Shamm

This week we’re introducing the second-place finisher of our Discord Poll from two weeks ago - the CHAC ‘Sentinel' Pistol.

This new 4-round magazine pistol is quick to both fire and reload, making it great for a tight situation where you need a get-out-of-jail-free card.

We’re also introducing a new ammo type - the Jacketed Pistol Ammo. This can be bought from the Orbital Workshop in boxes of 25.

Jump in and have a read.

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This Week: Workshop Pistol
This week brings the new Workshop Pistol - the loser of our Discord poll two weeks ago but still, an exciting new item for players to purchase and use in their missions.

The CHAC ‘Sentinel’ Pistol has a 4-shot magazine that reloads as a magazine (rather than per individual round) and uses standard pistol ammo.

Compared to the standard pistol, it has +25% d... Read more

This week we’re introducing the winner of our Discord Poll - the Automated Defense System: Pistol.

The new Turret packs a wallop, with a 400-round chamber, 120 degrees of horizontal rotation and a 50m max range.

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This Week: Turret
The new ‘Automated Defense System: Pistol’ is a powerful new Turret system for you to deploy in defence of your base.

It sports a 50m max range, five rotation degrees per second, a two-second cool down between shots, 45 degrees of vertical rotation (pitch), and 120 degrees of horizontal rotation. It consumes 3000 power while in action and 1500 while sitting idle, so make sure to keep it supported by a robust power network.

For this powerful defense system, there is a large cost to match. You’ll need eight Titanium Plate, 12 Electronics, 12 Composites, 12 Aluminum Plate, one Pistol, 20 Steel Screw... Read more

In our previous Free Laika update we added pet companions to the game, as well as new DLC with extra content for those wanted to support development. Some of this content wasn't ready in time, but we kept working on it and now it is ready for this update.

For more information, checkout the Laika Update below
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1149460/view/4191238396441414580

This week debuts two new four-legged friends - the Pug for the owners of the Animal Companions DLC and Laika herself ... Read more

Performance improvement is an activity we undertake constantly, but it is a bit like prospecting for gold in that it can be a lot of work with no outcome. This week, we have some specific performance improvements for late-game hitching.

We’re rolling out the late-game hitching fix we’ve been discussing for the last two weeks after some rigorous testing. Simply-put, this will reduce or eliminate the hitching when traversing the map in open worlds that you've been playing on for a while.

Why don't we do performance every week? People often say this in comments. In fact, we work on performance constantly at significant project expense. This work is very exploratory. In this case, our solution was extremely complex and risky. It involved redeveloping our custom voxel mesh generation to be multithreaded, combining several of the most complex areas of programming together. Results in performance optimizations don't come in a straight line, so w...

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Welcome to Week 128.

After a couple of big weeks of Project Clinic updates, we’re returning to our normal cadence and making some changes to the carts we recently introduced in Laika - letting you ride them rather than just lead them as they operate.

We’ve also got some more information on the performance work we’re currently undertaking, particularly the mined stone deposit loading threads we discussed last week.

Finally, we’ve got news on what to expect next week - hint, you’re going to need a bigger dog bed.

Jump in and have a read.

Notable Improvements

• Adding small dog drinking and eating animation duplicates for montages and adding unique audio for both sizes to differentiate between the small and big dogs
  
• Updated modifier times on tooltips to show in minutes if over 120 seconds
  
• Added APEX DM meshes, as well as many of their blueprints, for multiple buildable assets for all tie...

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Welcome to week 127.

This week we’re completing our project clinic, with a bunch more improvements, tweaks and content additions.

For those unfamiliar with what a project clinic is, read our post from last week which goes into more detail.

We’re also introducing a performance improvement this week, focusing on late-game stutters and looking at the root cause of some of these instances.

Next week we hope to further improve late-game performance, and we’ll be ... Read more

Welcome to Week 126.

After an amazing Laika launch, we’re keeping up the momentum with a massive week of new content, quality-of-life improvements, Laika fixes, balances, and more. This is not a typical week, so strap up for a serious read of what has changed.
This week comes off the back of an excellent reception to our Free Laika update and we will continue to work on the new features over the next couple of weeks. You’ll find new content this week such as a dirt building tier, the new Arctic Moa, new building pieces, medicinal items and more.

We’ve also embarked on a project clinic that started last week, with this steering a lot of the changes you’re seeing, and future content that we’re planning. For more on what a project clinic is, read below, and then jump in and check out this weeks changes.

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What is a Project Clinic?

A project clinic involves making our team experience the frustrations you do, and...

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Originally posted by author: A Message from Rocket

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We release the key content for free in our updates, pairing them with companion DLCs that contain adjacent or decorative content. For a detailed outline of our strategy you can read more below [expand type=showmore]On 4 December 2021 we released ICARUS to deservedly mixed reviews. It was a big project for a new studio and our launch was filled with plenty of stumbles. At a certain point you have to stop making the game you think you should be making, and start making the game you actually have. We took a deep look at how we were operating and committed to doing a update every week to earn the trust of the community. We did so, every single week, with not a single one missed including through COVID lockdowns, two serious floods, a tropical cyclone, a gas leak, and an active shooting.

We are carving out an approach that involves releasing consistent free updates...

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Originally posted by author: Pets Bundle available for Pre-Purchase

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This is the first time we have a bundle that features a "bundle only" package. To minimize the chances that things break, we are preparing as much as possible ahead of time. Just in time for its release alongside the free Laika update next week, we've just made the Pets Bundle available on Steam. This contains the Pet Companions and Creature Comforts content packs, and as a bonus you will get access to the Zebra Rescue Mission - only available if you purchase the bundle.

... Read more

Originally posted by author: Warning: Next week we are planning on rolling out a patch that our optimization team has been hard at work on. It involves a long standing issue with patch times. Due to the way steam's patching process works with UE4 games there has been issues in the past with some people experiencing long download and patching times. What we are doing is adjusting the way Icarus is being packed and distributed to work better with steams patching process.

This means that next week you will need to redownload the entire Icarus game but it also means that Icarus updates going forward will patch noticeably faster from week to week and the size on disk will be reduced.

This update will not effect your save files, all progress will be maintained.

Due to this we plan on rolling out next weeks patch a day early as to not interrupt anyone's regular weekend play time.

... Read more

Week 122 is here and it is all about sleep.

We’re introducing a new Coziness system, which incorporates your home decor into the quality and duration of your sleep, giving you a boost if you’ve invested time and effort into making your home more cozy.

We’ve also got some more information on Laika and the new Talent Trees for Mounts/Tames, and an exciting update on space travel customs relaxing their restrictions on traveling with your furry friends.

Jump in and have a read.

Notable Improvements:

• Optimizations in tree stumps and building base, drastically reducing memory usage of these assets which are some of the most common assets in the game
  
• Update tree fall audio check to cast instead of tag query (to avoid any issues with reloading or incorrect tagging), reducing hard references and reducing memory footprint
  
• Added the ability to sleep near an active Air Conditioner, Heater or Dehumidifi...

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Welcome to Week 121.

You'll notice that this update is coming to you a day early, that is because we have the Easter holiday period here in NZ. So tomorrow our staff will be on a well deserved break.

This week we’re giving the game a QoL pass, focusing on improving the UI and adding a few new small features that will add a new layer of depth.

These include consolidating the recipes on the Crafting Bench → Machining Bench → Fabricator so that each tier hosts the previous tier's recipes, and a new water purifying tablet in the orbital workshop.

We’ve also got an update on some of the content you can expect in the upcoming Laika update.

Jump in and have a read.

Notable Improvements:

• Added prospect name to open world operations UI
  
• Add Pyritic Crust for Stone and Salt
  
• Added tag query for mission items, so players can filter to only show mission items
  
• Fixed many...

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Week 120 brings a new layer of depth to the water quality system and three new water purifiers.

We’ve also adjusted the modifiers applied by different drinking vessels, so hot drinks can be sipped on rather than consumed all at once.

We’ve also got an update on Laika, our upcoming creature-themed update, and the new paid DLC that is to be paired with it.

Jump in and have a read.

Notable Improvements:

• Wind turbines will no longer take damage when the selected difficulty is easy
  
• Wolves no longer howl every time they play their idle animation, this will now only happen ~1/3 of the time
  
• Wild Beehives now grant XP and Bestiary progress toward Bees
  
• Landshark now grants relevant XP and loot. Fixed killed Landsharks not being destroyed on death (was being hidden)
  
• Waterskins have been buffed to no longer leak water

... Read more

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.

Notable Improvements:

• 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%, ...

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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.

Notable Improvements:

• 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 acro...

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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.

Notable Improvements:

• Water networks are now accessible at Tier 3 (find out more below).
  
• Sprinklers are no...

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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.

Notable Improvements:

• 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 automatica...

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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.

Notable Improvements:

• 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 ...

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Week 114 is here, with a new shocking backpack to buy.

The Ion Backpack gives improved yields for key metals needed in electronics production and also has the unique electroshock modifier for combat, otherwise only found in select ammo and tools.

We’ve also completed week one of our Batteries & Networks testing, and have an update on the progress.

Jump in and have a read.

Notable Improvements:

• Fixed BIG SHOT: Stockpile on Hard difficulty not having room to fit all required trophies.
  
• Fixed Electric Deep Ore Drills not showing the correct mining time.
  
• Update carcass inventory UI to show modifiers, allowing players to read the modifier explaining that creatures are attracted to the carcass.
  
• Fixed a bug where windows couldn't be placed on the dual window slots (2 building pieces to make 1 window frame)

... Read more