The Cave comes alive: Gloomwick, 11 skills, truffles in the kitchen and Chapter 16's new art

Chapter 16's Cave moved forward a lot in just four days. It now has its drawings, a merchant and its own skills, and we finally know what truffles and pigs are for. Here is everything new and what it means for your farm.

The real drawings arrive

Until now, the chapter's new items used drawings borrowed from other items. That changed: Mud, Truffle and the four beetles now have their own drawing, and that is how they will look in your inventory and in the Cave.

One detail: the common beetle was called Brown Beetle, but its drawing came out green, so it is now the Green Beetle. Same item, new name. The drawings for Pig Bristles, pig food and the truffle dishes are still missing.

What the Cave looks like inside

Inside the Cave you grow mushrooms in a machine called the Myco Bin (it used to be called the Myco-Composter). Each machine has a sand patch below it that you dig to get mushrooms, beetles and Mud. The Cave has 8 levels, which the game calls tiers. You start with one machine, and every level you expand adds another, up to 8. Tap a level to see how the Cave looks.

Pick a level

I II III IV V VI VII VIII

Level I

Machines 1/8

Island needed

Spring

Build time

When you build the Cave

What it costs

• 5,000 Coins
• 100 Wood
• 50 Stone

Opens

Your first machine and Gloomwick's shop

Level II

Machines 2/8

Island needed

Desert

Build time

2 h

What it costs

• 500 Coins
• 80 Mud
• 25 Wood
• 10 Stone

Opens

A second machine and one more offer

Level III

Machines 3/8

Island needed

Volcano

Build time

4 h

What it costs

• 1,000 Coins
• 160 Mud
• 50 Wood
• 25 Stone
• 10 Leather

Opens

Third machine and one more offer

Level IV

Machines 4/8

Island needed

Swamp

Build time

8 h

What it costs

• 2,500 Coins
• 320 Mud
• 75 Wood
• 50 Stone
• 15 Leather

Opens

Fourth machine and one more offer

Level V

Machines 5/8

Island needed

Spooky

Build time

12 h

What it costs

• 5,000 Coins
• 640 Mud
• 100 Wood
• 75 Stone
• 20 Pig Bristles

Opens

Fifth machine and one more offer

Level VI

Machines 6/8

Island needed

Crystal

Build time

24 h

What it costs

• 10,000 Coins
• 960 Mud
• 150 Wood
• 100 Stone
• 30 Pig Bristles

Opens

Sixth machine and one more offer

Level VII

Machines 7/8

Island needed

Galaxy

Build time

36 h

What it costs

• 20,000 Coins
• 1,440 Mud
• 200 Wood
• 150 Stone
• 40 Pig Bristles

Opens

Seventh machine and one more offer

Level VIII

Machines 8/8

Island needed

Marble

Build time

48 h

What it costs

• 40,000 Coins
• 2,200 Mud
• 250 Wood
• 200 Stone
• 50 Pig Bristles

Opens

All 8 machines and every offer

To reach the top level you need 5,800 Mud in total and, from level V, 140 Pig Bristles. The Mud changed twice: it rose from 5,600 to 14,400 after the player test and on October 21 it dropped to 5,800, with shorter builds (2 to 48 hours). Since a 12-hour batch gives about 20 Mud, it is still what holds you back the most. Mud comes from the Cave itself and Pig Bristles come from pigs, so you will be working on both at once.

Other small changes: hovering the ladder and the machines makes them glow. Digging looks just like in the desert. And the Cave screen no longer shows how many shovels and drills you have left: you see that in your inventory. Building the Cave now takes 1 hour (it was 2). While it expands, the window looks like the land expansion one: a countdown, what opens when it is done and a button to rush it with gems (or coins, if your farm can pay with them). Rushing charges you straight away, with no confirmation.

Gloomwick, the Cave merchant

At the Cave entrance you find Gloomwick, a goblin trader who swaps the beetles you find for useful resources. But he is not always there: he comes on visits, stays a while and heads off into the tunnels for fresh goods. Every visit brings a different stock, and every level of your Cave opens one more slot on his shelf, up to 8.

Gloomwick Goblin Cave merchant

His outfit (new wearables)

• Traveling Merchant Suit A long coat with a beetle in every pocket. It will be tradable.
• Traveling Merchant Bag A huge backpack with a lantern lit by beetle glow. It will be tradable.

His shelf, visit by visit

1. I ?
2. II ?
3. III ?
4. IV ?
5. V ?
6. VI ?
7. VII ?
8. VIII ?

Changes every visit

• When he is in, you see how long until he leaves; when he is away, when he is back and how long he will stay.
• Each trade is one kind of beetle for one resource, with a purchase limit per visit (it used to be per week).
• If he took long to come back, the visit is marked Generous visit.
• Some offers carry a Curiosity tag.
• The stock is decided on the game's server, so nobody can know in advance what the next visit will bring.

Gloomwick also shows off new clothes: his coat and his backpack are two new wearables coming to players too. The shop was first meant to open at level V; it is now official that it opens from level I.

His menu has two tabs: Tools, with the same sand shovels and drills Jafar sells at the beach (from the same stock), and Trades, with the current visit's offers: what you pay, what you get and how many are left. If you cannot afford one, it tells you how many beetles you are missing, and what has run out shows as "Sold out". Below, it reminds you that your next Cave level opens another slot.

New skills for the Cave

A new tree shows up in your skills panel: the Cave tree, with 11 skills. To use them you need to have reached Spring island. Each skill has 3 ranks: the more points you put in, the stronger it gets. The first ones are open from the start and the rest open once you have spent points in the tree.

0 pts 3 pts 6 pts

Level I

Open from the start

• Lean Compost 1 pt

  Each batch uses fewer ingredients.

  1. I −5%
  2. II −10%
  3. III −15%
• Rapid Mycelium 1 pt

  The batch is ready sooner.

  1. I 11.4 h
  2. II 10.8 h
  3. III 10.2 h
• Mushroom Bloom 1 pt

  More mushroom tiles in the patch.

  1. I +1
  2. II +2
  3. III +3
• Muddy Bounty 1 pt

  More Mud from each tile.

  1. I +10%
  2. II +20%
  3. III +30%
• Sturdy Shovel 1 pt

  Sometimes the shovel is not used up.

  1. I 10%
  2. II 20%
  3. III 30%

Level II

Opens after spending 3 points in this tree

• Fungal Harvest 2 pt

  More mushrooms from each tile.

  1. I +0.2
  2. II +0.3
  3. III +0.4
• Beetle Nest 2 pt

  More beetle tiles in the patch.

  1. I +1
  2. II +2
  3. III +3
• Sturdy Drill 2 pt

  Sometimes the drill is not used up.

  1. I 20%
  2. II 30%
  3. III 40%
• Tool Hoarder 2 pt

  The shop stocks more shovels and drills (shovels · drills).

  1. I 150 · 30
  2. II 175 · 35
  3. III 225 · 45

Level III

Opens after spending 6 points in this tree

• Rare Breeds 3 pt

  Rarer beetles show up more. Normally: 40% green, 30% blue, 20% pink and 10% amber.

  1. I 35/35/15/15
  2. II 30/30/20/20
  3. III 25/25/25/25
• Twin Beetles 3 pt

  Sometimes you get a bonus beetle.

  1. I 5%
  2. II 10%
  3. III 15%

New food with truffles

The truffles pigs give now have a use in the kitchen: there are 3 new dishes, one at the Fire Pit, one at the Bakery and one at the Kitchen. These are their final, approved values.

The potatoes first asked for 10 Truffles and 8 hours; with the change they are a quick, cheap dish. The cake and the risotto, on the other hand, became expensive dishes that take much longer (26 and 48 hours).

Pig food: the Slops

Cows, chickens and sheep eat feeds made from corn, wheat or barley. Pigs do not: they eat Slop, which you mix at the Pigpen feeder from a single ingredient you choose from a list. There are 4 Slops, one per level. Cheap crops are asked for in larger amounts (1,000 sunflowers) and expensive ones in smaller amounts (6 soybeans), so you can use whatever you have spare. The higher Slops also take fish, mushrooms and crustaceans. Since October 21, crops and fruit ask for twice as much as before; fish, mushrooms and crustaceans still ask for 1.

Pick one and mix it

I Level 0–2 II Level 3–5 III Level 6–9 IV Level 10+

Basic Slop Level 0–2 · 60 XP

• ×1,000 → 1
• ×160 → 1
• ×80 → 1
• ×40 → 1
• ×40 → 1
• ×20 → 1
• ×20 → 1
• ×10 → 1
• ×10 → 1
• ×6 → 1

Hearty Slop Level 3–5 · 60 XP

• ×18 → 1
• ×10 → 1
• ×10 → 1
• ×8 → 1
• ×6 → 1
• ×4 → 1
• ×4 → 1

Rich Slop Level 6–9 · 60 XP

• ×2 → 1
• ×2 → 1
• ×2 → 1
• ×2 → 1
• ×2 → 1
• ×2 → 1
• ×2 → 1
• ×2 → 1
• ×2 → 1
• ×2 → 1
• ×2 → 1
• ×2 → 1

1 of any of these

• 
• 
• 

• Any basic fish (11)

Gourmet Slop Level 10+ · 60 XP

• ×2 → 1
• ×2 → 1
• ×2 → 1
• ×2 → 1
• ×2 → 1
• ×2 → 1

1 of any of these

• 

• Advanced or expert fish (27)
• Pot-caught crustacean (14)

Each pig has a favourite Slop by level: its favourite gives it 60 XP per meal and the others between 10 and 30. At the feeder you pick the ingredient and press Mix 1, Mix 10 or Mix in Bulk (mix a lot at once). In return, the pig gives you Truffles: 1 per harvest at levels 1 to 3, 2 from 4 to 7, 3 from 8 to 14 and 4 at level 15.

Feeding pigs is faster

Before, you had to feed each pig one Slop (its food) per click. Now a single click gives it all the food it needs to level up. The bubble over the pig tells you how much it wants. This is how the game's official radio showed it:

x7 6 x7 6 x3 1

• If you do not have all the food it asks for, it eats nothing: gather the full amount first.
• If you give it a Slop that is not its favourite, it eats the same amount but gains less and gets sad.
• Mud gives the pig +25% XP per meal and keeps it from getting sick for its next 3 harvests (6 with the Vibraphone), so it needs less food to level up. When you put Mud on all of them at once, it starts with the oldest pigs. And since one player spent it without knowing what it did, the button now asks you to confirm and shows the effect and how much Mud you will spend; tick "Don't ask again" to skip it.

Trade your pigs for Pig Bristles

Pig Bristles are a new resource. They are not produced over time: you get them when you trade a pig in at the Pigpen. The higher the pig's level, the more it gives. You also get them when you sell a pig to an animal bounty, on top of the reward.

• The pig has to be awake. If it is sick it gives 25% less.
• If the pig had something ready to collect, you lose it: collect it before trading it in.
• The Bristle Payout skill gives you 10%, 20% or 30% more.

New on October 19

After this article went out, five more changes reached the Cave. None touches the skills or the pigs: they are all about how the Cave plays when you start.

The machines and the ladder are now always drawn over the room and glow when you hover them. And when you walk in, the view no longer starts in the middle: it starts by the ladder, top left.

The Myco Bin window was laid out like the Aging Shed's: you pick the mix from three boxes, see what it will bury in the patch, and if you pick Mud Mix, a list shows what each crop costs. If you are about to start a new batch with mushrooms still buried, it warns you how many you will lose. While the patch grows, a bar on top shows the time left, like on crop plots.

Newcomers to the Cave get a tutorial. With the Cave at level I, Gloomwick explains each step; after that, a bubble over his head reminds you and a hand points at what to tap:

Step	Gloomwick says	The hand points at
Start a batch	Start a batch	The first Myco Bin and the Start button
Wait for it to grow	Come back later	Nothing
Dig the patch	Dig the patch	The centre tile
Out of shovels and drills	Buy Sand Shovels	Gloomwick, with his tools shop
First tile dug	Find the Beetles	Nothing: read the numbers
First patch done	Expand the Cave	The expansion barrier; tapping it ends the tutorial

If you had already played in the Cave, the tutorial picks you up at the step you are on. And since what you closed is saved in the browser, another device may show you the tips again.

Why so pricey? Because beetles came out too cheap: feeding cows and sheep with them cost 74% to 85% less than with crops, and feeding them back to chickens returned 1.3 times the eggs spent. At 30 Eggs that loop no longer pays for itself (it returns 0.54 times), and a full Hen House covers about 6 batches a day. In exchange, the patch buries one more beetle.

New on October 20

A day later ten more changes arrived. Several are price changes that came out of the Chapter 16 test with players: the Cave cost too little Mud and Rapid Mycelium cut the wait too much. They are already fixed above, in the level table and the skills. Here is the rest.

The Myco Bin also explains its numbers better. Below what the patch buries you now see the odds of each beetle: 40% green, 30% blue, 20% pink and 10% amber. With Rare Breeds, the ones that change are marked with the normal value struck through next to them. And when Rapid Mycelium shortens the batch, the time shows in green next to the original; tap it to see which boost shortened it.

How many points open each tier of a skill tree changes. It used to be a hand-made table that had drifted: in Fruit Patch and Machinery, buying all 5 tier 1 skills already opened tier 3. Now tier 2 asks for half the tier 1 skills and tier 3 asks for one point more than all of them, so you always need at least one tier 2 skill.

Tree	Tier 2	Tier 3
Fruit Patch	2 → 3	5 → 6
Machinery	2 → 3	5 → 6
Mining	3	7 → 6
Aging	3	7 → 6
Cave	3	7 → 6

The Pigpen Feeder is no longer just for Slops. It now has a medicine row with Barn Delight (5 Lemons and 3 Honey), which cures a sick pig just like any other animal, and a spices row with the ones you own: Salt Lick, Honey Treat and Truffle Seasoning. Pick the spice and tap the pig to give it. The bulk mixer also offers Barn Delight when a pig is sick.

Last: Chapter 16 is now open to Beta Pass holders, so those players can already build the Pigpen, enter the Cave and feed beetles to their animals. Gloomwick shows off the Beetle Goggles, a hat that will be tradable. And entering the Cave no longer sounds like cows and sheep: that sound was a placeholder.

New on October 21 and 22

Chapter 16's balance pass arrived after the player test, and the merchant changed completely. The Cave, the Slops and Gloomwick are already fixed above. Here is the rest.

Material	Level 2 (6 pigs)	Level 3 (9 pigs)
Coins	10,000 → 5,000	75,000 → 37,500
Wood	1,000 → 450	5,000 → 2,250
Iron	100 → 45	300 → 135
Gold	75 → 35	200 → 90
Crimstone	30 → 12	125 → 50
Oil	—	250 → 100
Mud	25	100

Why half? Each Pigpen upgrade adds 3 pigs, while a Hen House or Barn upgrade adds 5, so each slot is now priced halfway between what it costs in those two. But mind it: Slops ask for twice the crops, so a crop-fed pig now costs between half and four fifths of a cow (it used to be between a fifth and two fifths). And the pig no longer has a level of its own: you can have one as soon as you can build the Pigpen, since that is the only place it lives.

Beetles can be fed straight to any animal, and they give it a fixed amount of XP. But the game did not say so anywhere: you found out from the floating number, with the beetle already spent. Now each one's description tells you:

Beetle	Rarity	XP
Green Beetle	The most common (40%)	80
Blue Beetle	Uncommon (30%)	160
Pink Beetle	Rare (20%)	320
Amber Beetle	The rarest (10%)	640

The Myco Bin window was laid out like the Lava Pit's: the mix and how long is left at the top (or "Ready to dig!"), what it buried in the middle, and at the bottom a button that reads "Growing" while it grows and "Let's Go!" when it is ready, which closes the window so you can dig. The progress bar now lives only on the patch. And when you come back to the Cave, the patches you had fully dug show empty, waiting for a new mix.

Last: the 11 Cave skills get their own icons instead of the placeholders. You can already see them above, in the skills table.

Where all this comes from

Sunflower Land's code is public: before reaching the game, every change is proposed and reviewed on GitHub. These are the 33 changes this article is based on. The ones marked "Approved" are ready and waiting for launch; the ones "In review" may still change.