successful I'd say. A snurtle shell armor, I killed a big tentacle(Tentapillar), explored ALOT, but Charlie killed me and I didn't find the Ruins. But I collected my things GTFO'd. AND I know what to do next time.

 

YAY IM

SPESHUL

[papermoon]

but.. but light bulb?

idk about the others but i usually found the ruin entrance at a small area with 6-7 spider nests around.

[the truthseeker]

While not as powerful (until you find and pen the snurtles,) light bulbs are renewable.