Changes

There is no limit to the number of floors, or levels, in the Skull Cavern (at least until the integer limit of 2147483647 is reached). Similar to [[the Mines]], the player advances through floors in the Skull Cavern by finding a ladder on each floor, either by mining rocks or defeating enemies. The player can sometimes find a shaft, or hole, which makes it possible to skip 3-15 floors. Jumping down the shaft causes [[health]] damage equal to 3x the number of levels skipped (although jumping down a shaft will never reduce health to less than 1).  Unlike the Mines, there is no elevator to save progress, but on every floor there is a ladder at the starting point where you can leave the Skull Cavern. Each visit must start again from the first floor. If [[The Player|the player]] runs out of health or passes out while exploring Skull Cavern, they will wake up sometime later on the same day, in [[Harvey's Clinic]]. A fee of {{price|1000}} will be deducted for emergency surgery. Some items may also be lost.

There is no limit to the number of floors, or levels, in the Skull Cavern (at least until the integer limit of 2147483647 is reached). Similar to [[the Mines]], the player advances through floors in the Skull Cavern by finding a ladder on each floor, either by mining rocks or defeating enemies. The player can sometimes find a shaft, or hole, which makes it possible to skip 3-15 floors. Jumping down the shaft causes [[health]] damage equal to 3x the number of levels skipped (although jumping down a shaft will never reduce health to less than 1).  Unlike the Mines, there is no elevator to save progress, but on every floor there is a ladder at the starting point where you can leave the Skull Cavern. Each visit must start again from the first floor. If [[The Player|the player]] runs out of health or passes out while exploring Skull Cavern, they will wake up sometime later on the same day, in [[Harvey's Clinic]]. A fee of {{price|1000}} will be deducted for emergency surgery. Some items may also be lost.

Every ten floors the chance to find [[Iridium Ore]] increases significantly. The monsters in the Cavern also have a chance to drop ore and [[Iridium Bar]]s. It is a good idea to bring the [[Lava Katana]] or [[Galaxy Sword]], as enemies are particularly strong. High [[Luck]] increases the frequency of ore veins and the appearance of ladders/holes.  Since the frequency of [[Iridium Ore]] increases for every 10 floors descended into the Cavern, rapid descent is often more efficient for acquiring ore than thorough exploration. With a full inventory of stone, it's possible to craft [[staircase]]s to descend to floor 300+.

Every ten floors the chance to find [[Iridium Ore]] increases significantly. The monsters in the Cavern also have a chance to drop ore and [[Iridium Bar]]s. It can be a good idea to bring the [[Lava Katana]] or [[Galaxy Sword]], as enemies are particularly strong. High [[Luck]] increases the frequency of ore veins and the appearance of ladders/holes.  Since the frequency of [[Iridium Ore]] increases for every 10 floors descended into the Cavern, rapid descent is often more efficient for acquiring ore than thorough exploration. With a full inventory of stone, it's possible to craft [[staircase]]s to descend to floor 300+.

The plaques that can be occasionally found on the walls contain [[Secrets#Skull Cavern Plaques|enciphered messages]].

The plaques that can be occasionally found on the walls contain [[Secrets#Skull Cavern Plaques|enciphered messages]].