After you’re done with the Waterfall Expedition in Icarus, you’ll unlock Payday Extraction. It’s one of the most time-consuming missions in the game since you’re expected to craft Tier 4 items. Here’s our Icarus guide to help you with Payday Extraction, the Fabricator, the Radar, Exotic Extractor, and Electronics.

Note: For more information, check out our Icarus guides and features hub.

The Payday Extraction mission in Icarus rewards 400 gold currency upon completion. Likewise, by default, it has a timer that lasts a week, and with good reason. It’ll take you a lot of hours just to farm the necessary materials before you can mine an underground Exotic deposit. Of course, if you’re playing with a group, then you won’t encounter too many issues (i.e., you can split up and have each player cover certain areas of the map). Sadly, it’s not tailor-fit for solo players, as the grind is quite atrocious.

The Fabricator is a Tier 4 blueprint in Icarus, which means you need to reach level 30 before you can unlock it. But, the materials will give you a headache. As such, we advise you to look for various caves in the region (just watch out for Cave Worms and the Pneumonia illness).

Examples within the vicinity include I10, J10, K14, L10, and M12. You’ll definitely need loads of iron, copper, aluminum, and, most especially, gold. As for silica ores, these are found in open areas.

Note: RNG plays a factor in whether cave openings are visible or not. If they aren’t, then you can use a pickaxe to destroy the odd-looking walls and reveal a passageway.

Yes, you should still acquire some items that can help with survivability and combat, as well as any tech tree blueprints that are necessary. As for the list below, we’ll just focus on the resources and items that are needed for the Fabricator, Radar, and Extractor in Icarus.

Note 1: If you’re soloing, do not, under any circumstances, craft both the Radar and Extractor at the same time (I’ll explain more below).

Note 2: Make sure you carry lots of wood and sticks as well. We’re going to need even more Tree Sap for Biofuel (I’ll also add details in a while).

Ideally, you’ll want your initial shelter/base of operations in the temperate/forest biome. This is where you’ll make the Fabricator and Radar (again, don’t build the Extractor yet). Anyway, let’s say you already crafted the Radar. Plop it down and activate it so it can begin scanning. A progress bar will appear on its small screen (seen in the image above). Once that’s done, open your map and you’ll see a circular outline with a yellow segment.

The yellow segment denotes the general direction of the Exotic deposit in the Payday Extraction mission in Icarus. The correct location is between J11 and J12 (seen in the image below). Put the Fabricator, Radar, and other fixtures in your inventory and travel there.

Once you reach that sector, deploy the Radar and do a scan. It will reveal an icon on the map, and you’ll see a strange marking on the ground. You can then build another mini-shelter nearby and deploy the Fabricator inside. This is when you should craft the Extractor so you can place it on the marked area.

Note: The reason why we don’t want to build both the Radar and Extractor at the same time is because they can only occupy the backpack (“G”) slot. If you crafted both while you’re further away from the correct location, then you’ll have to bring the Radar and scan there. Then, you’ll need to run back to pick up the Extractor. It’s quite a hassle.

But, we’re not done yet, we need to obtain Fuel, too. This is discussed further in our Fuel and Grenades guide. Here’s the gist in any case:

Once a container is full, pick it up and open the Extractor’s interface. Place the Biofuel Can in the bottom slot and watch as stacks of Exotic ores get mined automatically. After getting around 197 Exotic ores, the Payday Extraction mission objective will get completed.

Note: You’re going to need five to six Biofuel Cans that are filled up to mine the entire deposit. You can always re-add the used containers in the Biofuel Composter.

The Extractor should have around 197 Exotic ores. Go ahead and place them in your inventory. If you’re over-encumbered, throw away all the items you don’t need (i.e., crafting materials). Just bring a couple of weapons, as well as some cooked food, and run all the way back to the drop pod.

Sadly, the drop pod only has five slots (enough for 100 Exotic ores). However, you can click and drag the remaining stacks to your hotkeys. Once you escape the Payday Extraction mission in Icarus with all these Exotics (i.e., those in the dropship and those that are in your hotkeys), the currency amount will appear on your Workshop screen.

Note: Although the Payday Extraction mission in Icarus nets you almost 200 Exotic currency, it’s better to farm the Deep Vein Extraction mission. You won’t need to craft any Tier 4 item there, and you can simply rely on basic equipment.

Icarus is available via Steam. For more information, check out our guides and features hub.