The second release of Caves & Cliffs is an upcoming major update to Java Edition set to release in late-2021.[1] It was first announced alongside the release of the 1.17 snapshot 21w15a.[2]
Planned additions
- Height dependent generation.
- Revamped, featuring some new small spruce trees on the slopes and ice and packed ice above the peaks.
- Contain goats, rabbits, snow blocks, snow layers and powder snow.
- Iron ore, emerald ore and coal ore are found in abundance.
- Emerald ore no longer generates in veins of only one.
- Can generate up to Y = 256.
- New sub biomes Lofty Peaks, Snow Capped Peaks, Snowy Slopes, Mountain Grove, and Mountain Meadow.
- Completely overhauled.
- Now stretch down to Y = -59.
- The cavern now generates in 2 layers of different stone bases depending on the depth.
- Biomes inside of caves introduced such as dripstone caves.
- Contain aquifers, bodies of water with different heights, independent of sea level (Y=63).
- Improved old caves to blend in with the new generations of caves better.[3]
- New carver called crack carver, which appears as a fissure on the ground, like ravines but narrower and can go very deep.[4]
- New noise caves, coming in 2 forms, cheese and spaghetti.
- The original caves still exist, mixing with the noise caves.
- Cheese caves have large stone towers stretching from the bottom of the cave to the top.
- Spaghetti caves are long, thin caves that have small aquifers and are more similar to original caves.
- Try to generate fully encased in stone at low y-levels.
Biomes
A dripstone caves biome.
- Contains pointed dripstone and dripstone blocks.
A lush caves biome.
- Contain cave plants and moss.
- Moss covers the ceilings and floors.
- Clay pools generate inside.
- Come in 5 sub-biomes:
- Mountain Meadow
- The lowest layer of a mountain.
- Contain flowers and sweet berry bushes.
- Mountain Grove
- The second lowest layer of a mountain.
- Covered in snow, snow blocks and powder snow, and is filled with spruce trees.
- Rabbits spawn in this biome.
- Snowy Slopes
- Lofty Peaks
- The highest layer of a mountain, and will only generate if the mountain is high enough.
- Generates if the surrounding biomes are too warm for snow capped peaks.
- Covered in snow and ice.
- Snow Capped Peaks
- The highest layer of a mountain, and will only generate if the mountain is high enough.
- Generates if the surrounding biomes are too cold for lofty peaks.
- Covered in snow, snow blocks, powder snow, ice and packed ice.
- Mountain Meadow
References
- ↑ a b "A Caves & Cliffs announcement" – Minecraft.net, April 14, 2021
- ↑ "Minecraft Snapshot 21w15a" – Minecraft.net, April 14, 2021
- ↑ "Oh forgot to mention in the changelog* we also added some more variation to the old cave carvers (width, heigh, floor cutoff, etc). Just to make them blend in a bit better with the noise caves instead of being instantly recognizable." – @henrikkniberg on X, February 25, 2021
- ↑ "There it is. The crack carver. Watch your step, they can go REALLY deep!" – @henrikkniberg on X, February 25, 2021