Stones are a crucial building and crafting resource in RUST and are acquired through many in-game means, but they are also spawnable via the F1 console. They are considered a core resource because players rely on them for endgame progression and base security.
The primary purpose of stones is their utility for providing the third-highest protection structures available to be built in the game. Once players establish a location where they wish to develop their starter base, acquiring stones and Wood usually comes next. The leap from wood to stone structures is so crucial because wood can be raided fairly easily, and stone can’t.
Stone requires more substantial raiding materials to get through and is impervious to flame-based attacks, which is where wood structures fail. In addition to its direct building purpose, it is also absolutely essential to crafting Wooden Arrows in the early game and High External Stone Walls in the late.
The most lucrative way to acquire stones aside from hitting stone nodes in the wild is through its purchase from Outpost at a rate of 50 Scrap per 1000 stones. Outpost also sells stones for 500 wood per 150 stones.
Once bases are established, one of this system’s next most-used trade features is trading excess stone for wood at a rate of 150 stones for 500 wood.