Styx is a FREE DLC for our fans featuring a new 64 km2 map, 14 new missions and new creatures
Thank you for supporting Icarus through our first six months since launch! As a thank you to our fans, we are making our new Styx Map & Missions Pack free for everyone who has bought Icarus.
This new 64km² map doubles the size of Icarus' playable area. With it come new missions, new creatures and fresh regions of Icarus to explore.
<*> An entire new 64km² map <*> 14 new missions <*> New creatures including crocodiles, Komodo Dragons, Kea (mountain parrot) with more to come <*> The entire map unlocked and able to be explored including locations such as The Wall, Ring Lake and The Great River <*> Missions that effect the map and unlock shortcuts to new areas
The Styx Map & Missions Pack is available to play now in this week’s update. You’ll find it in the Prospect Select Screen. No separate download is required.
Styx is free for everyone who has bought Icarus so far, but in future (we’ll let you know if) it may become a paid DLC pack. Read below for a more expansive discussion on this from our Gamerunner, Dean Hall
New Map
This new territory is centered around a long braided river which the First Cohort prospectors named Styx, after one of the rivers of the underworld.
The Styx territory been locked down for several years after an ‘incident’ between the UDA and a group from the African Coastal States. Rumors have circulated ever since, but both parties remain tight lipped about the circumstances that led to the previous lockdown. Spanning forested, arid and arctic biomes, there are reports of unnatural growth rates and mutations in the planet’s wildlife.
Now the Lagos Unit has suddenly changed their stance, declaring the previously uninhabitable area as safe and opening up several new licenses for prospects. Of course, they’ll still take a cut of whatever you find…
Styx FAQ with the Gamerunner
Author: Dean Hall, Gamerunner
Why do a Map Pack using the same biomes?
When we started the Icarus project we knew we wanted to try doing something different. When we released the beta, it quickly showed us we needed to adapt the game rapidly to make up for some shortfalls in what we were doing. We also revisited not just what we were doing with the game, but how we were doing it. Focusing on developing a competency to quickly iterate and deliver both changes large and small at a weekly cadence.
As part of this we needed to revisit our process behind world creation, our "world builders" team. In making "Olympus", what we named our first map, we learned a great deal we wanted to do differently as we approach our future content. However, we felt uncomfortable with moving straight into doing a whole stack of new biomes until we had applied the changes we needed with what we already had. This is how this new world was born.
While I can appreciate everyone, including our own team, wants to jump straight into alien and exciting new biomes, it was critical we ensure we had a well oiled machine making our worlds before we introduced new biomes into the mix. We decided to package this work up, and join that effort with work from our design team to deliver a map and mission pack.
In the past I've done quote sections, but I think it's really important I outline some of the "sky level" thinking around Styx, based on some of the comments and concerns I've seen on the forums and from our great content creators. Hopefully this section below helps give some insight into what this Styx pack is, what it isn't, and how it factors into the learning we are trying to make as we head towards "real" new content.
How does a free DLC work?
We all keenly felt the rocky launch in the team, and we've all been looking for ways to provide a thank you to those who stuck with us. So we put aside work on our "big" DLC plans to focus on the structural changes we needed to make, both in the studio and the game, and do our "homework" as a form of small DLC we could provide for free to those who stuck with us.
Everyone who owns the game now, and for the current future, will always own this DLC map pack for free. While we don't have concrete plans to charge for this map pack in the future yet, it's something we would look at down the line. However, everyone who already owns the game at that point would still have the map pack - only those buying the game new at that point would not.
If it was being sold, how much would you price it?
Again to confirm, nobody who owns the game now would ever pay for it. But to give an idea into our thinking here, my estimate would be a in the "few dollars" range. We see small content packs like this as being worth, if not free, something in the range of 4-6 USD at best. As always, appreciate thoughts on this - but I'd like to labor the point that this, for now at least, is more of a "sea trial" for us rather than a realistic paid DLC plan.
DLC content vs DLC Expansions? Huh?
We want to be able to grow the game especially for those we really like the unique approach we are trying with the genre, as part of this we've adopted a few broad principles approaching DLC for the game:
DLC ownership tests should be as loose as possible; overly restrictive DLC can have massive negative impacts on the ability of people to play with their friends
DLC content (like the Styx Map Pack) should be priced very modestly (a few dollars), just representing "more of the same" so their pricing should be very modest.
DLC expansions should be expansive changes to the game; but should coincide with improvements to the base game as well. Care should be taken to strike a balance: it is very easy for game developers to have content in the expansions that really should be in the base game.
Our studio is independent and through this whole process we are learning a great deal. We want to learn how to produce good content, that is reasonably and sensibly priced, that doesn't restrict peoples abilities to play with friends. We will be working with you all, in the months and years, to strike this balance. Please do continue to let us know your thoughts as always.
Why not vehicles?
I might be laboring the point a little, but if our beta and launch taught us anything - it was that we needed to make some changes to how we were working. Jumping straight onto complex new tasks without confirming we had learned the lessons was dangerous. We all understand, and agree, that "cool" new content is needed. Transport has been an issue we have long debated internally, and in fact we devoted an entire milestone (with good results) to how we would approach this.
It is critical that we prove we have made the required adaptions as a studio as well as balanced the game enough that it can survive changes in player travel time before we tackle issues such as vehicles. It would be very easy for us to destroy the experience, either by throwing a major new mechanic like vehicles in or changing the experience to be more like other games.
Why haven't you moved faster?
It was pretty apparent to us within the first day of the beta that we needed to change not only the game, but also how we were working. In my experience, that's the nature of game development. To try bolster our suggestion we are working as hard as we can, we committed to building trust by producing a solid update every week after launch (including holidays). We're proud of achieving that, and we've been really pleased with the response to that - both the positive and negative feedback. This feedback, so long as it's constructive, is extremely useful and how we make a better game.
Where are the alien biomes?
In addition to the reasons why we haven't moved to new biomes above it would likely not be a surprise to many that we aren't happy with some performance aspects of the game. Throwing some new biomes into the game without addressing any performance concerns related to them, would be adding a lot of new textures, models, sounds, animations and such and make matters much worse.
Not all our different teams work at the same cadence as every other team, and we already have a backlog of exciting (and in some cases, downright terrifying) new animals. But we can't just throw these into the game until we can confirm we can wield them properly. So, while frustrating, we are taking our time. Luckily the content work around that has been able to already begin, while we lay the groundwork.
The Kea?
Take a moment and go read about one of the most amazing creatures in the world, the Kea, a Mountain Parrot from New Zealand. As a mountaineer it's been my privilege to be close to these incredible creatures. An animal that teach each other through play, we like to think that if the Kea could play video games, they'd love to be swooping through our terrains.
Final thoughts?
I realize as a consumer it can be very frustrating watching a game, especially one you think has potential but falls short, not quite hit where you want to be. Our team definitely feels the pain for every user reporting a bug, losing their gear, or just having a bad time with a poor mechanic. We are though, resolute with the broad idea of "session based". We just have some homework still to do to deliver that.
As a thank you, and a big "sorry" for the beta and the launch, we hope Styx shows you we have improved in our ability to deliver content - and that we can take those lessons and apply them to exciting new biomes, creatures, mechanics, and features in the future. - Dean Hall, Gamerunner
New Missions
The UDA has assigned 14 new contracts for prospectors to tackle, to complete objectives the original task force failed.
Although Styx features familiar forest, arctic and desert biomes, the map provides a fresh maze of pathways and missions to explore, including some time-saving shortcuts that can be permanently unlocked by some missions.
Your time in the Styx territory will start with an exploration mission, before branching out into more challenging extermination, expedition and research contracts with more lucrative rewards.
The first 14 missions are available now (see the Changelog below), with two more (RENDEZVOUS: Delivery and BALLISTIC: Extermination) unlocking next week.
25 Weekly Updates
If you haven’t played Icarus for a while, you may be surprised what has changed with 25 weekly updates now under our belt.
As well as new missions, items and bosses, some major changes to core game systems have been made since launch. The biggest change is the removal of Icarus' real-world timer, which sometimes caught players by surprise and left their characters and all their gear stranded on the planet permanently. Missions are now based on time spent in the game, although Icarus is still fundamentally based around time-limited missions and sessions. Other big changes include the hardcore and safe difficulty options, optimizations, more talent points and a separate talent tree for solo play.
Most of these changes are based on your community feedback and the most up-voted requests on our Feature Upvote site, so please continue to give us your feedback there.
What's next for Icarus?
While the Styx Map is intended as bonus content for our community, it is not one of our planned major expansions.
RocketWerkz has already begun work on New Frontiers, the first major paid expansion for Icarus, which is due late this year. A second expansion, Dangerous Horizons, is planned for 2023. These major expansions will feature new, more challenging biomes and more mutated or even alien lifeforms and new gameplay challenges. We look forward to sharing more about them in the coming months.
In the meantime we will keep regularly updating the core Icarus game, you can expect a lot of our team resource will be working towards bringing you this exciting next chapter in the growing story you’ve come to love, that is Icarus.
DevStream and AMA
This Sunday 29 May at 10pm UTC / 3pm PDT (that’s 10am Monday morning NZT for us in New Zealand) we’ll be hosting a Styx Dev Stream and AMA with Gamerunner Dean ‘Rocket’ Hall playing the new Styx Map and Missions, while our community manager Shammgod hosts an AMA with various members of our Vision, Art, and Design teams.
You can leave questions in our Discord and our Twitch chat. This is a great chance to ask that burning question about the future of Icarus, what Styx is bringing to the table, or why headshotting a baby goat from 100 meters feels so good. Join us over on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/surviveicarus
Detailed Changelog
New Map
A new 8x8km map to explore, based around a large central river network.
New Missions
VERTIGO: Expedition
Find and repair lost drilling equipment.
MALSTROM: Exploration
ZEPHYR: Expedition
Scan for new potential drop locations to unlock more missions.
OMPHALOS: Survey
GOSSAMER: Research
Discover more about the worm species native to this planet.
CRESCENDO: Survey
Investigate the Shifting Sands
ALCAZAR: Construction
Setup a Self Sufficient Powered Research Base
RICOCHET: Expedition
Investigate Signs of an Oasis
HEADLONG: Exploration
ADAGIO: Exploration
KISMET: Exploration
CAVALCADE: Exploration
DUST: Exploration
HALCYON: Extermination
Investigate Increased Polar Bear Presence in the area.
New Creatures
Adolescent Caveworms - Once they grow beyond their larval stage prevalent in Icarus' caves, they become significantly more dangerous and can venture beyond their subterranean nests.
Kea - Icarus' first avian addition. Colorful in both appearance and character, these mischievously clever parrots will take advantage of any undefended food-store they can get to.
Komodo - Typically distracted by food, these will likely not bother you unless you come between them and their meal. They have a nasty bite that can leave prospectors nauseous at best.
Crocodiles - Ever-present around the water bodies of Icarus, they’re most at home in the water but can still be a notable threat on land. Their thick hide make them resistant to projectiles.
Fixes
Improved way player loadouts are handled to reduce chance of players losing loadouts/items. Modifying the way players loadouts are granted, the players dropship now controls and stores the state internally of whether or not it has granted the loadout to its inventory, no more passing of items from player. This allows disconnections to occur during the dropship sequence and players will still be able to get their loadout upon reconnecting.
Fixed issue where the player could be considered ‘in a cave’ while still outside the voxel entrance.
Fixed the Drill power quest step incorrectly checking whether the drill was active or not and progressing without the drill having biofuel in, slightly tweaked the worm respawn timer on the second stage of the quest
Fixed the Drill power quest step incorrectly checking whether the drill was active or not and progressing without the drill having biofuel in as previous fix also broke the quest step, both fixed now.
Improved game performance degradation after extended playtime due to AI getting stuck in loops constantly executing expensive GOAP action precondition checks.
Fixed another instance of NPCs getting soft-locked when trying to pick between multiple incomplete actions that caused large performance drops until they died or despawned.
Icarus Week Twenty Four Update | Styx DLC Preview
This week we have a small update but a big announcement…
Next week, we will be effectively doubling the size of Icarus' playable area with a second 8x8km map, dropping 16 more missions and unleashing several new creatures. And as a thank you for our fans and players, we are giving this DLC pack away to every current Icarus player for free.
The Styx Map and Missions Pack will be a separate DLC pack for all Icarus players available next Friday 27 May (UTC). Read on for a preview of what to expect in Styx, including a sneak peak of the detailed patch notes and missions.
While our team put the finishing touches on Styx’s missions, this week’s regular update includes several bug fixes and optimization improvements, listed in the change log below.
New Map
This new territory is centered around a long braided river which the First Cohort of prospectors named Styx, after one the rivers of the underworld.
The 64 square kilometer map effectively doubles the size of Icarus' playable area. While it will feature the familiar forest, arctic and desert biomes, it presents a new network of valleys and pathways to explore over 16 missions. Some of Styx’s missions will even affect the map and unlock pathways to areas, providing permanent shortcuts.
This bonus free DLC is our way of saying thank you to our fans and player community. With your support and feedback, Icarus has evolved considerably in the nearly six months since launch. We had a rocky start in many ways, but with 24 weekly updates to date we’ve established a good pace for our additions and have introduced some pretty major changes along the way (such as removing the real-world time limit, rebalancing talent points, solo trees, hardcore mode, difficulty options, more bosses).
So this pack is is free for everyone who has bought the game so far, as a thank you for supporting us through release and the last six months of updates.
- Dean Hall, Game Runner
New Creatures
With the new territory come new creatures, modified by UDA exo-biologists for the volatile climate and atmosphere of Icarus. Here’s a preview of what you may encounter.
Komodo Dragon
Another alpha on the top of Icarus' food chain, the Komodo Dragon is a foe to not be tangled with, especially when it is eating. Identifiable by its blood-chilling roar, they may try to muscle in and eat your own kills, although they make a good meal themselves if you can penetrate their scaled armor. Beware their jaws as a nasty bite can leave you nauseous.
Crocodile
The apex predator of the waterways, Crocodiles were successfully released onto Styx, and have taken full control of the braided rivers that dominate this area. While they’re easily mistaken for logs, you’re more at risk of their stealth hunting and their powerful jaws. Their tough, scaly hides make them difficult to take down from range, and even more dangerous to fight in hand-to-teeth combat.
Kea
The first avian addition to Icarus' forests is the Kea Parrot. Colorful in both appearance and character, these mischievously clever parrots will take advantage of any undefended food-store they can get to.
How can I get Styx?
Styx will be available for free with next week’s update on Fri 27 May (UTC).
It will not require any additional downloads or purchase. Everyone who already owns Icarus will automatically see a separate Styx Map & Missions Pack DLC appear in your Steam Library.
In future, Styx may become a paid DLC but for now it is a thank you for our fans. However, don’t confuse Styx with our future plans for two other major expansions, New Frontiers and Dangerous Horizons, which will be paid DLC featuring new biomes and creatures. We’ve already begun work on those.
If you can’t wait and are interested in beta testing Styx, join the experimental branch channel on our Discord community at discord.gg/SurviveIcarus
Detailed Changelog
Version: 1.1.15.96284
Added separate (and optional) AttachOffset_ADS socket support to allow bows to have an alternate attach offset transform specified to use while aiming down sights. This will allow us to resolve some issues with camera position when aiming with some bows.
Fixed players far away taking explosive damage during Kill Cams by adding a component tag (IgnoreDamage) which lets post process/audio colliders ignore damage detection.
Character Flag in MIGRATING SANDS: Survey is now granted to players as they join the quest so sandworm items can be crafted immediately.
Disabled Caves, Rivers and Lakes from being used for Occlusion culling to improve performance.
Adding metal damage cue for animals hitting metal objects.
Fixing issue where some modifiers where dealing physical damage instead of pure and therefore would be causing unintended armor degradation.
Fixed typo in Titanium Knife description.
Fixed some bushes not having FLOD. This should address issues with them disappearing/reappearing seemingly at random.
Updated Potbelly Stove description and flavor text.
Fixed typo in Kitchen Bench.
Styx Preview Changelog
(Available next week)
New Map
A new 8x8km map to explore, based around a large central river network.
New Missions
VERTIGO: Expedition - Find and repair lost drilling equipment.
MALSTROM: Exploration
ZEPHYR: Expedition - Scan for new potential drop locations to unlock more missions.
OMPHALOS: Survey
GOSSAMER: Research - Discover more about the worm species native to this planet.
RENDEZVOUS: Delivery - Retrieve Biosample and return it to your ship without letting it fall outside optimal temperatures.
CRESCENDO: Survey - Investigate the Shifting Sands
BALLISTIC: Extermination - Investigate the Increased Cougar Presence
ALCAZAR: Construction - Setup a Self Sufficient Powered Research Base
RICOCHET: Expedition - Investigate Signs of an Oasis
HEADLONG: Exploration
ADAGIO: Exploration
KISMET: Exploration
CAVALCADE: Exploration
DUST: Exploration
HALCYON: Extermination - Investigate Increased Polar Bear Presence in the area.
New Creatures
Adolescent Caveworms - Once they grow beyond their larval stage prevalent in Icarus' caves, they become significantly more dangerous and can venture beyond their subterranean nests.
Kea - Icarus' first avian addition. Colorful in both appearance and character, these mischievously clever parrots will take advantage of any undefended food-store they can get to.
Komodo - Typically distracted by food, these will likely not bother you unless you come between them and their meal. They have a nasty bite that can leave prospectors nauseous at best.
Crocodiles - Ever-present around the water bodies of Icarus, they’re most at home in the water but can still be a notable threat on land. Their thick hide make them resistant to projectiles.
Icarus Week Twenty Three Update | World Bosses
For Week Twenty Three, the planet is about to receive its biggest threat yet: World Bosses. Roaming around the map, these bosses are an ever-present threat that requires prospectors to be on their toes at all times.
We’re also releasing the next batch of Sandworm Items including Armor and Weapons, and a mission to introduce and exterminate these new roaming bosses.
Persistent World Bosses
World Bosses are the first instance of an ‘alpha’ enemy that isn’t restricted to specific prospects and can roam the map, providing a new layer of intensity to every mission. The first to be introduced is the Sandworm. Any mission which includes the desert biome will now include the risk of the Sandworm intruding.
Expect to see the bosses you’ve encountered in other missions gradually encroach on other areas of the map in future weeks. They may surprise you in missions and locations you previously considered safe.
'This week is the first big step for some exciting new tech - world bosses can now be found during your missions. Currently this is limited to the Sandworm and in missions which have access to the desert, but keep your eyes peeled when you drop because their numbers seem to be growing.
This system comes with two more additions in the form of a new module in the workshop and a new talent at master rank on the hunting tree, both allowing you to track the location of world bosses on your map. This is valuable as the Sandworms have a habit of not staying in one place for too long. We've also added some more Sandworm items and a new Sandworm Armor set made from its scales, which comes with some handy poison resistance set bonuses.' - Shawn, Game Designer and all-around-nice-guy
Sandworm Items
Along with this update comes the second batch of Sandworm Items. You’ll now be able to craft Armor, Knives, Spears and Arrows using the scales collected from Sandworms, which are now more plentiful thanks to those roaming Sandworm bosses. With their own unique perks, these items add a distinct variety to the loot pool, such as the reduction to poison damage, reduced poison debuff duration and water consumption buff provided by the armor set, or the poison buff added to the knife, spear and arrows. All of these items will be craftable at the forge and armor benches respectively, and their blueprints unlockable on the tech tree.
Roaming Sandworm Mission
To introduce the new bosses, there is a new mission for prospectors to complete. Details are scarce, you’re on your own for this one.
MIGRATING SANDS: Survey
INVESTIGATE AN ANOMALY IN THE DESERT
// OPERATOR: UDA // BIOME: Desert // BACKGROUND: General access for all Contractors meeting drop criteria // MISSION: Contractors are not required to pursue specific objectives // TERMS: Contractors will be provided with a functioning envirosuit, they will be otherwise unassisted
Detailed Change Log:
Version: 1.1.14.95804
Added New Mission: Roaming Sandworm
Added: New Sandworm Items - Created from the scales of the far more formidable evolution to the Caveworm, the Sandworm Knife, Spear, Bow and Arrow offer a higher durability across the board and are designed to put a stop to any health regeneration on its victims.
Added new Workshop Item: World Boss Module - this will allow you to see World Boss locations on the map.
Added new Talent: Big Game Hunter - this will allow you to see World Boss locations on the map.
Fixed issue where the Extractor wouldn’t snap to a faulty configured deposit in E6.
Fixed issue where extractors continued to run when the extractor was full, deleting resources out of the inventory.
Fixed issue where radars in missions would attract regular wildlife while also attracting the mission spawning wildlife.
Fixed issue where Radar would continue attracting more waves of wildlife after scanning was completed.
Fixed issue where you would get Arctic weather events in the Forest and no weather events in the Arctic.
Fixed the spoil rate of the Ice Box and Refrigerator to no longer be 0, but rather slower than normal, with the Refrigerator being 2x better than the Ice Box.
Improved NPC navigation in lakes and rivers to lower the likelihood of animals walking through them.
Fixed issue where the sickle would not collect any Berries when used on Berry Bushes.
Added increased yield and sickle support for Beans, Cocoa, Coffee, Tea and Gorse Flower Bushes.
Increased maximum potential output for grown crops of Beans, Cocoa, Coffee, Tea and Gorse flower.
Fixed further instances of buildings breaking on reload. Continue to report these if you experience them.
Fixed issue where Aluminium and Coal were not spawning correctly for Deep Mining Deposits.
Fixed issue where you couldn’t CTRL+click objects between the space station inventory and the drop loadout.
Removed 2x Weapon Damage multiplier on Shotguns and instead increased Buckshot Shell damage from 15 to 30 in order to give better clarity on where damage improvements are coming from.
Decreased Hip Accuracy of Worm Bows slightly.
Fixed Caveworm Bow crafting speed being set incorrectly fast.
Removed unintended 2x Damage multiplier on Larkwell Bow to bring it back in line with other bows.
Modified weapon audio to match volume of real items.
Increased Aim Accuracy of Recurve Bow slightly.
Fixed some instances of prospects not completing to make it retry up to three times. If retrying three times still fails, you can resume the prospect and try again.
Fixed crash that could occur when NPCs eat a corpse that has something like a prime meat or stringy meat drop chance applied to it.
Fixed issue where Prime Meat Accolade wasn’t being completed when collecting Giant Steak, Fatty T Bone, Gamey Meat, Soft Meat, Stringy Meat and White Meat.
Fixed issue where drills and extractors weren’t shutting down when their inventory is full.
Icarus Week Twenty Two Update | Exotic Extraction
This week, we’re making some significant changes and improvements to how you discover and extract exotics. Exotic deposit randomization is the most prominent of these, changing how deposits are spawned into the map and adding variety and challenge to your drops.
To complement this change we are improving our Scanning and Extraction systems with Tier 3 and Tier 4 Radars and Extractors, and new Workshop Radars and Extractors for the high-end prospector. This work helps lay further foundations for us to improve the late game experience and the entire exotics loop.
Improving the exotics loop and late game is something we need to approach with a delicate touch, efforts in this direction will be carefully rolled out in updates like this so we can test and adjust our changes as we go. We have many different activities going on, such as balancing work, new content, future DLC plans, optimizations, multiplayer improvements, etc... all at the same time but with different cadences. They don't always line up exactly with our update schedule, so some weeks may be more content focused, other weeks may be more foundational or feature focused. - Dean Hall, Gamerunner
Exotic Deposit Randomization
Previously, exotic matter spawn locations have been fixed and consistent, but this is changing. The location of exotic deposits is now randomized and you’ll have to scan to find them afresh each drop.
Each prospect will have a selection of potential exotic spawning points, but which ones are active will be randomized and different each time you drop on a new prospect. This makes exotics difficult to map and will encourage you to scout and discover, rather than memorizing locations.
We will monitor the impact of this change, as the increase in difficulty requires fine balancing, so keep providing your feedback and experiences to us on Feature Upvote.
With a static system, players could learn exactly where deposits are for each prospect and then circumvent a bunch of gameplay loops, bee-lining it straight to the deposits. As a result, we found many players weren't engaging with the radar scanning system to locate deposits, because they already knew where they were.
Now, with Exotics spawning randomly at a number of potential locations, players will need to engage with radar mechanics in order to locate them, which has knock-on effects such as encouraging players to establish a base and get geared up first.
As part of this change, we're also introducing Radars and Extractors to both Tier 3 and the Orbital Workshop. With players now able to bring down Extractors with them at the start of a drop, it was more important than ever that we implemented this feature.
We understand that for the min/max'ers out there this makes obtaining Exotics more difficult, but they were never intended to be easy to get. Those looking to obtain Exotics as quickly as possible may want to invest in the Workshop items as they will let you hit the ground running the fastest but, be aware, with this advanced equipment also comes advanced hostility from the local wildlife. - Adam, Game Designer
T3 & T4 Radars and Extractors
We have added new Radars and Extractors at Tier 3 and Tier 4 to replace the existing ones and help you better find and mine those exotic deposits.
Tier 3 Radars + Extractor (Biofuel)
The Tier 3 Radar and Extractor are biofuel powered and provide low-cost, moderate-return systems, with a low chance to attract animal life. Both provide a strong early option for the less advanced prospector with moderate efficiency and accuracy, and a more easily accessible fuel to reduce the investment to deploy.
Tier 4 Radar + Extractor (Electric)
The Tier 4 Radar and Extractor provide a substantial improvement on the Tier 3 alternatives, but require a more advanced fueling system in electricity. In turn, they provide higher scanning speeds and higher precision, but their increased activity is more likely to attract local foes. So keep your wits about you.
Workshop Radar & Extractor & Biofuel
The most advanced of the Radar and Extractors added to the pool is the IC-001 Radar and IC-001 Extractor. These are purchasable through the Workshop and will require a new fuel source, IC-001 Prototype Power Source, which is also purchasable alongside them.
Workshop Radar, Extractors + Biofuel
The IC-001 Radar is the most advanced system we have released to date, requiring no energy source and providing the highest precision and speed out of all available options. In turn, it is also the most likely to attract animals, requiring you to be on guard at all times.
The IC-001 Extractor is the most powerful extractor we’ve introduced also, which provides a lot more durability and runs on a very special power source. Its high performance requires a previously unavailable source of energy, available in the Workshop as the ‘IC-001 Prototype Power Source’. This self-sustaining unit can extract up to 600 exotics per prospect but cannot be brought back to the station. Once it is empty, throw it away.
We have also added a ‘MXC Fuel Canister’ as a container which can carry biofuel. It comes prefilled and will refill every time the player returns to orbit if it is brought back.
Note:Existing Radars and Extractors players have on prospects will still work the way they used to, but upon leaving them behind on your prospect they will be gone forever, so enjoy them while they last.
Changes to how to bring Workshop items to the planet
Since you can now bring non-equipable items like Radars and Extractors with you from orbit, we have changed where you will find them when you arrive on planet. Player loadouts now come down in the your dropship inventory not your character's inventory. Don’t worry, you haven’t lost any workshop items, they are just in a different place.
Back-end Architecture Tooling & Support
As part of our long-term changes to the back-end architecture, which stores player progress, we have improved the tooling that allows us to support player activities. Specifically, this gives us much easier access to assess and right problems that have occurred due to bugs when playing in online mode. Please contact us if you have lost exotics and need assistance.
This is a very new package of work so we didn't have time for this week to provide a detailed explanation of what it is, and how it works. This will follow in next weeks update.
We will be extensively overhauling our back-end architecture over future updates as we look to improve the game and better support the needs of the community.
Detailed Changelog
Added Exotics Deposit randomization system so deposits will now be random within a set of possible locations for a given prospect
Added three new Radars and Extractors
Added feature where Extractors & Radars can be damaged and destroyed
Radars while active will now attract animals that will attack it while it is active
Players old extractors will exist in their current state but are not longer craftable
Biofuel Radar and Extractor
Powered by biofuel with the result being it is slower than other versions
Added a new Interactable so players can interact with the biofuel radar in new ways, by directly accessing its inventory
Electric Radar and Extractor
Powered using electricity resulting in them operating at the same speed as previous versions
Workshop Radar and Extractor
The “IC-001 Radar” has an internal power source, and need not currently be powered
The “IC-001 Extractor” requires the “IC-001 Power Source” workshop item to be powered.
Faster than previous versions
Workshop Purchasable MXC Biofuel Can. This item comes pre-filled with Biofuel and can be returned to the Station for free refilling.
Workshop Purchasable IC-001 Power Source item which is used to power the IC-001 Extractor. This item is one-time use and cannot be returned to the Station. Multiple Power Source’s should be brought with you on drops where large amounts of Exotics are expected to be extracted.
Player Loadouts now come down in the players drop ship and not on their person. This was to fix issues with certain items requiring more space than any player could have (multiple Utility slot items, for example)
Added audio for all rustic items crafted on the new rustic decorations bench.
Fixed issue where creature body landing sounds wouldn't play when using a shotgun, due to excess shotgun ammo projectiles interference.
Improved footstep audio priority for creatures to be medium instead of low, giving them a higher chance of playing.
Improved footstep audio events to only play as long as necessary for the sound.
Improved damage audio cues to scale with the intensity of the damage amount.
Improved river audio to address issues where other sounds could cut out when in an area with lots of rivers.
Fixed stone stairs not having correctly named railing sockets, preventing rails from going on the right hand side.
Fixed issue where game browser wouldn’t reflect mission difficulty settings (difficulty, insurance, respawn).
Icarus Week Twenty One Update | Rustic Decorations
This week's update brings a range of rustic decorations to the carpentry bench for creative prospectors.
With 20 new rustic items, you can decorate your base or Outpost and turn it into a lovely home for your time on the surface. There is also a new mission on behalf of the African Assembly requiring these items as they host an event for distinguished VIPs curious about your operations on Icarus.
New Rustic Decorations
This week is for interior designers. We’re introducing 20 new items to the new ‘Rustic Decor Crafting Bench’ with a distinct rustic theme for you to decorate your bases and turn them into comfortable homes.
The Rustic Decor Crafting Bench will be unlockable from the Crafting Bench at Tier 2, and all the blueprints will come with it, meaning it will only cost you a single point.
All items will be craftable at Tier 2, however the Statue requires Gold, which can only be forged in a Concrete Furnace at Tier 3. It comes in table-mounted and wall-mounted variations.
To fit out your living area beautiful rustic couches are available in 2 and 3 seater varieties. Adorn the corner with an armchair for elderly prospectors and a coffee table to complete the room. Finally, furnish the space with a lovely rustic cabinet to display your finest achievements.
Your dining room can now become a place of elegance with a beautiful rustic table, round or rectangular, with enough dining chairs to support your crew - or what remains of them. Decorate your table with lovely rustic candles, and cook your bear stew in gorgeous rustic pots. Your dining room will be a place of community and fun after a hard day seeking exotics.
And finally, make your bedroom comfortable by adding a rustic wardrobe and nightstand by your bed before getting some much needed shuteye.
"We saw all the amazing homes that the community were making (even though there wasn’t much available in the way of typical “home decor”), so our art team thought why not make some more? We brainstormed different ideas and came up with several tiers of home furnishings and decor, including this first set of Rustic Furniture. We plan to introduce more “advanced and refined” tiers over time, so rest assured we have more to come. We’re excited to see what all you Prospectors do with this first set. My personal favourite item is a tossup between the coffee table and the couches, they look great together!” - Brent, Lead 3D Artist
New Mission
To give you a chance to try out the new Rustic Items, the African Assembly has a new mission requiring you to craft them all. Your briefing is as follows:
HOMESTEAD: Construction
// OPERATOR: African Assembly // BIOME: Forest // BACKGROUND: Operator is hosting a VIP investment on Icarus, and requires advanced infrastructure for their guests in the region. // MISSION: Construct a fully equipped base to Operator specifications. // TERMS: Flat fee. All resources and construction materials responsibility of the Contractor.
Coming Soon
You might have noticed this week’s update seems a bit smaller than previous weeks and this is with good reason. We’re working on a bigger update for you, with lots more fresh content and experiences. More details next week...
Detailed Change Log:
Added a new mission - HOMESTEAD: Construction //OPERATOR: African Assembly // BIOME: Forest // BACKGROUND: Operator is hosting a VIP investment on Icarus, and requires advanced infrastructure for their guests in the region. // MISSION: Construct a fully equipped base to Operator specifications. //TERMS: Flat fee. All resources and construction materials responsibility of the Contractor.
Added new Rustic Decor Items
Rustic Decor Crafting Bench - You'll need this to craft most of the new pieces.
Rustic Bench
Rustic Bookshelf
Rustic Cabinet
Rustic Candles
Rustic Coffee Table
Rustic 3-Seater Couch
Rustic 2-Seater Couch
Rustic Dining Chair
Rustic Armchair
Rustic Nightstand
Rustic Pot
Rustic Stool
Rustic Table
Rustic Large Table
Rustic Round Table
Rustic Wardrobe
Rustic Narrow Wardrobe
Rustic Icarus Statue
Fixed a rare issue where buildings supported by caves and cliffs were breaking when reloading a prospect.
Adjusted the lake sound to lower in volume when on an island so it doesn't feel like you are in the middle of the water.
Fixed an issue where ambient audio transitions could sound jarring between the Desert and Arctic biomes.
Fixed some naming inconsistencies and spelling issues on talents.
Fixed deep mining drills not saving their active state when walking out of range or logging out.
Fixed damage over time effects not awarding credit for killing the target (i.e. no experience rewarded for kills with poison).
Icarus Week Twenty Update | Workshop Restock
We have reached 20th weekly update to Icarus, and it brings a range of new Orbital Workshop Items for you to spend your hard-earned Ren on.
Larkwell Martinez backpacks and envirosuits with their own unique buffs have landed, including new team-oriented boosts, new armor sets and the highly-requested Workshop Repair Kit. To cap it off, we have a new mission, FORSAKEN: Recovery which comes with its own ‘Hard Fail State’ twist. Get going prospectors, the planet awaits.
Repairing Workshop Items
Last week's patch introduced the new Armor Durability system, and your feedback has been instrumental in the development of this feature, and the development of other features which follow a similar model.
One area that caused some confusion was the impact on Workshop Armor, and we are addressing it this week with the new Workshop Repair Kit which is now available in the Orbital Workshop.
This will allow you to repair any Workshop Item that is damaged. It can be carried by any prospector on your team, but can only be used at the Machining Bench or Fabricator.
The Workshop Repair Kit can be purchased individually or in a stack of five, and will stack up to ten in your inventory. We recommend figuring out among your group how many you need for a mission, and strategically using them throughout your drops.
New Workshop Items and Area Modifiers
The Orbital Workshop has a range of new items available for players to purchase with their hard-earned Ren. New Larkwell Martinez items have landed, including two new backpacks with shotgun and storage buffs each. There’s also a new Larkwell Envirosuit with 3 module slots available at the cost of 5 inventory slots.
Also look out for two new Armor sets, one with bonuses to Mining and Gathering and another with bonuses to Stealth and Damage, giving you variation for your unique prospector builds.
There are two new Boost Modules with ‘Area Modifiers’ which provide benefits to fellow players in the area nearby, but not to the owner. One provides a modifier that increases your fellow prospectors' carrying capacity and one which grants them healing from afflictions such as poison and pneumonia when nearby. These boosts are intended for co-operative gameplay and, importantly, do not provide the boosts to the player equipping them, so take this into consideration when playing with your team.
You’ll also find the Workshop Repair Kit + Bundle as mentioned in the previous paragraph, which will be a valuable purchase for your crew.
This week we added some new workshop items to allow players to really focus their builds and provide some unique interactions. We are exploring ideas to add more Auras to the game which provide benefits to nearby players. With this patch we added two in the form of workshop modules that focus on cooperation.
We also added a new envirosuit which has a bit of a tradeoff, allowing more module slots at the cost of general inventory slots. You may see us from time to time add items in the game that provide both benefits and deficits, this allows players to specialize in playing the way they want while avoiding the powercreep that many live service games suffer from. - Jake Dodunski, Icarus Tech Lead
New Mission - FORSAKEN: Recovery
This week’s new mission is the first where there is a hard fail state. If players fail to protect the ship, and it explodes, the mission will fail and players will need to leave the prospect and return to try again.
FORSAKEN: Recovery
// OPERATOR: ACS
// BIOME: Conifer
// BACKGROUND: The operator has lost a valuable asset on the surface and cannot abandon it for fear it may be discovered by other teams.
// MISSION: Locate and repair the damaged dropship and ensure its safe return to orbit.
//TERMS: Flat fee. All safety and survival concerns are the responsibility of the Contractor.
Detailed Change Log:
New Mission: FORSAKEN: Recovery
The operator has lost a valuable asset on the surface and cannot abandon it for fear it may be discovered by other teams. Locate and repair the damaged dropship and ensure its safe return to orbit.
Added ST-400 Armor set - Physical defense, with a boost to base melee and projectile damage. Also gives you bonuses for hunting stats, like stealth and faster movement when crouched/sneaking.
Added CX-700 Armor set - For miners/resource gatherers, provides bonuses that let you stay out in the field longer reducing wear-and-tear on pickaxes and axes, as well as increasing yields.
Added Inaris Lua Envirosuit - Less inventory slots, but with 3 module slots allows for the most customization of any of our existing Envirosuit options.
Added Larkwell Martinez Tactical Backpack - For when you’ve got a lot to carry, our biggest storage option available at the moment.
Added Larkwell Martinez Mercenary Backpack - For when you’ve got a lot to kill, Increased shotgun ammo capacity and reload speed.
Strength Boost Module - Improves the carrying capacity of nearby allies.
Added the ability to repair workshop items ('Workshop Repair Kit' & 'Workshop Repair Kit Bundle'). These can only be used within range of a Machining Bench or Fabricator.
Fixed some cases of the error 050 message prompt that displayed while trying to play with a character that has previously been left on prospect, then returned to the station using the debug “Remove From Prospect” button.
Added functionality of locally saved Fog of War to persist between prospects and characters for each terrain
Fixed an issue where stats were not being displayed correctly for Caveworm Knives, Spears, Arrows or Bows
Fixed an issue where some landscape textures were being displayed at the incorrect distance
Fixed an issue where some buffs were not working as intended if overlapping with another buff provider within a certain radius
Fixed an issue where Boar didn’t have health bars until too late with the health bar talent
Fixed an issue where you couldn’t see some health bars until they were too close to you
Fixed an issue where the Icebox and Refrigerator would not receive the extra storage space stat with Extra Space I or II Talents
Fixed stat description for Wound Resistance to differentiate between Basic Wound Resistance and Deep Wound
Fixed issue where backpacks and envirosuits could take damage
Fixed issue where weapons in your right hand would be displaced in your wrist when you are attacked
Fixed issue where weapons would disappear when you are attacked
Fixed typo in mission briefing under modifiers on Dry Run: Expedition
Fixed issue where placeholder text would appear above their head when the host used photo mode
Fixed issue where backpacks wouldn’t remove their stats when unequipped so extra slots don’t persist after taking backpack off
Icarus Week Nineteen Update | Scorpion Boss
Week Nineteen's update brings our most feared boss yet - the Scorpion Boss. We’ve also made substantial updates to our armor durability system, so your armor’s health deteriorates as it takes damage and wear over time. To cap it off, we have another bonus mission on behalf of Sinotai which unlocks two unique Scorpion items, so jump in and get to work prospectors.
Scorpion Boss Mission
Sadly, your previous work in eliminating the escaped experiments was not as effective as originally thought. The scorpion infestation has spread even further and a new highly aggressive mutation has emerged, terrorising prospectors deployed to the region. Sinotai wants you to back down there to finish the job and eliminate this new threat:
LOOSE ENDS: Extermination
// OPERATOR: Sinotai
// BIOME: Desert
// BACKGROUND: Sinotai's previous experiment was not completely erased. Traces of bio-research still persist on the surface.
// MISSION: Locate the remaining creatures and eliminate them.
// TERMS: Flat fee. All safety and survival concerns are the responsibility of the Contractor.
Armor Durability System
The updates to the Armor Durability System provide more authentic deterioration for your armor pieces as you wear them. Damage taken from attacking foes, environmental impacts and extended use will now cause damage and deterioration to equipped armor pieces. You’ll need to repair them and replace parts to maintain the benefit and buffs they provide.
Armor repair is now also available and can be completed on the bench or deployable where you crafted the armor. It costs a portion of the initial construction cost. Keeping an eye on the state of your armor will become important, as their stats and bonuses will become void when they’re destroyed.
Extra Mission
Sinotai are looking for prospectors to complete another quick mission for them. Extracting more resources from the surface for their “standard” planetary research, and they expect that it will be similar to prior expeditions you have undertaken. In return for your silence regarding their other experiments, you’ll be rewarded with new recipes from their labs. Keep in mind that risks are often unexpected, and Sinotai can offer no guarantee of safe passage home. Your mission briefing is as follows:
CARAPACE: Research
//OPERATOR: Sinotai
// BIOME: Desert
// BACKGROUND: Operator is increasing their planetary research using all available technology
// MISSION: Contractors are required to fill and activate a sample analyzer in order to research new recipes derived from native resources.
// TERMS: Contractors will be provided with a functioning envirosuit. They will be otherwise unassisted.
Scorpion Items Reward
Once you’ve completed CARAPACE: Research you’ll be able to craft two new unique scorpion items, the Scorpion Trap and Scorpion Hedgehog.
The Scorpion Trap is a unique defence and hunting system, catching aggressive foes such as bears in its pincer grip and immobilizing them for a period of time. This can be highly valuable for your defense when you’re actively working on other tasks, but also for catching prey before they disappear from sight.
The Scorpion Hedgehog is a welcome upgrade to the Wooden Hedgehog, providing more damage and a handy poison infliction. The Scorpion Hedgehog is a valuable deterrent that can give you the split-second notice to respond to an incoming threat.
Detailed Change Log:
Added new mission - CARAPACE: Research
Added new mission - LOOSE ENDS: Extermination
Added Scorpion Pincer Trap, a new deployable made on the Crafting Bench using the Pincers obtained from a Scorpion corpse. Once deployed, the trap can be interacted with to activate it and it will be ready to snap shut on anything (creatures or humans) that triggers it, and they will be immobilized for a few seconds.
Added Scorpion Hedgehog, an updated version of the basic Wood Hedgehog defensive deployable, now with Scorpion Stingers attached for additional poison damage. Unlike the much safer Wood Hedgehog (which has been moved to the Crafting Bench), the Scorpion Hedgehog will also damage humans, so, handle with care. To make a Scorpion Hedgehog, you’ll need a Wood Hedgehog and combine it with a Scorpion Tail obtained from a Scorpion corpse.
Armor now takes damage when players resist damage
When armor breaks it is removed from the player model and the stats are no longer applied.
Armor is now repairable.
Added Coal and Aluminium ore types to Deep Mining system and Scanners.
Fixed issue with some Deep Ore Deposit textures in some caves.
Auto-crafting devices (e.g. campfires, furnaces) now prioritize recipes based on the position of items in the devices inventory. This means you can now position the items you want to be processed first in order.
Updated textures on pills medical items variants for a more refined look.
Updated the material shader for the tonics bottles and updated the liquid textures within the bottles.
Fixed an issue where there was a delay with the storm effects appearing for Clients.
Reduced the resolution of some larger gradient textures in UI to save memory.
Updated the mission Stockpile Dropship to use a new mesh which fixes some minor collision issues and also allows for highlighting when looked at.
Fixed some minor dialog errors in subtitles.
Updated the mesh and textures for the Cooling Bandage to improve look.
Updated the mesh and textures for the Heat Bandage to improve look.
Updated broken item icon overlay.
Fixed issue causing visual distortion on decals on Envirosuit, which would occur in first person.
Phase one of mountain and cliff optimization and visual improvements.
Icarus Update Week Eighteen | Ore Scanners
As we prepare to tackle some of the core areas of the game that need to change or expand, such as Tier 4 structures, mining progression, better outpost experiences, or more expansive mission content - we needed to provide some foundational changes. This weeks update brings us Ore Scanners, which is part of several steps needed on the way to our grander goals. - Dean Hall, Gamerunner
The introduction of Deep Mining as an alternative way to gather ores has been a great success, and this week's update adds even more ore deposits and the tools to find them.
We’ve added ore deposits outside of caves and varied the extraction speed of different ores. To wrap it all up, there is a new mission which will unlock the recipe for the advanced workshop scanner. So get in and start finding the payload buried beneath the surface.
More Ore Deposits
This week, we have expanded the possible locations of ore deposits for deep mining into the wilderness outside of caves. Ore deposits can be found in all three biomes, each with their own distinctive look and respective resources. This will expand your mining opportunities beyond caves, but also add the risk element of weather conditions and lurking foes.
While we’ve kept the amount of resources in deposits high so they are worth the effort to mine, we have made adjustments to the extraction rates. Lower tier ores offer a quick, bountiful extraction while more valuable resources provide a return over a longer period of time.
Before we can begin to address better purpose around Tier 4 structures and beyond we need to be sure the balance and experience of resources is right. This has been a challenge for us since beginning the beta. We continue to pay close attention to your feedback which we combine with our own play experiences. While we all want to rush into developing Tier 4 and beyond, it is vital we iterate on the our existing balance or we will be simply compounding problems. - Dean Hall, Gamerunner
Scanning Technology
Scanners make Deep Mining ore deposits and caves easier to locate.
These new handheld Scanners are unlock-able as blueprints and provide a more efficient way to scout the map for resources. These handy little tools provide detailed readouts on location and available resources and prove their worth when gathering resources for higher tier equipment.
Alongside the ‘Deep Mining Ore Scanner’ and ‘Advanced Deep Mining Ore Scanner’, is the entry-level ‘Cave Scanner.’ This identifies caves along a cliff-face, saving the time you’d usually spend scouring the edges for recognizable rock formations. While the ‘Deep Mining Ore Scanner’ and ‘Advanced Deep Mining Ore Scanner’ can be found in Tier 4 and the Meta Workshop respectively, the ‘Cave Scanner’ is un-lockable in Tier 3.
Mission | Meridian: EXTRACTION
To get your hands on the new ‘Advanced Deep Mining Ore Scanner’, which lets you specify which kind of ore your are looking for, you’ll have to complete a mission for Group 15 using these new prototypes. Your brief is as follows:
MERIDIAN: Extraction
OPERATOR:Group 15 BIOME:Riverlands BACKGROUND:After extensive geo-surveys, the Operator's research teams now believe this region is rich in metal deposits. They are one of only a handful of groups with a UDA-vetted export license for raw matter. MISSION:Using prototype equipment, locate and extract raw materials from this region. These must then be delivered to the Operator's representatives in orbit. TERMS:All safety concerns are the responsibility of the Contractor.
As this line of technology grows, so will the specialization available for your characters. Be sure to keep giving us your thoughts and feedback on Feature Upvote so we can keep growing the game to your liking.
Detailed Change Log
Added new Cave Scanner item which uses strobing lights and audible beeping to pinpoint nearby Cave locations. The beeping can be muted by right clicking with the Scanner equipped.
Added new Deep Mining Ore Scanner to help pinpoint the nearest scanned Deep Mining Ore Deposit. Accuracy is increased as you get closer to the Deposit.
Added new Workshop Item: Advanced Deep Mining Ore Scanner which gives players the ability to specify exactly what type of Deep Mining Ore Deposit they want to scan for and pinpoint the location of the nearest one.
Added new scanner Mission: ‘MERIDIAN: Extraction’ that unlocks the Advanced Deep Mining Ore Scanner.
Added Deep Mining Ore Deposits to all biomes outdoors throughout the map.
Added Deep Mining Ore Deposits to more caves.
[CRASH] Fixed a crash that could occur while the player was sleeping.
[CRASH] Fixed a crash that could occur while the map is being generated.
[CRASH] Fixed a crash that could occur while using DX12.
Fixed an issue where Mission ‘Spirit Level: Survey’ could not be completed due to the 2x Portable Beacon’s required to be in the players inventory despite only having a single Utility slot available. Portable Beacons now are placeable in standard inventory slots.
Updated the “Stay Right There” talent to have a 100% chance for thrown knife critical hits to immobilise their target.
Updated imagery for SANDY BRIDGES: Extended Survey, CONCEALMENT: Recovery, UNEARTHED: Research, and AGRICULTURE: Hydroponics missions.
Fixed an issue where a repair hammer stamina could be spent without a valid repair hit.
Fixed an issue where the trailer button was overlapping the settings menu on the title screen.
Changed the names of all Repair Hammers to simply Hammer.
Fixed an issue where Hammers from the Workshop were not showing the building durability value correctly on hover.
Updated the mesh of the Steel Axe to improve visuals.
Fixed Stockpile Dropship leaving an invisible collision box behind.
Fixed Flashlight turning off when dropped.
Fixed issue that could occur that made audio not work after loading the title sequence.
Fixed an issue where the Electric Drill did not shutdown when Deep Mining Ore Deposit was depleted.
Updated the UI for locked mission items in the Workshop.
Fixed some cases of longer item names not fitting in popup container.
Fixed items of different durability stacking together (only stacks if durability is max).
Removed durability from Arrows & Bolts to avoid stacking issues.
Fixed missing insurance logic in offline mode.
Fixed prospect time switch over in offline mode.
Added support for shadow casting for some hit effects (such as Pickaxe deposit impacts) if Shadow Quality is set to Epic.
Icarus Update Week Seventeen | In-Game Timer
As a studio we all want to work on unique ideas, try new things, and experiment with the games we make. One of the consequences of this is not always getting it right. Over the past month we have been making adjustments to the game to correct the aspects we didn't quite get right. This week we correct what is perhaps one of the most contentious design decisions - a real world drop timer. Mostly the original decision was one of pragmatism, but we're in a place now we can add more nuance. Thank you for sticking with us, and helping us test and adjust this concept. We look forward to continuing this process in our future updates. - Dean Hall, Gamerunner
Icarus’ mission timer system has changed
After a lot of deliberation and player feedback, we’ve removed the real-world mission timer in favor of a new, in-game mission timer. That isn’t the only big update this week though - we’ve also introduced tiered mission difficulties, more temperature balancing, new Workshop items and a new mission to boot.
(No, this isn’t an April Fools)
In-game Mission Timer
When we launched Icarus, a defining feature of the game was the real-world timer that counted down as soon as a prospect started, regardless if you were actively playing it or not.
While our intent was to provide a sense of realism and urgency, for many player the real-world time limit was too restrictive, too much pressure or an unpleasant surprise. Players who didn’t have the time to play throughout the week would often be punished and lose their characters and progress if life intervened.
After a lot of deliberation, we have swapped from Real-Time to In-Game time. The timer for the prospect will only count down while a player is on the prospect. If you are doing a prospect with one character, then return to character select and jump on a different character. The first character and prospect time will not progress unless you (or a friend) is actively playing on that prospect.
Icarus is still very much a time-based game. This change doesn’t remove that, but should make the challenge fairer. Players still need to judge how long they spend preparing before venturing out on a mission, or whether to pace themselves or race ahead.
Over the next few weeks we plan to review and shorten some mission lengths since you no longer need a week or more to complete small missions.
In Online mode, your prospect’s save game will be deleted after 90 days. We think this gives you more than enough time to complete even the most complex missions. Offline prospects and Outposts are stored on your local PC, so are permanent.
This is a pretty fundamental change to Icarus' game design. Our design philosophy is that games are ‘played, not made' and trying something new in the genre, learning from player feedback and adjusting course is what game development is all about.
Note: With this change, all existing prospects will have their timer ‘refreshed’ as we convert over to the new system, so you current live missions will get extra time.
Mission Difficulty Options
Mission Difficulty variations are finally here. We previously introduced insured drops, hardcore drop variants and different length missions, now we’re expanding the pool of available difficulties to Easy, Medium, Hard and Hardcore. Alongside this, you can add Insurance to all available variants.
So how will this work?
Missions range in difficulty with the potential rewards scaling alongside them. Easier missions will reap lower payouts but provide a simpler experience while hardcore missions will provide lucrative opportunities but with extremely difficult challenges, including the most risky of them all, no respawning.
You always have the option, however, to purchase Insurance for any mission regardless of the difficulty. This will ensure if your timer runs out, your character will be safely returned to the space station. Insurance comes at a cost though: 33% of your total purse.
Some early missions will come with Insurance enforced, to introduce new players to the game before they venture out into the unknown.
For now, the mission timer will not be influenced by the difficulty level, but it is something we may look to do in the future. For now, Enemy Health, Enemy Melee Damage, Enemy Speed, Enemy Perception, Player Experience, Specific Creature Spawn Rates and Number of Respawns will all be factors influenced by the difficulty.
While we don’t have exact ‘recommended player levels’ for each difficulty, our suggestion is that Easy is for players who want to relax and explore Icarus, Medium is the base difficulty and Hard is for people who want a more challenging experience. Risk and Reward go hand-in-hand, so play however you wish.
Hardcore missions provide the most harrowing experience with zero respawns available. Your teammates can still revive you, but staying close to one another is more critical than ever as death does not come with the option of waking up in a cosy bedroll.
We’ll be actively monitoring how these new tiers are balanced. Your feedback is so helpful so keep your thoughts coming in via Feature Upvote and we’ll keep working towards a playing experience that suits every type of prospector there is.
Temperature Rebalance
For last week’s “Scorched and Frozen” update we made some pretty fundamental changes to the way your character interacts with various temperature sources. As with any big change to an established system, there were some unintended results we hadn’t accounted for or that weren’t clear to players. Thanks everyone who worked with us via Discord to investigate the issues and make suggestions.
As we said in the Week 17 update, our goal for these changes was to put the player more in charge of their character’s temperature and for those changes to have a much more tangible impact. The previous system had several limitations which called for a drastic change in the way we handle temperature.
What we didn’t quite account for was the level of 'source-stacking', which didn’t show up in our early testing. Icarus leans heavily into modifiers and stats and it can be quite easy for things to quickly get out of hand in these situations. A 2% change here, another 5% there, it all quickly adds up. For Week 18 we have re-balanced the new system to account for more “auxiliary” sources of temperature.
The other major piece of the puzzle was that we brought back the “safe zone” modifier from the previous system. You’ll notice now that your armor has resumed making changes to the red/blue areas on the temperature bar and we’ve also put in scaling and safety measures to help ensure the character can’t go beyond intended extremes. We found this played much nicer with the direct changes that other temperature sources had on the character and we welcome your feedback on these changes!
New Workshop Items
This update introduces the Larkwell Martinez brand to the Workshop. As long-standing player in the defense industry, they’ve become known for developing tools and weaponry that hits hard - but tough times and budget cuts means the quality and durability of their gear isn't quite what it once was.
You’ll find Larkwell versions of the following items available now: Axe, Pickaxe, Hammer, Sickle, Knife, and Spear. Keep an eye out for more Larkwell additions in the future including some high-tech experimental arrows.
New Mission "Preservation: Stockpile"
The mission this week is set in the canyons, though you'll be venturing all over while you hunt to fill the stockpile shopping list.
You'll have to get your drying racks out as a full dried meats order is being sent back up to the station. Rumor has it that one of the new Larkwell items can assist with the harvesting needed for the order.
Detailed Changelog
Added new Mission Difficulty System & UI to the Prospect Select Screen.
Added new Larkwell items: Axe, Pickaxe, Hammer, Sickle, Knife, Spear.
Added new mission: 'Canyon: Stockpile 2'.
Converted mission timer to be played time instead of real world time.
Updated Mission End Screen.
Fixed New Temperature System:
Frostnip - Heatstroke occurs after 5 minutes in cold at a 10% chance every 2 minutes thereafter.
While in Grace Period, Players are not longer effected by temperature afflictions.
Resistances now shift the safe zones.
Added new stats for direction temperature shift via modifiers (both internal & external).
Another Pass on Armor to adjust to new system.
Small adjustment to safe zone base definitions on the player.
External temp shown on UI now takes into account water/wet external sources.
[CRASH] Fixed crash that could occur when the player receives a new quest objective.
[CRASH] Fixed crash that could occur when terrain gets generated.
[CRASH] Added safety check to D3D12Texture as a temporary fix for the DirectX 12 crashes until we get a response from UDN.
[CRASH] Fixed crash that could occur when a player hits an object in a cave.
Fixed culling of the Ice Shader at a distance on the Frozen Mammoth asset.
Fixed grenade ballistic settings so that it doesn't launch upright.
Fixed memory dependencies caused by sprinkler system.
Fixed memory dependencies caused by light slot items.
Fixed concrete roof corner pieces having stone icons.
Improved Bacon icons, mesh, and fixed 4k textures.
Fixed memory dependencies caused by weapons.
Fixed Heat Bandage having same mesh as Basic Bandage.
Fixed the physical material of the stone arrow to be Wood and not Voxel Stone.
Fixed an issue with the player not being able to interact with items dropped in a dropship.
Fixed an issue where aggressive fish would not attack clients.
Fixed a bug where fish were attacking hosts but not clients.
Revised meshes/textures for metal ingot items.
Changed the prospect text from friends to steam friends only to make things clearer.
Added a button to watch the No Rescue video on the title screen.
Fixed an bug where audio wouldn’t play when some creatures were not visible.
Fixed an error where some subtitles didn’t match Sol's dialogue in the Waterfall Expedition mission.
Fixed the Portable Beacon icon unable to be seen by clients.
Added max retry count to prospect expiry request to backend.
Bear AI Behaviour Hotfix
In our weekly update we included a lot of fixes and changes to the AI behaviours to provide a better animal experience, removing some edge cases. This inadvertently affected how you could sidestep bear attacks, popular tactic.
Hotfixes are disruptive due to downloads
We do apologize for doing the hotfix, as we know it is disruptive with how the downloads work and some users experience long times where Steam has to verify the entire game. Unfortunately we really do need to get this change out, as it is badly impacting some players.
Fixed: Bear-dodge broken
This hotfix restores the intended behavior of bears, while maintaining the changes to our AI behaviors.
We do apologize for the inconvenience for those whose gameplay was affected by very difficult bears, as this was not the intended behaviour. We had balanced the bears for the ability for you to sidestep - so it's disappearance caught us by surprise also.
A big thank you to our team who, when discovering the issue, worked over the weekend to fix the problem.
Coming Soon: Temperature Fixes
Additionally there have been some problems identified with the temperature rebalancing. The team worked hard to try and include some fixes for this hotfix - however it needs more testing before we are comfortable including it.
We're actively working on improving the new temperature changes and making them more readable for players. The goal of this change was, and still is, to make players care about what they're wearing, what they're consuming, and where they're located, but as you may have seen, we may have lent on some of those levers a little too hard! We'll be bringing you a more readable and forgiving temperature change in the next update, but in the mean time, pay close attention to the temperature bar in the bottom left of your screens and be mindful of what kind of changes different status effects are having on your character
These changes will be in this week's update, with some possible in the week following.
