Cooperating as a team is integral to everyone’s survival on Icarus, especially towards end-game content. Assigning specific duties or roles to each player with their relevant skill set could be the difference between dying from thirst, starvation, exposure, spontaneous animal attacks -- or a majorly successful Prospect where everyone reaps the rewards and makes it out alive.
Preparing your team for a triumphant Prospect
The value of a well thought-out Talent and Tech Tree can be everything when playing in a crew. Having an array of unique skills across each player in your team will benefit everyone!
Depending on how many people are in your cohort, “gathering as you go” is always a safe option to ensure everyone can cover themselves in the event of a tight-squeeze or surprise. Allocating the core tasks like Mining, Hunting and Building to specific players will save time over the duration of the prospect! Just make sure you pool your resources into a shared inventory space like a chest or crafting bench, so everyone has access to the cooked food, resources and building materials that everyone has contributed.
Do you enjoy using the pickaxe?
Mining, mining, mining. There is a lot of mining needed for your survival on Icarus. First and foremost -- Oxite. This is found in abundance, thankfully, but you will need to mine a substantial amount for your team so nobody dies of asphyxiation. Stone is everywhere, and crucial to early stage crafting and Two Tier building. If you are the allocated miner, you’ll find your inventory weight increasing drastically, so choose Talents that help you carry more and not slow down. A large chest will be of huge value, and you may find yourself running to and from it as your inventory fills up. If you get into a good groove your team will thank you for it, and your efforts will be seen in the items they are able to craft.
Is building your thing?
Whether you’re the lumberjack, miner, or not, you will need a decent amount of wood and stone to craft a home large enough to fit your cohort plus any benches, tables or furnaces inside. Ensuring your home has a strong foundation, walls and roof is essential during Icarus’ harsh storms. Perhaps you can craft a Repair Hammer and Fire Whacker for each of your team so you can defend against the storm together.
Are you set on crafting items for your group?
Even though your teammates may be out there gathering resources en masse - crafters also need to contribute. Armour is integral to prevent exposure damage from the harsh elements on Icarus as you explore the Forest, Arctic and Desert biomes. Make sure you have enough time to create an armour set for each of your team with the leather and fur that your hunter has collected. You will also need to prepare other survival tools like oxygen and water bladders before you all venture out to the next biome.
Do you consider yourself a chef?
Whether you’ve acquired the game meat, fish, berries and other food items yourself - or have a dedicated hunter or gatherer - doesn’t matter. You will need to be fast to cook some of these items before they expire or rot. Meat especially needs attention and can be cooked over a simple campfire. Berries are great for restoring both your hunger and fluid intake and all players should carry these. You can also bake bread and other baked goods with specific ingredients and the right crafting equipment. Food can offer buffs to your stamina and health, while hot and cold drinks will help restore your temperature.
Have you set ground rules for your cohort?
While we don’t have a dedicated PVP feature, friendly fire does exist, and fellow prospectors may find shortcuts or make decisions at your expense. As you have seen on our Community Streams, friendly fire isn’t encouraged but is definitely possible. This could happen via someone chopping a tree down onto a teammate’s head or an arrow to the knee. Intentional or not, good communication is key. Keep an eye on those in your crew, and whether their actions are authentic… or suspicious.
Work together, have fun!
Playing with IRL friends is a great way to get a head-start on Icarus as your teamwork and communication should be so much easier! On the other hand, finding and playing with teammates via LFG requires individual players to come together and work cohesively. But this is a fantastic opportunity for specialised prospectors to fit into the gaps of a team and step-up when needed. Icarus has been designed to suit both the socialite and the lone wolf!
We hope you’ll form many new gaming friendships, and grow stronger ones, on Icarus. The amount of new memories you can gain by playing a prospect together is infinite, and we cannot wait to hear all about them! Both triumphant and… disastrous.
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