1:25pm EST - The update is live and devblog is out!

12:30pm EST - Just heard from Helk that the update is going live shortly. Therefore, our update stream is going live early!

12:00am EST - Our favorite time of the month has arrived. Update day is here, and with it, Scientist NPC’s, a new military shotgun, a super satisfying new way to gather wood, and more!

As with all first Thursdays of the month, there will be a forced map wipe when the update hits - no set time, no forced blueprint wipe. Our update stream will go live at 3pm EST. Follow @Rustafied for news throughout the day. Let’s get into it...

Update summary video

Here's the update summary video from Puddy!

Chainsaw

An awesome new tool has arrived in Rust. It runs on low grade fuel, makes a hell of a racket, can be a bitch to start up, but holy hell, does it gather wood like nothing else!

With your new Chainsaw equipped, right click to pull the cord and get it going. It doesn’t always start on the first try, so keep at it till you see that chain start moving. Once it’s idling, simply go up to a tree, hold left click, and let it rip! Watch as the tree in front of you is eviscerated in seconds. Best of all, there’s now an additional stack of wood in your inventory (depending on the tree).

This efficiency does come at a cost. The Chainsaw runs on low grade fuel and has a tank capacity of 50. It consumes some fuel while idling, but really burns it while revving, with a rough cost of 7 low grade per tree.

Although it’s main purpose is lumber, it can be used for melee combat or even to gather animals in a pinch. That said, I wouldn’t recommend the Chainsaw for either of those, as there are much more efficient and less expensive alternatives.

Finally, it’s a no go for raiding. Wood doors might as well be titanium with how quickly this thing loses condition against them.

Cost
5 high quality metal
2 gears
6 blades

Crafting time
30 seconds

Workbench
Level 2 required

Research cost
250 scrap

Tank capacity
50 low grade

Comparisons

Hatchet

Damage
25

Attack Rate
67

Tree Gather
30

Flesh Gather
12

Salvaged Axe

Damage
40

Attack Rate
28

Tree Gather
50

Flesh Gather
10

Chainsaw

Damage
12

Attack Rate
300

Tree Gather
30

Flesh Gather
2

Scientist NPC’s are in

A new nuisance plagues the Rust landscape. Scientist NPC’s, sporting their blue rad suits, now spawn randomly around the map. Their days spent roaming rad zones and investigating junk piles with their geiger counters and flashlights, these Scientists are especially prone to violence.

Quick to engage any nearby Newmans with all means at their disposal, they generally pack a Spas-12 or MP5 for their primary weapon. Watch out, they will also whip out a machete if they are out of ammo. To kill them takes more than your average naked on the beach as they have 200hp.

At the moment Scientists drop mainly components and the occasional piece of clothing. This will shift soon, as Helk told me he plans on tweaking the Scientist loot tables prior to the update going live.

Edit: The loot tables have been updated. Initial tests are showing Scientists dropping syringes, semi bodies, flares, incendiary shells, metal tools, and even the occasional m9 pistol (much better than before). Also, Scientist spawning at junk piles has been turned off by default but them spawning at military tunnels is now on by default.

Spas-12 shotgun

A new military grade weapon has arrived. The Spas-12 is a semi-automatic, 6 round shotgun. Like other military grade weapons, it can only be found, never crafted or researched.

Compared to the Pump Shotgun, the Spas-12 does less damage per hit. That said, the Spas’ increased fire rate - 3 rounds per second opposed to 1 - makes its damage per second to 50% greater than the pump.

Its exact loot spawns are still in the works, but expect to find the Spas-12 in higher tier loot locations like the heli crash or Bradley. It has 3 attachment slots and fires all the ammo you’d expect - handmade shells, buckshot, slugs, and even the new incendiary 12 gauge shell.

Edit: The Spas-12 and incendiary shells have been added to airdrop loot.

Comparisons

Double Barrel

Damage
180

Recoil
30

Fire rate
120

Range
10

Pump Shotgun

Damage
210

Recoil
22

Fire rate
55

Range
45

Spas-12

Damage
105

Recoil
22

Fire rate
180

Range
45

12 gauge incendiary shells

Accompanying the Spas-12, a new type of ammo is here: the 12 gauge incendiary shell. Like other incendiary rounds, they spread hot little fires around near the point of impact. Although they are not viable for any type of raiding, these incendiary rounds could be useful at blocking doorways and the like in a pinch as the fires slow people down.

Cost
5 metal frags
10 gun powder
20 sulfur

Research cost
75 scrap

Workbench
Level 2 required

Craft time
3 seconds

Amount per craft
2 shells

Procgen changes

Andre has tweaked a bit with the procedural map generation. Less drastic than some months, the main change was to terrain blend maps for monuments - providing a much better transition from the terrain around monuments to the monument with no more circular shape around it. He’s also snuck in some new bushes.

Grief protection

A valuable new feature has been added to tool cupboards to prevent decay raiding. Cupboards will now commit any resources to the upkeep time if destroyed as opposed to simply spewing all resources.

This time is maxed out to 24 hours by default, however, server owners can shift this if they prefer using the new upkeep_grief_protection convar.

Also, you cannot simply destroy one cupboard, place another, then destroy that one in attempts to reset the upkeep timer. Grief protection cannot be triggered multiple times by repeatedly destroying cupboards.

Cheaper repairs

Fixing your broken weapons and tools just got a lot cheaper as repair costs were reduced from 50% to 20%. Also, the repair bench no longer costs wood - but does cost an extra 25 metal fragments.

Nailgun buff

Helk has slightly increased the fire rate of the Nailgun.

Other stuff

Beds can be repaired and picked up
Water purifier can no longer be placed on barbecue
All signs, banners, frames now repairable
Ensure locker, bed, workbench destroyed if construction placed on no longer exists (ground watch tweaks)
Shotgun trap container no longer small stash
Better skin downloaded (timeouts added if failed)
Players will now need building privilege to access spotlights
Bandages and syringes now show their information panel
Xmas tree no longer craftable and default BP
Fixed 6th belt bar having inconsistent font size

US Long II Live

I’m happy to announce the opening of our latest server: US Long II. Like our other long servers, it features a 4k map, 200 slots, and only wipes maps when forced. Look for it on the official list after the update!