Skull Cavern : Add Time or Elevator?

[TheCollector]

I really enjoyed the time when an exploit allowed to spend unlimited time in the skull cavern. Some years ago I spent 3 hours real time down there and it was an epic experience, digging down some hundreds of floors in one long night. It seems that this exploit was fixed and is no longer available unless one uses mods.

I don't like the usual race against the clock in skull cavern. It's too hectic and less enjoyable when compared with a longer expedition into the caverns.

It would be nice to have some kind of magic in the game to add extra time when in the mines, e.g. a magic consumable which can be used to freeze the clock for some real time minutes or turn back the clock by 1 hour (or back to 00:00) in a way that does not interfere with the basic game mechanics (npcs). (E.g. if only usable after midnight between 00:00 and 02:00, there should be no conflicts with npcs.) (There is already teleport magic in the game, so time magic should also be possible.)
(Coffee works in the opposite direction by making the player faster and the game more hectic.)

Also nice to have for skull cavern would be an elevator project. The player would use building materials and time to implement a new elevator system in skull cavern, maybe with a limit of 5 or 10 new levels per day. Building the elevator would be different and more time consuming compared with just activating the already existing elevator in the normal mines. At level 100 the project would end and a new elevator project for the next 100 levels with increased costs could be available and so on. It would be up to the player if and how far they use the elevator feature. According to a youtube video, skull caverns has around 2 billion levels, so even with an elevator the players won't be able to reach the end.

Edit :
DangerouslyFunny
The BOTTOM Of Skull Cavern!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFJErqAi65o

According to the video, already around level 1000 skull cavern is mostly filled with iridium nodes, so the elevator should just make it easier to get closer to this but there is no need to go any further.

[NekoTiggger]

I like your ideas TheCollector!

So in the game currently level 100 is a special floor that is kind of like a base. But the only way to return to it is to redo the floors again from the beginning. I have not yet been to it. So I do not know. But i have heard things about this floor.

Anyway.. What if the first 100th floor and every additional 100th floor that we reach becomes a permanent base that we can always return directly to in some special elevator? Or a hole that we first must eat something to let us survive a 100 floor drop haha.

So like having a elevator with buttons 100 200 300 etc.. gives us a new button to each 100th floor as we discover additional 100th floor milestones.

Also maybe each 100th floor could introduce different themes or critters or bosses?

Then the skull cavern end game could become more than just collecting game breaking amounts of Iridium.

[Sieg]

There is a mod that adds an elevator to the skull cavern :D

[NekoTiggger]

Originally posted by Sieg:

There is a mod that adds an elevator to the skull cavern :D

Yes. Agreed. But I (and maybe TheCollector) was presenting ideas that were aimed at people (like myself) who prefer to play vanilla (wihout mods) that make things interesting and still challenging. (like a hole that lets you drop 100 floors and hope to survive) and also boss fights to earn the challenge for the next 100 floor level. Also more interest in the end game by adding specialized floors to the vanilla version of the game.

But yeah mods like Dangerously Funny uses (he cheats) haha also work.

[Chompman]

Originally posted by TheCollector:

According to the video, already around level 1000 skull cavern is mostly filled with iridium nodes, so the elevator should just make it easier to get closer to this but there is no need to go any further.

They reduced the amount of iridium nodes you get as you go deeper from a recent patch so it's no longer like this.

My latest game with the elevator mod is around level 900 and it's no where near as full as before that nerf sadly so those days are over.

[I Kinda Fail]

Nah. That would literally defeat the entire purpose of the Skull Caverns. Risk vs Reward, time management, and heavy reliance on luck. Adding an elevator or letting us freeze time would 100% defeat the purpose.

[Asra]

Then how about adding a mine that is similiar? But has time stopped so nobody needs to look at the annoying time. Or how about making it like HARVEST MOON ON THE _GBA_?

[Blue Hasia]

Originally posted by NekoTiggger:

Originally posted by Sieg:

There is a mod that adds an elevator to the skull cavern :D

Yes. Agreed. But I (and maybe TheCollector) was presenting ideas that were aimed at people (like myself) who prefer to play vanilla (wihout mods) that make things interesting and still challenging. (like a hole that lets you drop 100 floors and hope to survive) and also boss fights to earn the challenge for the next 100 floor level. Also more interest in the end game by adding specialized floors to the vanilla version of the game.

But yeah mods like Dangerously Funny uses (he cheats) haha also work.

its 2020 when will the notion of adding mods is cheating end.

so many mods add quailty of life features and new content to expand on the game.

[Vinyl Scratch]

The skull caverns would be so absurdly overpowered if it allowed you to start deeper, or give you more time to mine. You can already make 200k+ daily by mining there once you have a supply of bombs and desert totems. Absolutely no support for anything more being added to vanilla allowing you to start deeper than floor 1 or extend the trips more than the latest update already provides.

If you wish to abuse the cavern more, simply use mods that allow you to do it.

[TheCollector]

(Deep) Skull Cavern is kind of a late game content you do after you have beaten the game since you need expensive large stacks of bombs, food, etc. if you want to progress fast enough in the caverns before the day ends. (100 mega-bombs cost 100.000 gold) This implies that you already have a high income and enough cash to spend on skull cavern expeditions. So making more money in the caverns does not really spoil the game.

It is also no problem to get 16 iridium sprinklers per year from the sewers and additional iridium from meteors, geodes or the statue of perfection. Demand for iridium is quite limited unless you plan to fill the world with hundreds of crystalariums.

The idea for more time and elevator simply focuses on players who don't like the current hectic approach to skull caverns where you permanently race against the clock and do not take your time to explore the caverns level by level but just race through it and try to skip as many levels as possible.

[Dschinghis Pan]

Ok but why?
There is little to gain in the skull-cavern. Most notably iridium, which you can get enough without a lot of trouble.

It's not like the regular mine, where you need the elevator because different levels offer different ores and it would be insane to be forced to go 80 levels deep in hopes to find some gold. In the skull cavern, you go for iridium and while the time limit means you will be somewhat limited by the amount you can get - it's not like you need gigantic amounts. And it can drop from as early as the first level.

Sure an elevator sounds interesting. But given the fact it will only make it slightly easier to get iridium - it doesn't sound super important. Definitely not something the game needs to implement itself. Just get a mod.

Of all the QOL things the game can offer, an elevator in the SC where I have little reason to go after getting enough iridium for a tools and sprinklers, seems like the least of my problems.

[Lunacy]

Originally posted by TheCollector:

(100 mega-bombs cost 100.000 gold)

Or if you're patient, only like 8000 gold from Krobus, since void essence is abundant so I only really buy the solar essence. 18000 for both if you have plenty of gold ore over like 10 days

Honestly in year 3 my only reason to go to the skull caves is cheaper Coal and omni-geodes to trade in for treasure to get like the last two items i Need

[Volfogg]

Well, I just got that Iridium Milk. Year 2 near end, 20 Mega Bombs bought, rest crafted on the way, popping speed food and crafting less than 10 staircases from all that debris. It's a challenge after all.