Global Networked Bases & Heli changes | Rust Update 18th August 2023
This RUST update video is brought to you by Shadowfrax!
It’s a busy time for RUST’s staging branch now that the Global Networked Bases feature has joined the playtesting. You may recall last week when the new player-controlled Attack Helicopter was merged into staging, giving players a new way to raid from the sky. September is shaping up to be a Fun Under the Sun kind of High-in-the-Sky-themed update.
Global Networked Bases
All bases on the server will now be visible to players as long as they are in the proper range and position to see them. Players on the ground may not find this feature super helpful, but air-based transportation will notice that bases no longer just appear out of nowhere. This should mean a reduction in lag and frame drops when huge bases suddenly load in as they come into view.
More sky-themed updates
The player-driven Attack Helicopter received a handful of changes this past week. Speed and agility have been reduced, as well as the size of the fuel tank, which dropped from 1000 LGF to 500LGF. The pilot can now fire rockets, any kind of rocket. And the gunner’s screen has been simplified and now goes offline when in safe zones.
Parachutes are still plugging away in the commits. Unpacked chutes now take four seconds less to pick up, and deployed chutes take a bit more damage to take down.
Other changes in this week’s RUST Update
- Global networked bases feature is now on staging for playtesting
- The player-driven Attack Helicopter has had a nerf to speed and fuel tank capacity
- The new Attack Heli’s gunner screen has been simplified and shuts off when in safe zones, but you can still fire into safe zones
- The new chopper can use any kind of rocket, confirmed
- The copter’s pilot can now fire rockets using either mouse buttons
- RUST Parachutes have had many recent commits
- Chutes will be a bit harder to take down now, taking four rifle shots currently
- Picking up an unpacked chute now takes 8 seconds instead of 12
- Backpacks are also getting a lot of commits
- Backpacks appear to be wearable on the player model and come in different colors
- These packs will be dropped when the player dies
- Nothing new regarding the homing missile launcher branch
- Weapon racks branch commits continue
- The scrap plane branch is still mostly hidden with no new developments
Be sure to browse Shadowfrax’s past RUST videos, and don’t forget to subscribe to his channel for alerts on his latest work!
Connect with Shadowfrax
Thanks for reading, and see you in the next RUST update!
Video Transcript
Greetings, survivors, and Friends! Shadowfrax here with your weekly news upkeep, and first up, as you may have just been able to tell, Global Networked Bases are now on staging.
To recap, what that means is that soon all bases, no matter where they are, will be visible across the map. If you’re in a position to see them. For instance, jetting around in your new, super affordable attack chopper. This also means no nasty surprises and sudden lag spikes when the largest base on the server tries to load in up your nose.
And all this should hopefully come at very little performance impact overall. It’s based on similar principles to how trees and other bits of the landscape have been visible across the map for quite a while now.
Anyway, the fact that it’s on staging now is a good indication that it’ll be in September’s patch, but as always, everything is, of course, subject to change.
Another thing that’s subject to change is the attack chopper shown last week also on staging right now for testage. And it was obviously too much fun, to begin with, so its speed and agility have been reduced quite a bit, and its fuel tank capacity is shrunk from a thousand to 500 low-grade.
Hang on, though. Look at the size of those tanks compared to the minicopter one that holds a thousand. That doesn’t make sense.
Ah yes, that’s because mini fuel tanks use Tardis technology, don’t you know? There’s always a lot more empty space inside than you think, a bit like my wallet.
Oh yes, that makes sense.
The gunner screen is now a bit simpler, too, with the reminders about which button does what removed, and the display is higher res, supposedly. It doesn’t look like it. It’ll also go offline in a safe zone, although it’s still possible to fire into one from a distance.
And solos rejoice as now the pilot can fire rockets with either mouse button. And just to confirm, all types of rockets currently work, but honestly, gov when I tested it last week, normal ones didn’t.
Plus, as mentioned last week, most stuff being worked on at the moment is sky-based. Even the global networked bases mentioned at the start, as those are primarily for people flying about the landscape quickly. And there are some other related things, although I hasten to add the ETA on these hasn’t been confirmed yet. Such as Hot Air Balloon Armor, presumably on the basket not known if this will be included on all of them or whether you’ll need to buy it and pop it on, and parachutes, which have also been getting a lot of love in the commits log.
Some of the latest work and changes to these include making them a bit harder to shoot down and taking four rifle shots at the moment. And to reduce the time to pick up unpacked shoots from 12 seconds to 8. There are also some changes to the end of wipe flybys to change the model and FX to something more believable.
In other works in progress, backpacks, which were a hack week project to start with but which now look like they’re being strapped down by the team in earnest, have been getting a lot of attention this last week too.
Seems like there’ll be some kind of nested inventory tree inside your main one accessible by clicking on them. It also looks like you might be able to wear a backpack and a parachute at the same time. They will apparently be different color backpacks too, and they’ll drop off of you when you die.
There’s a homing missile launcher being worked on, which I think may also be linked to all this sky stuff as a countermeasure, and the latest thing, which I mentioned right at the end of last week’s vid is work on a scrap plane, and the idea of this seems remarkably popular already despite the need for some kind of run-up for taking off and landing I’d assume.
And again, this is something that was done with mods a long, long time ago, which I covered in another vid props to those responsible will it look anything like this time will tell, of course, and I will show you as soon as I get images.
Along with all this, there’s work, as mentioned, to make unattended boats drift slowly to shore. A tutorial Island to introduce noobs to the horrors of Rust, which hopefully has a section on hackers. Weapon racks should be coming in next month’s patch, I believe. Not sure yet whether they’ll be paid for as DLC or free for all.
Further out, there are two more building skin sets which will definitely be DLCs Brutalist and Frontier. Art and FX refresh for the quarries, Bradley, and scopes, plus what looks like another rework to cliffs, possibly. And, of course, the Nexus system for linking together certain groups of servers and which will be the most game-changing change since being able to place Pookie Bears on workbenches.
Lots of stuff in the pipe, as you can tell, and you know I’ll keep you current if you stay tuned in. So sub if you’re not already, and leave a like if you enjoyed this vid. Let me know in the comments what you think of these upcoming changes.
Come and join me on Twitch for streams, and you’ll find links to all my socials below, including my steam group, where you can stay updated on my content, and if you’d like to support me, you can do so with Super Thanks, YouTube memberships and on Patreon. I shall catch you all soon, but in the meantime, keep calm and stay Rusty.
Cheerio.