Crystalline Caverns
“ | Among the most spectacular sights on Hoxxes, the aptly-named Crystalline Caverns are truly a sight to behold. Massive crystals erupt from every surface, glittering and twinkling in the dark. Alas, the larger crystals are mostly worthless silicate, but abundant deposits of valuable minerals dot the caves too. |
— Ingame description |
Crystalline Caverns is one of the biomes of Hoxxes IV. As the name suggests, this biome consists of caverns filled with many large (although worthless) crystals. There are many big, open chambers, connected by tunnels. The crystals produce natural light, allowing more visibility for navigation. The rock making up the caves is sturdy, taking three hits for it to give way.
Hazards
The biome-specific hazard for Crystalline Caverns is the bright and noisy Electrocrystal, which is charged with electricity. Dwarves or Glyphids that come into direct contact suffer high damage and slowdown. If multiple Electrocrystals are close together and have unbroken line-of-sight with other Electrocrystals, arcs shoot between the crystals, causing high damage and slowdown to Dwarves or Glyphids passing through the arc.
It will occasionally rain, reducing the brightness of flares and other light sources. While it is raining the dwarves all gain a 100% resistance to all forms of Fire and Heat damage, such as Gas explosions and the Driller's Flamethrower.
Enemies
Most Glyphids can be encountered in Crystalline Caverns, including Spitball Infectors, Cave Leeches, and Glyphid Dreadnoughts.
Biome Features
Crystalline Caverns feature little to no vegetation, as the biome is entirely made out of rock material.
Item | Description | Statistics |
---|---|---|
Functional | ||
Blue Crystals |
Blue crystals emitting bright light which greatly helps with navigation. | Hardness: 2 |
Electrocrystals |
Blue crystals that shock and slow anything that comes in contact. Electricity arcs off and on between nearby electrocrystals. | Health: 350
Damage: 4
|
Spider Web |
Thin webs that slow anything passing through them and impair the vision of dwarves. Can be burnt with the Flamethrower or other sources of fire damage. | Health: 1
x0.5 Movement Speed |
Rocks | ||
Plain Quartz |
Pink crystals that can be easily destroyed. | Hardness: 1 |
Plain Quartz |
Circle structure formed of crystals. They can spawn on their own, or in a group. | Hardness: 1 |
Mineral Chimney |
Tubular rock formations letting out smoke from their holes. Also found in Magma Core. | Hardness: 2 |
Other | ||
Wall Eye |
Organic eyes with purple bits surrounding them covering the walls of a cave. Damaging an eye will make it close for a short while. Also found in Radioactive Exclusion Zone. | Health: 50 |
Ores
As with every biome, some of the Ores that can be found in Crystalline Caverns are determined by the mission type, such as Morkite and Aquarq. The crafting materials found in Crystalline Caverns are Jadiz and Bismor, with Jadiz being abundant and Bismor being scarce.
Deep Dive Sentences
When Crystalline Caverns is selected as the biome for a Deep Dive, one of those sentences can be seen in the terminal:
- "If diamonds are a dwarf's best friend, this is like a family reunion for very distant cousins."
- "These wonderous crystals is a sight to behold, but any stories of their value is naught but a tall tale."
- "Where chandeliers go to die."
- "Watch out for the sharp edges!"
- "Great, we're going to the land of worthless crystals."
- "This place is great if you like valuable gems and love disappointment."
- "What do you mean you ate all the red sugar? We needed that!"
Trivia
- Added during the Early Access period with Update 7: Alpha Launch on the 28th February 2018.