Memory and CPU
Community guides and hosts put a small crew of two to four players at 6 to 8 GB, and a full server of eight with large bases at 16 GB or more. The game is largely single-threaded on its main loop, so a fast core matters more than many cores; the rest of the cores serve the physics, networking and Wine. Our plans have 10, 14 and 18 GB with 3, 4 and 5 dedicated cores.
Under Wine the sync primitive matters: without fsync or esync the same server spends far more CPU. Ours runs Wine with fsync on every plan. If your crew outgrows a plan, the Hardware tab adds CPU, RAM or disk to the running server.
Hardware by plan
| Plan | CPU | RAM | Storage | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Players | 3 vCores | 10 GB | 25 GB SSD | $8.49/mo |
| 6 Players | 4 vCores | 14 GB | 30 GB SSD | $10.99/mo |
| 8 Players | 5 vCores | 18 GB | 35 GB SSD | $12.99/mo |
Disk
The install is about 10.5 GB, plus about half a gigabyte for Wine's prefix on Linux. A prospect is one JSON file that grows with the base (from a few hundred kilobytes for a fresh one to tens of megabytes for a long-lived one); backups keep copies of them. SSD or NVMe matters for load times: a prospect loads in seconds from fast storage and takes much longer from a spinning disk.
Ports
| Argument | Default | Protocol | What for |
|---|---|---|---|
| -Port (game) | 17777 | UDP | Game traffic: what players join on |
| -QueryPort | 27015 | UDP | Steam's server query: the server list, Steam favourites and A2S |
Both must be reachable from the internet. The server binds exactly the ports it is given, so the numbers must be the same outside and inside.
Frequently asked questions
How much RAM does an Icarus server need?
Plan on 6 to 8 GB for a small crew and 16 GB or more for eight players with big bases. Our plans have 10 GB for 4 players, 14 GB for 6 and 18 GB for 8, and you can add RAM later if your crew needs it.
What ports does an Icarus server use?
Two UDP ports: the game port (17777 by default) and the Steam query port (27015).
Does Icarus need a fast CPU?
Yes, a fast core matters more than the number of cores. Every plan runs on dedicated cores.