Team UI, Watchtowers, and more!

12:35am EST - Update day has arrived and with it some exciting new additions to the game - team UI, watchtower deployable, compass, a new type of boat, and more!

Our update stream will start at 3pm EST (maybe earlier if the update is pending). Follow @Rustafied for news throughout the day.

Team UI

A huge new dynamic for building and tracking teams makes its way in today. The Team UI allows groups of up to 8 (by default, can be changed by server owners) to form an alliance and keep track of each other.

To start a team, hit ‘tab’ and select ‘create team’ on the bottom left. Then, as the team leader, you can go up to people and invite them with the ‘use’ key (providing they are not already on a team, in which case you won’t see any invite option). Only the team leader is able to invite others, and you can only be part of one team at a time.

When you get an invite, you’ll hear a noise and see a chat message on the bottom left. You then must hit ‘tab’ and select ‘accept’ or ‘decline’ on the bottom left. Once in a team, you can see your team members and their status on the bottom left of your screen at all times (green for alive, gray for asleep, and red for dead).

The name tags for each team member appear in green. There’s also a dot added below nametags, which, like the names themselves, are gray by default and green for your team. This dot, however, stays visible for your active team members for up to 100 meters, regardless of line of sight. If you aim directly at a green dot in the distance, the persons name tag will appear. You can also see the location of your team members at all times via the in game map overlay.

Leadership of a team can be transferred from the leader by simply going up to another team member, waiting for the ‘transfer leadership’ tooltip, and pressing ‘use’. Leaders can even transfer leadership to a sleeping member of their team. Leaders can also kick members of the team at any time by pressing ‘tab’, hovering over the member, and pressing ‘kick’.

This is a first iteration of a new system and bound to need some tweaks, fixes, and balance. We'll keep you posted with any shifts.

Watchtower deployable

Coming out of left field, Helk has added a new deployable to the mix. The Watchtower is a tall, wooden structure which can be placed on the fly and climbed up to gain a height advantage. This not only stands to be a new must have for compounds, it may also come in handy during raids and PVP. Here are some details:

Crafting cost
2500 wood

Found
BP in barrels

Workbench
Level 1

Research cost
75 scrap

Health
500

Rigid Hulled inflatable boat

It looks like a new form of watercraft is also making its way in today. Originally expected to be a server event, the Rigid Hulled Inflatable Boat will actually just be a rare spawn for the time being. That said, Helk did mention he plans on adding some around the map with shooting scientists eventually. For the time being though, here’s what you need to know:

• It’ll be found rarely around the map
• Seats 6 people
• Small wood storage up front
• Consumes fuel
• Faster than the rowboat

Compass added

A new tool to navigating the Rust landscape has been added to your arsenal as of this update. The compass is a new HUD element which tells you the direction you’re looking in the form of north, south, east, west, and various degrees in between. It is on by default, but you can switch it to a toggle key (of ‘c’) or turn it off completely in the escape menu options.

Jackhammer?

Much of the artwork and animations for the Jackhammer have been completed. We are, however, down to the wire, so it’s not clear if the actual functionality will make it in by update time. As always, we’ll keep you posted.

Hostile scientists are back

Strolling down the roads of Rust will be a bit more treacherous post update as Scientist NPC’s have been made more aggressive. After becoming overwhelmingly docile after the update last month, these blue-clad, geiger-counting NPC’s will once again be hostile to those who get too close - you’ve been warned!

New C4

Timed explosive charges have received a face lift as the model has been updated. This change is purely visual, no stats with regards to C4 have shifted.

New stone world model

Dropping stones on the ground will no longer give you minecraft flashbacks as the world model has been shifted. No longer a crudely textured cube, the new stone world model looks closer to the pick-up-able ore you find around the map.

Hapis Puzzles delayed

Alistair was working on (among other things) translating puzzles into the monuments on Hapis. It looks, however, like he bit off more than he can chew as these puzzles are simply not ready for primetime this wipe.

Other stuff

• Can place storage boxes under research table (not repair bench though)
• Small signs can be placed on shelves (place the sign before your boxes and the boxes will clip through the sign)
• Puzzle polish
• Fixed passing loot through walls using research table exploit
• vending machine rotate exploit fix
• BBQ exploit fix
• Small refinery can no longer be fully submerge underwater