The first thing to know about Rust is that you will die. A lot. And that’s ok. It’s a grind and the more loot you’ve gathered when you die the more frustrating it is. It’s a part of the game though so don’t sweat it. And don’t expect sympathy from other players.
When you spawn in Rust for the first time, you find yourself on a beach with nothing but a rock and a torch. Let’s take a look at those two tools.
Choosing a server
In Rust Game you have three categories of servers : Official, Community and Modded.
Official and Community servers provide the original game configuration, it is how the game was meant to be played originally, which is also known as vanilla.
The Modded servers on the other hand provide a different experiences, it may be as simple as increased resources gathering to something more different like freestyle building
The best way to figure out the mechanics of the game is on a quiet server with less than 50 players. You’d think Facepunch’s official servers would be the safest place to start but there tend to be cheaters on them and they attract a less friendly crowd.
The video bellow from Blootorials will give you some good tips about which server to choose.
Once you’ve chosen your server it’s time to get started.
The basics
F1
and type kill and press enter to kill your character and re-spawn somewhere else.
You’ll want to decide where you want to head to start gathering. You’ll also want to look at your map to decide where you want to build. Certain areas and biomes have more or less kinds of resources. They’re also monuments on the map. These special buildings and areas hold barrels and crates that have components.
Components are key ingredients for crafting in the game but you don’t need them to build your base early on. Monuments are split into tiers. One, two and three. One being considered the least rewarding and also the least dangerous. Up to three being the most rewarding but the most dangerous. Like the launch site which is guarded by the Bradley NPC and the Military Tunnels which is guarded by multiple well geared scientist.
So the lower tier monuments are the harbor, light house, gas station, and supermarket. They may be useful to live near them as they hold crates with valuable items such as better gathering tools and even firearms like revolvers and semi-automatic rifles. Just beware, many other players roam these monuments in search of components and items.
Early game objectives
A few key objectives in the early game:Find an area to build
A good strategy is to check the map immediately after spawning (pressG
) and run away from the beach so you don’t get harassed by other nakeds. Head inland away from monuments.
Part of the fun of Rust is learning the different characteristics of each area so don’t be too fussed where you end up. However, initially the snow is challenging because you will die of cold overnight unless you have clothes and a fire.
Get a sleeping bag and stash down
Once you’ve found an area you’ll want to get a sleeping bag down. Find some tall grass or bushes and plonk it down. This allows you to respawn at your bag rather than on a random beach after you inevitably die. Next up craft a small stash and pop it down somewhere distinct that you will be able to remember. It’s worth taking a screenshot of where you’ve dumped it for future reference. You’ll need to be able to find it to add and remove loot. The reason this is important is that you’re going to bury your stash underground where no one can see it (including yourself). To access your stash again you need to look down at the ground where it’s buried for a couple of seconds.Build a starter base
Don’t get too carried away building your first base. Your main priority here is safely securing your loot so you can build up your gear and start causing mayhem for other players. The cheapest and most common starter base is a single square foundation with an adjoining triangle foundation (commonly referred to as a 1×1). The square foundation has one door leading to the triangle foundation, which in turn has one door leading to the outside world. The triangle creates an airlock allowing you to “safely” leave your base without other players jumping in and grabbing your main loot.Craft a furnace
There’s a lot more to it than this and I’ll go into detail below.
Here is the official Getting started page from Facepunch (Game developers) which contains more information on how to get started and show some basic tools in the game
https://www.rustafied.com/getting-started-in-rust-experimental