benjellyman
Planter
So me and my friend have been trying to fly thru the mines to reach level 100, but it's really hard, and idk how to reach level 100 in a full day. Any help? (Please don't tell me what happens when I reach it.)
What's the best way to reach level 100 in skull caverns?
- Thread starter benjellyman
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MissDandy
Farmer
My best advice for you if your only goal is to get to 100, is staircases. Get yourself some crystalariums, grow and save up jade, and trade it for staircases with the desert trader on Sundays. That's the fastest way I know, and is almost a sure way you can get there in one day.
Giant Octopodes
Farmer
In order of importance:
1) Staircases. So much of a crutch
. Jades can turn into staircases so with a Jade, a Crystalarium, and a year, you can get there no matter what XD More Crystalariums, Stones, and Jades can of course speed that up immeasurably. At bare minimum you should bring enough staircases or materials for them that you can use one any time you encounter an infested floor.
2) Speed Boost items. In case you weren't aware, you can and should pretty much always be hopped up on Coffee *and* a food speed buff, such as from pepper poppers or spicy eel, while digging in the Skull Caverns if speed and depth are priorities. Speed Boosts don't matter if you have 100 staircases, but if you don't, and are using other methods, it's literally the most important thing. I go for pepper poppers personally, they're easy to have very consistent supplies of with just a couple of cows and a few plants in the greenhouse.
3) Luck. Going on a Lucky day is way more efficient than going on an unlucky day. This also means it's better to eat Spicy Eel than Pepper Poppers if you have both, though Spicy Eel are much more "expensive" than Pepper Poppers no matter how you look at it. Regardless, you should modulate your expectations depending on how lucky the day is. I'll do 'casual' runs through with pepper poppers and minimal to no staircase usage on poor luck days, as an example, and delve deep on very lucky days with staircases and spicy eels.
3) Bombs. Bombs are more efficient at clearing rocks than pickaxes. Throwing them down also means you get a lot more rock flowing in, which in turn also means you can acquire the building components for more staircases while you're in. There's no limit to how much money you can throw at bombs however, so unless you truly have more money than you can possibly spend, it's not like you should just leave the pickaxe at home. However if you have a good cluster of rocks you can blow up, definitely do so, you'll not only find staircases faster, you'll find more holes that way too, and holes are of course a crucial difference maker.
4) Evasion. In general it's much more efficient to just keep going than to fight. Don't get distracted by enemies, and since you're playing multiplayer, if someone *must* fight, have them do so while providing cover for the other person so they can keep cracking rocks. Enemies take longer to kill and have a lower drop chance for staircases than rocks, generally speaking.
5) Totems (or equivalent). Waiting until 10am to head to the Desert, then heading home at midnight or sooner, eliminates like a quarter of your search time. Using a Desert Totem or similar effect to get there *asap* (with inventory sorted out the day before), and using a totem or similar effect to get home right near 2 (or just letting yourself pass out) means you have much more time, and more time equals more depth.
Remember, it's luck based, to an extent. But if you keep those things in mind I see no reason why it should take too long at all to get down there. In multiplayer, I can virtually guarantee you'll need to use close to 20 staircases at bare minimum to get down, it's way slower than single player due to lack of pausing for certain animations. However if you keep the above in mind, and go there properly equipped and prepared with the whole day in front of you, I have full faith you can do it!
1) Staircases. So much of a crutch
The guy at floor 100 will actually have different scenes depending on whether or not you've used 10 or more
2) Speed Boost items. In case you weren't aware, you can and should pretty much always be hopped up on Coffee *and* a food speed buff, such as from pepper poppers or spicy eel, while digging in the Skull Caverns if speed and depth are priorities. Speed Boosts don't matter if you have 100 staircases, but if you don't, and are using other methods, it's literally the most important thing. I go for pepper poppers personally, they're easy to have very consistent supplies of with just a couple of cows and a few plants in the greenhouse.
3) Luck. Going on a Lucky day is way more efficient than going on an unlucky day. This also means it's better to eat Spicy Eel than Pepper Poppers if you have both, though Spicy Eel are much more "expensive" than Pepper Poppers no matter how you look at it. Regardless, you should modulate your expectations depending on how lucky the day is. I'll do 'casual' runs through with pepper poppers and minimal to no staircase usage on poor luck days, as an example, and delve deep on very lucky days with staircases and spicy eels.
3) Bombs. Bombs are more efficient at clearing rocks than pickaxes. Throwing them down also means you get a lot more rock flowing in, which in turn also means you can acquire the building components for more staircases while you're in. There's no limit to how much money you can throw at bombs however, so unless you truly have more money than you can possibly spend, it's not like you should just leave the pickaxe at home. However if you have a good cluster of rocks you can blow up, definitely do so, you'll not only find staircases faster, you'll find more holes that way too, and holes are of course a crucial difference maker.
4) Evasion. In general it's much more efficient to just keep going than to fight. Don't get distracted by enemies, and since you're playing multiplayer, if someone *must* fight, have them do so while providing cover for the other person so they can keep cracking rocks. Enemies take longer to kill and have a lower drop chance for staircases than rocks, generally speaking.
5) Totems (or equivalent). Waiting until 10am to head to the Desert, then heading home at midnight or sooner, eliminates like a quarter of your search time. Using a Desert Totem or similar effect to get there *asap* (with inventory sorted out the day before), and using a totem or similar effect to get home right near 2 (or just letting yourself pass out) means you have much more time, and more time equals more depth.
Remember, it's luck based, to an extent. But if you keep those things in mind I see no reason why it should take too long at all to get down there. In multiplayer, I can virtually guarantee you'll need to use close to 20 staircases at bare minimum to get down, it's way slower than single player due to lack of pausing for certain animations. However if you keep the above in mind, and go there properly equipped and prepared with the whole day in front of you, I have full faith you can do it!
Elenna101
Farmer
What @Giant Octopodes said, and also, bring plenty of food (specifically food with no buffs, so that it doesn't overwrite your speed and luck buffs). This helps with the evading/ignoring enemies, since you can let them hit you once or twice and then eat something, instead of taking time to fight them.
Buying salads from Gus is one of the most cost-efficient foods there is. Other good options are salmonberries and blackberries (preferably iridium quality, otherwise it'll take forever to eat enough to get health back), cheese (especially if it's gold-quality), and sashimi. Depending on the fish, it might be more cost-efficient to make it into sashimi, or it might be more cost-efficient to sell it and use the money to buy salads. Personally I like making a bunch of sashimi from (1.5 spoiler) the mussels you get on Ginger Island. Since you're in multiplayer and time doesn't pause when eating, you're probably better off getting something that heals more at once.
Buying salads from Gus is one of the most cost-efficient foods there is. Other good options are salmonberries and blackberries (preferably iridium quality, otherwise it'll take forever to eat enough to get health back), cheese (especially if it's gold-quality), and sashimi. Depending on the fish, it might be more cost-efficient to make it into sashimi, or it might be more cost-efficient to sell it and use the money to buy salads. Personally I like making a bunch of sashimi from (1.5 spoiler) the mussels you get on Ginger Island. Since you're in multiplayer and time doesn't pause when eating, you're probably better off getting something that heals more at once.
Worblehat
Planter
Following up on Giant Octopodes post, if you have the ability to set up multiple crystalariums, you can consider having one making quartz to trade for bombs and/or one making rubies to trade for spicy eel. I personally disagree with the claim that spicy eel is more expensive than pepper poppers - you usually break even (at least) when in SC thanks to the serpent drops, and whatever rubies you get are bonus spicy eels. If you do set up a ruby crystalarium that's even more spicy eel. My crystalarium setup was two jade, one quartz, and that worked out fine.
Also remember that if you have to you can craft more bombs on the fly since you'll be getting plenty of iron ore and coal as you bomb your way down. Not something I used much, but it's an option.
Healing - I always carried a stack of ten Life Potions. With the lack of pausing in multiplayer I bet that's even more important for you. Hopefully you took the mushroom cave rather than the fruit bats, otherwise this might be easier said than done. For what it's worth, before I had iridium salmonberries I used Field Snacks for the times when I needed smaller heals.
Even with staircases, reaching 100 can be a bit of a race, especially if you get distracted by iridium nodes etc. that demand a detour to bomb.
My run reached 100 at 1:40am, after using 47 staircases.
Also remember that if you have to you can craft more bombs on the fly since you'll be getting plenty of iron ore and coal as you bomb your way down. Not something I used much, but it's an option.
Healing - I always carried a stack of ten Life Potions. With the lack of pausing in multiplayer I bet that's even more important for you. Hopefully you took the mushroom cave rather than the fruit bats, otherwise this might be easier said than done. For what it's worth, before I had iridium salmonberries I used Field Snacks for the times when I needed smaller heals.
Even with staircases, reaching 100 can be a bit of a race, especially if you get distracted by iridium nodes etc. that demand a detour to bomb.
My run reached 100 at 1:40am, after using 47 staircases.
MissDandy
Farmer
How do you get these?
Worblehat
Planter
Level 10 Foraging with Botanist. For healing purposes, iridium blackberries work just as well, if that's more seasonally available to you. But with Bear's Knowledge the blackberries actually have some value, while salmonberries are still almost worthless (worthless times three still isn't much), so once you have a choice salmonberries are the berries to eat.
But with Bear's Knowledge the blackberries actually have some value, while salmonberries are still almost worthless (worthless times three still isn't much), so once you have a choice salmonberries are the berries to eat.Ereo
Helper
With the right foraging skill, all items you find are iridium.
MissDandy
Farmer
Oh thanks! I clearly didn't pick this haha. I did notice that the bear's knowledge helped with the blackberries, but most spring times that roll around now I don't even bother with the salmonberries.Level 10 Foraging with Botanist. For healing purposes, iridium blackberries work just as well, if that's more seasonally available to you.
Giant Octopodes
Farmer
I just want to echo the sentiment from Elenna that more energy at once is superior in multiplayer in particular. In Single Player Iridium Salmonberries are great, in Multiplayer a Gold or Iridium Cheese heals for 3-5x the energy and health which makes a big difference in the long run.
Worblehat the reason I say more expensive is consider the setup you have - if you *weren't* breaking even in the Skull Cavern, to switch one of your Crystalariums to them either means losing what is effectively 1800 G per day of Bombs, or halving your Staircase production. It's the opportunity cost. My wife and I, we tend to not come close to breaking even on Rubies / Spicy Eel in the Caverns vs what we use. I suspect because we ignore more stuff than you do, which means fewer drop opportunities to recoup them. We'll typically use 8 and come out of there with no more than 4 in return.
Meanwhile the opportunity cost for 10 pepper plants in the Greenhouse and 3 cows instead of say Pigs is real, sure, but it's not equal to the 8 Crystalariums we would need to close the gap. Especially when even if we wanted to make 8 Crystalariums, they could be 4 Jade and 4 Quartz instead. Thus why we use them sparingly and use Pepper Plants freely, at least until we get wealthy enough to have 24+ Crystalariums running if not more.
Worblehat the reason I say more expensive is consider the setup you have - if you *weren't* breaking even in the Skull Cavern, to switch one of your Crystalariums to them either means losing what is effectively 1800 G per day of Bombs, or halving your Staircase production. It's the opportunity cost. My wife and I, we tend to not come close to breaking even on Rubies / Spicy Eel in the Caverns vs what we use. I suspect because we ignore more stuff than you do, which means fewer drop opportunities to recoup them. We'll typically use 8 and come out of there with no more than 4 in return.
Meanwhile the opportunity cost for 10 pepper plants in the Greenhouse and 3 cows instead of say Pigs is real, sure, but it's not equal to the 8 Crystalariums we would need to close the gap. Especially when even if we wanted to make 8 Crystalariums, they could be 4 Jade and 4 Quartz instead. Thus why we use them sparingly and use Pepper Plants freely, at least until we get wealthy enough to have 24+ Crystalariums running if not more.
Johndeere756
Planter
I have made it to level 100 twice, the deepest was 102. I relied heavily on staircases, bombs and spicy eel. I didn't waste much time looking for stuff, just threw a lot of staircases and some bombs. If I am looking for prismatic shards, I hurry down to level 50, then start using bombs to clear the levels. I usually run out of time around level 80 doing this, but get a lot of good loot.
benjellyman
Planter
Ok. Thank for the advice everyone. This will help me out tremendously
Worblehat
Planter
Pedantic note - bombs cost five quartz, so a quartz crystalarium produces 0.6 bombs/day for 360 g/day equivalent. For me more like 0.4 bombs/day and 240 g/day equivalent since I often only collected at the beginning and end of the day.
Fair point about breaking even or not on the spicy eels. I'm very easily distracted by shinies and/or "aargh, get off me serpent, die die die!" Would have had a much less stressful time reaching 100 if I wasn't, but would have gotten less stuff.
fstrthanrvrse
Greenhorn
I've seen on other forums that you have to bring stacks of stones and not craft the staircases before you get into the cavern. Why is this? Last time I tried I brought stairs with me so I'm confused.
Hill Myna
Farmer
Prior to 1.4, Equipment (eg. Chests, Furnaces, Kegs, Staircases, etc.) took up a whole inventory slot. You can, however, fit 999 Stone in 1 inventory slot. So if you brought 1 slot worth of Staircases that would only be 1 Staircase at your disposal, but if you brought 1 slot worth of Stone, you could craft and use 10 Staircases (99 Stone = 1 Staircases). Because of this, people that wanted to use a lot of Staircases would fill their inventory with Stone, and craft Staircases on the go.
After 1.4, Equipment can be stacked. This means that you can fit 999 Staircases in 1 slot, meaning you don't need to bring any Stone with you.
If you want to amass Staircases, I recommend crafting some Crystalariums (Wiki link) and filling them with Jade. If you go to the Desert Trader on a Sunday, you can swap Jades for Staircases at a 1:1 ratio, as people have mentioned above.
Hope this helps!
Laissez_Faire_Farming
Farmer
ALSO...
Don't fight and don't collect stuffs.
Just RUN and find stairs or shafts as fast as possible.
Don't fight and don't collect stuffs.
Just RUN and find stairs or shafts as fast as possible.
Jennita
Farmhand
How to reach level 100 without staircases:
1. Buy a desert warp totem (and make one back to your farm if you don't wish to pass out).
2. Put all the items you need into a chest next to your bed, food (I prefer Spicy Eel and Triple Shot Espresso, with anything that doesn't give a buff such as Pink Cake) , slingshot + explosive ammo, any bombs you can afford/make, weapon such as lava katana or galaxy sword and the warp totems. Also, rings and boots are important, 2 iridium bands/iridium band + slime charmer ring and space boots.
3. Place the tv next to your bed, wait for a good luck (yellow pyramid) or best luck day (purple star), if the day isn't desired, leave items in chest and play the day as normal.
4. When you get your good/best luck day, warp immediately to the desert and take your buffs, run straight to the cavern.
5. In the cavern your main goal is to find a ladder or a shaft, no collecting loot, avoid extended fights with enemies, take the shaft instead of stairs if you find both. If you don't wish to pass out in the cavern, warp back to your farm at 1.30 am.
Keep trying till you get it! Good luck :)
1. Buy a desert warp totem (and make one back to your farm if you don't wish to pass out).
2. Put all the items you need into a chest next to your bed, food (I prefer Spicy Eel and Triple Shot Espresso, with anything that doesn't give a buff such as Pink Cake) , slingshot + explosive ammo, any bombs you can afford/make, weapon such as lava katana or galaxy sword and the warp totems. Also, rings and boots are important, 2 iridium bands/iridium band + slime charmer ring and space boots.
3. Place the tv next to your bed, wait for a good luck (yellow pyramid) or best luck day (purple star), if the day isn't desired, leave items in chest and play the day as normal.
4. When you get your good/best luck day, warp immediately to the desert and take your buffs, run straight to the cavern.
5. In the cavern your main goal is to find a ladder or a shaft, no collecting loot, avoid extended fights with enemies, take the shaft instead of stairs if you find both. If you don't wish to pass out in the cavern, warp back to your farm at 1.30 am.
Keep trying till you get it! Good luck :)
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benjellyman
Planter
I have reached floor 100 long ago, but this still really helps. Thanks