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Hidden Caches

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Not everything valuable lies out in the open. Hidden caches are a personal reward for attentiveness and a well-prepared character: you first have to spot and uncover them, and only then dig out their contents. A random passer-by will walk right past and never notice a thing.

What a hidden cache is

A cache is not a shared container that sits on the map the same way for everyone. It is a personal find belonging to a specific character: the game generates possible caches around the player when they enter a map, and uncovers them only for that player.

  • Bound to an owner. Every cache has an owner. Someone else’s cache won’t open for another character just because they happen to be standing nearby.
  • Visible only after it’s uncovered. Once a cache is discovered, it becomes visible only to its owner and is marked on the map with a CACHE tag. Undiscovered caches aren’t visible to anyone in advance — you can’t pick them out on the map; you have to search by the signs of the place.
  • Temporary. Caches generated around a player are removed when that player leaves the map — this is not a permanent personal stash.

How a cache gets found

Discovery takes preparation. Without the right abilities or bonuses, a character doesn’t notice caches at all, even when walking right past them. The ability to spot caches comes from developed gathering paths (bonuses to search radius, “instinct,” and discovery experience).

  • The search runs automatically. While the character is on the map, a scan periodically fires around them and tries to uncover the nearest available cache (your own or an unclaimed, undiscovered one) within the search radius.
  • The radius grows with bonuses. The base radius is widened by a search bonus: a developed gatherer “feels out” more space and notices what others would miss.
  • The number of possible caches. From 1 to 4 caches can appear around a prepared character: the base one plus additions for search radius, for “instinct,” and for discovery experience.
  • Experience for discovery. The mere fact of a find grants experience — even before you work through its contents. A discovery experience bonus increases this reward.

What’s inside and how to take it

An uncovered cache is essentially just another harvesting node. To get the contents out, you have to work it with the right tool, like any gathering node: keep applying the tool until the work is finished. You can’t simply “pick up” a cache by hand.

The contents are defined by an archetype. The game currently has six cache archetypes:

  • Salvage — abandoned belongings, the basis for recycling and trade.
  • Tech — electronics, mechanisms, and parts for repair and crafting.
  • Frozen tech — mechanisms frozen into the ice, a special “winter” technical line of finds.
  • Winter resources — things useful in the cold and on a long road.
  • Hunting materials — loot tied to animal trails.
  • Trails — finds from careful study of the route.

What the cache type depends on

The archetype is chosen from two things: the character’s gathering specialization and the character of the map.

  • Specialization. Your gathering bonuses shift the finds: a lean toward carcass processing pulls toward hunting caches, toward tech — toward technical ones, toward “all things winter” — toward winter caches and frozen tech, and “instinct” opens trail caches. With no clear lean, the type is taken from the map, and as a last resort it will be salvage.
  • Character of the place. The map type hints at the likely archetype: frozen labyrinths pull toward winter finds, wreckage of frozen tech — toward frozen tech, convoys and bunkers — toward tech, beast and mutant skirmishes — toward hunting finds, and scavenger raiders — toward salvage.

Deciding on the spot

A cache is almost always an opportunity, not an obligation. It pays to weigh the situation: take it now and risk lingering; mark the spot and come back prepared, with the right tool and free carrying weight; or walk on by if the group is wounded, overloaded, or still far from safety. The world rewards attentiveness — but the price of delay is paid by you.