Beginning 22nd October 5pm PDT and ending 25th October 10pm PDT, you will have just over three days to experience the raw beauty of our latest biome.
MISSION BRIEFING: BLACKSAND
Journey to the heart of Icarus’ uncharted desert biome, enduring arid conditions to gather survey data for the UDA. But beware – threats are unknown, and few have returned from this barren region.
With no trace of their whereabouts, we can only recommend you watch your step.
There have been rumours of a subterranean route to the desert, but Minos, the gas giant planet nearby, exerts such immense tidal forces, so these paths are anything but stable. You’re on your own out there.
Certain stages of the mission will require a member of your team to be at minimum, level 25. It will also require certain recipes, so save some blueprint points.
New challenges
The desert biome brings with it a whole new arid environment. Scorching heat is just one of the challenges – be on the lookout for wildlife that feels familiar but shouldn’t be trusted, weather that threatens even the most seasoned Prospector and geological limitations that may force you to plan your route.
Heat - Keep an eye on both the environmental temperature and your character’s. Thirst and heat can drain your stamina and you’ll need to rehydrate more often - so managing your water intake wisely can become critical. Wear appropriate armour and clothing that offers protection but doesn’t overheat you.
Water - The Desert canyons have been carved by both water and Icarus’ powerful geotechnical forces. Remember where your water sources are before venturing into the sands – there’s nothing more painful and frustrating than slowly slipping into hallucinations as you dehydrate.
Cold - Remember, deserts are not always hot. At nighttime the temperature can plummet too.
Flora- Plant life like fiber and wood will be harder to harvest in the arid Desert. You may want to stock up on ingredients for Pills such as the Anti-Poison Pill from the Kitchen Bench or Tonics from the Herbalism bench and before you leave the relative safety of the Forest.
Sandstorms and heatwaves - These aren’t storms for the faint of heart. There’s nothing more violent than the ground around you shifting, lifting and flying in your face. Don’t take a storm warning lightly, and make sure shelter is always available.
New Wildlife
While we won’t spoil all the new wildlife for you, here are a few of your new neighbours:
Expanded Playing Area
Your playable area for Beta Weekend Five’s Blacksand mission includes the Forest starting area, then opens up the desert canyon to the North West. The Arctic is not accessible on this Prospect.
The Prospect from Beta Weekend 4 (Broken Arrow) is still available for you to choose and includes the Northern and South-Eastern Arctic zones, if you have unfinished business with polar bears.
Your level cap is at 30 again this weekend.
Extra Day (Again!)
Monday here in New Zealand is a national holiday, so we’re extending the Beta Weekend by one extra day again, so the team doesn’t have to put a new build out on their day off. This also gives you more time to complete the new Mission: Blacksand and last week's Mission: Broken Arrow.
Reporting Bugs and Suggestions
Please continue to report bugs, issues or suggestions during the Beta Weekend here
Please search to see if your suggestion has already been posted before you submit, and upvote it if you find it!
We love it when you share your screenshots and clips with us. Be sure to tag us @surviveicarus on all socials, and join our Discord server to hang out with us and our community over this Beta Weekend!
Patch Notes:
Below is a selection of key bug fixes and QOL improvements that we’ve actioned since the last Beta Weekend. This doesn’t reflect every change, but gives you an idea of where our effort has gone. Thanks - many of these bugs were reported by you on Feature Upvote.
Bug fixes:
- Fixed an issue where the crafting bench could be fooled to think it had enough items to continue crafting
- Fixed a bug where the shelter trace stops functioning and does not resume until reload, causing players and deployables to incorrectly take exposure damage
- Fixed an issue with the ‘More for Less’ talent where the crafting recipe was incorrectly using resources and requiring double the intended amount
- Fixed a bug where dying and Respawning and then fitting Fur Armor leaves armor in first person
- Fixed a bug where the medicine pills weren’t providing any buffs due to the modifier removing itself immediately
- Fixed a rotation issue of Polar Bear eating a carcass animations (start and end)
- Fixed a bug where player appears in Out of Bounds Area when dropping in 011 for Broken Arrow mission
- Added a patch where the system will deny animal spawns for a period of time in the location one was killed
- Fixed an Error 024 by allowing the host to update the prospect heartbeat during the loading phase
- Fixed an Error 020 by fixing incorrect append type for wrapping associated member character slot data
- Adjusted the physics on the Cougar model to ragdoll more realistically
- Animals that are fleeing from you are no longer able to be hit with stealth attacks
- Fixed a bug where ammo was unloading into hotbar before main inventory, when there was still space for it
- Fixed a bug where arm armor wasn’t visible when in first person
- Fixed a bug where doors were being double-placed if the existing door was open.
- Fixed an issue with solo talent tree being blocked by 'coming soon' nodes
- Removed debug plane placed on one tree stump (looked like a white target)
- Fixed a bug where punching was causing 0 damage, it will now cause 5. Remember though, Bears punch harder.
- Fixed a bug where doors stopped rendering at certain distances
- Certain deployable items will now produce recipes concurrently instead of consecutively to follow a more logical experience and progression
- Added a Stat Modifier which modifies the held time to activate an item (i.e repair hammer)
- Added a variation on the wall piece to allow for double-windows
- Reworked the rain particle visual effects to provide a more realistic experience
- Added a bleeding modifier to injured animals to provide a more realistic tracking experience
- Split foliage quality and foliage distance into separate settings to help improve load speed and depth of field
- Added Incendiary Rifle Rounds for those who just want to watch the world burn
- Added Steel and Iron Repair Hammers
- We felt firearms were too strong, too early, so we rebalanced the tree to include a Bolt Action Rifle, with the Hunting Rifle moving to level 30.
- Set minimum charge required for Longbow, Recurve Bow and Compound Bow to 0.9 so arrows cant be launched at snail's pace
- Added messaging on solo talent tree to inform players that these talents are only activated when solo
- Doubled range of fire warming aura modifier for easier sleeping
- Added bench requirement tooltips on item repair context menu (i.e Longbow)
- Added variants keyprompt on deployables with variants (i.e Wall)
- Adjusted the min/max yield of the Rabbit so it produces less Fur
