Icarus News

Welcome to Week 119, with the spiky introduction of Brambles.

These homegrown deployable defenses provide an environmentally friendly way to defend your base, being able to be grown from seeds and harvested before being deployed around your base.

We’ve also got news on our next big update and paid content pack, Laika and the Creature Comforts DLC.

Also included are some more balance fixes for Networks and Batteries and info on next week's update.

Jump in and have a read.

• Improved performance of T3 Spawn Blocker by significantly reducing the number of times it will update the spawn blocker area. It now only updates when adding or running out of fuel
  
• Updated modifier effectiveness display, scaling around 100% instead of positive or negative effect. This better shows that less effective modifiers only have X% effect. Eg a 20% effectiveness modifier shows as 20% instead of -80%, a 150% modifier shows as 150% instead of +50%.
  
• Updated many UI elements to prevent small box next to device inventory when modifiers are not present
  
• NOMAD: Fixed quest not progressing after completing side objective
  

This week we’re adding a new deployable defense to the game - Brambles.

Unlike hedgehogs, these aren’t crafted, but grown before being harvested and deployed. Bramble Seeds can be bought from the orbital workshop in packs of 5 for 20 ren (after a 50 ren unlock cost) and grown on the surface. Each seed when grown and nurtured will grant a few deployable defenses and a chance to return seeds (just like other crops). However, they do have a higher fatigue modifier and require more regular reseeding than other more sturdy crops.

Bramble Seeds can also be gathered from native Brambles on Prometheus, which previously would give Fiber seeds when harvested.

When placed as a defense, Brambles can’t be moved after that point, but are very lightweight so won’t provide much burden when stacked. We’ve also taken this time to provide a balance overpass of other deployable defenses and halved the self-damage taken by hedgehogs while doubling the self-damage taken by fortification spikes (this effectively is deterioration when impaling enemies).

With this change, we’ve adjusted some of the details of the mission DISPATCH. This has a challenging horde mode, which we’ve adjusted by reducing the spawn count of foes to match the increased self-damage of fortification spikes. The event should have a similar level of challenge but increased performance.

We’re also working on more automated deployable defenses in the future, and this will mean more balancing of the existing ones.





We’ve got more fixes and balance improvements to our Resource Networks and Batteries update from two weeks ago, as we continue to get feedback from the community.

Fixes:

• Missions ABYSS, ALCAZAR and others requiring powered deployables have been fixed to work with the update. In ALCAZAR, we’ve fixed the Biofuel composter not registering on the network when not processing and also fixed other missions requiring powered processors. In ABYSS, we’ve fixed the research station quest step and the filling the generator step
  
• Fixed the Wind Turbine audio looping incorrectly
  
• Fixed certain inspected devices (such as the water pump) not showing the modifiers and networks UI, resulting in an empty screen
  
• Fixed clients only seeing the electrical network when opening the resource network inspector via the flow meter
  
• Improved the spline connection logic to provide smoother connections to other splines. This prevents cases where splines would wrap around existing pucks to enter from certain angles to new pucks/spline nodes. Affects both the water and power network piping
  

Balance:

• Wind Turbine damage has been modified to provide a smoother degradation through storms
  
• We have been monitoring feedback and acknowledge that some do not like the added maintenance but most enjoy the extra weather effects. We’re still keen to hear and see feedback as always
  

We’ve quietly been working on our next big update for a couple of months now, and are excited to let you know the details, now that Networks and Batteries are released.

Laika is our Animal Companions Update, which is well into development and entering its final stages now.

This is an update focused on improving player experience with tamed creatures, including the all-important ability to be able to pet your animals.

This update will also include the ability to bring your tamed creatures to orbit and be called to a planet as needed, the same as workshop gear, now that we’ve established a reliable customs department.

We’re adding Talent Trees for each mount with the ability for mounts to gain experience just as you do.

There will also be 2 new tamed creatures (exclusively ordered from orbit) with their own gatherable resources, new Tier 3 and 4 water and food troughs, and more.

Next week, we'll have even more details to share with you on what to expect.





Next week we’ll be adding a new survival dynamic to water - purification. Water throughout the game will provide additional bonuses based on the cleanliness of it, with devices throughout the different tiers providing different methods of purifying water.

Originally posted by author

[h2]If you like what we’re doing with Icarus, and want to support our continued development, consider purchasing one of our DLCs for a few dollars, it would mean a lot to us.[/h2]

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/36462/Icarus_Architecture_Bundle/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/35727/Icarus_Complete_the_Set/



New Content
[expand]

• Brambles in the wild now give bramble seeds instead of fiber seeds
  
• Unlocked growable Brambles, including deployable and workshop seed packet
  
• Unlocking other Farming Seeds to allow brambles to be unlocked, as without them the seeds after them grant incorrect seed type (by ID)
  

[/expand]

Fixed
[expand]

• Fixed crash when InventoryContainerManager isn't able to be found
  
• Updated BLD_Stairs_Brick and APEX destructibles
  
• Fixed a number of typos in item text
  
• Allow Brutalist Lamp to stack on 1 object, such as being placed on a table
  
• Styx and Prometheus Exploration missions now grant their talent unlock on completion, like Olympus. This is mainly to prevent any issues if these blueprint trees are reorganized
  
• Added failsafes to Wind Turbine self damage due to overcharge
  
• Increased damage to wind turbines, as previously they would cap to a very high health where storms would have negligible impact. They are still unable to be destroyed by storms, but will eventually result in 0% base production
  
• Fixed clients only seeing the electrical network when opening the resource network inspector via the flow meter
  
• Resaved datatable to resolve build issue
  
• Fixed certain inspected devices (such as the water pump) not showing the modifiers and networks UI, resulting in an empty screen
  
• Halved the damage hedgehogs deal themselves when spiking enemies, doubled the damage fortifications deal themselves when spiking enemies (don't worry, they're still much stronger than hedgehogs)
  
• Wind Turbine damage taken is more consistent at different health levels
  
• Fixed Wind Turbine audio from looping incorrectly
  
• Improve spline connection logic to provide smoother connections to other splines
  
• Update modifier effectiveness display, scaling around 100% instead of positive or negative effect. This better shows that less effective modifiers only have X% effect
  
• Updated Spawn Blocker check for fuel to reduce number of times it will update the spawn blocker system, notably T3 updated each tick of the jerrycan, now only updates when adding or running out of fuel
  
• Updated many UI elements to prevent small box next to device inventory when modifiers are not present
  
• ALCAZAR: Fixed Biofuel composter not registering when not processing, also fixes other missions requiring powered processors
  
• ABYSS: Fixed research station quest step and filling generator
  

[/expand]

Future Content
[expand]

• Adding in Kiwi Idle and Death audio and data table setups
  
• Adding ful base setup for the ghost croc including corpse setup, anims to dupe for when audio requires and copy of nornal crocodile stats used for base pass awaiting proper design pass
  
• Adding New Animal Beds and Setup into project
  
• Cleaned up Field Guide Item Section UI
  
• Added addition Animal Bed variations, DEP_Animal_Bed_Royal_Var02, Animal_Bed_Fur_Var01, Var02, Var03 and Var04
  
• Setting up T4 Water Trough so it filters the water
  
• Adding shears cutting audio, impact event, item data table setup, items static data table setup
  
• Dev Cheat SetResourcesOnFocusItem: Increased maximum resources allowed
  
• Implemented Shengong Sickle stats and costs
  
• Added text for black wolf armor
  
• Edited text for nine of diamonds shield
  
• Adding T4 water trough start loop and end audio. Currently hooked up to event running and stopping which starts automatically
  
• Added bestiary text for Chicken
  
• Feature Locked Bestiary entries for unreleased creatures
  
• Adding blueprint info for trail beacon tool to play activation audio on linked trail beacon
  
• Adding base setup for swamp ape, awaiting behavior tree setup for movement and attacks and death anim in corpse setup etc
  
• Added text for trail beacons
  
• Updated text for black and white LM armor sets
  
• Adding activate trail beacon audio. Not hooked up yet
  
• Updated animal bed sizes and fur variants
  
• Prototype tree respawn
  
• Renaming Liaka -> Laika
  
• Added desert tracker saddle art assets for the moa, horse, and buffalo
  
• Updating audio for beacon beep, adding BP behavior to play beep on beacon
  
• Tweaked IceSheets (new Prometheus arctic area) fog density to give a better sense of scale
  

[/expand]

Welcome to week 118. We’re continuing our work on the Resource Network update from last week, with a bunch of fixes and balances added, along with a few new features that we mentioned were going to be in this week's update.

We’ve also got some info on next week's update, and some mission fixes that were needed to address the impacts of the new Resource Network.

Hop in and have a read.

• Added Total Growth Speed indicator to Crop Plot inspection UI
  
• Fixed railing orientation on all floor pieces so now railings will be the correct orientation (especially on stairs)
  
• Fixed issue with Water Troughs where the water would not appear in the mesh when it contained water
  
• KILL LIST / FRACTURE: Fixed Decals not removing grass, these should be much easier to find
  
• Fixed Processor recipe icons width, now correctly has 7 across again. Auto processors now have 3 across
  
• Improved UI prompts and tooltips for dirt mounts, noxious crusts and red exotics, as part of continued efforts to improve the new player experience
  
• Update Olympus and Styx weather events to use Prometheus-style scaling weather, with more varied modifiers and less reduced movement speed
  
• Added an inspect option to powered devices without inventories, such as solar panels, wind turbines and batteries
  

As mentioned last week, this week we’re focusing on bug fixes, balances and improvements to the new Resource Network, such as:

• Fixed a case where water networks and electrical networks could be joined leading to issues where people could fill their batteries up with water
  
• Added the ability to turn devices on and off using the Resource Network Inspector window. To use, expand a ‘device group’ and click the connection icon to toggle the device
  
• Fixed the Resource Network Inspection Window getting stuck showing 'Gathering Info' on clients if it was opened twice, in situations when no values on the network had changed since it was previously opened (Deployed in Hotfix last week)
  
• Removed collision from spline pucks, fixing players ‘bobbing’ as they walk over wires
  
• Replaced Resource Network Inspector summary with a visual flow indicator. This should be a bit more clear about which direction and to which devices the flow is going
  

We’ve introduced the feature where power and water output fluctuate based on the current storm:

• Wind Turbines now generate more power during most types of storms, with the maximum power output during wind storms. Snow, sand and ash storms will slow them instead. When generating more than 100% of their base power level they’ll take damage over time based on the generated power, but cannot be destroyed by this damage. Wind Turbine output is reduced based on their remaining durability.
  
• Solar Panels have been buffed to produce 6000 power. They now generate slightly reduced power during most storm types but will not receive any damage from those storms, they even get an output boost during the swamp’s “clearing winds” storms!
  
• Generators output slightly less power in heatwaves
  
• Waterwheels generate more power while it’s raining but less during ash or snow storms.
  
• Waterpumps and water borers have reduced water flow during snow, and a little less during hail and heatwaves
  

These changes are to encourage diversity in energy networks and will evolve based on feedback and community interactions. We’ll be closely monitoring over the coming weeks to ensure the best gameplay experience.





We’re also introducing a couple of mission fixes this week: unintended collateral impacts of the Network Resource Update.

VOYAGER: Increased power storage requirements

• The energy network patch reduced the requirement from 1 hour to 6 minutes. We increased this to require 1 hour with a generator, but allow you to connect 2 generators (max 10,000 flow) to reduce the time to 30 minutes
  

VERTIGO: Fixed laser not being self-powered

• The energy network patch incorrectly added power requirements to the laser, blocking mission completion
  

Next week, we’ll be adding a new type of base defense - Brambles. These can be grown in crop plots and harvested when fully grown, to be placed around your base to serve as a natural base defense. The lack of base defense has been a prickly topic, so we’re glad to be adding something to the crafting pool.

Originally posted by author

[h2]If you like what we’re doing with Icarus, and want to support our continued development, consider purchasing one of our DLCs for a few dollars, it would mean a lot to us.[/h2]

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/36462/Icarus_Architecture_Bundle/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/35727/Icarus_Complete_the_Set/



Fixed
[expand]

• Added the ability to inspect certain devices that do not have inventories (such as solar panels and wind turbines).
  
• Added a small boost to speed for Wind Turbines for any storms other than heatwaves and embers.
  
• Fixed Wind Turbines not receiving increased speed in Desert Wind.
  
• Increased Solar Panel power generation to 6000.
  
• Increased Water Wheel power generation during rain storms.
  
• Renamed duplicate desert storm and scaled desert weather events correctly in new storm modifier system.
  Reduced impact of weather on Solar Panels (Rain, Sand and Snow) and Generators (Heatwaves).
  
• Fixed internal mission note
  
• Fixed UNIAO typos in multiple prospects
  
• Fixing the fix - disabled collision on shadow geo filler cube
  
• Filled in hole in shadow geo that was causing light shining through
  
• Removed replication from the nearbydeployable actors and moved logic of 'cache nearby deployables' to its sub class to avoid logic happening in space
  
• Fixed typo in Beehive Extractor optional power text
  
• Fixed Prometheus Cave Ground Collision on Blue Quad
  
• Fixed Geyser Rotation on Outpost_005
  
• Fixed Typo in Berserker talent name
  
• Noxoius Crust and Volatile Red Exotics now mention the Organic Residue Cleanser
  
• Noxious Crust (Bauxite) renamed to Noxious Crust (Aluminium) to match in-game name
  
• Added Total Growth Speed indicator to Crop Plot inspection UI
  
• Fixed thatch Stairs railing directions and checked all others to make sure they were also oriented the correct way
  
• Fixed Fiber Crop collision
  
• Fixed railing orientation on all floor pieces
  
• Added Water Crop Plot in-world UI prompt to Dirt Mounds that have been planted
  
• Replaced Resource Network Inspector summary with a visual flow indicator. This should be a bit more clear about where the flows are actually going
  
• Fixing issue with Water Troughs where the water would not appear in the mesh when it contained water
  
• Fixed Advanced Masonry Bench not having a water connection
  
• KILL LIST / FRACTURE: Fixed Decals not removing grass, these should be much easier to find
  
• Fixed Processor recipe icons width, now correctly has 7 across again. Auto processors now have 3 across
  
• Changed gghost logo to new logo
  
• Fixed case where water networks and electrical networks could be joined
  
• VOYAGER: Increased power storage requirements
  
• Updated Battery Rack descriptions to mention the batteries are inside the rack already
  
• Added the ability to turn devices on and off using the Resource Network Inspector window. Expand a device group and click the connection icon to toggle the device
  
• Fixed Resource Network Inspection Window getting stuck showing 'Gathering Info' on clients if opened twice when no values on the network have changed since it was previously opened
  
• Removed collision from spline pucks, fixing players bobbing as they walk over wires
  
• Adding On Off Switch audio to be played for new battery behavior
  
• Changed devices to be able to specify a device flow without requiring a resource network connection
  
• Added storage type and flow rates to T2 Rain Reservoir and Basic Oxite Dissolver to allow those to store resources again
  
• Adding Visible Debuffs on Fridges, Deep Freeze, Lights, Cooler, Heater, Dehumidifers and adjusted modifier display and application rate
  
• Added Assign Priority button prompt to network inspect screen
  
• Fix Shaggy Zebra AI growth, as a result these will be much easier to hunt
  

[/expand]

Future Content
[expand]

• Adding Multicast to bramble blueprint to replicate audio to clients
  
• Removed some ICARUS_API definitions from GOAP related classes
  
• Adjustments and fine tunes for the bramble item
  
• Added SK_ITM_Sheep_Sheers
  
• Adding first pass CHAC shotgun audio and data table entries
  
• Ashland story mission: Increased range and added starting quest area
  
• Added DEP_Chicken_Coop_Rustic and DEP_Chiccken_Coop_Royal
  
• Added sleep duration and effectiveness curves for future comfort feature
  
• Added Animal Companion Icons to data table
  
• Adding howl events for mange wolf alpha and mange wolf. Separating animations and montages so unique sound can be used for both
  
• Adding mange wolf howl event
  
• Adding unique ammo load, pump in and out sounds for chac shotgun. Also some to be applied to T4 shotgun. Adding animation data
  
• Added Polar Bear to Prometheus section of Field Guide
  
• Adding Burlap, Heated, Royal, Snow Leopard and Wolf animal beds
  
• Added ITM_Sickle_SHEN var02
  
• Added ITM_Sickle_SHEN
  
• Added DEP_Animal_Bed_Burlap, Heated, Royal, Snow Leopard Fur and Wolf Fur
  
• Adding mange wolf idle events and audio and data table setups
  
• Submitting Sheep bones an textures
  
• Fixing the Turret Audio in BP for being powered on and off due to change in power system. Also fixed replication of adding ammo for clients
  
• Updated ITM_Sickle_SHEN_Var02 material
  
• Adding Shengong Sickle 01 / 02
  
• Setup Skulmutt scaling and creature AI setup
  
• Reduced Dribbo max level health
  
• Adding mange wolf rest / sleep snore audio and adding unique mange alpha wolf footstep event and data table entry
  
• AI Setup for Ice Mammoth Boss
  
• Adding Sheep Shears, Chicken Coops, Recipes & Blueprints and Setup
  
• Adding sheep idle and death audio and events. Committing to trunk to be added when Mount Levelling is merged
  
• Added storms affecting solar panels, wind turbines and water flow (currently dev locked)
  

[/expand]

Batteries are here.

Not only have we refactored the entire network system to allow for batteries and variable flow rates, but the system itself has been heavily optimized to be more efficient in both network traffic (that is sending data from the server to clients) and server processing (that is the amount of calculations done from second to second). This aims to improve both server and client performance when it comes to resource networks.

This has been a long process, and we’ll go into detail below on the extensive changes and reworks we had to do to deliver it, including multiple reworks and a lot of man-hours invested on our end.

We break down the new system, what you can expect, a host of new items as well as balance changes that have come along with it.

Jump in and check it all out below.

• Water networks are now accessible at Tier 3 (find out more below).
  
• Sprinklers are now Tier 3, cheaper and better. They can now make you or enemies wet, water crop plots and can be triggered manually or by sustaining damage.
  
• Fixed instances where the Bees swarm would not always be removed upon their death.
  
• Deep ore veins are now unlimited by design. We fixed a bug a few weeks ago which was making them refresh on each login, meaning they ran out as intended - but after testing and based on your feedback we decided it was a better experience if they never run out.
  

We have added batteries and water storage devices to store these resources for later use, such as in cases where your solar panels aren’t producing energy at night or your waterwheels are clogged. (For the full breakdown of new items see the new items section below.)

Instead of devices shutting off when not receiving enough of a required resource, many will now move into a brownout state. Depending on the device some will shut off. For example, Aquariums will shut off, while crafting benches will brownout.

A brownout is where a device isn’t receiving adequate resources, and therefore performs at a suboptimal level. Examples include lights getting dimmer, crafting benches crafting slower, and dehumidifiers or heaters having a reduced radius of effect. Devices such as water pumps will produce less water if they are not receiving enough electricity.

We have also added a way to examine your networks at a glance so you can see the status of all the connected devices as well as their active states. This can be achieved either by having a Water Pipe Tool or Electricity tool equipped, looking at an object and pressing 'R', or by connecting one of the new items added this week (a Flow Meter) to your networks. Interacting this way will bring up a screen breaking down all the objects connected to that network. Individual elements can be clicked on to see each device in that category and a priority can also be assigned. Prioritizing means being able to define if a device should be prioritized to receive resources first before the rest of the network - this is especially helpful when you have a heavy network load or not enough power to run everything.





Systems such as these may seem like a small change on the surface but in reality, something as simple as adding batteries required an entire rework of how devices both connect to networks and communicate with each other. We have gone through three iterations of this system two of which you will never see because they didn’t fit with the game and didn’t work out as well as we had hoped. But that is the part of game development that goes unseen. Sometimes, you want to add something simple to a system that wasn’t designed for it and you have to rewrite the whole thing.

The system was originally designed for all machines to have ‘constant flow rates’ - that is a static supply or demand value that can be turned on and off depending on the machine's state (also off/on). This, in theory, is simple, effective and at that time, was what we thought we needed. The static value represented a ‘flow rate', a rate at which units of energy would transfer to/from the machine into the network itself. However, adding Batteries to this system (which was always an intention) exposed a bunch of issues with the simplicity of the system, even if it worked to a degree. Some of these issues included being unable to vary the flow rates for devices, and the network acting in a very ‘binary fashion’ meant any complex interactions that we felt needed to come alongside batteries (for them to be used in a meaningful way) were not possible. (Examples include storms affecting the output of wind turbines, or scaling a device’s performance based on the amount of electricity available).

This meant going back to the drawing board on the system, and after a few more months of development, we have developed a system that supports variable flow rates. This system allows devices to be dynamically scaled up and down based on their status, and we’ve also developed a system alongside that allows you to control your resource networks, including setting priorities for receiving resources, controlling on/off states and more. In addition to these, you can now inspect your network and see the connected devices at a glance by either using the electricity and water placement tools or a flow meter.

Implementing a dynamic system means various devices can now experience ‘brownout states’, which can cause a heater to have a reduced area of effectiveness, or a crafting bench to perform less efficiently when they are not receiving enough resources from a network. In the past, these devices would have shut off entirely, leaving players having to run around disconnecting machines from the network until the problem was solved. This new system allows you far more control, and far more information to work with.

After many hours of both testing internally and with our experimental branch players, the system is now in a state we believe is ready for release. We may still have some bugs that will show up now that is being released to the general public, but we’ll strive to address these quickly over the next week. We also have plans to improve how you interact with machines on these networks as well as do a balance pass to power-generating devices (Wind turbines we are looking at you).



With a new network, comes a smorgasbord of new items.

Basic Battery Rack (T4)

The entry-level battery option, which stores a moderate amount of electricity but has a low flow rate so isn’t suitable for high-capacity networks.

Advanced Battery Rack (T4)

The premium option, with a much higher storage capacity and flow rate, which is more suitable for networks with a much higher demand.

Water Barrel (T3)

Acts as a storage device for water and can be connected to water networks.

Metal Rain Reservoir (T3)

Collects rainwater, can defrost ice into water, stores more than the Rain Reservoir (T2), and can be connected to water networks to act as a storage device.

Biofuel Water Pump (T3)

A brand new device to allow water networks to be created and used earlier in the tech tree. Can be deployed in streams or lakes to generate water when fueled with biofuel.

Water Borer (T4)

A new device that can be placed on enzyme geysers and when powered, can be used to extract water which can be fed into a water network.

Flow Meter (T4)

A device that can be connected to both water and electrical networks. It has a display that shows the current supply, demand, and available storage at a glance. You can also interact with the device to see a more detailed view and assign priorities to machines.





To pair with reworking the entire power network system, a balance pass was required on existing networks.

We have moved the water pipe tool T3, with the introduction of the biofuel water pump this makes water networks accessible much earlier. Due to this all furnaces at T3 and above can now be connected to water networks for any recipes (existing or future). Due to the water networks being shifted to T3 we have also shifted the water sprinkler and reduced its crafting cost to make it fit as a T3 item.

The biofuel aquarium (T3) has had its level requirement removed so it can be built before level 30 but also now requires a water connection to keep your fish alive.

We have also removed the water network connections from the T2 masonry bench as there are T3 replacements and it helps solidify as T3 as the introduction of enhanced production with water networks.





Next week is going to be dedicated to balancing, optimization and bug fixing for the new Networks we’re introducing this week, along with some other QoL.

Originally posted by author

[h2]If you like what we’re doing with Icarus, and want to support our continued development, consider purchasing one of our DLCs for a few dollars, it would mean a lot to us.[/h2]

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/36462/Icarus_Architecture_Bundle/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/35727/Icarus_Complete_the_Set/



New Content
[expand]

• Adding Flow Meter and setting up basic logic
  
• Update Flow Meter UI
  
• Resource Network Upgrade branch merged to Trunk
  
• Added message about not being connected to the network to the resource network inspection view
  
• Fixing up Blueprints after batteries merge
  
• Adding functionality to flowmeter item
  
• Reduced sprinkler steel to 2 per
  
• Rebalanced Flow Meter recipe, reduced Aluminium costs and added Electronics and Glass. Moved to Fabricator
  
• Removed Clay and Scoria Brick recipes from Stone Furnace
  
• Increased Metal Rain Reservoir cost, costing 12 Refined Iron (from 8) and adding 20 Charcoal
  
• Readding water borer blueprint and fixing deployable enteries for water borer and biofuel pump
  
• Adjust flow meter durability 250 -> 750
  
• Increasing Basic and Advanced Battery Storage so it takes each around 10mins to fully charge and 10mins to fully discharge, this can be augmented with multiple batteries and each battery provides different charge/discharge rates
  
• Adding optional flow text to resource inspection resources
  
• Fixing issue with resource displays on talents / tooltips, the calculation for ratio was backwards showing incorrect flow rates
  
• Adding optional water connections to furnaces
  
• Upping the water borer water generation rate
  
• Flow meter now shows detailed resource network window when interacted with
  
• Resource network inspection window is now self contained and can be opened using the normal linked-actor dynamic widget flow
  
• Re-added resource remaining indicator to Drill, Extractor and Harvester UI
  
• Removed Water Connection from T2 Masonry Bench
  
• Removed the Water Connection from the T2 Rain Reservoir as its superseded by the T3 Rain resevior
  
• Shifted T2 Water Purifier to T3 as it makes more sence at that location due to the network changes
  
• Modified Size of Ice Borer & Flow Meter (they were too small)
  
• Fixed Resource network puck collision on flow meter so you can now connect to multiple networks
  
• Removed Old un-used flow meter static meshes
  
• Removed helper text for T2 Masonry Bench water connection craft speed (as this is no longer applicable)
  
• Adding ability to scale network flow via stats so modifiers can scale up or down depending on contextual events
  
• Lights Intensity is now scaled (on electrical lights) when they are recieveing less power (are in a brown out)
  
• Added logging if a wire/pipe fails to reconnect to a device on load
  
• Changed generator loading to use full activation path (should fix things like the Water Pump being stuck on Idle)
  
• Fixed Inspect Network not working for wiring tools on Clients
  
• Fixed missing action prompts from water tool
  
• Updated Deep Ore Veins so they are unlimited
  
• Lights intensity now has a stat and can be scaled by adding modifiers to lights
  
• Adding new brownout modifier for lights that reduces its effectiveness
  
• Removing Optional brownout text from resource network data
  
• Added dev tool for inspecting resource flows inside devices
  

[/expand]

Fixed
[expand]

• Fixed bees incorrectly persisting for 5 minutes when killed
  
• Fixed bees not cleaning up correctly on clients when killed
  
• Fix a trivial runtime replication warning associated with new deployable camera focus setting
  
• Shield/offhand item stats are now applied when placed in the offhand
  
• Added resource remaining indicator to Drill, Extractor and Harvester UI
  
• Removed remaining value from Drills, Extractors and Harvesters (Deep Ore now unlimited means this is no longer required, others benefit from the mystery)
  
• Fix selected dropship index is not being set on Outposts after Return To Character Select
  
• MIASMIC: Fixed solar panels not counting for entire mission area, requiring placement within middle half of the mission area, can now be placed anywhere within mission area
  

[/expand]

Future Content
[expand]

• Added cheat to spawn exotic infused creatures. Added red variant of infused creature particle system
  
• Added ability to spawn Exotic Infused creatures. You can now specify an EpicCreature row when adding AI to spawn pool in each D_AISpawnZones
  
• Tweaked base stats of Wooly Zebra mount, being slightly slower than the horse but a bit tankier and carrying more
  
• Added missing limestone half pitch icon
  
• Fixed Limestone halfpitch building assignment
  
• Added Limestone Building Piece item icons
  
• Adding mount specific versions of blueback attack and idle for more appropriate volumes
  
• Adding blueback juvi idle, flinch and death audio and events and data table setups
  
• Added GUN_Shotgun_CHAC
  
• Added DEP_Trough_Luxury_Feeder, DEP_Trough_Iron_Feeder and DEP_Trough_Rustic_Feeder
  
• Adding text and descriptions to a food / water troughs
  
• Adding Skulmut & Dribbo creature setups and correct naming
  
• Added proper spawnrate/damage/resistance stats for mini hippo
  
• Updating mange wolf aggro states and flinch audio to better match creature in game
  
• Submitting Juvenile Wooly Zebra mesh and textures
  
• Added HAB diorama for off planet bestiary images
  
• Added chicken trophy with white, brown, and black materials
  
• Hooking up bear cub carcass mesh to corpse BP
  
• Added setup for Mange Wolf Alpha creature including skeletal mesh and carcass assets, bestiary and stats pass needed
  
• Added setup for Mange Wolf creature including skeletal mesh and carcass assets, bestiary and stats pass needed
  
• Armoured saddles now point to correct skeletal meshes in D_Saddles
  
• Adding all events for mange wolf alpha. Adding low end loop layer to add bigness and adjusting spacial for standard mange wolves to be less intense
  
• Added Trail Beacon and Beacon Tool control hints
  
• Allowed Trail Beacons to be deployed indoors
  
• Added Trail Beacon Emissive
  
• Added upper and lower indicator icons to halfpiece wall item icons
  
• Final adjustments for blueback and blueback juvi audio sounds
  
• Added inverted item icons of building halfpieces
  
• Setting up CHAC workshop shotgun
  
• Updated Exotic Infused Creature VFX
  
• Moved files from dev folder to main project
  
• Adding Icons for Chicken Head, Chicken Trophy, Trail Beacon, 4x new food troughs
  
• Adding Chicken / Sheep Vestiages & Trophy item setup
  
• Adding Chicken / Sheep Bestiary Enteries & Adding Space / Workshop Enviroments / Categories
  
• Adjusting saddle in world dropped meshes to be generic
  
• Added correct bones mesh for var 2/3 and made materials from preexisting textures for the var 2/3 carcasses
  
• Adding Armored Saddle Icon
  
• Updated DEP_Trough_Luxury
  
• Setting up Limestone Deep Mining Deposit to use the correct textures & highlightable
  
• Setting up the Limestone Voxels to use the correct textures and assigning the silica phyiscal material for the pickaxe hit effect as the sulfur effect eas too yellow and did not match the effect
  
• Added DEP_Trough_Powered_Feeder
  
• Added Limestone Voxel materails and textures
  
• Added Limestone Deep Ore Vein materials and textures
  
• Added a comfort system which takes stats of deployables around the bed and applies it to the players well rested buff
  
• Prevent a GameUserSettings Delegate being bound twice in editor (internal dev only)
  
• Move Sheltered Bed Tooltip to correct folder
  
• Reduce the draw distance on some visual fire effects
  
• Improve performance of forest fires
  
• Adding audio entries for mange wolf alpha. Adding all current audio events and data table set up. Adjusting and fine tuning events for alpha and standard
  
• Adding appropriate deploy audio for all water and food troughs
  
• Added base implementation setup for the Kiwi including character BP and DT setups, second pass coming with corpse and proper weighting setup
  
• Adding sound for when food is added to any food trough. Adding audio, event and blueprint functionality
  
• Exotic infused creature crystal particles are now scaled based on creature size.
  
• Fixed bug where crystal particles weren't being randomly oriented.
  
• Crystal niagara particle system now persists between NPC and corpse which should reduce visual popping on death
  
• Skip fallback navmesh checks when transport pod EQS fails and just drop near players
  
• Adding brambles damage scratch event and blueprint implementation to play audio when damaging player or enemy
  
• Adding new audio event for coconut tree harvesting audio and also fixing growth stages pointing to cocoa instead of coconut
  
• Fixed bug where all creatures were spawning with exotic infused effects
  
• Adding in Kiwi corpse and animation setup, tweaked movespeed to fit the size and duplicated animations for Audio
  

[/expand]

Week 116 is here, and it packs a punch, with the new Trench Shotgun added to the game.

A Tier 4 variant, the Trench Shotgun is our most powerful close-range damage dealer to date.

We’ve also got a rebalance and improvement on the Shotgun damage/ammo system, and some long-awaited news on Batteries and Networks.

Jump in and have a read.

• Added a setting to disable camera movement & rotation when interacting with deployables
  
• Fixed Honey Smoked Bacon not benefiting from Carnivore talent
  
• Mission OASIS: Fixed collection step requiring collection of a lure that is now developer locked, preventing mission progress. Replaced with Gold Ore Lure
  
• Fixed 'complete the tutorial' achievement from occurring as soon as a player's first character is created. This was caused by the tutorial mission having been changed to optional, effectively marking it as complete automatically, which then triggers the achievement for it being completed
  

This week introduces the new Shotgun we mentioned last week - the Trench Shotgun.

Named based off a community suggestion from last week's post, this is a Tier 4 version of the Shotgun that is crafted on the Fabricator.

This thing packs a wallop and is our highest damage per square inch of any item in close-range combat.

We’d like to thank everyone for the name suggestions. Many were very creative and have been backlogged for meta items where more personalized names are more appropriate (think ‘Bonecrusher’ or ‘extra pulpy bear juicer’).





Last week we addressed shotgun balance by reducing ammo cost and including the 3 new variants.

This week we’re continuing that rebalance to include our new Trench Shotgun - focusing on damage scaling based on the gun the ammo is shot with. This is using the same system we calculate bow and crossbow damage.

The Tier 3 Shotgun - now the number #2 in the hierarchy - has been reduced to hold 6 bullets, but with a 15% projectile damage increase per shot.

The new Tier 4 Trench Shotgun holds 8 bullets, and its projectile damage is increased by 30% over base output (so 15% higher than the Tier 3 variant).





Next week we’re releasing the long-awaited, hotly anticipated Batteries & Networks update. Lots and lots of testing has led us to a point where we feel comfortable with the polish and state of the system - and barring any setbacks in the next 6 days - we’ll be looking to make this next week's update.

Again, a big thank you to our dedicated testing team who have been giving us amazing feedback the last few weeks, and everyone else for being patient with us as we give this feature the proper focus it deserves.

Originally posted by author

[h3]If you like what we’re doing with Icarus, and want to support our continued development, consider purchasing one of our DLCs for a few dollars, it would mean a lot to us.[/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/36462/Icarus_Architecture_Bundle/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/34141/Icarus_Outposts_Bundle/



New Content
[expand]

• Added text for T4 shotgun
  
• Adding Item Setup for T4 Shotgun
  
• Adding T4 shotgun audio and data table etnries
  
• Lots of updates and fine tunes and adjustments to the T4 shotgun. Overall polish pass
  
• Reduce Cured Leather requirement on T4 Shotgun
  
• Updating new T4 Shotgun Name
  
• Fixing FMOD not linking files correctly for the new shotgun. Fine tune to some of the audio layers
  

[/expand]

Fixed
[expand]

• Added a setting to disable camera rotation when interacting with deployables
  
• Fixed Honey Smoked Bacon not benefiting from Carnivore talent
  
• OASIS: Fixed collection step requiring collection of a lure that is now developer locked, preventing misssion progress. Replaced with Gold Ore Lure
  
• Fixed 'complete the tutorial' achievement from occuring as soon as a player's first character is created. This was caused by the tutorial mission having been changed to optional, effectively marking it as complete automatically, which then triggers the achievement for it being completed
  
• Adding more layers for the T4 shotgun. Pump in and out and last pump etc
  

[/expand]

Future Content
[expand]

• Adding basic setup for flamethrower
  
• Adding ghost croc attack and pre attack audio and event into
  
• Mini hippo mesh randomly selects 1 of the 3 types of hippo mesh. Also switched SM variation names to match the correct variation
  
• Added Inaris Sickle stats
  
• Added Apex mesh for BLD_Floor_Diagonal_Stone
  
• Added Apex mesh for BLD_Floor_Curved_Stone
  
• Ghost croc data table setup and entries
  
• Fixed Curved Building Set destruction effects
  
• Adding ghost croc idle, flinch, death vocalisations and events
  
• Changed carcasses feature level to development - fix build error
  
• Blueback/Redback juvenile setup
  
• Fixed mission objectives list for Ashlands story mission
  
• Ashlands 1 mission: Update mission to use new Trail Beacons
  
• Added Apex DM meshes to new Stone Curved and Diagonal Building pieces, except for the new floor pieces
  
• You can now unlink current beacon by interacting with it or holding 'R'
  
• Added HRB_Bramble_Thorns with all growth stages
  
• Added DEP_Trough_Wood_Large, Trough_Concrete, Trough_WaterPump, Trough_Raincatcher and Trough_Luxury
  
• Added functionality to spawn groups of units at a single time and mini hippos now spawns in groups of 3-5
  
• Adding Icons / Blueprints / Recipes for Enzyme Cannon Hub & Arm
  
• Added HRB_CocoPalm with all growth stages
  
• Adding basic Setup for Enzyme Cannon Hub and Enzyme Cannon Arm
  
• Small adjustment to hammerslug anim notif timing
  
• Sorting assets for hammer slug various sizes for audio use. Small adjustments to timing
  
• Added text for workshop sickles
  
• Small adjustments to timing and selection of audio used for hammerhead slugs of various sizes
  
• Hook up new building guides to building assets
  
• Adding 5 food & water troughs meshes, items, recipes, icons and blueprints (if required)
  
• Adding Wool and Egg items
  
• Updated SM_XPlane with heavily optimized mesh plane, and added SM_Xplane_Curved for the building placement helpers
  
• Increased blend value to help reduce gitter after attack animation on hippo/boar
  
• Fixed accidental asset override
  
• Setup additional build guide materials
  
• Added additional building guide textures
  
• Mini-hippos now have group behaviours where they tend to stick with the group they're spawned with
  
• Added XPlane_Curved_Inverted as a building piece placement helper
  
• Positioned placement helpers on curved wall and ramp pieces
  
• Adding Growable Coconut Palms and Brambles, including seeds, seed packs, workshop items and growth setup
  
• Adding Bramble Deployable Item Produced from gorwing Bramble Seeds, this acts like the brambles placed in world and will damage and apply a modifier to players / creatures that come in contact
  
• Submitting Ghost Crocodile, carcass, bones and textures
  
• Add placement helpers to curved beams, ramps and walls
  
• Added shadows to beacon map elements in order to increase visibility on white backgrounds
  
• Added saddle_Armored for the moa, horse, and buffalo
  

[/expand]

Week 115 brings three new types of Shotgun Shell to Icarus - Cold Steel, Miasma and Obsidian.

Exclusive to Prometheus, these pack a punch with their own Freeze, Poison and Burn modifiers along with some hefty damage and rare materials to craft.

Batteries and Networks continues it’s thorough testing with our community, and you can get an update on where we are up to inside.

Hop in and have a read.

• Updated chairs to prefer placing characters in front when getting up. Will place to the right or left if there is not enough room in front of the chair, instead of only trying to place right
  
• Fixed collision on nearly every beam to prevent collision outside the visible mesh
  
• Fixed mission NOMAD: Greatly reduced the wait time if the side objective is complete before the next primary objective is granted
  
• Fixed an issue with the lantern not being able to be prepared when equipped in the light slot
  
• Fix EQS query when landing via drop ship on an outpost
  
• Added all missing mission sketches (8 total) as available Paintings with the Interior Decorations DLC
  
• Fixed many caves not having overridden spawn rules for bees, causing some issues when bees and caveworms would both spawn when only one should have

Three new types of Shotgun Ammo have been added to Icarus.

These are Cold Steel, Miasmic and Obsidian variations, and all are exclusive to New Frontiers, as their required materials are only found on Prometheus.

Cold Steel Shotgun Shells have a 20-25 Projectile Damage with a 25 Frost Damage addition, along with a 15% chance to inflict the ‘Freeze’ modifier that reduces movement speed and melee damage.

Miasmic Shotgun Shells have a 20 Projectile Damage with a 25 Poison Damage addition, along with a 15% chance to inflict the ‘Miasma’ modifier that lowers physical resistance by 25% for all afflicted.

Finally, the Obsidian Shotgun Shell has a 20 Projectile Damage with a 25 Fire Damage addition, along with a 15% chance to inflict the ‘Burn’ modifier that causes -50% health regeneration and -25% maximum health while active.

All three of these ammo types can be crafted on the Machining Bench at Tier 3, and require their namesake material which can only be found in Prometheus.





Along with adding our three new Shotgun Ammo variations, we’re also making some adjustments in the shotgun shell costs to make them more accessible.

OLD:
1 Ammo Casing, 5 Copper Nails, 6 Gunpowder and 1 Epoxy.

NEW:
1 Ammo Casing, 2 Copper Nails, 1 Gunpowder and 1 Epoxy.





Batteries and Networks is edging closer to release, and we have noted your frustrations at how long this has been in the oven, but our patience is so it is worth your while.

We are frequently updating the testing branch with changes, tweaks, fixes and balances as reported by our community, so if you want to contribute to this, come join us using the password 'IAcceptThereWillBeBugs’.

This branch will be buggy until it is polished and released. This approach to testing and refining however is much more effective in releasing a quality product than one that disrupts the entire game for everyone else because it didn’t get the proper quality control it deserves.

We are close to release now with the crashes and optimizations coming to a close. We will be focusing on balance and QoL over the next week so feel free to jump in.

We thank you for your patience, and just ask you keep it up a little longer.





Our Shotgun theme will carry on one more week, as next week we release a new Tier 4 Shotgun, which is yet to be named.

Got a suggestion for what we should call it? Put it in the comments. No promises your name will be selected, but the door is open for something better than we can come up with. And yes, blasty-mc-blastface has already been suggested.

We’ll also be doing a slight Shotgun damage balance to account for this new big brother, so look out for that too.

Originally posted by author

[h3]If you like what we’re doing with Icarus, and want to support our continued development, consider purchasing one of our DLCs for a few dollars, it would mean a lot to us.[/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/36462/Icarus_Architecture_Bundle/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/34141/Icarus_Outposts_Bundle/



New Content
[expand]

• Unlocked Miasmic, Cold Steel and Obsidian Shotgun Ammo
  
• Reduced the price of Buckshot significantly
  

[/expand]

Fixed
[expand]

• SHADOWED: Updated crop plots to spawn new version, rather than old version and being immediately replaced by new version. Added plants to spawned crop plots
  
• Updated chairs to prefer placing characters in front when getting up. Will place to the right or left if there is not enough room in front of the chair, instead of only trying to place right
  
• Fixed collision on nearly every beam to prevent collision outside the visible mesh
  
• NOMAD: Greatly reduced the wait time if the side objective is complete before the next primary objective is granted
  
• Fix lantern cannot be repaired when in light slot
  
• Fix EQS query when landing via drop ship on an outpost
  
• Added all missing mission sketches (8 total) as available Paintings with the Interior Decorations DLC
  
• Fixed many caves not having overridden spawn rules for bees, causing them to spawn the same number of bees as caveworms (this means many caves will now have waaay less bees)
  

[/expand]

Future Content
[expand]

• Small adjustments to hammerhead slug small
  
• Adding in hammerslug small idle and aggro audio
  
• Adding unique gas sound for hammehead slug. Duplicating and adjusting anims for gas clouds for different sizes. Adjsutments to sounds to match
  
• Adding more appropriate sounding idle neigh jump land stomp to wooly zebra idles
  
• More fine tunes and balances to the mount wooly zebra. Adjusting footsteps and idle anim notifiers to be more appropriate
  
• Added text for first batch of CC saddles
  
• Fix Field Guide Workshop Packs page provided item padding
  
• Adding wooly zebra attack audio, event and data table setup. Duplicating attack anims for own unique montages and adding to mounts table etc
  
• Update Field Guide How to Obtain text for the quest vegetables to just mention Quests, as every plant is able to be ordered from the workshop
  
• FieldGuide - fix margins on workshop pack widget
  
• Added Carcass and setup dead items for the mini hippo, duped anims for audio setup, montage hooking incoming
  
• FieldGuide - add workshop packs to plants page
  
• Added full base implementation for the Mini Hippo including creature BP, mesh and bones, skeleton cleanup and tweaks to follow
  
• Adjustments and fine tunes to wooly zebra mount
  
• Added missing resource images to Field Guide data table
  
• FieldGuide - add workshop packs to arrows and ore pages
  
• Adding wooly zebra juvi events and data table entries
  
• FieldGuide - add feature level to itemable widget
  
• FieldGuide - fix the consume tag on the last few various seed packs
  
• Adding in basic setup for Juvenile Wooly Zebra
  
• Adding Bearhide Saddle Icon
  
• Tagged Workshop Shovel as Item.Meta to allow it to be requested from orbit
  
• Adding Icons for Croc / Deluxe / Sandworm Saddles
  
• Added setup for Blueback/Redback mounts
  
• FieldGuide - change the consume tag on various seed packs so not marked as food
  
• Correcting a few missed slug previews and audio notifiers
  
• Added text for shovel tiers
  
• FieldGuide - change the consume tag on various arrow packs so not marked as food
  
• Adding the final amount of the hammer slug preview meshes so differentiate between the slug and hammerslug at a glance
  
• More audio updates to hammerslugs and applying preview meshes for better visibility in editor
  
• Lots of updates and additions to the hammerslug of all sizes
  
• Added ITM_Saddle_Sandworm with Buffalo, Moa and Horse skeleton variations
  
• Added ITM_Saddle_Croc_Skin for Buffalo, Moa, Horse skeleton variations
  
• Fixed a grammatical issue in some item names for clarity
  
• Additional fine tunes and improvements to the wooly zebra audio
  
• Adding Water Borer, T3 Rain Reserviour, Water Barrel and biofuel water pump
  
• Checking in extra Variant SK meshes to use at a later date, full setup of the base mini hippo done with the boar numbers in place but all individual entries to use for design tweaking stats wise etc when needed
  
• FieldGuide - rework sidebar
  
• "FieldGuide - make itemable how to obtain vertical
  
• Added Item Category Icons
  
• Re-Tagged Workshop Shovel as Item.Meta to allow it to be requested from orbit, was incorrectly removed with merge
  
• Added default maximum placement distance of 100m between beacons
  
• Wooly zebra juvenile setup/proper corpse meshes
  
• Added new Beacon Tool / Field Beacon items for use in PROM expansion mission
  
• FieldGuide - restore ability to go back after sidebar refactor
  
• Fixing Build by removing bad assets
  
• Update Trail Beacon map size and compass distance
  
• Added stats for Larkwell and Black Wolf armor sets, pending recipe and costs
  

[/expand]