Black Crystal question

[bbyhighness]

I went into the lava caves three times now and I'm not having much luck. I'm trying to check every corner and move slowly, but I found 2 nodes on my first visit, 1 on the second and 2 again on the third. It's really all coal, an occasional special crate and rogues around every corner, but that's not what we're supposed to go down there for.

I'm not really pushing for the ATV right now, because I don't want to go through targeted grinding ever again after the new ore experience, so I'm just trying to think ahead and go down there when I'm in the caves for a regular crystal. I still try to be very thorough in my search, but coming up with next to nothing. Regular crystal is plentiful and I have no problems with it.

Am I just unlucky? Does anyone else have similar experience? I'm not saying this should be easy, but for the amount of resources needed to go there, this return seems a little ridiculous. I really hope this is just bad luck on my part. What is your usual amount when you go down there and how long do you tend to spend there?

[LMS fred]

I use easy more and after the update, I am lucky to find 3 clumps of black crystal per trip. You definitely will have to make lots of trips to get enough to make a ATV.
Just a suggestion, if there is no reason (don't need weapons parts) then turn off hunters before making the cave dives. This way all you have to worry about is the bats.

[bbyhighness]

Originally posted by LMS fred:

I use easy more and after the update, I am lucky to find 3 clumps of black crystal per trip. You definitely will have to make lots of trips to get enough to make a ATV.
Just a suggestion, if there is no reason (don't need weapons parts) then turn off hunters before making the cave dives. This way all you have to worry about is the bats.

I'm a little hesitant about turning off hunters right now, because I do like to raid them and I like the placement of the bases. And I'm planning on going to get normal crystal pretty frequently so I can stock up on premium arrows. So turning off hunters every time would probably be more of an annoyance. But at some point (probably when I'm closer to building the ATV), I plan on turning of the hunters and just spend several days down there, alternating between normal caves and lava cave.

I also don't really mind the rogues that much. The amount in the lava caves is a little annoying, but I think it would be ok, if it wasn't for the poor spawn rate down there.

[quazar12]

Hi there bbyhighness! There are some things that you can do to ''help'' you get more black crystal nodes when you're down there, providing that you are not too bothered with fiddling with ''luck'' too much. For instance, what i do to ''Help'' myself get more black crystals is to clear the lava caves of any nodes i find by going thru it once regularly. Then once i've cleared it completely i save, exit the game completely and log back in.

What i find this achieves oftentimes is to spawn new nodes randomly (not many but often 2-3-4 more) then repeat the process a few times until you either run out of ressources like water and food or until you're just bored of doing that.

By doing that i can get out of there with 25-30 black crystals per run which is a satisfying amount for me. It works for regular white crystals as well as coal and phosphore and mushrooms

[bentb1309]

Originally posted by LMS fred:

I use easy more and after the update, I am lucky to find 3 clumps of black crystal per trip. You definitely will have to make lots of trips to get enough to make a ATV.
Just a suggestion, if there is no reason (don't need weapons parts) then turn off hunters before making the cave dives. This way all you have to worry about is the bats.

ive found a trick too get 40 too 60 black cyrstal each run

[Virago]

Originally posted by bentb1309:

Originally posted by LMS fred:

I use easy more and after the update, I am lucky to find 3 clumps of black crystal per trip. You definitely will have to make lots of trips to get enough to make a ATV.
Just a suggestion, if there is no reason (don't need weapons parts) then turn off hunters before making the cave dives. This way all you have to worry about is the bats.

ive found a trick too get 40 too 60 black cyrstal each run

Save & reload. Big whoop 😃

[LE]

🛑 Stop! Cheesing 🧀 the game!

[Elm]

It doesn't work anyway but it makes me want to cheese the game. Frustrating.

[Blacktail]

My strategy is to do several laps around the lava caves, including going all the way up to each cliff (the ones you use to climb down into the lava caves) and back along the way. The reason is that black crystal spawns are "radiant" in nature (i.e., they spawn around you as you walk through the caves), like all the other loot, so doing 3-4 laps around the lava caves should give you some extra black crystals --- and a lot of other loot as well.