Icarus Week 241 Update - Single Barrel Launcher Notes (17th July 2026)

Welcome to Week 241,

This week we're introducing a brand new weapon archetype: the Launcher.

The first weapon in this category is the Single Barrel Launcher, allowing you to load and fire grenades with far greater precision than throwing them by hand.

We also discuss the community feedback surrounding last week's screw recipe changes and the adjustments we're making in response.

Finally, we give a sneak peek at what's coming next week with the reveal of a brand new Workshop item.

Notable Improvements:

• Steel Screw Recipe Reverted from 1->10 to 1->100
• Fixed numerous issues with the contents of Pouches/Bag weight, it was not being calculated or updated correctly
• Fixed an issue where removing food buffs on clients would only remove the UI and not the actual effect (clicking the x in the top right corner)
• Fixed an issue where underground debuffs would not be removed from players when using unstuck while in a cave

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This Week: Single Barrel Launcher

This week we're introducing the Single Barrel Launcher, a device that we've been slowly making our way towards for a while now. When we first started working on the Elysium missions we wanted to give players more utility options that felt like they were interacting with and controlling the world space around them by expand on our existing Flare Arrow content. This led us to creating the Flare Gun but we were immediately seeing more utility out of this device than just a gun that launches flares.

So we started looking into a more genericized "launcher" that we could not only launch more than just flares from, but also tierify them to offer more versatility and power. This week we're giving players just a taste of what's to come by releasing the Tier2 Launcher, aptly named the Single Barrel Launcher, which may also give you some insight as to what's coming in the future in higher tiers.

We're also introducing two new projectiles, the Crude Grenade and the Smoke Bomb. These can be either thrown by hand, or loaded into the Single Barrel Launcher for extended range and control. In addition to these new projectiles, the Single Barrel Launcher can also launch existing throwables like our various Grenades, but also Flares, thus retiring the limited use Flare Gun.

We're looking forward to expanding this area even more, offering new combat encounters with unique projectiles giving you even more versatility.

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This Week: Steel Screws

Thank you to everyone who shared feedback on the recent balance changes to the Steel Screws recipe.

For those who missed it, we reduced the output of Steel Screws from 100 to 10 per Steel Ingot. We made this change because we felt the previous 1:100 conversion ratio was significantly out of balance.

This is a change we've wanted to make for some time, but we didn't want to introduce it in isolation. With the recent Anvil rework providing a natural opportunity, we felt it was the right time to make the adjustment.

Unfortunately, the change wasn't well received, with the overwhelming majority of feedback being negative. While we don't expect balance reductions to be popular, the volume and consistency of the feedback made it clear that this wasn't the right adjustment for the game in its current state. As a result, we've decided to revert the change and restore the recipe to its previous output.

As always, we appreciate everyone who took the time to share their thoughts. Community feedback plays an important role in helping us shape Icarus, and we'll continue listening as we make future balance changes.

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Next Week: Workshop Flashlight

Next week we're adding the workshop's first light source item. The Workshop Flashlight comes pre-charged with a 7.5kj battery so you can hit the ground running and work through the night with ease.

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Your support makes these updates possible.

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Changelog 3.0.19.154458-rel-DangerousHorizons

New Content

• T2 Launcher - Projectiles fired from launcher now explode on impact. Added ability to make projectiles ignore this e.g. smoke grenades
• Adjustments to distancing of flare ballistic fly audio to account for the flare gun no longer firing the flare - adding more sizzle to the start and more distancing length
• Fixing a quest hint tip referencing Flare Gun instead of Single Barrel Launcher
• Launcher is now visible on the weapon rack
• Fixed launch force multiplier for Flares so that Launcher can reach required height in Ely1 mission
• Fixing Launcher and Rudiementry ammo so itsa craftable on the machining bench, fabricatory and manufacturer as well
• Fixing Launcher being unable to fire new and existing ammos
• Ballistic - Added float to delay the rendering of projectile mesh so it doesnt spawn directly in the players eyes
• T2 Launcher - Fixed reload canceling when ADS right at the end of the animation, will now wait for reload to be finished
• Tweak to rudimentary grenade mesh and added a version for the rudimentary smoke grenade with different textures
• Updating Static Meshes and Icons for the Rudimentry Ammos
• Rudimentary Smoke/Grenade - Changed to new mesh and made grenade rotate in air same as frag
• Updating Quest Descriptions so they mentioned the launcher and not the flare gun
• T2 Launcher - Can now use all types of grenades
• Updating Descriptions for the Single Barrel Launcher and The Rudimentry ammo
• Better distancing of basic frag grenades. More realistic medium and far distant explosions iwth less mid and top end clarity
• Updating Quests to cater for the new T2 Launcher instead of the flare gun
• Swapped Flaregun BP unlock for T2 Launcher in its place. Organized recipes so Launcher comes first. Unlocked Smoke and Grenade recipes. FG blacklist Flaregun, unlocked Launcher and rudimentary ammo data. Updated Grenade meshable to show item in hand. Substantial shuffling of
• Tier2 unlock tree to make room
• T2 Launcher - Reverting frag payload change as the radius was already reduced by the stats
• T2 Launcher - Reduced rudimentary frag radius to be less than the regular frag grenade
• Added small amount of collision damage to Frag/Smoke ballistics

  Rudimentary frag now explodes on impact

• T2 Launcher - Added t2 recipe
• Adding basic frag audio event and adding to rudimentary frags for the launcher
• T2 Launcher - Rudimentary Nails now have smaller scale
• T2 Launcher - Added more clarity to the ballistic table by giving launcher config its own title
• Added Grenade Launcher ammunition set item icons
• T2 Launcher - Changed mesh of rudimentary smoke/grenade/nails projectile to be a launcher cartridge and the 'bundle of stones' to be a stone wrapped in rope. Made launcher completely accurate on y axis and halved the x axis inaccuracy. Made the bundle of stones bigger so you can see it properly when fired
• Added T2 Launcher item icon
• Launcher T2 - Changed mesh to the new one. Fixed the ADS positioning. Added proper itemables with temp names for all the rudimentary ammo/caltrops
• T2 Launcher - Changed Rock golem grenade/frag grenade payload explosion scale to be a variable so their children can change it. Changed the rudimentary explosion scale visual to be much smaller than the other 2. Made the sound played a variable so sound can easily come and adjust to match the new lighter explosion
• T2 Launcher - Added temp recipes for all rudimentary ammo and changed some names to include 'do not touch'
• T2 Launcher - Added itemable row with new icon

Fixed

• Fixing quest that was erroneously overridden in previous Beachhead submission
• Beachhead - Retargeting quest, deleting defunct blueprint from old version
• Beachhead improvements, primarily around separation into subquests to reduce cognitive load
• Some small talent tree shifts: namely the torch tree and Cloth/Leather Armor sections are earlier
• Cont4ct Device moved to the very start of the T2 Tree
• T2 Launcher: Increase fire inaccuracy. Changed to Shotgun camshake. Increase reload time to 3s
• Steel Screws recipe output :: 10 >>> 100 (revision of previous change)
• Changed DLC links to use Steam markup URLs
• Added ITM Shader based version of Grass material for prop usage
• Strange Harvest mission info tip made less prescriptive in how to build up to the downed vessel
• Pouch Weight Bug - Fixed an issue where moving a pouch with items inside wouldnt correctly update. Fixed an issue where pressing the 'sort' button would completely wipe the weight of the contents in the bag. Fixed a bug where the weight context stats e.g.

Future Content

• Readded stomped XL Aquarium mission ItemsStatic data
• RAD_A - Added new 'mission' version of XL Aquarium for use in mission (doesn't require power/water). Updated Greenhouse prebuilt to use it
• Added cheat to destroy build blockers (for that PIE session) so that the actor doesn't need to be moved prior to entering PIE session
• RAD_A - Fixing the boss animations on the rock during the mission
• Dialogue adjustments and additions for missions and and d
• Fixed issue with RadBoss_web trap not releasing players on fadeout start

  head customization material update for skin presets

• Slight reduction in dialogue vent to ensure its ended before the next one plays
• Further launcher load tweaks and timing adjustment
• Adding new launcher turn load audio and adjusting timing
• RAD_D - Committign update Prebuilt
• RAD_A - Committing updated Prebuilt
• Added SM_DEP_Fortification_Concrete_Platform_Half with D1 state and destructible
• Optimized Distance Field usage across project (500 meshes)
• Updated T2 Launcher icon. Updated mesh LODs and collision. Added new SKItem BP. Fixed FlareGun SKItem BP pointing to BoltAction rifle preview context
• Weapon Rack T4 - Added optional electricity that turns on a display light (temp point light)
• Added art assets for the T2 frag grenade
• Adding launcher turn reload audio event and notify
• Adding launcher reload audio
• Added Trees, Cliffs, Lakes and Landscape Sculpting in the Jungle, Green Quad
• Reworking the basic frag grenade audio now that its only use is rudimentary frags
• T2 Launcher - Rudimentary frag and smoke are now throwable
• Disabled 'pulse' action on RadBoss' second phase
• Reduced time between RadBoss spit attacks
• Radboss will now periodically enter a 'weakened' state in third phase, with the amount of time taken to enter this state scaled by difficulty level
• Updated RadBoss breath attack to use new anim
• Female head added on head customization
• New subquest to get the talent for a knife and craft it,since it was required to gather fur for bedroll
• New subquest to gather basic materials needed for axe
• Fixed some typos and put all loc into Title Casing to match standard
• Removal of level requirement from Poison Paste talent
• Disabled Rudimentary Stone and Caltrops grenade recipes. Updated Smoke and Grenade recipes and display names. Updated collision on caltrops mesh
• Fixed BlockDynamicSpawn cheat erroring for clients. Fixed display name for biomes issue similar to WeatherEvent cheat
• Disabled spammy debug logging for inventory sorting
• Updated armoured, radboss and explorer slinker saddle SKs to reduce crashing
• Updated iris healed dialogue with new audio
• Fixing double ups of dialogue in new steps in mission C2
• Simplification of dialogue event
• Removing unwanted line from simple in D 1
• Added ELY colony dressing entrance sign art assets to the project
• Reduced radius on rudimentary grenade from 833 to 750. Reduced caltrops bleed chance to 50%
• Revived and extended the automated performance tester (make rails)
• Rails now appends -nostartupmovies and -FixedSeed=1234 to the client command line, as well as FriendlyAll/Godmode cheats applied from the gauntlet controller
• Changed valid ammo types name/description to Rudimentary Projectiles
• Updated launcher and rudimentary projectile recipes
• Added DT validation to flag Item Input entries with an invalid ItemsStatic entry
• Removed additional spherical collision from Stone projectile, added LOD. Changed to 10DOP collision on 40mm grenade mesh
• Removed custom logic to destroy rudimentary caltrops causing pending kill errors, and use Durability system instead
• Removed unused DoEffects function from Caltrops base class
• Added CullDistSquared value and other misc tweaks to all new rudimentary ballistics
• Rudimentary Nails - Removed explosion damage. Added new niagara effect with less impact than a regular explosion to show the nails flying out but not damaging player. Nerfed caltrops to deal significantly less damage but keep the slow. Nail Caltrops destroy on touch
• Added Trees, Cliffs, Lakes and Landscape Sculpting in the Jungle, Green Quad
• Modified smoke grenade payload base class to accept custom max smoke size and VFX. Modified rudimentary payload to be half the size of thrown version with same lifetime length. Fixed busted material in initial explosion VFX and removed disabled content
• Electric Seed Extractor (future item) steel scrwes required :: 12 >>> 120
• Launcher T2 - Fixed rudimentary stone flying away due to bad collisions when dropping onto the ground
• Launcher/Flaregun - Fixed being able to fire early after reloading right as the bullet gets in the chamber
• Livewire updates
• Resupply quest portion hooked back up
• Terrenus elite is substantially sturdier
• More horses now attack on final location, feeling more like stampede
• Wolves no longer spawn on top of each other
• Added dust kick up VFX to Flying tank when flying
• Modifiers - Fixed a bug where clicking to remove a buff on clients would only remove the UI and not the effect
• Added new weapon rack item icons
• Updated physicas assets for the male and female crab. Added the last of the crab bones and carcass assets
• Swapping the locations of steel and iron bolts on the t2 tech tree as it didn't make sense for steel to be first, given higher level requirement, cost, and effectiveness
• Updated Prometheus Miasmic mission to support both new and old Foundry models
• Changed Dev Elysium prospect (PIE) starting time to be 12pm
• Updated icon for Cave Scanner. Added Scanner icon editor scene
• Updated Electric Dehumidifier BP for lighting changes
• Olympus Sandbox mission: Changed Worklamp quest step to accept either variation of worklamp. Updated required count to be 2x to match mission text. Added hint text regarding build location and regarding turning on Dehumidifer. Added supporting pointlight to dehumidifier and optimized fan rendering setup
• RAD_D - Adding Durable Trait to mission laser
• RAD_D - Fixing issue where rocks where not spawning in the correct place and where placed in the level by accident
• RAD_D - Adding new Wave Spawning Logic to Quest to pace it out & Adding new Spawn Points for the waves to spawn from
• RAD_D - Adding Damage stats to to the friendly prospectors so they can can deal a decent amount of damage
• RAD_D - Adding new Quest Steps and Reworking quest so the player has to craft and provide equipment to the camp
• RAD_D - shifting camps location so its back from the nest, for easier spawning and pacing control
• Improved collision accuracy for Concrete platform
• Underground Client Bug - Fixed a bug where clients would occasionally get a purely visual phantom 'underground' debuff when hitting the unstuck key (teleport) while in a cave
• Added the art assets for the male and female coastal crabs
• Livewire re-ordering of some quest steps so the player can't deploy a scanner before intended
• Added Trees, Cliffs, Lakes and Landscape Sculpting in the Jungle, Green Quad
• Livewire updates: creation of Terrenus boss, deploy hedgehogs stage, clean-up of flow
• Cow Milk Bug - Added further logging to identify client issues
• Weapon Racks - Initial Setup for T2/3/4 Weapon Racks
• ARK - mesh placement and landscape sculpting in geothermal, purple quad
• Added source files for Terrain_022 biome map
• Added biome map and data for Terrain_022. Delete biome override actor
• Rad Bomber - Added anchor functionality. Anchor set to spawn location
• Rad Bomber - Will now aggro based on the AI Detection system instead of just getting a valid player within range
• Added FTs for large banyan trees var1-3 (FT_JU_Banyan_LRG)
• Rad Bomber - Will no longer fly directly at target, will try to avoid obstacles if target active
• Updated Generated LODs for Elysium to fix outer cliffs popping into view as they were added in after LODs were last generated. Texture resolution increased to improve quality. Updated Tooling to delete irrelevant content more aggressively to free up memory for generation
• RAD_A - Adding 2 second delay after the boss roars to summon creatures
• RAD_C2 - Adjusting Boss Fight and Mission Complete Status, Real Boss now spawns and will chase the player when they are close, added new decorators and custom behaviour tree, decorators and tasks, boss submerges when health is less than 75%, boss cannot be killed
• RAD_A/C - Adjusting Dummy Boss Anim Graph and Duplicated Animations so that they can all be played as intended during the missions
• RAD_C2 - Shifting Remnant Outside of EDEN
• RAD_C2 - Adding new quest Markers to EDEN for the Fight
• RAD_C2 - Setting up and spawning Agents, Theo and Victor so they fight the Radiation Creatures
• RAD_C2 - Swapping an Agent out for Iris as they need to be healed
• RAD_C2 - Adding new Quest Step to Kill Revenant and reduced number of Prospectors spawing in Eden
• Added Trees, Cliffs, Lakes and Landscape Sculpting in the Jungle, Green Quad
• Fixed issues with RadBoss web spit not rendering for clients after first shot
• Fixed issue with RadBoss web spit trap not functioning correctly for clients
• ARK - mesh placement and landscape sculpting in geothermal, purple quad
• ARK - test placement of wave spline tool in coastal, yellow quad
• Quest step adjustments to dialogue placement and small bull audio tweak
• Adding dialogue audio for iris and theo during c2. Audio, events and data table setups
• Livewire updates check-in, still WIP
• New Wolf Cave setting
• Cleaned up mission ordering
• New craft hedehogs subquest
• Updated setdressing around injured NPC
• QuestMarker cleanup so tags match steps logically
• T2 Launcher - Removed 'flare' specific code to reduce the speed. Added ability in d_ballistic to either use the projectiles weight + weapons launch force to determine speed or have it try to match a reference weight. Also added a launcher launch force float that will allow for slightly varying projectile speeds if not using the projectile weight

  Improved RadBoss multi-target switching behaviour during rock phase

• Nativised sevaral BP_RadBoss_Spire helper functions
• The various rock phase transition montages now have a DisableLookAt metadata curve applied
• Re-enabled LookAt during rock phase
• RAD_C - Logistics / Chef / Crafter - all npcs are now removed from EDEN during the mission
• Adding dialogue setup and audio for the rancher for mission C. Adjusting where quest steps auduio are being triggered
• RAD_C - Adding Ambient Spawns the the mission
• Changed Great Hunt Boss Title to Malformation on Mission Select screen
• Coastal waves tool for testing
• RAD_C - Adding new Map Icons for laser placement and explosive placement
• RAD_B2 - Commited Farm Structure
• Added DCO_DisplayCase_Large_MetalGlass and DCO_DisplayCase_Wall_MetalGlass

  ConcreteBuildableWeightReduction_+% wouldn't check the correct actors stats when within a bag

• RAD_C - Activate Spawners whent he player enters the colony
• Fixed highlightable setup on Mission Analyzer device. Corrected spelling of Analyzer and fixed highlightable description. Fixed error with BiologicalContainmentUnit attempting to destroy NS components and setting lifespan resulting in pending kill errors. Small hint update for Carapace mission
• RAD_C - Adding Build Destruction and Spline Cleanup
• Added three projectile assets for the T2 launcher
• RAD_O3 - Added icon for chemostat. Updated DM reference in BP. Corrected row handle name for Electric Seed Extractor
• Added Trees, Cliffs, Lakes and Landscape Sculpting in the Jungle, Green Quad
• Removing miles dialogue lines from rancher and removing laugh from simple after bull joke
• RAD_C - Removing Extra Blue Prospector Map Icon
• RAD_C - Adjusting Quests so you blow up the buildings instead of the nests
• RAD_C - Removing Destory Nests Step, they can be ambient and the player can choose to engage
• RAD_C - Fixing Mission Not Completing when it should
• Adding t2 grenade launcher fire audio, event and data table setup
• RAD_C - Adding Transparent Model of the Bull to show where it needs to be delivered
• RAD_C - Stopped more Dukes from Spawning after the Traverse Mission is Complete
• RAD_C - Adding new Model for Cart and Filling with Items
• RAD_C - Removed Inventory from Explosive Cart and changed logic so when you reach the target
• location and get off Duke, Duke Cleans up and a world object spawns that you can interact with and collect the items from
• Added icon for Radboss Crossbow
• Updated first person reload animations and textures for the T4 launcher
• Some in progress quest parts for new livewire and changes to developer map
• Capitalized 'DELETE' is now required to match what is/was displayed for deleting character prompt.
• Removed TextToUpper on delete character confirmation so that only 'real' text is used, as it is case-sensitive
• ARK - lake plane placement and spline edging in geothermal, purple quad
• Launcher T2 - Added DM to stone and if the rudimentary stone hits a non npc it will crumble. Added stone rolling and better bounce physics
• RAD_C - Adding new Map Icon for Farms
• RAD_C - Updating Grass World Object so that the bulls have somewhere to graze
• RAD_C - Fixing Travel Collidier for the First Section of the Quest
• Improved verbosity on Prospect mission name duplication valiation logic. Renamed GH_RAD_B from Preservation to Conservation to avoid duplicate mission name. Delete unused DEV_Test_DLC2 devlocked prospect which contains tons of conflicting/incorrect data
• RAD_C - Adding Farm Prebuilt Structure and Adjusting Bull Spawn Location
• RAD_C - Adding NPC managing the farm
• RAD_C - Adding new Quest Steps to talk with the NPC and fixing objectives which would uncomplete as required
• RAD_B - Added fire resistance while in lava stat to Lava Eater epic creature
• Beefed up the VFX on collectable note/laptop to make them stand out more
• Added a bit more drama to lock in of mini game
• Added current hair, beard, eyebrow, eyelashes, and pierceing SKs with blendshapes for the feminine head, Head_02

  increase to injection audio

• Slightly shortening dialogue line when entering colony
• ARK - splitting geothermal region off from red quad into new purple quad
• ARK - added new seashells decal, painted down in coastal, yellow quad
• Updated heightmap LODs for Elysium
• RadBoss SpitAttack no longer collides with spire actor
• SpitAttack BTTask can now specify an array of actor keys to ignore collision agains
• Added buffer zone when updating RadBoss rock index based on FOV/target position
• RAD_B2 - Tweaked LODs on Experiment Cage preview mesh. Added plane with preview image of prospector for screen display in world. Fixed BP component names for clarity
• Added Macro, Lakes and Landscape Sculpting in the Jungle, Green Quad
• Added art assets for the T2 launcher gun to the project
• Adding optional mission 3 updated dialogue lines
• Fixed a RadBoss first-frame anim related issue that was causing it to appear detached from pillar in first phase of fight
• RAD_B2 - Fixed gloves material on Colonist Miles
• RAD_B2 - Stopped the Double Spawning of Minions during the final quest phase again

  Added loco lean animations for the rad boss

• RAD_A - Changed Steel Gates to Steel Railings. Removed second ECHO device and MXC furnace from cupboard. Added some feed/water into outside animal troughs
• Fixed highlightable setup for Flower pots, remove collision from plant meshes