Everything You Need to Know About the RUST Mission System
The Facepunch development team has been hard at work again and in their October 2021 “Missions & QOL Update” for RUST, they have introduced a completely new missions system to the game. Players will now have the ability to locate and speak with NPC-mission givers found at various safe-zone monuments, such as the Outpost and Bandit Camp, while being able to acquire new mission objectives, that when completed, will provide the player a reward.
Missions are a common game mechanic for many role-playing games (RPGs) and with the introduction of the mission system, this is a step in a new direction for the popular survival title. For over 8 years, the only goal in RUST has been to survive. Players and server administrators have been responsible for creating their purpose in the game, whether it was through player versus player interactions, engaging with the game’s environment, active role-play, or playing on custom modded servers.
The RUST mission system provides players with a fresh take for acquiring tools, weapons, armor, scrap, and various other loot found in the game. NPC mission-givers currently provide solo PVE-centric missions, but future game updates are expected to introduce more advanced missions that allow for Co-Op and PVP-related missions.
As stated by Facepunch in their update blog post:
“We will be expanding on this in the coming months to include PvP missions (capture and hold, delivery, ambush) and eventually even bounty hunting.”
Here’s a quick official trailer that introduces the update:
How do RUST missions work?
The RUST mission system in its current state is very rudimentary and operates like most common RPG mission and quest systems. In vanilla RUST servers, all players can locate one of the active NPC-mission givers and open a dialogue with them by walking up and pressing the E key. This will open a new dialogue window in which you can make various selections depending on the NPC-mission giver you’re interacting with.
Once you have selected a mission, a list of the active mission objectives will appear in the top left of your screen. If the mission has a timer, that will also appear under the mission objectives list as it ticks down. In addition to this, when pressing the TAB key, players will also have a new mission window appear in the top left, that displays:
- Mission Name
- Mission Objective
- Mission Rewards
- Abandon Mission Button
Here’s an example of that screen with the Shark Hunt mission active.
In some instances, players will be required to hunt animals, fish, gather items, and go on treasure hunts. As players fully complete each step of the mission, the mission objective text will turn blue, alerting you that that portion is now complete. For some RUST missions, players will need to return to the NPC-mission giver in order to complete the mission, while others may complete once the mission objective is done.
The missions are repeatable but will have lock-out timers preventing players from immediately requesting them again. If a player chooses to abandon a mission, there is a lock-out timer as well before they can request the same mission again.
What RUST missions are available in the game now?
In this first iteration of the RUST mission system, there are 8 new unique NPC mission givers that can now be found across various safe zone monuments. While there are 8 mission givers in-game, not all of them are actively providing missions to players, as a few are placeholders for the time being. Players will be able to see and have limited interaction with these placeholder NPCs for the time being.
RUST mission NPCs, locations, and missions
Here’s a list of all available NPC-mission givers and the quests they currently provide, along with links to full guides for each mission.
Bandit Camp
Outpost
- CZ-721
- Vagabond
Stables
Fishing Village
How do you abandon or quit a RUST mission?
Once a player has accepted a mission from an NPC-mission giver, the mission can be abandoned by pressing the TAB key and selecting the Abandon Mission button in the top left of their screen. There is no warning prompt and once this button is pressed, the mission is abandoned. Players will see a system message in the lower right hand of their screen that says, “You have failed the mission: [mission’s name]”.
Once a mission has been abandoned, there is a lock-out timer of approximately 5 minutes that will prevent players from re-requesting the mission. Using the same NPC-mission giver at a different monument will not work, as missions are synchronized across the game world.
What’s next with RUST missions?
As Facepunch has taken a massive step in adding the RUST mission system into the game, we’re anticipating future updates will have much more complex missions available. We’re also keeping an eye out to see if any new associated achievements make their way into the game that aligns with the abundance of new quests.
For server administrators, there is a server command and variable available if you’re looking to disable or re-enable the RUST mission system.
