Rust Custom Server [JesterNet Adelaide]

Welcome to JesterNet Rust!

If you love the game of Rust but are tired of “Rust Players” or feel you have outgrown the fast paced PVP/Raiding mentality of the game or need a more relaxed environment to improve your skills in the game then JesterNet rust may be an option for you. 

Developed by a long time Rust enthusiast I am a casual rust player of the older generation who loves the game, loves some of the people who play but has grown tired of the state of official and large servers. This is a step back to allow large base builds, month long friendly gameplay and No Clans. We welcome anyone who is interested in some friendly PVP, building and exploring and having fun with the game mechanics, especially if you have kids who also love to play, this is a fun zone for you and has been modded with low pop gameplay features to make it more of a challenge…

Free for anyone to join please be aware mods are watching the server and players not adhering to the rules of the server may be banned without warning. This is a friendly Rust zone!

Discord / Contact

We are still in the process of configuring a detailed Discord server but you can join to ask questions etc here: 

JesterNet Discord Server

You can also send a message direct using the Contact Form

Donate

This server is hosted personally and open for all to enjoy. Your donations will help to upgrade server hardware and purchase more fun and interesting plugins. We really appreciate those who donate, there may be special donor features available down the track. 

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Server Details

 

Server Wiped: 4 September 2026 8:00am (Australia)

This server is hosted personally by me and based in Adelaide, Australia and serves only users who are based in Australia. High Ping connections are kicked. The server itself is a modest Windows Intel i5 server running 24GB of dedicated ram and can offer a world supporting up to approx 20 players. Connection speed is 50Mbps upload speed on a direct DSL coax line. 

You can find the server by searching “JesterNet” in the Rust Modded Server List or connect manually:
Press F1 in Rust and entering the following command in the Console window: client.connect jestermgee-home.ddns.net:28015

Features of this server: 

  • Typical “Vanilla” Rust: While there are some extra events and features on the server, the core gameplay is Rust just adapted for long-term gameplay. There has been a deliberate effort to make sure that loot, crafting and general gameplay is not made too easy as to make it pointless to play. 
  • Monthly Wipe Cycle: Designed to allow you to build and survive the month, server wipes with FacePunch’s wipe cycle only. BP’s wipe every month also
  • Better Loot: Custom loot tables that slightly increase loot and offer chance for better loot. This is tweaked over time to adapt to players. 
  • 2x Gather: Faster farming with more resources gathered
  • 2x Stackable: Larger stackable amounts with some additional tweaks to allow for things like 6 Medpens in a stack rather than just 2
  • Max Player Group Size 4: We allow up to 4 players in a group, designed to allow friends to easily play together but not designed for a large group to rush players. 
  • Offline Raid Protection: Your base is protected from offline raiding after logoff for 48 hours, just login within this time to keep it protected (see below for details)
  • 50% Upkeep Cost: Upkeep cost/time is halved for base upkeep 
  • Raidable Base Events: Random bases appear on the map that you can raid for loot. These have been personally hand designed as more authentic bases to raid for loot and a challenge. 
  • Heavy Guarded Crate Event: In addition to air drops and locked crates a guarded crate drop event occurs with NPCs you have to take out to get to the crate
  • Vehicle License: Buy a license and own/spawn your vehicle anytime (see below for details)
  • NPCs at Monuments + NPC Bradley + Airdrop: Additional NPCs are found roaming the monuments, supermarkets and gas stations that you can take out for extra loot and increased challenge. Difficulty increases based on monument importance. Taking out Bradley will also cause a Chinook drop of scientists that is best to run and take out from afar or with a crew. Airdrops also will have several armed scientists roaming around the drop zone that you will have to deal with to get the loot and you will also encounter a number of random roaming murderers so be sure to always be carrying a weapon.
  • Building Workbench: Workbench build range extends throughout the base to save you having to stand next to the bench while you craft
  • Vote Day: Option to skip nights when the announcement shows by typing /voteday in chat
  • Starter Kits: Type /kit to see the available kits with the starter kit offered for free. A starter kit with basic tools and food is available on your first spawn.  
  • Numerous Adjustments / Tweaks: A number of small QOL tweaks to the game to make it more geared to a smaller server. Things such as adding recyclers to the cargo ship, adjusting the loot and spawn time of the “Deep Sea” Patrol Heli adjustments to reduce chance of fleeing when engaged and to go down where it is killed rather than fleeing to a monument with more frequent heli spawns too
 

Many of the features are based off features found in many popular community based servers that add elements of fun and interest without changing the game too much. The core Rust gameplay is maintained and loot will be adjusted over time to make sure it is not too easy to gather, the whole idea is to explore for the things you need rather than simply raid other players. 

Features will depend on the plugins being reliable and maintained. Some are paid plugins and well supported, others are community maintained free plugins so expect sometimes some of these features may not work. 

Please Note: This is an experimental server that is being developed and changed over time. Some features may change or be introduced during a server wipe. Every effort will be done to not affect players but sometimes things need to be administered. 

This server is designed for more mature players who like some friendly PVP but ultimately want to relax after work and play some games. While this is a PVP server and you can choose to raid player bases that are unprotected it is expected that you respect the gameplay and do not bring the toxic behaviour from other servers.

  • Australian players only, no high ping players this is an Australian based server and is open only to Australians (high ping connections will be kicked). 
  • No cheats / scripts / hacks or exploits of any kind. Even a hint of this will see you banned without question. 
  • No toxic language, antisocial behaviour such as spamming the mic, offensive or excessive language or racist slurs.
  • PVP should be a friendly affair, consider leaving a person’s stuff or offering some genuine comments of encouragement over “dominating” players. High player kill counts can see you banned
  • While it is still possible to raid bases outside base protection, this is not the aim of the server and repeat offenses and complaints may see you banned. 
  • Camping or constantly hunting down players will not be tolerated
  • Building a base intentionally to block a players access, setting up turrets to prevent players from accessing their base will see your buildings destroyed
  • Raidable bases are PVP/PVE zones and PVP is encouraged but be respectful.
  • No loot is handed out from Admin and no Admin assistance outside special cases.
  • No asking for admin level or asking to assist with managing the server, we got this already and do not need your “assistance”
  • While admins play as players on this server it is without admin level authority so no admin powers available within server. External moderation is handled via RustAdmin to ban players that do not adhere to the rules but admins may enter to investigate players not adhering to the rules.
  • This server is created so genuine players can enjoy the game so if any of this doesn’t sound like your game, no problem, just move on. 

 

Most of the above is just common decency as we want players to have some PVP fun but ultimately do not want people who like to dominate or play their own personal games on this server so please feel free to report players that are not adhering to the spirit of the server and if you are banned from the server, just move on as it was for reasons good enough to get banned. 

When you first drop into the server you can choose to redeem the free starter kit by opening chat (T) and typing /kit

You will see a kit you can select which includes basic clothes, a sleeping bag, basic backpack, food and a bow with some arrows. You will need a weapon at all times since even basic monuments have enemies lurking. 

Starter kit is free and can be recalled once per day with a max of 4 kits available to be called. 

Type /buy in chat to see the vehicles available and the cost in scrap to purchase. A vehicle can make traversing the land much quicker. See below about vehicles. 

TIP 1: When you first drop into game your goal should be to put down a starter base and hunt down better weapons as weapons are a must! Start with Supermarkets, Gas Stations, Mining Outposts and roadside loot piles because armed NPCs are found at almost all other locations making it a challenge to get in and loot without a gun. 

TIP 2: Always carry plenty of Medpens and bandages as you will need to heal a lot. In early game you cannot make medpens until you have a Tier 2 workbench so always carry bandages and some food. Carrying portable barricades and a sleeping bag is also a good idea around monuments as NPCs will react and head towards your location, sometimes in small groups and cover will be needed. Try set down a sleeping bag before entering a monument location because you can sometimes get overwhelmed by NPCs.

TIP 3: If you are killed by NPCs at a monument never head back without radiation protection if needed and a weapon of some kind. It is difficult to get through the remaining NPCs on high alert without having a weapon. Sometimes when you set down a sleeping bag having a spare Hazmat suit if you find one and a spare pistol hidden in a stash next to your bag can be a life saver.

Tip 4: Don’t stress if you lose a whole kit, there is plenty of loot around and it does not matter! Weapons can be found in the green loot crates sometimes along with locked crates and basic guns may even show in roadside crates sometimes. 

Tip 5: Save up for a MINI and learn to fly early game to get around. It is a huge timesaver. If you are not good with a MINI you can purchase a motorbike which can be another good and fast way to get around. Also consider the train system where you can hijack a train engine and use that to get across the map quickly. 

Tip 6: Raid bases and Cargo Ship are the best ways to get looted up fast. Both need a basic weapon and raid bases will need explosives, fire weapons and grenades to take out traps. Worth the time to do for faster progression. 

If you are brand new to the game or have played very little, these videos may be a good starting point for info  otherwise if you have played Rust before but are not up to speed on the latest updates, check out some of the other videos below in the “What to do in the world of Rust” section:  

Raiding is a core part of Rust but fact is, some people live in the game and can spend their entire waking hours farming and raiding while the rest of us work for a living and there is nothing more devastating to a group who just want to enjoy some catch-up time and gameplay than logging on after a few days to see you have been raided while at work or sleeping.

Online raiding is accepted as long as it is fair however anyone who is dominating the server in raiding everyone will be banned if there are complaints so choose targets who are willing to participate, not as a form of domination!

Raid Protection offers full protection of your base when you log-off for up to 48 hours with a sliding scale of protection as the hours tick by. This is how it works: 

When you login to the game and have played for 10 minutes (you need to have interacted with something such as a crate or doors within that 10 minutes) you set/reset the raid protection timer for ALL your bases on the map. This protection starts after you (or all your group) have been logged off or inactive for 10 minutes. 

Note there is a 10 minute cooldown window (currently) where your base protection does not kick in to avoid people simply logging off mid raid attempt. If you are being raided online you will have to defend your base. 

  • Once you have logged off and the 10 minute cooldown ends your base is now 100% protected for the next 3 hours. 
  • After 3 hours the base is 85% protected until meaning only 15% of any normal damage is inflicted 
  • After 6 hours protection drops to 70% protected meaning only 30% of any normal damage is inflicted 
  • After 12 hours protection drops to 40% until 48 hours so in that time, while your base is not 100% protected it will cost someone at least 40% more explosives to raid you making it a lot more expensive. 

 

This protection may be adjusted over time but this offers some fair play mechanics and allows for bases that have been abandoned to be open for raiding

While online raiding is permitted it should be noted that setting up raid bases outside of a players base especially with turrets that prevent a fair fight is not permitted. 

A feature of this server is the ability to purchase a “Vehicle License” from the usual vehicle vendors or directly in chat. When purchasing from a vendor, you will own that vehicle for the game and can respawn it just the same as if you use the menu to purchase. 

Vehicles do have quite a substantial scrap cost to buy as they are a buy once, own forever investment however once you own a vehicle you can respawn it anytime even if it is destroyed (after cooldown) 

To see the vehicle buy cost enter /buy in chat

To purchase a vehicle enter /buy [vehicle name] or just /[vehicle name] in chat so for instance to purchase a Mini Chopper type /buy mini in chat if you have the required amount of scrap in your inventory

To spawn your purchased vehicle, enter /[vehicle name] in chat so for example to spawn the Mini Chopper type /mini

Vehicles do not degrade when left out in the world so they do not despawn and you can recall your misplaced vehicle by typing in the vehicle tag in chat such as /mini. 

There is a recall cooldown of 60-240 seconds depending on the vehicle meaning you cannot recall your vehicle again until the cooldown has expired. Similar, if you destroy your vehicle any items within it including items in the mini storage and fuel will be dropped on the ground to collect but you will not be able to respawn a destroyed vehicle for 20-50 minutes so be careful!

The Mini Chopper has a storage container on-board that can hold some loot which can be handy when farming and looting or as extra tools. This loot box cannot be opened by other players however your vehicle can be accessed and used by other players and you can only recall it when not in use.

A very comprehensive Raidable Bases system has been implemented which spawns bases around the map that you can raid. These are classed as Easy, Medium, Hard and Expert. All bases have been hand designed for a more authentic experience with more being added constantly 

You will see these appear as coloured circles with a “vending machine” icon on the map. Hover over the icon to see the difficulty level, how long until it despawns and the amount of loot available. Also note that PVP means anyone can fight for the loot while PVE zones you are protected from being killed when in the dome 

Each base appears for 45 minutes before disappearing however if you enter the zone and begin a raid this will restart that spawn timer and you will then have 45 minutes to complete the raid which will appear as an info box in your toolbar showing the raid time left and the available loot left 

Within raidable bases you will find boxes of loot, the Tool Cupboard loaded with resources, usually a fridge full of food and teas for boosted gathering and once you destroy the Tool Cupboard you are free to pick-up any extra items such as work benches and furniture that you like, as long as you did not destroy them. Loot is generated based on pre-set loot tables for raids but with a lot of randomisation as to what you actually get so no raid is ever exactly the same and be aware, some bases have several different internal layouts while they look identical from the outside so never assume loot is always in the same spot!

Raid bases are protected by roaming NPCs with Easy / Medium bases having a few NPCs that do not respawn while Hard and Expert bases have much harder to kill NPCs, more of them and they will respawn after about 8-15 minutes so if you die, you will need a new kit to get back again. All bases contain traps so be on the lookout for shotgun traps, flame turrets, auto turrets, trip wires and land mines.  

Easy Bases

These typically only need some fire weapons such as flame arrows, molotov’s with some doors needing a few satchel charges or a C4. Usually these are wood/stone buildings with wood or metal doors and good as starter raids early on in the game as it can help fill your loot fast. Expect to get a lot of ammo, low and mid tier weapons, food, basic teas, seeds and plants, clothing items and a chance to get some high tier blueprints to learn as well as a possible high tier gun. Usually protected by a couple of gunless murderers roaming around the outside and 1-2 armed scientists 

Medium Bases

These are usually all stone with some metal and honeycomb or hard to penetrate walls forcing you to blow through the doors. Almost all doors are metal so these bases need explosives, rockets and explosive ammo. Expect a lot of traps, maybe a turret or 2 and loot to be spread out in all corners. 3-5 murderers and a few armed scientists will be roaming around these bases. The payoff is a lot of explosives and rockets, mid to high tier weapons, ammo, advanced teas and lots of food items better clothes. You need decent weapons to tackle this one

Hard Base

As is suggested these present a challenge. You may need up to 20+ C4 and rockets to get through these and you will also need a lot of grenades to take out turrets. Typically these bases are all metal with some armoured doors and are protected by a large external wall, external turrets, several internal turrets and radiation requiring at least 16% radiation protection. There are around 10 Murderers and Scientists protecting the outside of the base with a few inside somewhere too. They will chase you down even if you run from the raid zone! They will respawn after about 10 minutes. You get the same kind of loot as the Med base but more of it and guarente sniper rifles and better armor and bonus loot such as “Loot Bags” for random surprises. 

Expert Base

This is the heavily protected base that has a surrounding wall and is usually all armoured doors and walls. You will need a lot of explosives and rockets for this one. 16% radiation zone protection needed, lots of respawning NPCs that will wander out the raid zone if you run away. Lots of turrets that may be very hard to find and take out, SAM Sites so don’t fly too close and when you complete the raid a “counter raid” spawn of NPCs will appear to make your exit a challenge so you will need a lot of ammo, explosives and grenades for this challenge! 

The whole point of raid bases is to have some fun and use the explosives for something other than raiding players. The payoff is always worth the investment and is a fast way to stock up your supplies. Don’t stress if the base despawns before you manage to get everything, any loot boxes you destroy will drop and leave the loot behind allowing you to pick it up even if the base disappeared. Boxes that were never looted will take that loot with them so be sure to not take too much time.  

You will find the typical airdrops, cargo crates and Chinook dropped locked crates but every so often you will receive notice in chat that a Guarded Crate has dropped which will be highlighted on the map. 

This guarded crate is like any other locked loot crate with high tier loot available however it is guarded by a dozen heavy scientists who will run after you, flank your position and ultimately take you down even at distance. 

These guys are aggressive and accurate so it pays to have a sniper if you can or a good amount of cover, consider a portable barricade or 2.  

The Bradley APC tank is normally found patrolling the launch site making it more challenging to gain access to the main building for the high tier loot at the top however the tank can also be engaged and destroyed and will drop a number of elite crates with very good loot within. 

While the Bradley is a tough opponent requiring rockets or explosives to take out, it is not too difficult to manage once you know some good spots to fight it from…. That is until now!

Firstly you will find heavy scientists patrolling the launch site which are best to take out from a distance first. Be warned that there is usually a mini-gun wielding heavy scientist and a sniper who seems to be a pretty good deadshot so go heavy armor with facemask or you may find yourself instakilled!

Once you begin to engage the Bradley after he takes some damage be warned a squad of heavy scientists will jump out and head your way so be ready, they are heavily armed.  Fight them off, take them out then destroy the crippled Bradley… 

With Bradley now completely destroyed this is not the end of the fight! Med up fast because just like the Oil Rig heavy scientist event, a Chinook is on its way to the Launch Site to drop another squad, take these guys out too. 

If you manage to take out all the guards the Bradley loot is now secured. This mission is best tackled by 2 or more players and I would recommend lots of armor, med pens and portable wooden barricades, you will need them!

Patrol Heli is quite a presence on the map and can instill some fear in players as you need to keep out of it’s sight to avoid being targeted by its guns and rockets. 

There has been some upgrades to the heli on this server: 

  • Heli attack behaviour has been adjusted so it will choose to target players for longer instead of fleeing if it is attacked
  • Some reduction on the amount of damage the gun inflicts on players to make it slightly less hurtful when shot
  • More frequent heli visits to the map between 45 minutes and 1.5 hours adding more of a threat to your roaming 
  • When engaging and taking down the heli it will go down where you kill it instead of the new behaviour of b-lining for the closest monument 
  • When the heli goes down a team of heavy NPCs will spawn to guard the crash site so don’t rush in too fast

 

It is still just as much of a challenge as ever to take on heli and if it proves to be too easy for players it may be increased in difficulty even more… 

For those that have played Rust you will know that most monuments do not have NPCs at them, they are vacant and designed for PVP encounters but on smaller servers this results in quite a boring experience and far too  easy access to loot. 

To make the world more of a threat and roaming around a little more exciting there are now populations of AI NPCs found roaming around monuments and roads that you will have to be ready to take down. 

Supermarkets, Gas Stations and Light Houses may have several Murderers (running NPCs with a melee weapon) or zombies, easily taken out even with hand held weapons but they do tend to rush you so keep an eye out. 

Most other monuments such as Dome, Water Treatment, Harbours etc will have a number of armed Scientists carrying different weapons and high tier locations such as Launch Site and Missile Silo will have a few extra heavy armed scientists with mini guns to take care of. 

Also be aware there are at least 100 roaming NPCs just randomly roaming around the place at any time so be aware no matter where you are because they can hunt you down. 

Airdrops also have armed scientists that appear near the drop zone so nothing is ever easy! 

As a long time Rust player who has played both solo and as part of a group for 10 years I find the design and pace of Rust actually pretty good. For casual gamers such as myself I enjoy the farming, looting and crafting aspects as much as the PVP side and tend to find some servers take away all the work of waiting for some things to craft or having to farm which results in a boring and pointless experience. 

The goal of JesteerNet Rust is to keep the core Rust experience and not implement things such as “instant crafting” but instead try and offer more of a balance of the loot you get and improve a few day to day mechanics for convenience: 

  • Adjusted loot tables removes a lot of the garbage components such as hats and hemp clothes from crates to make sure you won’t find too much out in the world without heading for monuments but also what you do find along roads you need for crafting. Considerable time has been invested testing loot tables and making adjustments to make it rewarding but also not too fast to progress. 
  • 2x gather collection means collecting wood/stone/ore is not as much of a chore but still needs to be done. 
  • 2x stack size increase means you can stack more loot in boxes with some additional manual stack adjustments for things like medpens (carry 8 per stack)
  • 2x smelt speed when smelting ores and refining fuel because you don’t want to be stuck waiting for things to cook. 
  • Auto pickup of barrels loot, when hitting a barrel the loot is auto collected to your inventory.
  • Workbench extends throughout the base so you are free to move around n your base as you craft
  • Info UI in the top left of the screen shows the time in game, players online/sleeping and active events such as cargo, patrol heli, air drop 
  • SAM Sites do not attack the base owner or team players, only unauthorised players
  • Players added to your bases auth list are automatically added to turrets and code locks saving the need to have to unlock every door 
  • Adjusted Patrol Heli behaviour will see the heli drop into the map more often but also is less likely to flee when you start fighting it making for more chance to take it down. If you do manage to take it down, it will no longer flee for the closest monument and will behave in the classic way of going down right where you kill it however 10 heavy scientists now spawn at the crash site but they carry also good loot. Be aware sometimes you may see more than 1 heli roaming the map too.
  • Skippable nights using the /voteday feature allowing the dark nights to be skipped if enough online players all vote for it
  • Cargo ship has on-board recyclers allowing for your loot to be recycled so you can carry more

There are always improvements to be done as the game goes on. Some additional features that hopefully will be implemented is Discord integration to allow messages to appear from the server in discord, full stats system showing everything achieved by players, server points system allowing points to be earned by completing events and taking out NPCs with points redeemable for in-game loot / kits and more “fun factor” improvements!

This store will show up on the map and contain a number of vending machines with various items available to purchase, mostly base furniture and decorations but additional popup shops may appear with custom loot or exchanges available giving you something to spend your scrap and resources on.

These are Safe Zones with peace-keeper turrets requiring you to put your weapons away when entering the zone. 

You will also find plenty of seating, BBQ along with workbench, research table, large furnace, refinery and Level 2 workbench. There is also a fridge and storage so feel free to use it as a temporary drop zone while you take on a challenging mission, just be aware others can access these boxes too.

Keep an eye out for other custom structures as there may be additional “fun zones” as well as “abandoned bases” that can you can raid but these may or may not be worth it, who knows… 

Loot tables are managed by the “Better Loot / Looty” system with a completely overhauled and stress tested loot system that is aimed to be better for small servers with monthly cycles. 

The focus of the loot system is to decrease the amount of “garbage” found in crates and barrels allowing more components to be found  while also adjusting possibility of basic weapons to be found since the NPC side is quite hostile at monuments. More focus on finding useful attachments and items in green crates while air drops and locked crates will always have something useful for you. 

This is an ongoing challenge since the whole loot system is quite complex and currently there are over 40 different loot profiles and hundreds of possibility rules and levels to filter loot into the game.

Rust: What To Do in the World?

For many players, Rust means build a base, arm yourself to the teeth then head out, PVP, Raid then quit without much thought that there is a huge world within Rust and as of 2026, a ton of things you can do as both a solo and as a group of friends

Even if you are a long time Rust player there is always something you have never considered so here is a collection of suggested activities to head out and do in the land of Rust as a solo or with a group of friends especially when you have a whole month to explore the game. There are some funny moments to be had in a group just battling the elements… 

An aspect of Rust many just never dive into due to being on weekly wipe servers or just being raided early game is the whole electrical and automation system. 

There is the ability to power your base using generators, wind turbines, solar panels, water wheels in a river or even now as of August 2026, by connecting to the actual powerlines in Rust and activating the now functional Power Plant monument to power up Rust Island!

You can then setup a fridge to keep food from spoiling, lights throughout your base,  powered base defences such as turrets, elevators, water pumps for growing gardens and a full “conveyor” system allowing loot to be automatically moved between boxes or automatically sorted for you. So much to keep you interested just within this mechanic alone. 

The mechanics of powering a base are easy enough to learn, you need a power source, a storage battery and wiring tool to connect things together. There are 3 different systems covered under this system:

Electrical

Electrical is everything that is powered or provides power. It is best to learn what provides power, how much and what each item requires as power to make sure you do not run short. Start simple and expand as you learn. You will need to craft a wiring tool to get started connecting electrical systems together and you will need to unlock electrical components using the Engineering Workbench

A good tutorial on the Electrical system to get started if you have never ventured into this before:

Conveyor System

The Conveyor System is a powered system that connects storage boxes, furnaces, refiners and fridges together with pipes to transfer things in and out automatically allowing you to auto-feed furnaces for smelting or move items from a box to another when it gets full. You will need the Wrench Tool to connect this system together

Learn all about the COnveyor System in this video:

Irrigation / Farming System

The Irrigation System requires power and can use pumps to pull water from lakes, purifier system to convert salt water from the sea to fresh water, water catchers to catch water from rain and water barrels to store water with transfer pumps and sprinklers to water gardens. Using lights you can setup inside grow houses to produce food, hemp for cloth and berries for making teas to craft boosts for your gathering using the craftable garden beds.  

A good video on the whole farming mechanic: 

Monuments are a large part of the Rust World and are constantly being improved and updated by FacePunch. Monuments are any places in Rust where you can visit and find loot with some requiring puzzles to solve using keycards. As of August 2026, some monuments are now interactive and can be powered up to provide new features throughout the whole map including generating map wide power from the power plant (which increases recycler efficiency and provides power to the power poles that you can connect to), generating collectable water from the Water Treatment plant where you will now find water pipes around the map where you can fill water containers if the water treatment plant is operating and fuel which you can get flowing by activating the oil rig and accessing a storage tang with a tanker vehicle at the Dome. 

Monuments are placed into 3 tiers of importance:

Tier 1 Monuments

These are easily accessible monuments that you typically do not need any weapons or radiation protection to explore: Gas Station, Supermarket, Mining Outpost, Lighthouse. Just be aware that on this server there may be some basic zombies or Murderer NPCs lurking in these locations so a basic gun, bow or melee weapon is recommended .

You can expect to find a few boxes and usually a green crate with a chance to spawn a decent mid tier gun sometimes as well as a green keycard which appears in the Gas Station, Supermarket and Lighthouse locations. This green keycard along with a fuse or 2 is needed to access Tier 2 location loot rooms. 

There are also recyclers in these locations so this is where you can break down your unwanted components for scrap and resources easily. 

A good video on these monuments is here:  

Tier 2 Monuments

These cover most of the monuments on the map and each requires a Green and/or Blue card to access the lootable areas. Each location will have scattered loot around the outside and a keycard room with decent loot and often a Blue or Red keycard available inside along with Blueprint fragments. 

Some of these monuments have default Rust NPCs protecting the rooms within while on this modded server, there are extra NPCs roaming all these locations so you either need to be sneaky to get to the locked rooms or bring some decent weapons.

Places covered in Tier 2 are Sewer Branch, Power Plant, Water Treatment, Dome, Harbors, Arctic Base, Train Yard, Airfield

The simple Green Card monuments are the Sewer Branch, Harbors, Satellite Dish and Dome where you simply need to find the power source for the green door, stick a fuse in and use a green card to access the locked room. This is usually simple to figure out as the locked card room will have a cable that runs from the room over poles which you can follow to where the power source is where you insert a fuse and activate a switch. You will usually get loot, a blue keycard and basic blueprint fragments from these rooms.

The Power Plant, Water Treatment, Arctic Base, Train Yard, Airfield will all need a Blue Card and may also have a Green Card room too and will require usually a multi-step approach to powering up the doors and accessing the rooms. Extra NPCs will be found within the buildings of the Train Yard and Airfield with the Arctic Base having at least 12 trigger happy NPCs that will rush you if you enter into the area. All these locations will offer up multiple loot crates, basic BP fragments and a Red Keycard

Each of these monuments requires “solving a puzzle” of some kind which is either by completing a difficult path such as the Dome to get to the top (unless you have a minicopter) or by inserting a fuse into a power source, locating activation switches and accessing locked keycard doors.  

Tier 2 are best attempted when you have a few keycards, fuses and armor plus a decent weapon to take out NPCs. Be aware some monuments may have radiation and typically you need about 20% radiation protection for your character. 

A good video of some of these monuments is here: 

Tier 3 Monuments

Tier 3 monuments are often challenging and should only be attempted when you have high armor, good weapons and lots of ammo and medical pens. These are often full of NPCs or have “Heavy Scientist” events where you need to take out a number of heavily armed and armoured scientists. All Tier 3 monuments require a Red Keycard to access the main loot room but will usually offer up a number of high tier loot crates and in some cases a locked lootable crate with high tier items. 

The following monuments are Tier 3 level: Launch Site, Military Tunnels, Missile Silo, Oil Rigs

A video showing the Launch Site / Military Tunnels along with Giant Excavator:

A video on completing the Large Oil Rig below. It should be noted that this monument is a highly difficult monument best attempted as a group using a helicopter or submarine to get there. The Oil Rigs now have patrol boats full of trigger happy NPCs circling them along with about a dozen shifty NPCs aboard the rig. You cannot place down a sleeping bag to spawn so will need to travel back out there if you die. Watch the video on how to complete this one as it can be hard for a beginner. 

Giant Excavator

This one I feel is worth a separate mention as it has a different purpose and is well worth utilising if you plan on maintaining a large base. 

The excavator is covered in about 20 scientists wielding the usual weapons and these can be fun to pick off with a scoped rifle. You can power this whole machine up using Diesel Barrels that you find in some of the Tier 2/3 locations and using about 8 barrels will fill your backpack with resources. You can set the machine to mine for stone, metal frags or High Quality Metal and also on-board is an airdrop terminal where you can call airdrops every 10 or so minutes while the excavator is running

Because the whole excavator moves when it operates it is easy to see someone is using it from a distance and any airdrops you call will be announced to all players so it can attract players on the server so be aware when using it if anyone else is on. 

Underwater Labs

The Underwater Labs is another monument worth exploring for fun. These are completely random generating monuments that spawn underwater and you can find these using the layer switches on the maps right hand side

You can access these with scuba gear or a submarine and will need green/blue cards and plenty of ammo and meds. Similar to the Military tunnels or Missile Silo these are full of scientists and rooms with loot boxes to find so be prepared with ammo and medical supplies aplenty. 

Rust has a full rail network both above ground and below. You will see on the map a train track that circles the whole map that has randomly spawning engines and carriages on the side loading tracks. 

You can power up any engine by loading low grade into the fuel tank and you can tell the train to switch tracks if there is a track switch approaching by pressing your Left/Right direction keys (A or D) to head down a track. The main loop of track is usually unobstructed and allows a full circle of the map in a train. 

Trains are more than just the engine, you can pull the engine into sidings that contain train carriages and couple them to your engine. You can even connect multiple engines together to pull huge numbers of trains around the map but will need multiple drivers. 

Some carriages contain extractable resources such as ore, fuel and loot boxes and you can do this by taking a loaded train with carriages to the train yard where you can access the hopper building to extract the materials from each cart, requires a green card and fuses to run the hopper system.  

You can also head underground where there is a whole underground rail network that allows quick travel to many of the top tier monuments but be careful of armed NPCs down there. 

Here is a video overview on using the trains:

A video showing the underground rail network features:

Video showing how to use the Train Yard to empty a loaded train

On this server you can purchase a license for any vehicle which allows you to only have to buy it one time and spawn a new one any time you break it (after a cooldown period). This is great as normally a purchased minicopter if destroyed would require the purchase of a new one. 

Flying in Rust takes a little practice but is well worth it to get around fast. 

When you have the spare scrap use /buy in the chat to buy your choice of helicopter and test out flying until you get a handle on the controls. Use the Mouse to move forward / back and bank left / right. Use (W) for up (S) for down and (A) and (D) to turn Left / Right. Just be careful of SPACE as you can jump out while flying which unless you have a parachute to deploy, will likely kill you.

For a quick tutorial see this video:

There are some activities and even missions you can get at the Safe Zones as well as shops you can buy and sell materials.

Outpost / Bandit Camp: These locations are mostly for buying and selling components, weapons, tools and materials with multiple vendors and machines selling and buying what you need. There is also some activities here too such as gambling scrap on the casino wheel, one armed bandits and poker games. Get a few friends together and have a poker tournament for scrap winnings. You will also find secured recyclers here and can exchange with other players without being killed, no weapons at all allowed in these zones, enforced by heavy guards and turrets. 

Fishing Villages: These safe zones allow you to purchase boats and submarines as well as buy and sell fish, bait and fishing or scuba gear. Yes you can head out, do some fishing or scuba for treasure/loot… 

This is a new puzzle to attempt which is fun to complete as it requires you to first find enough large fuses to power these up and then you need to solve the required puzzles to get things going but just another task to set about completing. Watch out for those NPCs tho… 

The Power Plant can also be powered up and trigger “Crashed Satellite” event where a satellite will rocket down from space to a point on the map and require taking out NPCs to get to the burning loot

See these viseod on the new 

Another new Monument is the Apartment Complex which is a safe zone where you can buy yourself an apartment. Using scrap you can head to the foyer where a friendly NPC can sell you a basement, standard or penthouse apartment which is your own safe lockup zone where you can store loot, craft and relax without having to build. Be aware tho there is a sly NPC in the basement that will grant players access to a special computer to see if apartments are occupied and a master key which can be purchased for 1000 scrap that can open any door a single time so not everything is always safe. 

Yes, you can build a boat in Rust and there is a “Deep Sea” event that opens on a random side of the map every hew hours (for 3 hours) where you can sail off to a separate zone where you can become a pirate, sailing from island or ghost ship to another, taking on NPCs and looting anything you find. A central trader offers food and exchanges for you while NPC filled Rhib boats will cruise the sea and hunt for you. 

Equip your boat with cannons as other players may want to sink your ship and take your loot!

The Cargo Ship event is a large container ship that will enter the map every few hours and travel around the map stopping at the harbors to take on containers. There are a number of NPCs on the ship that guard the loot and locked loot crates spawn on the ship where you need to hack them, wait the 10 minutes for them to unlock and get away with the loot. 

There are 4 locked crates that spawn on the ship as it travels around the map and there are also about 20 high tier and elite crates that you can loot. It is one of the best locations to get good loot for little effort but attracts most players on the map when it arrives so be aware that if you are online with others, it may be a gunfight for loot. 

The best way to board it is using a minicopter and approaching it from the stern and landing just on the back of it otherwise wait until it approaches a harbor and snipe off the NPCs then board easily. there are ladders up the side so you can board from the water or a boat while it is moving if you can steady it enough. 

There is actually a lot to do even out at sea. While you can purchase a submarine and  head down to the underwater labs you can also buy a simple boat or build one, get a rod and some bait from the fishing village and head out to sea and try some fishing. You can either cook the fish or sell it for good amounts of scrap at the village. 

Diving for treasure or just farming floating loot piles is also a relaxing way to spend some time and you are not usually bothered much by players or NPCs at sea. 

The farming system in Rust is more than just growing food, you can grow and clone plants, choose the best genetics to produce super plants that generate huge amounts of food and ingredients. 

  • Setup indoor / Outdoor gardens
  • Watch the plants grow
  • Be sure to water and harvest when needed to avoid your plants dying
  • Invest real time and care into your garden for real rewards
  • Raise chickens for eggs
  • Maintain a beehive for honey
  • Use ingredients with a Mixing Table or Cooking Workbench to make Pies, Teas and other foods

Your farm does not have to be in your base, you can build a dedicated farm close to water and visit it to keep it running smooth. Choice is up to you!

The Patrol Helicopter will drop in to this map every 1 to 2 hours and travel around for about 40 minutes before leaving. The Patrol Helicopter is equipped with chain gun, rockets and napalm and will hunt you to take you out if you are equipped as hostile (having more than 3 pieces of clothing or a firing weapon larger than a bow in your hotbar. 

If you can evade the heli in a building or underground then it will eventually move on however, think twice before heading into your base if it spots you as it will unleash a barrage of rockets which may destroy your base. 

As long as it does not see you or you do not shoot it, it will travel along it’s patrol but if it spots you and comes after you, hide or fight… 

Shooting at its main and tail rotor will damage it and eventually it will begin to catch fire. Once you damage it enough it will spin down to the ground crashing into a fireball and drop several crates of loot. On this server some armed scientists will also appear from the crash to protect this important loot. 

Take out the scientists, wait for the flames to die off and collect the loot, if you have a jackhammer or a pickaxe you can also harvest metal from the wreckage

Taking down the Heli is a difficult challenge best suited to several players at a time. You need plenty of armor, health and ammo for this one. A chain gun or minigun is the best option. Dodge the rockets with priority and fight from solid cover such as a monument. While its guns will chew your health down fast, the rockets will straight up kill you instantly. If shooting from a specifically designed “Heli Base” be aware the napalm rockets will create fire that can trap you inside allowing the Heli to stop tracking you after a while and flying away. 

This is both a fun and challenging event that can take some time to master but is great target practice!

Another tough mission to take on as a crew is the Oil Rig Locked Crate.

On the map you will note a Large Oil Rig and a Small Oil Rig off out to sea. These rigs are host to a number of crafty scientists that are quite a challenge to take out with lots of loot boxes to find, scientists to kill and a special locked crate within a red keycard room. There are also blue and green keycard rooms for some extra loot but the main locked crate is behind a red keycard door. 

Both rigs offer the same red keycard locked crate with the large rig having more scientists but also more loot available. 

Both are patrolled by boats filled with NPCs that will not just take out anyone in a boat (or try) but will lock onto you and chase after you gunning you down. A better way to bet there is using either a helicopter and landing on the helipad or a submarine and accessing the center access shaft

The locked crate in the red keycard room will trigger a chinook loaded with 10 heavy scientists to dispatch to the oil rig when you start hacking it and your best bet is to take cover in one of the rooms on the top floor and work to take out the scientists as they roam. Take a lot of meds and ammo for this. 

In addition to the vehicles you can purchase and find in the world you can also find vehicle parts and craft vehicles that are fast, can carry multiple people, have camper attachments for mobile spawn points and even water and fuel carriers to carry large amounts of resources. 

You can custom install different quality parts from low grade to high grade, install different engine, cab and body configurations and maintain all these within your own garage complete with vehicle lift, or use the ones at the gas station if you can power it up. 

You can find and craft a metal detector that you can take to the beach and scan for loot. It is a good way to find a nice surprise and worth doing when you head to the Deep Sea and a simple activity to master

You will find Hot Air Balloons sitting in random places around the map and just need low grade fuel to fly them. you can also purchase one with the /buy command in chat.

Hot Air Balloons are easy to fly but tricky to master as you have to navigate up/down into slipstreams that carry you in a certain direction. 

The most fun is with a few friends and clumsily flying around the map shooting at players and NPCs until someone is killed and falls out.