Reaching the Lava Castle
Sidchicken
Plumbing the subnautican depths Join Date: 2016-02-16 Member: 213125Members
So I've seen it asked before how to reach the Lava Castle, and I thought I'd leave a little guide here, for those that don't want to just warp to it. Putting it in spoiler tags for those that would rather not see. All coordinates are to the nearest 10. A compass is handy to have, in addition to the usual supplies you'll want if playing in survival/hardcore.
If anyone knows of another way in, I'd be interested to hear it - I've been around the top of the chamber in the seamoth, but never in creative mode, so diving deeper to look for other access points was not an option, nor was having sonar on the moth.
Step 1: Head to the Deep Grand Reef, and descend to the cavern entrance at -370, -560, -890.
Step 2: Head East through the cavern, staying to the left side so you can see the left wall. The ambient light is red. If you have the F1 screen up, biome is "ILZ Corridor"
Step 3: Your course will turn North at 120, -720, -730. Continue to hug the left wall. The ambient light will change from a red tint to pitch black, although you may get flashes of other lighting based on whatever biome is above you at the surface.
Step 4: Your course will turn West at 112, -1010, -115. You are now entering the "ILZ Chamber" biome. You cannot safely sail the cyclops into the chamber without use of the terraformer (or future release of better pressure compensators). The seamoth will clear the ceiling. Once inside the chamber, the ceiling is flat and at about 970 meters.
Step 5: The Lava Castle is found at -360, -1050, 110. There is a signal that can be found in the supply crates near the Aurora that will mark approximately this point. This is near the top of one of the tallest spires. The structure itself is quite large and goes at least a couple hundred meters deeper - I haven't yet explored it thoroughly.
Step 2: Head East through the cavern, staying to the left side so you can see the left wall. The ambient light is red. If you have the F1 screen up, biome is "ILZ Corridor"
Step 3: Your course will turn North at 120, -720, -730. Continue to hug the left wall. The ambient light will change from a red tint to pitch black, although you may get flashes of other lighting based on whatever biome is above you at the surface.
Step 4: Your course will turn West at 112, -1010, -115. You are now entering the "ILZ Chamber" biome. You cannot safely sail the cyclops into the chamber without use of the terraformer (or future release of better pressure compensators). The seamoth will clear the ceiling. Once inside the chamber, the ceiling is flat and at about 970 meters.
Step 5: The Lava Castle is found at -360, -1050, 110. There is a signal that can be found in the supply crates near the Aurora that will mark approximately this point. This is near the top of one of the tallest spires. The structure itself is quite large and goes at least a couple hundred meters deeper - I haven't yet explored it thoroughly.
If anyone knows of another way in, I'd be interested to hear it - I've been around the top of the chamber in the seamoth, but never in creative mode, so diving deeper to look for other access points was not an option, nor was having sonar on the moth.
Comments
Part 1 Breaking the limits of below 1000m without cheating and exploiting
Your must have personal equipment is the rebreather, 2 HC tanks, the seaglide with batteries, the superglide fins, the builder and welder, as well as food and water. As long as the seamoth has unlimited O2 you don't need to bring the cyclops down. And to get very deep you need a series of support bases to build you a line of O2 down the deep.
Part 2 The starting point to the deep places
Part 3 Towards the last submarine support base for now
Part 4 Drive the cyclops to the castle
Now aim and dive through quickly. For a small time you dive below 1000m until you ascend back above 1000m. Exit the pilot seat, draw the welder and fix all hull breaches in time. Drive the cyclops to the ceiling until exactly above the castle. Then place the seamoth at its limit.
Part 5 Find the inner chamber of the castle
Part 6 Deeper and deeper (under construction)
Hardcore mode, stable build.
I put a couple pics of the base I'm building on it in the Seabase Showcase thread. Hopefully there will be more when I get around to expanding it.
Passing the pillar to the deep reef caves
The breakthrough to the deep reef at the bottom
Turning always right until at ILZ, then stay always left
Breakthrough at the left wall of ILZ
Did you go to the coordinates I listed? There's several ways to get into the ILZ. If you did go to those coords, bear in mind that the "castle" is not a castle in the strict sense - it's a big structure with several tall spires, that vaguely resembles a castle.
It takes a lot of real time minutes until you get air, so you have to do it stepwise, but you can use this to get into any depth without the subs as long as there is no limit for the diving itself.
The advantages:
I doubt it, without spoiling too much, there are enourmous caverns below the ILZ, enough to hold whole armies of sea dragons, but these caves are still under construction, just like the Lost River caves. The caves will probably go to a final depth of about 2000m, where you'll find end game stuff.