ICARUS Week Eighteen: Deep Mining! Scanning Tech, More Ore Deposits, and a New Mission

It’s been 8 weeks since RocketWerkz added Deep Mining to ICARUS and, after a slow start, they have proven to be an excellent resource supplement for higher-tier tech projects in later missions (considering how long it took to reach Tech 4 in the past, especially!). The devs are preparing to add new content to Tier 4, and it sounds like Deep Ore Mining will certainly be a part of it — so, we are getting several updates this week to expand on and improve this system!

Included are more deep-mining ore deposits (now also found outside of caves), cave and deep-mining ore scanners, varied extraction rates of different ores, and a mission that walks you through the system. Some of the details were not as clear in the official update this time around, so we dropped in on the new mission to check things out and give you some answers!

Special thanks to our own Mila Grish for teaming up to co-write this week’s news update!

Deep Mining Ores! Deep Mining Ores Everywhere!

Well, that is, they are now both inside and outside of caves! How about that? They can now be found in all three biomes, with a more recognizable look. (Meaning, you will have to do less guessing about which of the floating texture blobs represents which ore.)

If you choose to go for the ores found in the open, remember to keep a lookout for weather events and roaming animals! Mining outside of the caves definitely has its own dangers.

Of course, the Biofuel Deep-Mining Drill remains a considerable resource investment. However, with the higher demand placed on Tier 4 Tech the further you progress down the mission tree, the deep mining ore nodes might make this type of mining crucial to gathering resources like the Gold Ore, especially with the recent and upcoming changes to mission timers.

While the yield from each deep-mining ore deposit is being kept high, the extraction rates are now resource-dependent. Basic ore deposits like silicon and sulfur can be drilled more quickly, and metal ores will require more time. Says Gamerunner Dean Hall, “it is vital we iterate on the our existing balance or we will be simply compounding problems.”

Scanning Tech

Along with the changes to deep-mining this week are three new tools to find caves and other ore deposits. The Cave Scanner helps prospectors locate nearby caves, while two Deep-Mining Ore Scanners actually point the way to the nearest deep-mining ore deposit and allow prospectors to select the type of ore. Let’s take a closer look at new equipment.

Cave Scanner

The new Cave Scanner is a clunky but useful device with a cheap Tier 3 crafting cost. It is simple to operate: just take it out and start walking around on the planet surface. If you are within about 0.25 kilometers of a cave, it will start flashing and beeping. The beeping can be turned off by right-clicking the mouse, but don’t worry about alerting predators. The sound does not register on the noise meter.

What is better than having a cave close by? How about its direction! The frequency of the flashing and beeping from the Cave Scanner will increase as the prospector gets closer to facing the cave. Keep rotating left and right as you move closer to the cave to hone in on its direction. If you are fond of using caves for shelter from storms, then you may find that the new Cave Scanner certainly belongs in your mining belt.

Deep Mining Ore Scanner

Now that there are deep-mining deposits in the world, you will happen across them randomly. However, the playable area on Icarus is large enough that you might miss a few, and of course those can make a big difference in stockpiling the ores you need.

So, to accompany the new deposits, the Deep-Mining Ore scanner gives you the direction and distance (in terms of signal strength) of the nearest deep-mining ore deposit. It requires the Fabricator to craft and is cheaper in terms of Electronics than the Biofuel Deep-Mining Drill, so it might be a valuable investment to speed you along the path to Electricity and Composites.

Advanced Deep-Mining Ore Scanner (Workshop Only)

Finding the deep-mining deposits you really need has so far been a trial-and-error process. However, the Orbital Workshop has you covered. For only 750 to research and craft, you can bring the advanced deep-mining deposit scanner with you on any mission.

First, it allows you to select the ore you are interested in. Then, it guides you to the nearest deposit by giving you direction and signal strength in the same way as the regular deep-mining scanner.

New Mission

This week’s update brings a new mission, MERIDIAN: Extraction, to give prospectors some paid experience with the new deep-mining ore deposits and tools. Just like for AGRICULTURE: Hydroponics, you won’t have to construct any of the new tools.

You will be provided with a Cave Scanner, an Advanced Deep-Mining Ore Scanner, a Biofuel Deep-Mining Drill, and a can of biofuel free of charge. However, the most amazing piece of equipment by far is an Exotics-infused Rank 2 Pickaxe with a 225% bonus yield and 500K of durability, which puts both titanium and Inaris tech to shame.

Your mission is to extract moderate quantities of Iron and Copper Ore, and a substantial quantity of Gold Ore. (Three guesses which ore you should use your new deposit scanner and drill to obtain.) Using the drill or the scanners is optional; you can break in your shiny new pickaxe instead, or in combination with the drill.

Bug Fixes

Of course, there were numerous bug fixes and other improvements. If you still haven’t finished the mission Spirit Level, the bug preventing the objectives from advancing was reportedly patched, so you may now be able to complete the mission. Check out all the other details in the Change Log below.

Full Week Eighteen Change Log

• Added new Cave Scanner item which uses strobing lights and audible beeping to pinpoint nearby Cave locations. The beeping can be muted by right clicking with the Scanner equipped.
• Added new Deep Mining Ore Scanner to help pinpoint the nearest scanned Deep Mining Ore Deposit. Accuracy is increased as you get closer to the Deposit.
• Added new Workshop Item: Advanced Deep Mining Ore Scanner which gives players the ability to specify exactly what type of Deep Mining Ore Deposit they want to scan for and pinpoint the location of the nearest one.
• Added new scanner Mission: ‘MERIDIAN: Extraction’ that unlocks the Advanced Deep Mining Ore Scanner.
• Added Deep Mining Ore Deposits to all biomes outdoors throughout the map.
• Added Deep Mining Ore Deposits to more caves.
• [CRASH] Fixed a crash that could occur while the player was sleeping.
• [CRASH] Fixed a crash that could occur while the map is being generated.
• [CRASH] Fixed a crash that could occur while using DX12.
• Fixed an issue where Mission ‘Spirit Level: Survey’ could not be completed due to the 2x Portable Beacon’s required to be in the players inventory despite only having a single Utility slot available. Portable Beacons now are placeable in standard inventory slots.
• Updated the “Stay Right There” talent to have a 100% chance for thrown knife critical hits to immobilize their target.
• Updated imagery for SANDY BRIDGES: Extended Survey, CONCEALMENT: Recovery, UNEARTHED: Research, and AGRICULTURE: Hydroponics missions.
• Fixed an issue where a repair hammer stamina could be spent without a valid repair hit.
• Fixed an issue where the trailer button was overlapping the settings menu on the title screen.
• Changed the names of all Repair Hammers to simply Hammer.
• Fixed an issue where Hammers from the Workshop were not showing the building durability value correctly on hover.
• Updated the mesh of the Steel Axe to improve visuals.
• Fixed Stockpile Dropship leaving an invisible collision box behind.
• Fixed Flashlight turning off when dropped.
• Fixed issue that could occur that made audio not work after loading the title sequence.
• Fixed an issue where the Electric Drill did not shutdown when Deep Mining Ore Deposit was depleted.
• Updated the UI for locked mission items in the Workshop.
• Fixed some cases of longer item names not fitting in popup container.
• Fixed items of different durability stacking together (only stacks if durability is max).
• Removed durability from Arrows & Bolts to avoid stacking issues.
• Fixed missing insurance logic in offline mode.
• Fixed prospect time switch over in offline mode.
• Added support for shadow casting for some hit effects (such as Pickaxe deposit impacts) if Shadow Quality is set to Epic.