Cave

Caves are special areas found randomly scattered across the game world in the sides of cliffs; due to the isometric projection of the game, you will only find them in east or south facing cliffs. They may be found on any cliff, except for cliffs on Mountain terrain. Within a cave, you will find Stalagmites randomly scattered throughout. If your Perception and Exploration is high enough, you may also find Cavebulbs, or Cave Clay in those caves which have areas of shallow water. Currently, caves have no animals living in them.

Properties
Caves behave differently than other areas of the game, and there are several qualities worth noting:


 * Caves do have a minimap and may not be mapped using the Cartography skill, making exploration difficult.


 * Caves are dark. You will need a Torch or other means of illumination to get around easily.


 * Caves may have more than one entrance and the size of caves may vary greatly from one another.


 * cave walls can be mined directly, it is possible for caves to contain a mine. Use Prospecting to discover if a cave has any minerals.


 * Caves do not take decay hits, making them ideal places to protect objects from decay.


 * When trying to create various Cheeses, caves count as a mine for the aging process.
 * When you build a hearth fire in one, you must lay stone in the tile you want to build it on.

Tips
Caves can be big or small; bigger caves may be confusing with wide open cavern spaces, twisting tunnels which connect up with each other, or far reaching tunnels which lead to an entirely different entrance than the one you entered. Caves may also have deep water, making it difficult to explore every nook and cranny.

However, there are some tricks which might be used to help exploring caves. Since it is possible to build in them, leaving yourself a path of construction signs or dropping stones chipped from stalagmites leading back to the entrance is recommended when encountering multiple tunnel junctions. Additionally, the challenge posed by cave darkness may be overcome with the use of those game clients which have a "nightvision" function, though this may be considered cheating and not in the spirit of the game. As far as the deep water sometimes found in caves is concerned, it is generally agreed to leave the water as a barrier to your exploration due to the extreme danger posed by the Swimming skill.