ICARUS Week Sixteen Update: Possible Time Limit Changes, a New Enemy, Mission, and Temperature Balance

RocketWerkz says they now essentially have the core ICARUS experience where they wanted it at launch, and will be rolling out more content updates regularly. This week was no exception: an additional mission to introduce a new enemy and lore, a major increase in the temperature challenge, and improved feature explanations in-game. However, the most potentially game-changing update may be yet to come: revising that ever-present drop timer.

Drop Timer Changes on the Horizon

Possibly the most interesting news in this update is not about new content, but what RocketWerkz is experimenting with. We all have stared at the drop timer with fear, frustration, or plain confusion from time to time. Why 3 hours or 30 days? The Developer had to balance contradictory functions: the actual in-game time spent which drives the challenge, balanced with the limited time the session data can realistically be stored on their server.

In this update, Dean Hall announced they are experimenting with splitting these mechanics so the in-game timer can provide a proper challenge that doesn’t force you to forego bathroom breaks. The server timer would be set to something unrestrictive, like 90 days. This is only one of several possible changes, but, in any case, this is a long time coming. We are told to look out for more info and/or changes next week.

Turning Up the Temperature Challenge

Since ICARUS was released, the thermal challenges of the extreme biomes (Arctic and Desert) have been quite mild. Outside of harsh storms, prospectors were practically invincible to temperature effects with the best equipment.

With the Week 16 update, RocketWerkz is bringing back the extremes by changing the thermal model. In earlier builds, armor and items simply affected the prospector’s resistance to extreme temps. Now, the internal body temperature of each prospector is tracked, and the equipment and consumables will affect it directly.

This might excite the science and engineering geeks out there, as this model feels closer to the physics of heat transfer. For all gamers, this means prospector temperature will be more dynamic. New heat debuffs and heat-countering consumables and recipes have been added, and a wet envirosuit will chill you for 30 seconds. The temperature scaling has been rebalanced to make the Desert heat more dangerous and so that there is no way for a prospector to become invulnerable to the temperature extremes on Icarus.

Scorpions in the Sand

Along with the temperature changes comes a new mission and a formidable foe. In CONCEALMENT: Recovery, you are contracted by Sinotai to recover a crashed bio-container that played host to exotics-enhanced scorpions. Play the mission to reveal their Icarus origin story.

The new enemy is said to be fiercely territorial and sports, of course, a poison-inducing stinger. For those who can deftly dispatch them, scorpions will drop unique consumables for crafting and cooking as part of the newly expanded set of meat drops. Game Designer Shawn Elliott says that this is “a step towards some more interesting bespoke animal behavior and actions”, so perhaps we will see some interesting AI from the new arachnid.

Better Feature Instructions

Where there are a lot of features, there is ample opportunity for confusion, which has been reflected in the numerous suggestions on the Feature Upvote website. RocketWerkz apparently heard the cries for content clarification and is beefing up the in-game messaging to explain features.

Among these updates are clarifications for when the solo talents are active, Dropship labels to distinguish the owners, and explanations of respawning mechanics like spawn points and death penalties. To make it easier to catch up on updates like these, a link to the most recent patch notes was added to the title screen.

With more interface updates on the way, the Developers are aiming to make ICARUS the game that is more hospitable to new players especially.

Celebrate with Crispy Bacon

What better way to toast a new mission than with another bacon dish? Now you can cook your bacon over a fire or fry it in the Potbelly Stove. This means that bacon now has two ways of preparing it. Since bacon is a guaranteed drop from Boars, they just became a choice target to buff a prospector’s vitals during a mission.

A lot has been added and fixed by this patch: check out the full patch notes below.

ICARUS Patch Notes – Version 1.1.7.93327

• Added new Mission ‘Concealment: Recovery’
• Added new Scorpion Creature
• Added new Heatstroke and Heat Exhaustion Modifiers
• Temperature Changes Balance:
  • Modified Biome Temperature Curves
  • Modified how Temperature Resistances Work
  • Reworking & Rebalancing Player Cold/Heat Resistances
• Added concept of Armor Insulation
• Updated UI to reflect Temperature Changes
• Rebalanced Resistance Values on Armor
• Modified Speed at which the players internal temperature can change
• Updated ‘Warm and Cozy’ Buff to reflect new resistance values
• Wet Modifier now persists upon leaving water, last for 30 extra seconds as the player dries
• Player can no longer become fully resistance to temperature or ever have a non-safe region
• Modified Player Starting Stats so the Temperature bar internal values are symmetrical
• Added new Cooling Bandage to counter Heatstroke and Heat Exhaustion
• Added Ice Water Thermos recipe (Crafted on Character) to give a much longer cooldown buff
• Increased grown and harvested rewards of Coffee/Tea/Cocoa/Gorse and decreased recipe ingredient requirements for related drinks based on their scarcity in the world
• Added the ability to equip Flashlights to the light slot
• Added Patch notes link to Title Screen
• Added information to the Dropship tooltip to show who it belongs to
• Fixed bases in caves getting destroyed when the player leaves the area
• Fixed radar scans not appearing on map for clients
• Fixed several dialog subtitles
• Fixed Caveworm Bow requiring Sandworm Scale to repair. Now requires Caveworm Scale
• Fixed Sandworm Spear, Titanium Hammer and Platinum Hammer having incorrect repair items selected
• Added new materials and textures to the Extractor
• Improved smoke effects from mission containers to be more visible from further away, giving players a tactical advantage to scouting up high to find and complete objectives
• Fixed a gap in the terrain in the Mission ‘Waterfall: Expedition’ in the Riverlands
• Improved the texture on the Bedroll
• Improved the rendering in the rocks surrounding the Exotic Deposits
• Improved the floor collision in the cave used in Mission ‘Dry Run’
• Fixed an issue where the Water pipe tool would be placed into the inventory rather than the hotbar when retrieving it from a supply crate
• Improved Flashlight lighting visuals
• Updated the Solo Talent Tree description to better describe the state its in
• Updated the description on all Beds to better communicate their use and features
• Updated the text for respawn options to be more specific
• Crispy Bacon can now be cooked on the Pot Belly Stove
• Fixed an issue where the Inaris Aruda Arrow did not line up with bows correctly
• Fixed an issue where text would overlap on the mission timer when it is critically low
• Changed the description for Spirit Level missions to reference the correct objectives
• Made the Delete Prospect/Outpost button clearer
• Tethered AI will now regenerate health when returning to their tether point
• Fixed ‘Warm and cozy’ modifier becoming permanent after the player turns off the source