Oh Rust. Such an addicting game. One moment you're cutting down trees with a rock, trying to gather wood to finally get a base down and the next moment you're running away from some asshole with a bow. Rust definitely has its up and downs but one thing is for sure... This game is not for the easily offended. Since the game has no filter and essentially no rules (other than hacks), you'll tend to run into some of the most toxic players in the gaming community. We chose to start off our gamer tips with this hidden gem of a game because Rust is coming to console soon and we know many of you will just be starting out. Rust console edition for Xbox and Playstation is coming out May 21st, 2021.
If you're just starting out and need some advice on how to make this server wipe even remotely fun, follow these tips and tricks on how to get started.
STEP ONE: FIND A LOCATION
This step is probably going to be one of the biggest decisions you're going to make in the beginning. If you plan on snowballing (usually trying to get an AK as soon as possible) and not staying on a server for too long, then this won't be as important. If you do plan on playing a full wipe and/or you're playing on a server that's a monthly wipe, this step is very important to follow.
Monuments
Building near monuments can be very rewarding but also very risky. Monuments usually attract nearby clans and pvp players because they spawn military crates, wooden crates and barrels. Some also have recyclers that can be used to recycle components into scrap or other useful materials. These same players also use these spots to prey on unsuspecting players to kill them for their loot. Expect to see a lot of traffic at almost any monument on the map.
Snow
Building in the snow is great because of the amount of material that spawns there. Also, you can expect very few bases because of the harsh living conditions. The snow makes you cold, which will slowly deplete your health. If it rains, this depletion will almost double or triple. You'd have to have clothes on almost all the time. Wetsuits are a perfect thing to wear in the snow since you wont get wet and it keeps you warm enough to not die. An extra tip would be to install a heater or fireplace in your base to keep you warm. Heaters require electricity but have a much larger radius of warmth. Fireplaces only require wood but have a much smaller radius of warmth.
Any beach or coast
Building on the beach or coast near mountains or cliffs can be helpful since a decent amount of material can spawn near mountain sides. You can usually find lots of trees as well, which you'll need to expand or build your base as well as feeding your furnaces. Also, building a boat base can help with getting lots of scrap and components from the mini wooden floating barrel islands scattered around the ocean. If you do choose to build near the beach, keep in mind that a lot of the beaches host to spawn points so lots of people usually build on beaches. Larger clans build near beaches, especially near the lighthouses since they have a recycler and boating is very easy to do in groups.
Desert
The desert is best for those who wish to try and stay off the radar. There's usually not many monuments in the desert, not as many trees compared to the grassy lands and nearly not as many material. One of the better things about the desert though is that you can usually run along the road, farming barrels easier since its usually less populated. If you build near the coast of the desert, you can build a boat base and use it to drive up to the snow to get all your mats in bulk. The desert does get really hot so if you like to run around with clothes, you might have to travel lighter to combat the intense heat of the sun. Another thing worth mentioning is that there's not as much cloth, so you'd have to hit some cacti to find some.
STEP 2: GATHER MATERIAL TO BUILD YOUR STARTER BASE
Building a starter base can be a tedious task. Some people want to go big or go home, right off the bat. Although this is tempting, we would suggest starting off small first. Grab your trusty rock and start banging trees and stone nodes. Once you have the 200 wood and 100 stone required to make a tool, start by crafting the stone hatchet. This can be done by entering the craft menu and select the stone hatchet. Once the hatchet is crafted, use it to knock down more trees. With the hatchet, you'll earn more wood per hit. Don't forget to hit the red X that shows up while hitting the trees. This will give you "bonus" wood per hit. This is essential to getting the max amount of wood. Remember, speed is critical in this stage since there are many players most likely hunting other players to steal their loot. The list of items below should be crafted as soon as the required amount is obtained. Once you have everything crafted below, save up an addition 5k wood and you're ready to build a small starter base.
The items you'd need to build a starter base are:
- 2 wooden doors
- 2 key locks
- Tool Cupboard (TC)
- building plan
- Hammer
STEP 3: BUILDING YOUR STARTER BASE
Okay. So you have a bunch of wood saved up along with the items need (Above) to begin building. What we would recommend is crafting everything listed, as soon as possible. Since it takes time to craft these items, if possible, you should craft them while you're gathering the wood so by the time you're finished collecting the material, you're ready to build.
Placing your foundation and upgrading your walls
Bust out your handy dandy building plan, press the right button on the mouse and select "Foundation". This is how to build the main flooring of your base. Most people build "2x2" starter bases, which is basically a square. 2 from left to right and 2 under those. Once you place them, grab your hammer, hover over the twig foundation you just placed and hold the right button on the mouse. It should give you 2 options (If you have stone or metal, it will give you options to upgrade to those materials as well). To upgrade, choose the material you'd like to upgrade it to and click it. Once you do this, the foundation will now become solidified with the material you chose. Once your foundation is solid, start placing the walls and door frames.
Doors and locks
Once you place your walls and door frames, it's time to place your doors. Place your doors in the door frame. The doors open 2 ways. Inward and outward. If you place the door incorrectly, open the door, remove the lock (If you already placed it) and hold E to remove it. Then replace is the way you'd like. Once the door is placed, pull the lock out and left click on the door. (This is also how you'd place a lock on your TC). Once you placed it, the lock should be green. This means its unlocked. To lock it, you must hold E while looking at the lock, then switch it to "lock". Once the lock is red, this indicates that it's locked and nobody can open it except for the person who placed the lock. If you plan on having team mates, you might want to consider placing a "Code lock" in the near future so you can enter a code, give them the code and they can enter the base (or TC if you place on on there too) as they please.
Building an airlock
Be sure to build 2 doorframes since you're going to have to build an airlock. An airlock is almost a requirement when building a base. This stops door campers from gaining full access to your base as soon as you exit your base. NEVER open your second door without closing the one behind you.
Sleeping bags for spawning
Find some cloth and craft 2 sleeping bags. One for inside your base and one for outside your base. Keep in mind that you must place your bags a decent distance away from one another. If you place one too close, you'll notice that before you place it, the bag is sort of a brownish/tan color. This means that you're too close to another bag and that if you place it, both bags will share the same exact spawn timer. If go run about 10-15 seconds away from your first bag you placed, before you place your second bag you'll notice it turns blue. This indicates that your second bag is far enough away from your fist bag and will not share the same bag timer.
Placing a tool cupboard (TC)
When building your base, the TC is the heart of the entire structure. Without placing a TC, your base will literally decay and weaken over time. Also, it will allow people to build near your base or wall you in so you can't get out. When you place your TC, it is highly recommended that you place a lock on it immediately so nobody can access it. If someone accesses your TC, they can do anything to your base.
STEP 4: Make sure your walls are on correctly
NEVER build and upgrade your walls at night. If you do, make sure you carefully confirm with a light source that the walls are on correctly. Remember that every wall has a "strong" side and a "soft" side. Once you place a wall, you have 10 minutes rotate it before its permanent. To rotate it, pull out your hammer and hold the right button on your mouse, then pan over to "rotate". The looks of the walls should make it easy to determine which side is the "strong" side and which side is the "Soft" side. A good rule of thumb if you still can't figure out which side is which is to make sure the "darker" side is pointing outside the base. The side with more texture is the strong side. This is very important when building your base because if you place a soft side sticking out, people can "softside" your base with tools and spears easily and gain access to your base.
STEP 5: HUNT AND FIND FOOD
Lakes for fresh water, pumpkins and corn
There are a few ways to find food. Usually on every map, there are rivers. These look like little strings of water normally attached to the ocean. These rivers provide fresh water you can drink as well as fresh corn and pumpkins that automatically spawn around it.
Canned food from supermarket
Supermarkets also have small green food crates that contain food and water. Another great thing about heading to the supermarket is that military crates spawn there. Food crates also sometimes spawn in the random barrel spots along the roads and in random spots near swamps and monuments.
Hunting animals to harvest food and material
If going to rivers or looking for food crates isn't your thing, you can always go for the old tried and true...Hunting. Crafting a bow will set you back 50 cloth and 200 wood, but if you can master the bow, the sky is the limit. The bow does severe damage (50 to the chest but bleeding out for 10 more and 80 to the head but bleed for 20). As for hunting, the bow is the best thing to use while starting out. Look for the bears, wolves, boars or deer roaming around the map, aim for the head and let the arrow fly. Usually the boars, deer and wolves die in 3 arrow hits. The bears vary. Once you kill the animal, try and use a bone knife to farm their body. The bone knife can be crafted with 30 bones and next to the combat knife, is the best way to harvest as much material from the animals as possible.
STEP 6: Farm more and start expanding
Once you have your starter base built, you can now craft some storage boxes and place them inside your base to begin collecting material to expand or build your main base. Craft some stone tools and begin farming. Collect stone, metal and sulfur. If you kill some animals, collect the animal fat. Animal fat + Cloth will craft low grade fuel, which you'll need to drive vehicles and craft furnaces. Furnaces are used to smelt down metal ore into metal fragments, which can be used to make various amounts of tools, weapons and also can be used to upgrade your base to metal.
STEP 5: Have fun and do your thing
Rust is amazing because it caters to a lot of different types of gamers. Whether you plan to be a farmer, a role player, a base builder, a clan member or a PVP player, there's something for everyone. This thread will constantly be updated with many more tips and tricks that would be useful for anyone looking to learn more about rust. We'll get into more upgrades, crafting guns, electricity for your base and even raiding. Have fun!
-Richie Swift (Owner and CEO) 12/23/2020
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