Community Update 73

The beautiful header was sent to me by Ivanov Igor, and landed about one minute too late to be in last week's update. He obviously has a very idealised view of Rust, so he probably plays on a community server. I love it. We love it. You should love it. Here's a bigger version. That'll look amazing on your monitors, or in six months when you repost it to the Steam Community.

Rust has stats, but they're currently just displayed as a little bit of fun on the game's menu. You really can't gleam a proper overview of your time in Rust from it, which is why Rust Stats was made. This new community site will enable you to check all kinds of life and death stats. You can even compare your stats to another player. Rather than listing them, here they all are. My avatar is better than yours. I spend so much time in spectate mode that my playtime vs my stats are kinda skewed, and my k/d ratio is totally because of all the servers I visit and leave a body sleeping on the ground. I'm better than they suggest! Proof is that one time I won Battle Royale on a relatively busy server. Thanks for the awesome site, assorium!

As always, Phaedo82's Primitive Raid Cam is an informative video about the ins and outs of a Rust server. But this is also unusual because it takes place right after a wipe, so the server isn't awash with rockets or huge bases. Everything this early on in the game has a value to the player, and so when a solo player in his base is set upon by a small group, he tries to turn the tables. I'm really glad Phaedo was around to capture this. He was tenacious. He left that place full of corpses. If that has given you a hankering for some primitive violence, btw, we're now hosting Primitive Battle Royale servers. Check the official servers on the browser.

One of my favourite Youtube channels, Rusty Pirate Gaming, has just released a trailer for a ongoing tourney, hosted by iRifted. The Battle of the Best is a team-based battle set on a custom arena, and if you click that link you can see they're recruiting for the next round. You don't have much time, as it kicks off tomorrow, but it also seems to be an ongoing effort. And as with everything they do, they've created a cool video to go along with it. Apparently you can join the ranks of Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein by signing up. I'd have called it Bestle Royale, but I'm unappreciated in my time.

I came across a really well scouted out guide on reddit. John_Strange's Extensive Rust Survival Guide for Solo Players on High Population Servers is a good primer to those taking on the world of Rust on their own. It's worth reading no matter how many hours you might have in the game, as getting another player's perspective is always useful, but it's aimed at bare-footed beginners.

Hide. There are plenty of bushes and rocks around. If you hear someone's loud footfalls, stay crouched (which makes your movement silent). Try and take routes which don't involve running through open fields. Stick close to potential cover and remember to keep your eyes open. When you are outside your base, you are vulnerable—don't make yourself easy to see.

As is the case for these posts, the comments are filled with even more useful--and contradictory--advice. If you grabbed Rust from a bundle or a sale over the past months and keep being turned into burger meat, have a read of everything.

Ruigi asked his very talented fiancée to "draw me like one of her elf mages". This is what she provided. Clicky for more, including Nicholas Cage. Can't follow that. The community blog is retired. For a week.

Think you're working on something awesome? Tell me all about it. Now's the time to share your base designs, or get into the growing Raid Cam business, or show off a game-mode from your server. There's a dedicated forum post, or you can fish for upvotes in the Subreddit. I also shuffle around the the Steam Community, so feel free to show me to things from there. You can follow and respond to Rust on Twitter, and I'm on there as well. I can't respond to everything, but I read every comment and take it all in.