What level should I try to get my cave mount?

[Ashere]

I play on The Island, single player, max difficulty 1.0. I want to explore my first cave but I want to make sure I get a cave mount to a good level first. I plan to start with the southern caves. How high should I level up my mount before I take them in? i'm currently level 78.

I don't have a mount picked yet. I was leveling up a Baryonx but got wiped out by a 112 Alpha Raptor the other day :-( .

[きょすけ]

Did you also set up override difficulty on the ini file? If you are playing in single player you need that at least to 5.0 in order to mirror the wild level of official.
Back to your question though, I advice to get two high level baryonix, one male and one female, keep them safe, let them breed and use your breed to explore the various caves.

As for what kind of level is enough to explore them, well it depends on which cave you are going to explore: caves range from easy to hard, the harder the cave is, the higher the level of the dinos inside will be; if you are able to get your hands on a couple of at least lv 80-100 baryonix, breed them and fully imprint the child, you should be able to take on most of those caves.

[Sicksadpanda]

It actually depends on the cave. But Baryonyx has been really good for nearly all caves. Save for Snow, hard ocean cave, and maybe Swamp cave.

Caves aren't too terribly difficult for a decent level Baryonyx, but Baryonyx can be a bit limited when it comes to spawns on TheIsland if you don't do daily dino wipes. It's also a good idea to breed and imprint a Baryonyx for the imprinting bonus (gives you extra damage AND damage resistance) and to have extras incase if something goes wrong.

If Baryonyx aren't accessible, you can substitute for Wolves and Sabers. Wolves are much stronger when in packs, but no saddle armor. Sabers are great for harvesting chitin and can tank more than wolves can...but no pack bonus. Baryonyx is just perfect as an all rounder mount with fish meat being the only real disadvantage.

I tend to breed first before using dinos incase of accidents, like unexpected alpha dinos, or just your general Ark "oopsie" moments.

[Ashere]

Originally posted by きょすけ:

Did you also set up override difficulty on the ini file? If you are playing in single player you need that at least to 5.0 in order to mirror the wild level of official.
Back to your question though, I advice to get two high level baryonix, one male and one female, keep them safe, let them breed and use your breed to explore the various caves.

As for what kind of level is enough to explore them, well it depends on which cave you are going to explore: caves range from easy to hard, the harder the cave is, the higher the level of the dinos inside will be; if you are able to get your hands on a couple of at least lv 80-100 baryonix, breed them and fully imprint the child, you should be able to take on most of those caves.

I was not aware of that setting, I will change it, thanks. I also did a dino wipe when I changed the max difficulty, Should I do that again?

[Ashere]

Originally posted by Sicksadpanda:

It actually depends on the cave. But Baryonyx has been really good for nearly all caves. Save for Snow, hard ocean cave, and maybe Swamp cave.

Caves aren't too terribly difficult for a decent level Baryonyx, but Baryonyx can be a bit limited when it comes to spawns on TheIsland if you don't do daily dino wipes. It's also a good idea to breed and imprint a Baryonyx for the imprinting bonus (gives you extra damage AND damage resistance) and to have extras incase if something goes wrong.

If Baryonyx aren't accessible, you can substitute for Wolves and Sabers. Wolves are much stronger when in packs, but no saddle armor. Sabers are great for harvesting chitin and can tank more than wolves can...but no pack bonus. Baryonyx is just perfect as an all rounder mount with fish meat being the only real disadvantage.

I tend to breed first before using dinos incase of accidents, like unexpected alpha dinos, or just your general Ark "oopsie" moments.

Thanks for the advice!

[william_es]

Before you do any caving, you need to go get the most important cave dino of all times.

The otter.

Otters have one distinct weird ability. You can put artifacts into their inventory. It's normally impossible to do this with most dinos. They can even carry more then one copy of the same artifact (even your character can only carry 1 copy at a time).

In single player games, the artifact will usually respawn instantly as soon as you pick it up, and after a short delay, more copies will begin to appear. Once you've cleared a cave, there's a huge delay before anything respawns, so you can just hang out while the artifacts respawn over and over.

Since your character can only carry a single copy of an artifact at a time, you will need to put the artifact in the otter's inventory. This will allow you to pick up more copies of the artifact. Depending on how long you stay, it's possible to leave with at least 2 artifacts (or more), and carry them all out in the otter's inventory.


Plus, for the ice cave, you're going to need an otter just to keep from freezing to death. Otters main ability is to act as a personal air conditioning system when worn around the neck. They heat you when you're cold, and cool you when hot. They're much better at heating. Their heating/cooling ability is controlled by their melee stat. Higher the stat, the more effect they have for heat/cold. The ice cave is going to require good fur armor AND an otter.



By the way, Thylacoleo make excellent cave mounts. They can enter the water and fight effectively (though bary's are better in the water). The main advantage of the thyla is massive off the charts damage output, and a bleed effect.

But... Thylas are even harder to find then bary's though. They also require the highest level kibble to tame. But, if you get the opportunity to tame one, they are insanely good. They make great mounts for killing alphas. Just run circles around them bleeding them down.

[きょすけ]

Originally posted by jmt_steam:

I was not aware of that setting, I will change it, thanks. I also did a dino wipe when I changed the max difficulty, Should I do that again?

Iirc without override difficulty set to 5.0, the max level you will find will be up to 120, try to see if you can find some high level baryonix of both sexes and then do a dino wipe.

I also agree with what william_es said, otter are veeeery important, and not only due to their unique ability to carry more artifacts at the same time, but also due to their insulation ability, which is great for hot/cold places, and allows you to skip fur armor (usually hide armor is the best one to bring on caves, as you can repair it on the spot with fiber and hide, should it break).

[Ashere]

Originally posted by william_es:

Before you do any caving, you need to go get the most important cave dino of all times.

The otter.

Otters have one distinct weird ability. You can put artifacts into their inventory. It's normally impossible to do this with most dinos. They can even carry more then one copy of the same artifact (even your character can only carry 1 copy at a time).

In single player games, the artifact will usually respawn instantly as soon as you pick it up, and after a short delay, more copies will begin to appear. Once you've cleared a cave, there's a huge delay before anything respawns, so you can just hang out while the artifacts respawn over and over.

Since your character can only carry a single copy of an artifact at a time, you will need to put the artifact in the otter's inventory. This will allow you to pick up more copies of the artifact. Depending on how long you stay, it's possible to leave with at least 2 artifacts (or more), and carry them all out in the otter's inventory.


Plus, for the ice cave, you're going to need an otter just to keep from freezing to death. Otters main ability is to act as a personal air conditioning system when worn around the neck. They heat you when you're cold, and cool you when hot. They're much better at heating. Their heating/cooling ability is controlled by their melee stat. Higher the stat, the more effect they have for heat/cold. The ice cave is going to require good fur armor AND an otter.



By the way, Thylacoleo make excellent cave mounts. They can enter the water and fight effectively (though bary's are better in the water). The main advantage of the thyla is massive off the charts damage output, and a bleed effect.

But... Thylas are even harder to find then bary's though. They also require the highest level kibble to tame. But, if you get the opportunity to tame one, they are insanely good. They make great mounts for killing alphas. Just run circles around them bleeding them down.

Thank you! I have been looking for a Thylo, but I have only seen one so far. It was a very low level and he ended up being a snack for a Rex.

[william_es]

Originally posted by jmt_steam:

Thank you! I have been looking for a Thylo, but I have only seen one so far. It was a very low level and he ended up being a snack for a Rex.

If you're on Theisland map, they only spawn on the sides of a redwood tree, head down. They can leap off the tree and pounce on you. Rip you right out of the saddle of a flyer.

Shoot them with something (like a tranq dart) and they will pop off the side of the tree and start running around. They have no way to get back on the tree (unless killed and game spawns a new one on the tree). Be aware, the thyla will going a killing spree, attacking over and over and over until they're most likely killed by some other dino.

You sort of don't want to mess with thylas unless you have a tame that can pick them up and carry them around. Argentavis flyer is probably the first easiest tame you can get your hands on with that ability. You pick up the thyla and then drop it in a taming pen. Makes dealing with them MUCH easier. And prevents them from becoming snacks to rexes halfway through the tame (I've had that happen too).

You could try other means, such as a taming pen with ramps up one side. Lead the thyla up the ramp, then run out a door on side. But... you'd be running from a thyla, and that's NOT a thing you want to be doing. No, just no. Uh uh.

[Liralen]

All of the above is good advice. All I can add is that metal spikes are also powerful tools in most caves, combined with pikes and a range weapon.