Getting Started with Rust

Rust is a multiplayer survival game where you wake up on a hostile island with nothing but a rock and a torch. This guide covers everything you need to survive your first session, from gathering your first resources to building a secure base, exploring monuments, and unlocking the keycard puzzle system. Whether you are brand new or just need a refresher, this will get you up and running.

Spawning In

When you first spawn on the beach, you have two items: a Rock and a Torch. The rock is your only tool and weapon, so put it to work immediately. Your first priority is gathering enough resources to craft real tools.

Gather wood by hitting trees with your rock. Each hit yields a small amount of wood. Gather stone by hitting the small stone nodes scattered across the landscape. They look like rounded grey or tan rocks on the ground.

Once you have 200 wood and 100 stone, open your crafting menu (default: Q) and craft a Stone Hatchet. This harvests wood far more efficiently than the rock. Next, craft a Stone Pickaxe (200 wood + 100 stone) for faster stone and metal ore gathering.

While you gather, keep an eye out for hemp plants, the small green bushy plants found in grassy areas. Each one gives you 10 cloth, which you will need for a sleeping bag. Also pick up any food you find on the ground near rivers and shorelines: corn, pumpkins, and mushrooms all restore hunger and health.

Your First 10 Minutes

With your Stone Hatchet and Stone Pickaxe crafted, your next goals are food, a spawn point, and basic storage. Here is what to focus on:

1. Find food early. Hunt small animals like chickens and boars with a bow (200 wood + 50 cloth) and arrows (25 wood + 10 stone per 2 arrows). Harvest them using a hatchet or bone knife (30 bone fragments). Cook the raw meat at a campfire (craft one with 100 wood). Alternatively, pick mushrooms near forests or search for food crates along roads.

2. Craft a Sleeping Bag. This is critical. A sleeping bag acts as your personal spawn point. Without one, dying means respawning on a random beach. A sleeping bag costs 30 cloth, so pick three hemp plants and you are set. Place it somewhere hidden, ideally near where you plan to build.

3. Secure your items. Before you build a full base, craft a legacy wood shelter (300 wood) to hide valuable items. Craft a Wooden Storage Box (100 wood) and place it inside.

4. Gather metal ore. Look for the dark, reddish-brown metal ore nodes scattered around rocky areas. You will need metal fragments soon for code locks and other essentials.

Building Your First Base

Find a relatively quiet spot away from major monuments and roads. High-traffic areas mean more encounters with other players, which rarely ends well when you are just starting out.

Follow these steps to build your first base:

1. Craft a Building Plan (20 wood) and a Hammer (100 wood). The building plan lets you place structures, and the hammer lets you upgrade and repair them. Each part you place with the building plan will require wood. It is recommended to immediately upgrade the twig building parts to wood or stone by right-click holding them with a hammer and selecting the material of choice.

2. Place a Tool Cupboard (TC) first. The TC costs 1,000 wood and establishes building privilege in the surrounding area. Without one, anyone can build onto or inside your base. Place it in a protected spot, ideally in a room sealed with a locked door. A door can be single or double and needs to be crafted in the crafting menu, a separate keylock (for solo players) or codelock (for groups) needs to be crafted to lock the door.

3. Build a 1x2 with an airlock. This is the standard starter base layout: two square foundations side by side, with walls, a roof, and two doorways. The airlock is essential because it means there is an outer door, a small gap, and then an inner door. If a raider catches you opening your door, they only get past the first one.

4. Upgrade your building materials. Structures start as twig, which can be destroyed with any tool. Upgrade to wood immediately (200 wood per wall), then to stone (300 stone per wall) as soon as possible. Stone is far more resistant to raiding.

5. Craft code locks for every door. Each code lock costs 100 metal fragments. Metal fragments come from smelting metal ore in a Furnace. To craft a furnace, you need 50 low-grade fuel, 200 stone, and 100 wood. Low-grade fuel can be found in barrels along roads, crafted from animal fat and cloth, or obtained from crude oil.

6. Authorize yourself on the TC and set codes on all your locks. Anyone who knows your code can open your doors, so choose something other than 1234.

Understanding Monuments

Monuments are the named points of interest scattered across the map. They contain better loot than the open world (weapons, components, and scrap) but they also carry greater risk from radiation and other players.

Monuments are divided into three tiers based on difficulty and reward:

Tier 1 (Low Risk)

• The Dome: climbable structure with crates on top, no radiation
• Lighthouse: small monument with basic crates and a green keycard
• Oxum's Gas Station: food, components, and a green keycard spawn
• Mining Outpost: a safe zone with a recycler and shops

These monuments have minimal or no radiation. Expect basic loot like components, food, and low-tier weapons. Good for early-game resource gathering.

Tier 2 (Medium Risk)

• Airfield: large monument with hangars, a recycler, and military crates
• Water Treatment Plant: sprawling layout with a puzzle room and solid loot
• Sewer Branch: underground tunnels with a blue card puzzle

These monuments feature moderate radiation in some areas, keycard puzzles for bonus loot rooms, and military crates containing guns and explosives. Be prepared for PvP encounters here.

Tier 3 (High Risk)

• Launch Site: the largest monument, with extreme radiation and the best loot in the game
• Military Tunnels: underground complex guarded by hostile NPCs
• Train Yard: large industrial monument with multiple loot areas
• Missile Silo: A large underground silo with high radiation, lots of scientists and the best loot in the game.

These top-tier monuments require a Hazmat Suit for radiation protection. Expect heavily armed NPCs, the best loot crates, and frequent PvP firefights. Do not visit these until you are geared up.

Radiation

Some monument areas deal radiation damage over time, which drains your health. The amount varies by location. A Hazmat Suit provides full radiation protection and can be found in crates at monuments. For Tier 1 monuments, basic burlap clothing provides minimal protection and is usually sufficient.

The Card Puzzle System

Keycards unlock special loot rooms at monuments. These rooms contain the best loot a monument has to offer, including military crates, elite crates, and higher-tier keycards. There are three tiers of keycards, each building on the last.

Green Keycard

Green keycards are found sitting on tables, shelves, or desks at Tier 1 monuments. Check these locations:

• Oxum's Gas Station
• Lighthouse
• Abandoned Supermarket
• Ferry Terminal
• Junkyard

Green cards are free to pick up and no puzzle is required. They are the entry point to the whole system.

Blue Keycard

Blue keycards are the reward for completing green card puzzles at Tier 2 monuments. Use your green card plus an electric fuse at monuments to earn a blue card.

• Dome
• Sewer Branch
• Ferry Terminal
• Satalite Dish
• Harbors

Red Keycard

Red keycards are the reward for completing blue card puzzles at higher-tier monuments. Red cards unlock the most lucrative rooms in the game at Launch Site, Missile silo, Oil rigs and Military Tunnels.

• Water Treatment Plant
• Power Plant
• Airfield
• Arctic Research Base

How Puzzles Work

Each keycard puzzle follows the same basic process:

1. Obtain the matching keycard and 1-2 electric fuses (found in barrels, crates, or purchased at Outpost).
2. Find the fuse box by looking for electrical wires running along walls and ceilings. Follow them to locate the fuse box.
3. Insert a fuse into the fuse box to power the door's card reader.
4. Swipe your keycard at the card reader to open the locked door.
5. Move quickly. Puzzles are timer-based, so the fuse only powers the system for a limited time, so you need to reach the card reader and loot the room before power cuts out.

Start by collecting green keycards from Tier 1 monuments, complete the green puzzles to earn blue cards, and work your way up to red card puzzles for the best loot in the game.

Tips

• Always place a sleeping bag near a monument before you start looting it. Dying without a nearby spawn point means a long run back.
• The Outpost and Bandit Camp are safe zones where PvP is disabled, and they have shops where you can trade scrap for useful items.
• Recycle unused components at the Recyclers found at most monuments. Recycling turns junk like pipes, gears, and springs into valuable metal fragments, high-quality metal, and scrap.
• Press G to open the in-game map. Use it to find nearby monuments, track your base location, and plan your routes.
• Join a team if you can. Rust is significantly easier with friends since you can share resources, defend your base together, and take on tougher monuments.
• Watch the in-game chat for helpful players, especially on beginner-friendly servers. Most communities have veterans willing to share advice.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I join R4N servers?

Open Rust, go to the server browser, and search for "4noobs" or "R4N". You can also find direct connect info on our servers page.

Is R4N beginner-friendly?

Yes! Our servers are specifically designed for new players. We have active admins, anti-cheat, and a helpful community.

What are softcore servers?

Softcore servers have reduced penalties. You keep half your inventory on death and can reclaim the other half from a reclaim terminal at Outpost or Bandit Camp. Great for learning the game without the full sting of losing everything.