4:10pm EST - The update is live and devblog is out! Given how close we are to 5, our weekly US servers are wiping now with the update.

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

3:30am EST - It’s that time of year again! The Rust Christmas event starts today and will last till January 3rd. In addition to the classics from previous years - you know, presents, stockings hung by the chimney with care, and every Newman rocking an Eoka - Helk and Co. have some fresh ways to spread the holiday cheer. There’s also some improvements to electricity!

To get all this live, a mandatory server and client update will occur. As with all updates, there is no set time for when it’ll hit, but we’ll tweet the moment it does. This update will not force a wipe. All Rustafied servers set to wipe today will do so at their regular scheduled time (5pm EST/GMT/AEDT).

See everything in action live on our update preview stream starting at 3pm EST. Follow @Rustafied for news throughout the day.

Update video summary

Here’s a summary of the Xmas event from Puddy!

Santa’s Sleigh!

Every Rust players Christmas in game wish has come true. Gone is the loud, soulless rumble of the C130. Instead, sleigh bells crescendo as you look up to find Rust Santa (a scientist dressed up as old St. Nick) and his sleigh soaring through the sky, magical sparkles in tow. As it flies overhead, a giant present is released which floats down, with glistening stars trailing the way.

The loot is still the same, but damn if it ain’t festive as fuck.

Edit: Nevermind, it looks like loot for Santa drops is a lot better than normal airdrops!

Snow Machine

Like the Halloween event, there will be exclusive items available for purchase on the item store (released around when the update hits). Probably most exciting of them all, players will now be able to bring a bit of Christmas to them - even if they live in the desert.

The Snow Machine has arrived and it does exactly what you think - makes snow! Think the fog machine, but for snow.

Giant candy

Outdoor base decorations has gone up a notch this year with the addition of the very tasteful giant Candy Cane and Lollipop deployables. Plop them all over your yard to ensure your neighbors know just how big of a holiday spirit you’re packin’.

Edit: These are available for purchase on the item store now!

Presents!

As with previous Xmas’s, you can expect to be occasionally graced with presents. If you hear some jingle bells, look up, and there’s no sleigh in sight, go looking around as several presents may have spawned in your general area. Whack them a bit (they have 30 health) and you’ll be treated to 1 or more small or medium presents. These presents can be unwrapped or upgraded to higher tiers, which yield better loot. At the moment, this appears to be the same loot as last year's event.

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 loads 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

Electricity improvements

All the work this week hasn’t just been on the xmas event - Helk has done a ton of fixes and changes to electricity. Along with correcting some weird battery charge / discharge issues, he’s made it so batteries have less capacity but a higher charge efficiency. He’s also fixed batteries not being able to be wired in a series and made it so they must have at least 5 seconds of juice to begin discharging.

Some items have been tweaked as well, including root combiners can now be stacked with other root combiners. They also now have short circuit detection. The output of solar panels has been lowered to 20 and its output is now also scaled by health.

In addition, ceiling light sounds are now less loud and annoying. Finally, some descriptions have been updated and the branch and combiner no longer show the title of, ‘blocker’ when aimed at.

Other things

• A bunch of new holiday skins on the item store

• Monument puzzles are fixed

• Nerfed junkpile scientist aggro distance

• Fixed junkpile scientists not always switching between flashlight and research gear correctly

• Tweaked Military Tunnel scientist damage output

• Fixed some M39 sounds not playing

Holiday Build Contest

We’re running a Holiday Build Contest! Since last weekend, players have been joining a special server and and building their own holiday scenes and paintings. The contest will run till the end of the month and we’ll be giving out VIP packages to the winners. More details here.