Many people have been spamming the chat with questions that can simply be answered by going to the forums, trial and error, or as I said raging at the world because they have no idea how to start. I am here to tell you that you are not the only person that wants to play the game. More-so, I love to help people, so I will be creating this guide on how to start off and become self-sustaining in Rust. My guide will cover the following areas:
First Spawn[]
First 5 minutes of the game Assuming that you have spawned in the day time, here is what I would recommend that you do. First off, you use:
W, A, S, D
to move. You have in your tool bar (The bar at the bottom) a Rock, torch, bandages (ADDMORE), unless you are playing the updated version of rust, not legacy, you will only spawn with a rock. no bandages or torch.
You will want to use the rock to gather some wood. Some people have trouble finding rock on the first day, so they make the mistake of running around until they find some. I have a theory that rock is constantly spawning, and thus when you move around, it makes it hard to spawn 'near' you (While this is true, rock can spawn more frequently in some areas). My solution to said theory, is to find other players, chop some wood, and then look around for the rock nodes.
Rock nodes come in 2 flavors. White, which is predominately stone (Actually Sulfur) and tan and gray, which is predominately metal and stone. I have yet to see a 'large' white stone, but have seen both small and large black metal deposits. I will be referring to these as Stone and Metal in the future.
You interact with items using the 'E' key. In the beginning there is not much use for this, however you will learn to love it, and hate it as some things in the current patch can be quite confusing. again, unless you are playing the updated version of rust, all breakable rocks will drop sulfur, stone, and metal fragments.
Shelter[]
After you have gathered: 5 stone, 40+ wood (I prefer 85+ so you can build a shelter), you are ready to start your 'life'. In my mind, the hardest part is finding the initial 5 rocks to give you the stone that you need in order to make a stone hatchet. Use the 5 stone that you found, and some of the wood to create said stone hatchet. Next you will want to use the wood that you gathered to create a 'Hut' which will be used to initially store your belongings, set up a campfire, and put down your sleeping bag.
Housing location is crucial. You will want to be close enough to some kind of resource. Rocks will usually spawn in the same area. You will also want to be able to be safe from animals, so that if you get chased by a bear/wolf/red bear/red wolf
you can get to a position where they can no longer find you, and you can 'leash' them by smacking and running away without the fear of dying. This also helps because they cannot camp you.(It also might be smart to hide your shelter from raiders, if at all possible.)
My first shelter, to give some pointers, was on an outcrop of rock. It allowed me to be safe from all monsters, and had some room on the outside to place a campfire. It didn't take long at all to climb, and it served as a good point of reference so when I was coming back from a long trip, I didn't get lost.
This is an optional Tip/Hint but I found it helpful: Place a campfire on top of your house with enough wood (30) so that when you leave during the night/day, you can light it on fire, and it will serve somewhat better than finding your house in the dark.
CLOSE YOUR DOORS! (this will lock them automatically, and only the owner can access what is inside. Without locking your doors, your items and chests are free game.
Food[]
As we all know, Food is one of the most important things that we need in order to survive. In Rust, it is no different. I would suggest making food one of your top priorities and always keep a high amount in stock just in case. Also, for protection, I keep all my food out of storage containers in the emergency that someone stumbles upon them.Find the boars, you want to Sprint-Smack, and repeat until dead.
In order to efficiently gather some good Ol' grub, you are going to want to fancy yourself a Bow, and some Arrows. This is pretty easy on an unpopulated server. You need to first have gathered some cloth. Easy enough, if you Sprint-Smack a boar you can get them that way.
The second part is to gather some arrows so you can actually put your newfound tool to use. So go back to the old grind to finding your stones. On a lower populated server, they shouldn't be too difficult to find.
In my opinion, (coming from a non-pvp low populated server ~25 people) arrows are the best source of HUNTING at a low level. I played a server, Non-PVP, with about 128 people constant, and it still remained a good way to hunt and kill things, even with low spawns.
After you have gotten yourself some food, it is time to cook it on a fireplace in your shelter. To cook the food move to your fireplace, press and hold "E" choose open, and then place the food into one of the cook slots. You can also add wood here as well.
| Red Bear/ Red Wolf | Bear | Boar | Deer | Wolf | Chicken | Rabbit? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
3 shots/ 2 Shots |
4 Shots | 2 Shots | 2 Shots | 2 Shots | 1 Shot |
1 Shot |
|
Loot items (in Backpack) Raw Meat (~3) |
Raw Meat (~5) |
Raw Meat (~3) |
Raw Meat (~5) |
Raw Meat (~3) |
Raw Meat (~2) |
Raw meat (~2) |
(Please note that the above table is with the Bow and Arrows only, the meat does not change, however.)
Resources[]
Ahh, our good old friend resources! It is both my Hypothesis and my suspicion that resources (Wood Stack, Stone, Metal) are more likely to spawn where there are people playing. I have evidence that playing on a 128 cap server, there was almost no stone to be found, except when in large areas with other players. On a smaller server, with a cap of about 50, there were no lack of resources. (Nope, the resource nodes only spawn in particular areas of the map. The lack of resources is due to more players harvesting the nodes, leading to a perceived shortage)
Whichever the server you play on, I am here to tell you that if you manage them well, it does not matter how many people will play. You have to know how long your current supplies will last, as well as if you are in an area that will be populating soon/ever.
Resources include the following:
Mentioned above are the main resource spawns. These do not include the other ones that are not as common.
Tips/Tricks, Hypothesies and Conclusion[]
As we near the end of this guide, I will leave off with some tips and tricks that I found useful!
- When gathering resources, you are able to look away until the main item hits the mark. This allows you to look behind you for players, and other hostile animals.
- Join a small server when starting out, it will help you gather resources and learn the ropes of the game. NON PVP servers are also a bonus as they provide the above-mentioned and is basically 'easy mode'.
- When you first spawn, if there is no stone/metal in your immediate vicinity,(F1 suicide till you get a spaw with better resources to live your life)
gather some wood from the trees. This will tell the game that you are sticking around that area, and I think it will increase the spawn chance.(False. Resource nodes only spawn in specific areas of the map. Stick to the road, you'll come across resource fields) - Always close your doors!
- Do your crafting at night, that way you can maximize output of resources and tools during the day! I advise you to only craft things such as: Food, tools, etc. that will make your life easier during the day! (I would advise not starting a fire at night as the hunters and looters are attracted to light, I know i sure am)
- Make sure, if you are using Storage, that you allow nobody into the area. They may steal it and you could be left worse than when you started!
Always keep the most precious items on you!(False, Put it in a little storage bag and hide the bag) - When logging out, take all of your valuable items that way they will stay with you with no chance of theft! (Unless you play on a "sleeper" server, meaning when you log out your character "sleeps" on the ground. A person can then come and kill you and loot your body.)
- If you are lagging, press F1, go to the console command line and type without single quotes: 'grass.on false' this will disable the grass and make it easier to see, as well as easier on your system!
- Need cloth? Hunt wolves. They give loads.
I want to thank you for reading my guide! I will keep it updated as much as possible! I will be adding a commentary and many more informational pictures! If you have any questions, my Steam ID is Kato233, and you can usually find me on the smaller NON-PVP servers!
Thanks again,
Kato233