12:00am EST - We’re halfway through October and the huge Naval Update for November is taking shape! This article summarizes the features of this next update as it stands now.

Naval Update Overview

The Naval Update is live on the AUX1 staging branch, offering an early look at one of Rust’s more ambitious patches to date — planned to come in the November update. This massive overhaul brings player-built boats, deep-sea exploration, new AI patrols, floating cities, tropical islands, and large-scale naval combat into the game. Here’s a full breakdown of what’s currently available on staging and what’s still in development as the update sails toward release. Keep in mind, this is all subject to change.

Deep Sea Biome

The Deep Sea is a massive new oceanic region that sits beyond the edges of Rust’s main island, reached by sailing across the sea border. This area features unique points of interest like floating cities, ghost ships, and tropical islands, all surrounded by rougher waves and more intense weather.

Floating City

The Floating City is a huge new ocean monument — think a hybrid of Outpost, Bandit Camp, and Fishing Village — built atop connected barges and platforms. It’s not a safe zone yet, so PvP is fully enabled throughout the area. Inside, players will find a greenhouse that costs 150 scrap to access and harvest crops, vendors selling weapons, diving gear, and boats, plus a recycler for quick turnover. There’s also an arcade and casino area with slot machines, poker tables, Chippy cabinets, and musical instruments, alongside new missions like “Kill Scientists.” It’s one of Rust’s most detailed monuments yet, offering both high risk and plenty of rewards.

Tropical Islands

Scattered throughout the Deep Sea are small tropical islands, complete with beaches, palm trees, and lush vegetation. They can’t be built on at the moment, but they add atmosphere and variety to the open ocean. These islands may eventually serve a larger purpose — potentially as loot spots, event locations, or treasure sites in future updates.

Ghost Ships

Ghost Ships are mysterious new AI-controlled vessels that appear throughout the Deep Sea. There are several types so far, each crewed by blue scientists who patrol the open waters and engage nearby players. These ships aren’t player-controllable and currently act as roaming mini-events, offering some light loot in the form of barrels and basic crates — though this may expand as development continues.

PT Boat (Patrol Torpedo Boat)

The PT Boat is a new armed watercraft built for heavy combat on the open sea. It comes equipped with a rear-mounted .50 cal turret, two front-facing machine guns, and space for multiple players with internal storage for supplies. AI-controlled variants also exist — scientist crews can pilot these boats, engaging players with coordinated fire even after their driver is killed. Once destroyed, the boat will sink, marking the end of the encounter. PT Boats currently spawn as part of Deep Sea events.

Modular Boat Building

A brand-new modular boat system lets players design and construct their own vessels from the ground up. Using a Boat Building Station placed in shallow water, players can assemble boats piece by piece with a new Boat Plan — similar to base building but entirely naval. Available components include wooden hull platforms, sails, small engines (you can mount several), steering wheels, anchors, cannons with cannonballs, doors, storage boxes, and even a Tool Cupboard for upkeep.

Once a boat is finalized, it can’t be modified without rebuilding, and all construction uses wood as the primary resource. Current limits allow for boats up to 12x12 in size and around 19 blocks tall. Boats also appear to have upkeep requirements and can even dock at oil rigs using custom-built ladders and platforms.

Boat Combat & Raiding

Player-built boats can now be fully destroyed, introducing a new layer of naval combat to Rust. Each vessel’s health scales with its size — smaller boats go down fast, while larger ones can withstand heavy fire. Rockets, HVs, and incendiary rounds all deal damage, and when a boat’s health hits zero, it begins to sink.

Damage is applied globally rather than per wall or section, so you can’t target individual parts of a ship. Boats also respond physically to explosions, allowing you to push or jolt them with well-placed rockets. Once sunk, there’s no repairing or salvaging — what’s lost to the sea stays there.

RHIB Overhaul

The RHIB has also received a full visual update with a redesigned model, improved detailing, and a working headlight for better visibility at night or in storms. Scientist-controlled RHIBs now patrol the Deep Sea as part of AI naval encounters, circling and engaging players in fast hit-and-run attacks. While they look and handle better than ever, the loot they drop is still pretty minimal for now.

Other Stuff

Removed the ability for passengers to manually throw flares from helicopters, added flares to minicopter & scrappy
Hot air balloon can cut engines to avoid homing missiles (after 5s of engine being off)
Optimizations to windmill and chippy
Fixes for texture streaming delay issues