Preparing for Deep Caverns

[player1]

I'll be soon entering the Deep Caverns.

How stocked should I be with supplies before going down?
Assume completely non-crating build. No crafting... zlich... nada...

I currently have full stash of hypos, bandages, ammo, batteries, explosives, grenades and mines that I do not carry with myself all the time due to encumbrance, but considering that I will not be able to go back any time soon, what would be the best option?

What equipment should be the focus, what is easy to obtain down there, etc... Any trades available?

[Davinrarre]

Stock up on repair kits if you're using a non-crafting build.  Depending on what weapons you use (if you're using an AR build you need LOTS of repair kits).

Bring all the hypos, bandanges, HIGH-LEVEL grenades (Mk. III) and batteries that you can.

If using firearms, bring normal and W2C ammo, do not bring JHP rounds since all the monsters in DC have high armor/resist.  Buy all the W2C rounds for your guns that you can.

Bring a pair of Night Vision goggles if you don't want to squint your way through DC.

Do not bother bringing explosives/mines.  Mines are dead weight, and you're better off bringing a Jackhammer instead of stacks of TNT.

If you have CAU armor, you can just wear that through the entire DC experience since Tchortlings/Mushroom monsters do mostly mech/bio/acid damage.  There are exceptions like Arke power station where you have to fight a ton of robots that do electricity and fire dmg, but EMP nades + W2C rounds should handle them pretty quickly.

There is a large warehouse area where you can find spare weapons/armor/stacks of normal ammo, but if you're hostile with the Faceless it's a pain to access the area since you're liable to get ganked by Faceless Gaunts all day long.

If you put on a Tchortist Rassophore uniform (you can pick one up from dead bodies in DC) and answer the questions correctly, you can befriend the Tchortists in DC which will give you access to a weapons store that sells some ammo and other supplies, but its the same deal with every other store in Underrail.  At least you have somewhere to spend your 30k Charons down here. (You will have to pass a persuasion check if you happen to not be wearing a Tchortist uniform when you first come upon their camp.)

I went down into DC with about 150+ large hypos and bandages, about 400 W2C rounds for my sniper, adrenaline shots, and about 250+ batteries, and I used up about 80% of my hypos/bandages, all of my W2C, and all of my batteries for my night vision goggles.  Of course, the shopping list varies depending on the build, but I would say it's a safe bet to have at least 100 large hypos, 100 bandages, about 500 rounds of W2C for your primary firearm PLUS about 2k normal rounds total for your main and off weapon, 200+ batteries if you're using night vision goggles (highly recommended), molotovs, frag grenades, and EMP grenades for Arke power station.

Bring a Jackhammer, it lets you access more content and areas without carrying 100kg of TNT.

IMO Chemical Assault Unit armor is the best armor, hands down, for DC in terms of resists.  Wear that if you have it, if not then wear the best armor accessible to you that has bio resist.

I guess some people will say that there are places where you can resupply in DC, but choices you unwittingly made in the game might screw those locations up so don't completely rely on them.  Be safe and bring lots of supplies rather than be sorry and not have enough.

Last word: SAVE the game BEFORE you enter DC, the game will autosave for you when you enter DC, but it will NOT autosave for you when you take the elevator behind Eidein's office for some ungodly reason when that would be more useful.

[Tolstoi]

I'm going to second Davinrarre's recommendation of ditching TNT and bringing a jackhammer. Do keep 4 bricks of dynamite for the final boss fight, though; it may prove useful for you then.

A note about destructible walls: There's a puzzle at the end of DC that makes the final boss easier. Without spoiling too much, I'll tell you that some of the items you need for that are behind a destructible wall. Along with other general supplies. So a jackhammer with lots of batteries will be much more economical for digging around to find all that stuff, than heavy TNT bundles.

In addition to the Tchortist shop, there's another friendly person who can trade with you, Leo, but his selection isn't very good as I recall. He's worth visiting for other reasons though, he'll teach you something that will make the entire DC experience less painful if you do a quest for  him. Keep an eye out for strange knives, hint hint.

In addition to the warehouses themselves, the Faceless will give you some supplies if you didn't act hostile towards them in any part of the game prior to that point. It's a one time deal though, no trading. So ration out what you use. Another not-too-spoilery protip regarding these guys: Go to the faceless BEFORE the Tchortists.

Bring lots of food, too. The rathound kebabs in particular, you'll have to carry a lot of heavy junk around with you to complete the quests down there. As far as armor goes, I used one of those biohazard tactical vests. Having good bio resistances will definitely benefit you all the way up to and including the final boss. Acid would prove helpful as well. I think Tchortist armor has resistances to both, so that might be decent to use. I'd bring a gasmask too, because you're going to be dealing with a ton of that element. In hindsight, I think riot armor would be more useful than tac. vests because there aren't a lot of bullet users down there unless you anger one of the two human(ish) factions. Mostly melee stuff, with the ranged enemies dealing out bio or acid. So keep that in mind.

[X41823T]

Now correct me if I'm wrong but I am FAIRLY certain that there's 10 'bricks' of explosives as well as 90 lithium-based batteries in the depot/warehouse area(s) where the faceless patrols.
Not to mention ALL the ammunition you can want in the world EXCEPT special ammo like AP/JHP, sure there's some of that but not nearly as much as all the regular ammo caches in the area.

In my opinion here's my tip(s) for you:

• Using guns? bring all the AP/JHP etc. ammo you can get/carry
• Craft 'end-game' armor/weapon(s) etc. before or after entering deep caverns? personally I tend to wait till I reach the depot/warehouse area(s) in the deep caverns since usually there's 2-5 high end components to be found, some can be found inside the ARK power-plant as well.
• Psionics? bring all the psionic related stuff you can carry with you since in my opinion psi-boosters were really rare in the 'end-game' area unless you want to 'farm' mindshrooms with psi-beetles and siphoners hang around you.
• Bring a fishing rod if that's your thing?
• Chemist/biologist? bring all the ampules and beakers you can since there's a lot of interesting 'fauna' to make use of!

Other than that I figure the rest like explosives and other misc. gear can be found in the warehouse/depot area(s).
Oh and don't forget that you will NOT be able to leave until you've defeated Tchort!

[Davinrarre]

The OP specifically stated that we craft our responses assuming that he has NO CRAFTING SKILLS WHATSOEVER, so I'm discounting all the weapon parts/components that he can find in DC to supplement his gear and supplies.

The warehouse area that stores the batteries and ammunition is patrolled by Faceless Gaunts which constantly respawn and restealth; if the OP managed to screw up his relationship with the Faceless it's going to be a LOT more troublesome to both make it to the warehouse area AND make it out alive.

If the OP is using an AR build, then the ammo that he finds in the warehouse area is nowhere enough to last him through DC, and if he's using a sniper build, then the regular ammo is not as useful to him because he wants W2C rounds to kill efficiently.  I guess it's good that the OP can find several replacement weapons there because he can't recycle junk and craft repair kits.  There's only about 1k rounds of 5mm (useless imo because you cannot efficiently pierce mechanical resistances of enemies in DC with 5mm, and I don't think there are a lot of replacement 5mm weapons in DC if you don't bring repair kits), 1k rounds of 8.6 and 9mm, and about 250 rounds of .44 and .50 cal, which you will use up quite quickly when taking into account of all the respawning enemies in DC, missed shots, and general high mechanical resistances of a variety of enemies in DC.  If you have stealth you can sometimes avoid fighting Tchortlings, but there's a TON more respawning enemies for you to fight.

I don't know what paths the OP has taken in his game, but I would still highly recommend him to stock up generous amounts of W2C ammo, batteries, repair kits, and medical supplies before he heads into DC in order to have a "relatively" comfortable experience in DC since it will be his first time there.

[player1]

I went down into DC with about 150+ large hypos and bandages, about 400 W2C rounds for my sniper, adrenaline shots, and about 250+ batteries, and I used up about 80% of my hypos/bandages, all of my W2C, and all of my batteries for my night vision goggles.

What kind of bulled sponge build you where playing if you spend so many hypos and bandages. Through whole game up to this point I haven't spend even close to 20% of that value. And 400 sniper shots?!?

.

Anyway, my build uses 12.7mm sniper for opening shots (snipe and aimed shot) and SMG for rest of the fights (2 or 3 bursts per turn with Specs Ops and Commando), as well as lots of stealth. I currently have high stock of 9mm and 7.56mm W2C ammo. With my old unique H&K 9mm I played for 80% of the game and recently started using my superior 7.56mm SMG. I would plan to take both to DC, so I could use up both stocks of W2C ammo. Also have unique 9mm Styg assault rifle just in case, for best single fire DPS, if needed.

Also have Doctor feat, so I'll use hypos and bandages more slowly. And both Nimble and Juggernaut feats (yes, in the same build!). Juggernaut is for when I put my heavy anti-rifle galvanic armor, for dangerous encounters that require lots of bullet resistance, and Nimble for my galvanic overcoat for stealth and when encountering psionics or small groups of enemies that can be killed quickly. So extra 25% hp there too. And of course CAU armor for anti acid/bio/melee.

Note that I also have in stock one antitermic galvanic overcoat and good metal armor. Up to this point I barely ever used them. Would it be a waste to carry then to DC? I would think so.

Regarding enemy resistances, what kind of grenades are most effective? I guess low level frags would suck due to enemy DT?


I think key item for me would be repair kits. Those SMGs wear our so quickly. Even in regular play, up to this point, this was the only thing, exempt rare W2C ammo that I was not scavenging but buying in shops.

How often can repair kits be found in the DC? Are other types of kits important to stock up?

[player1]

A note about destructible walls: There's a puzzle at the end of DC that makes the final boss easier. Without spoiling too much, I'll tell you that some of the items you need for that are behind a destructible wall.

So if I just want those special items, how many walls I would need to break?

Just wanting to recalc if it would be worth to pack some "exact" amount of TNT (or just loot warehouse), instead of carrying heavy jackhammer all the time. If on the other side of some wall there is nothing worth, I can always reload. 

Anyway, hopefully I will be able to placate both Tchortlings and Faceless, since I haven't had any hostile actions up to this point with both factions. But who knows...


And how big is the re-spawning the problem? Especially asking those that finished DC with recent patches that did some re-balancing. If it is too hight, I would probably do heavy stealthing (have around 180 stealth), just to avoid wasting resources. It is not like I can carry all loot and go to shop.   


Also, power of save/load premonition. If necessary, I would clear out the area and check all containers. If nothing interesting, then reload to not waste resources.

[Tolstoi]

A note about destructible walls: There's a puzzle at the end of DC that makes the final boss easier. Without spoiling too much, I'll tell you that some of the items you need for that are behind a destructible wall.

So if I just want those special items, how many walls I would need to break?

For the puzzle? You should only have to break one. It's in the same part of Hollow Earth as the industrial bot (this will make sense when you get there), supposing it isn't randomized where they end up. I only beat the game one time so far, so I can't tell you if that's the case. The other required components you'll find in other parts of the DC, but you should come upon them naturally as you dig around down there.

So on that note, loot everything.

And how big is the re-spawning the problem? Especially asking those that finished DC with recent patches that did some re-balancing. If it is too hight, I would probably do heavy stealthing (have around 180 stealth), just to avoid wasting resources. It is not like I can carry all loot and go to shop.

It isn't nearly as bad as it used to be after the latest hotfixes, but it can still be a huge pain if you don't get how it works. While you're in certain parts of the DC, you'll stack up a debuff called 'Creeping Dread', the enemies don't start to mass respawn until that ticks up something like 20 times and changes into the 'Eye of Tchort' status. That's when the Tchortling Boogaloo begins. Up until then you can run around out of stealth and not have too much of an issue, outside of some annoying snail enemies that only spawn in a couple of areas. Oh, and rathounds, not even the DC are free of those.

The Mushroom Forest is a different story. You'll probably want to sneak in there as often as you can because it's full of annoying enemies that deal out tons of bio damage, and the mobs/the entire area both hit you with a debuff that nerfs your max HP. So fighting there in general is a pain.

And then there's the deep worms in the labyrinth...stealth is definitely an advantage in the Deep Caverns. It isn't really worth it to fight anything down there you don't strictly have to, that's my advice for you. They're all annoying bullet sponges.

Regarding enemy resistances, what kind of grenades are most effective? I guess low level frags would suck due to enemy DT?

EMP's are useful in the part of the DC with robots. Frags and HE are pretty useful too, but I'd only bother with MK III's.

How often can repair kits be found in the DC? Are other types of kits important to stock up?

You can find some in the warehouses, and occasionally in other areas. I didn't really watch for them since I ran a full-psi build. If you're worried, definitely bring a ton of your own and just shove them in a locker at the storage depot when not needed. You'll probably be going there a lot. The DC is all about backtracking.

Note that I also have in stock one antitermic galvanic overcoat and good metal armor. Up to this point I barely ever used them. Would it be a waste to carry then to DC? I would think so.

If you have CAU armor I'd just bring that and forget about everything else.

[phobos2077]

I've yet to reach this area of the game but judging from the advices people post, it doesn't sound like a fun place to be. More like a grinding hell. Is it wrong impression?

[Erwin the German]

I agree with pretty much all of the advice in this thread, except for the note on TNT - keep a few bricks handy for the end boss. About four should do it. And if you're a stealth build, utilize that for all it's worth during the final fight - it can save you a heap of frustration.

Very important if you're stealthy: make sure you're IN stealth BEFORE you trigger the end boss, by going down a certain hatch. If you're not in stealth, you cannot trigger it during the fight. So make sure you're already stealthed up beforehand

Your impression is basically spot on, by the way. The Deep Caverns are perhaps appropriately named, being the nadir of this game - some very interesting story bits will get revealed during your time there, though, if you care about that sort of thing.

[Davinrarre]

I may have exaggerated it a bit, but you will be fighting a lot of respawning bullet sponges in DC while having your combat stats debuffed; some recent patches made certain areas a lot easier to handle (coughpowerstationcough), but it is generally better to stock up on more W2C ammunition and health hypos to give you some leeway if this is your first time into DC.

Anyways, hope I helped you somewhat, and let us know what you think of DC after you finish it!  Good luck!

[Tygrende]

I went down into DC with about 150+ large hypos and bandages, about 400 W2C rounds for my sniper, adrenaline shots, and about 250+ batteries, and I used up about 80% of my hypos/bandages, all of my W2C, and all of my batteries for my night vision goggles.

The hell were you doing down there? There is no way you wasted that much resources without actually trying to waste them.

As a Sniper with backup pistol, energy shield, taser, cloaking device and night vision googles I went to DC with:
250 7.62 micro-shrapnel rounds for my Spearhead
250 9mm acid rounds for my Neo luger
100 W2C rounds for both
(I don't use regular rounds)

20 regular/advanced hypos and bandages

30 lithium cells
10 fusion cells

And I came back with:
262(!) micro-shrapnel rounds, there was enough plates, scraps and cases lying around to craft them so I ended up with more than I brought. I was using them against everything except for snails and industrial bots
211 acid rounds, crafted a lot of them as well.
64 7.62 W2C rounds (I was able to buy a lot of them from both Leo and Tchortists) and 92 9mm ones (didn't get much use of them).
(Never fired a single standard round)

8 regular hypos, 21(!) advanced hypos, 14 bandages, and 3 super hypos that I never used.

over 100(!) lithium cells, there was like 60 of them in the warehouse alone and a lot of them in the Arke power station and various containers
15(!) fusion cells
6 plasma cells, never used a single one



I feel like many people exaggerate how difficult Deep Caverns are, it's really not that hard and not even combat heavy if you do things right.

Mushroom Forest is trivial with a good low frequency energy shield (crafted one works best, but you can find a few of them in the warehouse as well) or once you get a Biohazard Suit (and you can find 3 of them in the whole Deep Caverns).

Tchortlings can be avoided completly even with 0 stealth, just use the hatches/Faceless territory/caves/that one room in the tchortists base to get rid of the debuff before it reaches 20 stacks. I killed 4 tchortlings total, the named one and 3 more because I wanted their odditites.

You don't need to fight Faceless at all if you managed to stay neutral/friendly to them, and if not- well it's on you.

Arke Power station requires some stealth to avoid combat, but the robots don't respawn very fast so it's fine either way.

Burrowers are easy.

Deep Worms can be avoided even with 0 stealth, just don't get near them.

[phobos2077]

I feel like many people exaggerate how difficult Deep Caverns are, it's really not that hard and not even combat heavy if you do things right.

So basically it means "if your build is right", or else - you're fucked. OP specifically stated that he has NO crafting, yet you post about how much you were able to craft your way through.

Good to know though, as my build is somewhat similar to yours (but I cannot craft medicines, and use crossbow mainly and sniper rifle for fun).

[Tygrende]

So basically it means "if your build is right", or else - you're fucked. OP specifically stated that he has NO crafting, yet you post about how much you were able to craft your way through.

Not really, but it helps. I would only suggest to take more repair kits if you have no crafting at all, everything is manageable even with the hundreds of regular rounds found in the warehouse.

You skipped the part where I stated that mushroom forest can be trivalized and tchortlings/deep worms can be avoided altogether no matter what your build is or what decisions you made. All that's left is Faceless and Arke power station.

[chimaera]

So basically it means "if your build is right", or else - you're fucked. OP specifically stated that he has NO crafting, yet you post about how much you were able to craft your way through.

Not really, but it helps. I would only suggest to take more repair kits if you have no crafting at all, everything is manageable even with the hundreds of regular rounds found in the warehouse.

You skipped the part where I stated that mushroom forest can be trivalized and tchortlings/deep worms can be avoided altogether no matter what your build is or what decisions you made. All that's left is Faceless and Arke power station.

If you know where all the necessary quest items are and the optimal order of acquiring them, sure. If you are playing for the first time and are still figuring things out, then it's possible to use up a lot of resources. My mage certainly made a dent in her hypos stack. What would be the point of saving them up anyway? (And it's not like there are that many interesting encounters in deep caverns except for the faceless and the last power plant battle; the only other I can think of are the tchortists, but they don't really fight well as a group.)