So our group is trying out this promising mod. But, we can't find anywhere in the description etc that says how to achieve progress. Once again, a hard-working mod author has left out of their guides some very fundamental mechanics information for newcomers. Clue us in?? How to reach the more challenging areas? Is it strictly a matter of digging to the sides on the same surface? Or do we do something to reach other surfaces somehow? We researched the earlier mods this is based on, including Diggy. They also mention nothing at all about this basic premise. And of course some of their tutorial and gameplay videos are no longer online. Those that are left, one seems to show the market as a building near the starting point. Stone (currency) is placed in chests next to that and automatically sent to surface world. Is Cave similar to Diggy that way? We don't see any starting buildings at all in our multiplayer game. If there's something else we should be doing, please post here (or better yet in the Information page) exactly what to click on, and when. If you leave out the actual clicks, you may be assuming knowledge that we don't have. And also any mandatory tech that has to be researched, for e.g. drilling downward shafts, or drilling tunnels to the side much faster than by hand. Thanks!!

Thanks for the detailed feedback. You’re right that the basic progression should be explained more clearly on the Information page.

The Cave’s main progression does not require drilling shafts or travelling to another surface. You progress by mining the cave rocks and moving farther away from the starting point on the same main Cave surface. Any direction works.

The difficulty zones are based on distance from the starting point:

Easy: 0–299 tiles
Medium: 300–699 tiles
Hard: 700–999 tiles
Nightmare: 1,000+ tiles

You do not need to research anything to enter the next difficulty zone. Simply keep digging farther out. Special surfaces, such as Train Interiors or discovered underground encounters, are additional systems and are not required for the normal Easy-to-Nightmare progression.

There is also no physical Market building at the starting point. Press E to open your inventory, then click the Coin button on the right-hand side to open The Cave Market. Enemies drop Coins, which can be collected and spent there.

For faster manual digging, press T, open the Technology screen and search for Dig speed. Those researches increase manual mining speed for the whole force. Support struts research increases the supported digging area, while Underground Belt and Underground Pipe research only improves logistics and is not required for progression.

If Everything on Nauvis is enabled, the distant cardinal directions also lead towards the Space Age regions:

North: Aquilo
South: Gleba
East: Fulgora
West: Vulcanus

Thanks for pointing this out. I’ll add a clearer “Getting Started and Progression” section so new players do not have to guess how the core mechanics work.

Thanks! That's a lot of what we needed.

We have minecraft players in the family so this mod hits close to home.

Now, i'm glad you mentioned struts. Are collapses actually a thing here? The info page doesn't mention collapses or supports at all. And I thought I saw somewhere that the point of this mod was to remove the collapsing mechanic from the earlier mods... We haven't seen any yet, at least I think we haven't. I can't be sure. Consider adding to the info page a screenshot or two of what a collapse actually looks like. And a few words about how likely it is based on "depth" or distance from start. I'm assuming it must be safer near the start area? since we haven't noticed any yet.

Good work so far man.

Thanks again for bringing this up.

The cave-collapse mechanic was originally part of the mod, but many players complained that collapses happened too often and made the game difficult to enjoy. Several people asked me to remove the system, so I disabled it for a while.

Since then, you have not been the only person asking where the collapses went or requesting that they return. It became clear that some players enjoy the structural challenge, while others prefer exploring and building without worrying about cave-ins.

When I disabled the mechanic, I also overlooked the Support Struts research. It remained visible even though the collapse system was no longer active. That was an oversight on my part.

I have now made the system optional. You can find it under:

Mod Settings → Startup → Cave Collapses

• Enable: Restores the original cave-collapse mechanic, countdown warnings, alarms, support system, and Support Struts research.
• Disable: Completely removes cave-ins, collapse warnings, sounds, and effects. Support Struts research is also hidden because supports are not required.

When collapses are enabled, the starting cave is already protected by support walls, and every player receives 2,000 Stone Walls so they can reinforce newly excavated areas before researching the wall recipe. There are no permanent stress-warning triangles anymore; only an area that is genuinely about to collapse displays a boxed countdown.

This should allow each server or group to choose the style of gameplay they prefer. Thank you for the detailed feedback—and I hope the optional collapse system makes the mod more enjoyable for your Minecraft-playing family.

Important save compatibility warning: This system is intended primarily for new games. If you enable it on an existing save, please make a backup first. I cannot guarantee that enabling the collapse system on an older save will not cause unexpected behaviour, damage, or save-related problems. Use it on an existing save at your own risk. For the safest experience, enable it when starting a new game.

Great! Optional is best. Especially for something that can be just turned off flat like that with no complications.

You said "distant cardinal directions also lead towards the Space Age regions". Does that mean we don't need rockets at all? (are they even allowed?) We can just dig a long way and arrive at another planet? Or maybe into an area of Nauvis surface that runs by the different rules of the other planet? (scrap fields, demolishers, etc etc)

Oh! Just launched it and saw the new instruction popup. Bravo!!

Thanks! I checked the current implementation again to make sure I gave you an accurate answer.

When Everything on Nauvis is enabled, the Space Age regions are integrated into the main Cave surface:

• North / Up: Aquilo
• South / Down: Gleba
• East / Right: Fulgora
• West / Left: Vulcanus

Digging far enough in one of these directions does not literally transport you to another planet. You remain on the main Nauvis Cave surface, but enter a region containing the progression content, resources, terrain features, enemies and hazards associated with that planet, including things such as Fulgora scrap and Vulcanus demolishers.

However, enabling Everything on Nauvis does not disable normal Space Age travel. Rockets, space platforms, planet-discovery research, the actual planets and the normal routes between them all remain available. If you want to build a space platform and travel to the real Vulcanus, Gleba, Fulgora or Aquilo, you can still do so normally.

The setting simply means that interplanetary travel is no longer compulsory for accessing that progression. You are free to:

• remain entirely on the main Cave surface;
• use normal Space Age travel and visit the actual planets; or
• combine both methods in the same game.

I wanted players to have complete freedom over how they play, so neither approach is blocked.

This ROCKS! (pun intended :-) )

We just realized we're going to run TRAINS from the other areas instead of space platforms! Wicked!

Also, if you fancy taking the train idea even further, you can enable Train Interiors under Mod Settings. It gives each train its own interior surface, so you can enter the train and build a sizeable working factory inside it. It also includes the Locomotive Garden, which gives you an additional area inside the train.

I believe it’s best to enable that feature when starting a new game, so I’d recommend creating a fresh save if you want to use the full Train Interiors system.

It’s worth having a proper look through The Cave’s Mod Settings in general. There are loads of options there, and you can customise quite a lot of the gameplay to suit your group.

Yeah I swept all the hundreds of options(!) this week. Amazing to have that much.