[2022] Icarus Week Nine Content Update

A lil somethin somethin: You can find the details for this event on the announcement page here.

In addition to bug fixes and optimizations, most of our updates this week are user-experience themed with changes to consumables, the prospect selection screen and mission art.

Look out for highlights on prospects that define them as ‘insured drops’, a feature that guarantees your prospector's safety in the case of them missing their leaving window. You’ll also notice some new items on the loading screens.

As promised last week, not only do we tell you when you can skip the intro video but there is now a settings menu option to skip it (a black screen will be displayed while the game loads).


Farming

For the Week 9 update we wanted to give farming some love. Adding variations to crop growth time and yields allows players to farm with more thought. Long-term, high-yield crops can be helpful to players spending large amounts of time away from base, while shorter time, shorter yield crops might be useful for someone spending a long time at their home. We’ve also added more information to tooltips on farming plots and their crops.

This sets the groundwork for even more farming mechanics such as greenhouse effects. Farm plots now track if they can see the sky straight above them and whether they have glass buildables around them. With no sky visible and no greenhouse present, crops have a 50% growth speed reduction. Growing crops using a greenhouse (regardless of seeing the sky directly or not) will increase growth rates by 50%.

The future of farming Players can expect these systems to grow (pun intended) over time as we introduce more intricate mechanics to engage with. Expect to see multiple ways to water crops across all tech levels. Hydroponic trays will be a new way to boost growth for those that wish to invest in their farms technology, and different fertilizers may alter growth patterns.

Additionally, we are also looking at biome-specific farming content. We want to reward players for exploring while also giving them the ability to grow crops in otherwise unfavorable environments. Certain crops may require certain conditions in order to grow and it will be on you to facilitate those needs.

User Interface

We’ve made some changes to the prospect select map, adding visual identifiers for ‘insurance’ drops and cleaning up the formatting so it is more simple to read through and select the right drop for you. Leave us your feedback on the changes in feature upvote when you jump into play.

Insurance drops give you the security that if you miss your return window, your character will be recovered by the UDA regardless of the risk. This is only on earlier, easier missions but will give you some reassurance if you want a more relaxed session are a new player to the game.



Community Highlights Check out these highlights from players this month, including some nice one-shot kills and sophisticated builds.


Tip: If you want buildings with lots of angles like these, press Home and End when building to reset the building grid.

Change Log
Hotfix Version: 1.1.1.90924

• Fixed visual weather effects appearing indoors.
  
• Fixed building upgrade tool not upgrading to aluminum building types.
  
• Fixed multiplayer clients not seeing proper crop plot state.

Version: 1.1.1.90886

• Added settings menu option to automatically skip intro video (a black screen will be displayed while the game loads).
  
• Added Building Upgrade Tool support for all pieces and materials.
  
• Added Farm plots now track if they can see the sky straight above them, and if they have any glass buildables around them. No sky, and no greenhouse will lead to a 50% speed reduction in growth. The presence of a greenhouse building will allow full growth speed regardless of seeing the sky directly, and will increase growth speed by 50%.
  
• Changed farming to be more dynamic, by decreasing growth time and increasing yield rates for many crop types.
  
• Added Mushrooms can now be grown in crop plots.
  
• Added more information to tooltips on farming plots and their crops.
  
• Optimized the logic around plant growth.
  
• Changed knife throw to require a higher minimum charge, to reduce instances of accidental throws. Decreased accuracy and range slightly.
  
• Fixed issue preventing fish from spawning on some outposts.
  
• Identified and optimized several of the most expensive building piece meshes.
  
• Updated existing and added several new loading screens.
  
• Improved prospect select screen by adding better visibility of the availability of insurance and updated prospect images. Also tidied up layout of available prospects.
  
• Fixed issue with recipe UI window scaling.
  
• Fixed some character names not being displayed correctly on the Mission Report lobby info panel.
  
• Fixed claimed prospect prompt text expanding outside of its window.
  
• Updated Infected Wound description to mention Antibiotics instead of Antiseptics.
  
• Fixed Wine giving the incorrect buff when consumed, and returning the wrong empty vessel for reuse.
  
• Fixed issue where Concrete Furnace visuals defaulted to show the furnace as 'on'.
  
• Improved ability to place trophies on other deployables, such as fireplaces. Also improved Fireplace collision mesh.
  
• Fixed issues with existing prospects if changes are made to the map while they're still in progress.
  
• Fixed missing 'Consume Stack' option for Carrots.