What is the Traveling Vendor?
Introduced in July 2024, the RUST Traveling Vendor is a default server event that triggers a zombie-proof ice cream truck that roams the map with three vending machines full of purchasable items that bring a degree of randomness into the economy. The vending machines, which are lit up with lights, are found on the truck’s rear and sides. If you look carefully, you’ll discover an image of an iconic character from the PlayStation series Twisted Metal.
Additionally, two miniature Outpost Peacekeeper Turrets are on the top of the truck. These turrets will engage any hostile players or players who’ve attacked the vendor itself. At the time of writing, players cannot damage the vehicle in any way, and no loot is to be gained.
Once the event starts, the Traveling Vendor automatically navigates along a pre-determined course through the map’s ring road while playing a cursed musical tune that those nearby can hear. It will periodically stop at random locations on its course, and the truck will make backfire sounds before it begins to move again.
When players approach the Traveling Vendor, it stops so that transactions can occur. This vendor offers various goods for players to purchase in exchange for Scrap. This vendor has a variety of loot tables and price points each time it spawns, which differs from the many static vendors found at monuments such as the Outpost or Bandit Camp.
How to locate the RUST Traveling Vendor
One of the defining requirements of the Traveling Vendor spawning is the presence of a Ring Road, which is only available on maps of 4250 or greater in size or custom-made maps. If this vendor does spawn, it will display a small armored truck icon on the in-game RUST map. Unlike other vending machines, the Traveling Vendor will not display its wares on the map, and players must journey to meet it on the road to see what it has for sale.
As the AI used to navigate this vehicle is brand new, it can get hung up on objects and stall until it despawns or deviates from the road a considerable distance. Keep your location in mind when visiting it, as players could easily take advantage of this for ambush purposes.
Flagging it down
In addition to making frequent pit stops on its own, the Traveling Vendor can be beckoned by players standing at nearby roadways in its path. Once flagged, the truck will pull off to the side of the road as best it can and allow players to make their purchases.
Once a player has repeatedly tried to flag down the vendor without making a purchase or as a form of trolling, a small cooldown will go into effect whereby the Traveling Vendor will completely ignore that player from making further attempts.
Traveling Vendor items, amounts & prices
The prices and items found with each Traveling Vendor spawn will vary. There is a minimum and maximum price per item. What players prioritize and purchase during the latest spawn will impact, up or down, the Scrap costs of the next spawn’s vending machine and so on.
| Item | Amount | Min Price | Max Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chainsaw | 1 | 80 | 120 |
| Custom SMG | 1 | 80 | 120 |
| Gears | 10 | 100 | 120 |
| HMLMG | 1 | 300 | 350 |
| HQM | 50 | 100 | 120 |
| Jackhammer | 1 | 80 | 120 |
| Metal Fragments | 250 | 20 | 25 |
| Pump Shotgun | 1 | 50 | 75 |
| Python Revolver | 1 | 80 | 120 |
| Rifle Body | 5 | 150 | 175 |
| Semi Automatic Body | 5 | 90 | 120 |
| Semi-Automatic Rifle | 1 | 100 | 120 |
| SMG Body | 10 | 90 | 120 |
| Stones | 1000 | 30 | 50 |
| Thompson | 1 | 150 | 200 |
| Wood | 1000 | 15 | 20 |
Frequently asked questions
The traveling vendor has a dynamicpreventbuilding radius that does a number of things. First and foremost, no, it will instead attempt to nudge players out from in front of it but will not deal damage. Vehicles are another matter altogether. Cars, for example, will be forced out of their path and could incur damage or destruction as a result. Minicopters and other aerial vehicles would likely suffer a similar fate. Even sleeping in its direct path will not damage a player in our testing. Animals will either go through it or be gently nudged.
No. It takes a witnessed form of aggression for the onboard turrets to engage players. Once engaged, you cannot see the standard warning timer in your upper right-hand window, but you will remain in a hostile state for precisely 5 minutes after each engagement.
Absolutely. There is no ‘safe zone’ around the vehicle, though the peacekeeper turrets work on the same premise. You can be grubbed and looted by anyone as you would be anywhere else.
Yes, however, it is a non-parenting surface, meaning that you won’t be in the truck’s gravity. As it moves forward, you will slide off unless you keep pace manually.
Traveling Vendor admin commands & convars
As the Traveling Vendor is a default server event that runs on a schedule, it will spawn automatically and is enabled on a server by having the server convar travellingvendor.should_spawn configuration set to “True.” Server administrators can also manually trigger the Traveling Vendor by using admin commands.
| Command | Default Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| travellingvendor.alive_time_seconds | 1800 | How many seconds the traveling vendor will remain on map between spawns |
| travellingvendor.attempt_pullovers | True | Will the traveling vendor pull off to the side of the road when players are present |
| travellingvendor.should_spawn | True | Will the traveling vendor spawn if a Ring Road is present |
| travellingvendor.spawn | Force spawns a traveling vendor at a default location (the same coordinates every time) on a procedural map | |
| travellingvendor.startevent | Force spawns a traveling vendor at a random suitable ring road location on the map |
Final thoughts on the Traveling Vendor Event
As the developer continues implementing new events and features within the game, you can be sure that Corrosion Hour will be here detailing it all to the absolute best of our ability. Because this is brand new content, it is sure to break and change at least a dozen times, but we will try our darndest to keep our information current. Be sure to check out our Discord for all of our most recent updates and be good to each other, always.
