Icarus Week 256 Update Fixes Empty Volcanic Zones, Adds Tech Tree Search Jumps and Teases a Spelunking Rework

The Icarus Week 256 update is out, and RocketWerkz's latest weekly patch for its survival game fixes a long-running bug that left geothermal and volcanic areas strangely empty of wildlife. It also makes the tech tree search actually take you to what you're looking for, adds a Field Guide shortcut, and cuts the bestiary kills needed for two bosses. Next week, the early Olympus mission Spelunking gets a rework.

Icarus Week 256 at a glance

Why were Icarus volcanic areas so empty?

Icarus spawns creatures through two systems: Natural Spawns, which fill each biome with the right animals around players up to a set limit, and Autonomous Spawners, which handle specific creatures and nests such as kea, kiwi, beehives and Great Hunt encounters. A bug meant some Autonomous Spawner creatures were wrongly counted against the Natural Spawn limit.

It hit geothermal and volcanic areas hardest: Autonomous Spawners would fill them with Gaseous Floaters, using up the budget so almost nothing else could spawn, especially in multiplayer. RocketWerkz traced it to incorrect tagging in the spawning code and fixed it, so those areas should now have far more variety. Gaseous Floaters, Kea, Kiwi, Bees and Dreadwings no longer count towards the limit; Great Hunt creatures still do, on purpose, because they're tougher. The studio notes this won't solve every spawning issue, but it fixes "a significant problem that has affected the game for months".

What's new in the Icarus tech tree and Field Guide?

• Tech tree search now pans to the first match, instead of just highlighting it somewhere on a huge tree. Search also checks item descriptions, so be more or less specific if you can't find something.
• Field Guide shortcut: a new button on an item's Field Guide page jumps straight to its tech tree unlock. It also works in space now.
• A "turrets" keyword helps find turrets in the Field Guide.

What else does Icarus Week 256 fix?

• Railings now snap to all full-sized ramps, not just stairs.
• Elysium no longer spawns creatures on rocks outside the map.
• The Elysium quest Lost now cleans up its structure if the server setting is on, and structures spawned by SMPL3 missions are cleaned up too.
• Alteration benches have more durability, matching their tier.
• The Lava Hunter and Sandwyrm Queen need fewer bestiary points, in line with other bosses.
• Fixed fixed damage values showing as a range.

What's next for Icarus?

Next week's update returns to the Olympus Operations Update with a rework of Spelunking, a very early Olympus operation. RocketWerkz says it will have "exciting twists", feel less of a chore, and fix edge cases that stopped some players finishing it. Icarus has been updated every week for 256 weeks running.

How much is Icarus?

£29.50 / $34.99 / €33.99 on Steam, with the Dangerous Horizons expansion sold separately. About 3,900 people were playing when we checked on 1 November.

Watch the Icarus trailers

The official Icarus trailers play at the top of its Steam page.

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