12/19 @ 1:00pm EST - It's a fresh week for Rust development and the team is making progress on ai and some miscellaneous other things. We'll be back Thursday with an update summary post.

6:05pm EST - The client update and devblog are live!

5:54pm EST - Server update just hit! Client and devblog still pending...

5:00pm EST - Waiting on the final build now - update should be live in the next half hour or so. We had to shut our stream down in the mean time, follow @Rustafied for more info.

3:00pm EST - Our update stream is live! twitch.tv/rustafied

11:20am EST - Update day is upon us and with it, Christmas has once again come to Rust! For the third year in a row, the developers are celebrating the holidays with some yuletide content. We’re in for a special treat this year, as there are more Christmas goodies than ever before!

Our update stream will go live at 3pm EST (new time). Stay tuned to @Rustafied for news throughout the day. Now, let’s get into it...

Update summary video

Here's our update summary video from Puddy!

New decorations

The team has added a bunch of new items this year to spread holiday joy. These items will likely go up for sale on the item store today (similar to the Halloween items). They will then be crafted and placed around your base with care - in hopes no raiders will soon be there. With a new wreath, lights, garland, and even a snowman, bases will be looking more festive than ever this year!

Edit: Here are the crafting costs of these decorations. You can find them for purchase on the steam item store.

Candy cane club

Decorations aren't the only new holiday items coming in today. The candy cane club will not only allow you to whack the Christmas spirit into your fellow Newman, you can also lick it for some nutritional value. Watch out though, several licks is all it takes to get to the center of this candy club.

Reindeer antlers

Some new festive head ware has also arrived. Along with the Santa hat from previous years, we now have Reindeer Antlers added to the holiday headgear arsenal. Also featuring a cherry red nose, they are not able to be crafted, but you will find them in presents and stockings. Providing a little bit of head protection, your player model will surely look thrilled to be wearing them.

Stone fireplace

A late addition to the party this week, the stone fireplace has been added. A default blueprint, the fireplace must be placed inside against a wall. Costing 500 stones and 200 wood to craft, it provides a bit more comfort and can cook food just like a campfire (same number of slots too).

Edit: This is no longer a default blueprint - it costs 20 scrap to research.

Christmas tree

In a final last addition, Helk has added Christmas trees. This item is a default blueprint, can be crafted for 500 wood and 30 cloth, and can be decorated with various ornaments you'll find in loot during the Christmas event.

Snowballs

Another late addition, it appears snowballs are making their way in for this Rust holiday season. They currently have the same stats as a rock and the icon of a bone knife. I'd expect them to drop randomly in loot, but we'll see...

Edit: Looks like these won't be in this week.

Xmas event

As you may remember from previous years, Rust Xmas occurs once every ingame day. Accompanied by that old familiar jingle of sleigh bells, present boxes are spawned around players. By default, 2 presents are dropped within 50 meters of each player on a server - although this can be tweaked server to server via a series of cvars (for list, type “sv find xmas” in console).

Xmas Loot

When you hear those jingles, look around your general location for present boxes on the ground. After you whack their 30 health away, you’ll be greeted with a Christmas loot drop of 1 or more small and medium presents. These presents can be unwrapped or upgraded to higher tiers, which yield better loot. Here are some details...

Small Present

Possible Contents
Reindeer antlers
~245 wood
~124 stone
~36 metal frags
~3 chocolate bars
Candy cane club
Eoka + 10 shells

Upgrade to medium
10

Medium Present

Possible Contents
Waterpipe + 10 Shells
Syringe
150 Low Grade Fuel
1000 Stone
Small Stocking
Pookie Bear
Salvaged Cleaver

Upgrade to large
5

Large Present

Possible Contents
Revolver + 20 Bullets
20 High Quality Metal
Pump Shotgun + 12 Buckshot
250 Crude Oil
Flame Turret
Large Stocking

Stockings

Hung around the chimney (err, campfire) with care, this duo of deployables will load up with items over time - a long time. You’ll know when there’s some goodies inside when they start dazzling sparkles from the top.

Small Stocking

~250 wood
~150 stone
~25 metal frags
Eoka + ~10 shells
Reindeer antlers
Candy cane club
~5 Chocolate Bars
Coal

Super Stocking

~250 wood
~150 stone
~50 metal frags
Eoka + ~10 shells
Waterpipe shotgun + ~10 shells
Medical Syringe
Coal

Wood and sheet metal rework

Not all changes this week were just in the holiday spirit. Reworks of both the wood and sheet metal walls have been completed, sealing up all the little gaps and holes in each. These changes - especially the wood tier - have come under some scrutiny. I don’t think, however, most people realize what one of the main motivators of the devs doing this was.

Helk enlightened me: these changes stand to improve client performance. Think about it, if you don’t need to render what’s beyond walls, looking at bases can be less intensive on players, thereby improving FPS.

Building health increases

In some last minute changes here, Helk has increased the health of sheet metal and armored building blocks. Sheet metal is now two times stone health (which is a 70% increase) and armored is two times metal health. Here are some new stats based on our tests:

Stone wall

Health
500

To destroy
2 C4
4 Rockets

Sheet metal wall

Health
1000

To destroy
4 C4
8 Rockets

Armored wall

Health
2000

To destroy
8 C4 *
15 Rockets

* Note: 7 C4 brings an armored wall to under 100hp

Edit: Upgrade cost of sheet metal is now 200 metal fragments

Upkeep changes

In the wake of the huge changes brought on last week by building 3.0, the team has made some tweaks and changes to building upkeep. First, all doors, wall frame inserts, ceiling frame inserts and barricades require upkeep. Although the exact figures are still being tested, this will mean base upkeep is now more expensive.

In the realm of decay, foundations now decay at the same rate as other building blocks when their upkeep is not paid. Also, building blocks that are inside now decay at 10% of their normal decay rate (this can be modified by server owners with the ‘upkeep_inside_decay_scale’ convar).

More slots in tool cupboard

An extra row of slots has been added to the tool cupboard!

Tool cupboards no longer drop loot (nevermind)

Along with the upkeep changes, tool cupboards no longer drop loot when they are destroyed. This should make it a little less advantageous for raiders to destroy cupboards.

Edit: Nevermind - Helk just told me they are reverting this. Tool cupboards will still spew items when destroyed.

Other stuff

Open/close sounds only play for the local player
Small furnace is now skinnable
Can no longer use broken items for purchases at vending machines (min 50%)
More improvements to AI behavior
Barricades can now be repaired