Stealth and misdirection is a powerful tool in RUST
You’re grub incarnate. Never before has a compound existed that you couldn’t infiltrate. Those with large furnaces have come to fear the sight of you disappearing into the treeline. You’re the Picasso of pilfering, with skills unrivaled.
Newton’s third law postulates that for every action you take, there will be an equal but opposite reaction. For every sulfur ill-gotten, so too will one be used against you in the future.
For every batch of metal ripped off, so will the sheet doors made with it be peeled back by explosives. But what if we could expand those burglars’ traits further, using misdirection and that same sense of sneakiness to defy Newton and keep our stolen gains?
Rationality
Let’s face facts: there are very few sensations in RUST more gratifying than taking that which doesn’t belong to you and no greater still than doing so without having to farm or craft. Streamers build careers with these antics as the foundation for their whole wipe. As implied previously, this lifestyle often comes with several notable downsides; among them are repercussions at the hands of those you wronged.
Perhaps we need to take the next logical step in the evolutionary cycle of the common RUST Grub. Through the incorporation of several ‘Chad’ assets, years of watching videos on the subject, and decades of exposure to blue-light emissions, a new type of player has emerged: The Chub. The ultimate hybrid Chad-Grub.
All joking and social titles aside, having a plan in place after ‘their furnaces were loaded, i’m running back to base’ is a typically overlooked piece of the puzzle, often resulting in said repercussions coming at 2 a.m. in the form of an offline raid. We have compiled some tips and tricks to limit this as an endgame to further the odds that the raid is prevented entirely or redirected to someone else.
Get ready for shenanigans.
Full disclaimer: RUST is about survival. Survival is an ‘at all costs’ sum, oftentimes taking the form of unsavory, underhanded tactics. Some of those tactics will be present in this guide, with no apologies given. If you have the stomach to rip off and misdirect your enemies to the point that ‘innocent farmers’ pay the price instead of you, this guide is for you.
Stealth
It cannot be understated enough that sometimes brute force isn’t the answer. There are scenarios in RUST that ultimately might lead up to the confrontation but should begin much more passively, with particular emphasis on stealth.
The art of being invisible is a craft that has developed over many years, especially as it pertains to the in-game shenanigans of RUST. Whether this is by:
- Utilizing certain clothing skins (forest, desert, snow) better suited to your environment
- Crouching any time you approach a base
- Learning to hide outdoor entities and resources such as bags or horses in heavy brush
Becoming a ‘ghost’ isn’t just an option for most solo players; it’s practically a necessity.
These skills are the backbone of the grub life, where knowing how to use your environment to cast illusions or presumptions is vital to ripping off a clan’s compound. A little roleplay is called for to set the stage better and get this off the ground.
You’ve done it…Infiltration into the compound couldn’t have gone smoother. Furnaces have been cleared, sulfur and metal ore in hand, and at the moment, no one is any the wiser. Crunch time – you’ve predetermined your method of escape, a simple build-up off of the south external custom gate, using the large furnace as a boost. If you build it fast enough and execute the jumps fast enough, you should be clear in the forest before their spotters can make it to the roof.
All is going to plan, with flawless execution from the furnace to the build-up. One final jump and you snag your feet on the top of a high external wood wall. You scrape and bleed all the way to the ground, hurt, and slowed. They’re on the roof now, well aware of your deviousness.
What now?
Misdirection
The natural instinct of many at this point would be to run like a fox outright, straight back home, get the goodies inside and avoid being shot in the back while doing it.
Don’t.
The fox that leads the hunter straight back to his burrow quickly becomes the fox that was instead of the fox that is. This strategy, while intuitively sound, will almost certainly get you raided sooner rather than later.
This situation calls for cool thinking, calm emotions, and a dash of deception. If the base owner doesn’t immediately start a group pursuit, a few options present themselves.
Crouching around the outskirts of the base and positioning yourself with environmental objects that will aid in your escape is one way to go. Escape might be relatively simple depending on the time of day, level of visibility present from the top of the base, and nearby tree cover.
Most clans, however, avoid building near large treelines for this EXACT reason. They want to be able to see anyone coming and going for miles, as to be able to kill persons like you or thwart raid bases going up much quicker.
If escape seems less likely, but there is enough nearby cover outside of non-friendly building privilege, having stashes ready to go down can work in a pinch. After these are squared away and hidden, double back to the compound as quickly as you can and bolt flat out in the opposite direction, away from your base. With the loot semi-safe, there’s naught left to do but imply that you live somewhere quite far away.
If stashing is outright impossible and escape is left up to the aim of the compound owner, there is only one thing left to do – pin the robbery on some other poor guy.
Baiting the hook
Okay, so it might seem a bit unethical. But perhaps you and the original compound owner share a common thorn in your side, taking the form of an offline (but frequently on their roof) neighbor. Perhaps a horse presents itself, and perhaps you just happen to be seen riding straight to the back door of said roof-camping neighbor’s dwelling.
This ‘baiting the hook’ method of misdirection can be used to significant effect, whether being shot at from a roof or pursued on foot. In the eventuality of the latter, if death is imminent, it is better to lose the loot seemingly about to open your neighbor’s front door than your own. This will plant the seed that the already reprehensible neighbor base was the thief instead of you.
This should immediately be followed by logging entirely out of the game and changing your identity, custom Steam URL, and avatar. Depending on the size of the server population, this is often enough to shake the average player from your trail. Later, this can be cemented by ladders and guns and shooting those lurking around from said roof.
Other less-thought-of alternatives include premeditated, constructed buildings that would be viewed as ‘flank bases’ to a compound used for quick deposits.
It is possible that you could more easily make it into one of these bases, stash the goodies, and intentionally be seen doing it. You could then return at night, remove said loot before the inevitable raid comes, and take it back to your base without being seen. Would-be raiders would simply assume that it was moved to the main compound.
Preparation cannot be understated. Having extra bags in the area also makes F1 killing in bushes and respawn-running to these same buildings a higher loot return gain option, as you’ve created an above-ground stash out of enemy sight and mind.
If all else fails, talking at great length about ‘your bases’ superior design on any platform is a surefire way to get the result you’d like.
Profit?
Results may vary, but maintaining a degree of anonymity or becoming someone else entirely is at the heart of the compound-jumping adventurer. Utilizing a lot of tricks out of the Vagrant Handbook aids in this, especially as it pertains to loot disbursement.
The priority has to be damage mitigation with this playstyle. Setting guidelines for your target selection is often a good idea, and having a quieter residence further distance from the toxic parties often results in better outcomes.
As always, if you feel that we missed something or have a story about a RUST clan that you ‘catfished’ into raiding someone else, be sure to drop us a line in Discord.
