RUSTHUB

Three months of rivalry finally turned into rockets. Bases are getting blown apart. Monuments are turning into war zones. Five man defenses are holding against 30 deep raids. Clans are merging. Insiders are handing out permissions like candy. Somehow everyone still thinks they're the main character. This wipe has had a bit of everything. Old rivalries are finally boiling over. Massive raids are happening. Smaller groups are putting up insane defenses. Monument fights are turning into full scale wars. Clans are merging. Insider drama is everywhere. Failed raids are leaving people pissed off.

With more Rust updates coming too, the days of huge groups casually maintaining massive compounds could be getting a lot harder. So forget the bullshit. Forget the excuses. Here's the fucking tea.

After roughly three months of rivalry between GBG, 101 and NV, things finally escalated into a full scale raid.

Three months of talking, farming and preparing eventually came down to the only language Rust players really understand.

Rockets. At some point somebody had to stop typing in Discord and actually raid the fucking base. The conflict finally turned into a major fight with GBG × 101 making their move against NV. For NV, the result was brutal. After months of rivalry and the eventual escalation, NV were hit hard and effectively removed from the map. Three months of building a reputation and preparing for war eventually ended with their compound getting turned into a fucking pile of rubble.

Whether this finally ends the rivalry is another question. Knowing Rust? Probably not. It just means everyone gets to start the same bullshit all over again next wipe.

MW were holding their own around Military Tunnels and were actually winning the fight before 101 showed up roughly 40 deep. Then the local population apparently doubled in about ten seconds. What started as a monument fight turned into a fucking population crisis. MW eventually lost the position and their base around Military Tunnels was removed.

You can have the best aim on the server. You can have perfect positioning. You can have enough ammo to fight all night.

None of that helps much when you look outside and see an entire fucking army walking toward you. At that point you're not defending a monument anymore. You're defending your dignity. Unfortunately Rust doesn't let you respawn that.

The GBG × .ALIEN merger brought even more players into an already massive roster. More guns. More farmers. More builders. More people yelling in Discord when the sulfur is missing. More people asking who has kits. More people saying they'll be on in five minutes and showing up three hours later. At this point GBG has enough people to either completely dominate the map or spend six hours arguing about who forgot to farm. There really isn't much middle ground. On paper the merger gives the group more manpower, more resources and more firepower. In reality it also means more people to feed. And that's where things get interesting.

The insider situation involving Celiner remains one of the biggest events surrounding GBG this wipe. The reported situation involved authorization being cleared, codes being distributed and the TC eventually being cleared.

Losing a base to an enemy clan sucks. Losing it because somebody on the inside had access is a whole different level of "What the fuck were you thinking?" An enemy raiding your base is one thing. Your own security system basically opening the front door for them is another. It also gives every clan leader the same brilliant idea. Maybe giving everyone access to the entire fucking base isn't actually the best security system. Rust has always had one pretty simple rule when it comes to trust. Don't give people more access than they need. Because the moment someone decides they don't like you anymore, all those permissions you handed out can suddenly become a fucking disaster.

During Force Wipe, 101 × GBG made their move against .SN. Rockets were flying and .SN's defenses were put to the test.

Despite the pressure, .SN managed to survive the attack. That's got to hurt for the attackers. Nothing says "good use of several hours of your life" like burning through a mountain of sulfur and explosives just to look at the same enemy base afterward. Raid failed. Base still standing. Sulfur gone. Everyone tired. Discord still arguing. Classic Rust.

For .SN, surviving the attack adds another chapter to what has already been an eventful wipe. Judging by the history between these groups, it would probably be stupid to assume the story ends there.

The fight between GTG and .SN happened during a separate Medium Wipe. GTG made their attempt against .SN and added another chapter to the ongoing bullshit around the clan scene. Unlike the 101 × GBG raid, this happened during Medium Wipe. Two different wipes. Two different raids. Same fucking target. Somehow .SN keeps getting invited to the same party.

At this point they might as well start printing invitations.

For NV, the wipe eventually ended on a much rougher note. After months of rivalry and the eventual escalation involving GBG and 101, NV were hit hard and effectively removed from the map. Three months of rivalry eventually ended with the base getting turned into another pile of loot, stone and building privilege. That's Rust for you. You can spend an entire wipe building a reputation. You can spend days farming. You can build the biggest compound on the server. You can stockpile enough weapons to arm a small fucking country. Then one evening later you're standing in the snow looking at a foundation wondering where your fucking walls went.Rust doesn't care about your reputation. It doesn't care how long you've been on the server. It doesn't care how much sulfur you farmed. If someone brings enough rockets, eventually something is coming down.

While everyone else has been busy blowing each other up, tM has continued to hold its position in the Moose scene. At this point everyone else seems to be fighting over scraps while tM is sitting there watching the chaos like "You guys done yet?" The longer they stay on top, the more people are going to want a piece of them. That's what happens when you become the clan everyone wants to knock off. Being on top sounds great until every other group on the server decides making you fall is their personal fucking mission. For now tM remains in the position everyone else wants. Everyone knows what happens next. The bigger the target gets, the more people start bringing rockets.

As if the clan scene wasn't already busy enough, Rust has now introduced the Breach and Clear update to the main branch.

There's quite a bit here that could affect how clans play their wipes. For larger groups especially, some of these changes could completely alter early progression and resource management.

Tier 3 monuments such as Launch Site, Oil Rigs and Military Tunnels now feature entrance blocking barricades after a wipe. Those blockers aren't exactly something you can just walk through. Clans will need jackhammers, satchels or C4 to destroy them. So you can't immediately treat every endgame monument like your personal fucking storage unit five minutes into wipe. The change is designed to alter early game progression and the way groups approach these high tier monuments. Clans that normally rush these areas early are going to have to adjust. That means less instant access to some of the strongest monuments on the map and more planning around when your group can actually break through. For the clans that built their entire early wipe strategy around getting there first? Hope you brought enough fucking explosives.

A new healing item has also been added. The Honey Bandage. Apparently Rust needed another way to patch yourself up after getting shot in the fucking face. We'll see how much of an impact it actually has once people get used to it. For now it's another option in the healing pool and another item players will have to figure into their kits and inventories. Because apparently bandaging yourself with honey is perfectly normal in a game where people can build a skyscraper overnight.

High Quality Metal now has its own dedicated ore nodes and ground collectibles. The September update adds HQM ore nodes that provide 20 HQM per node, while the new HQM collectibles provide 5 HQM each. This gives HQM its own resource nodes and allows the developers to balance the resource separately. For anyone who's spent half a wipe running around looking for HQM while trying to finish a base upgrade: Your fucking rocks have arrived. The change could also make HQM gathering more predictable for clans that need large amounts for weapons, armor, electrical equipment and building upgrades.

Instead of constantly wondering where the hell your next bit of HQM is coming from, you'll at least know what you're looking for.

Power Plant has also received a change that could matter for groups relying on the Drone Marketplace. The Power Plant must now be turned on for the Drone Marketplace to function. That means clans need to get the monument powered before they can use the marketplace there. The process takes roughly 21 minutes of charge time with at least four active heavy fuses. So if your clan's plan was to casually roll into Power Plant and immediately start using the Drone Marketplace, there's now a little more work involved. Get the power running. Keep the fuses active. Wait around. Try not to get fucking murdered while you're doing it. Because apparently even shopping now requires infrastructure.

The Attack Helicopter and armored Hot Air Balloon have also received a physical damage system. The change slightly nerfs both vehicles by making their physical condition more important. So if you're flying around the map thinking your vehicle is completely invincible, you might want to rethink that. Clans using aircraft for transport, roaming or moving around the map will have another thing to keep track of. Because apparently crashing wasn't enough. Now the fucking helicopter needs to worry about its health too.

One of the biggest changes for large clans is the new Upkeep Tax system. The current placeholder setup leaves the first four players alone. The next six players add 2% upkeep per player, and every player after that adds 4% upkeep per player.

That means the bigger the group gets, the more expensive the base becomes to maintain. For a small group this might not change much. For the massive clans running huge compounds? That's where things could get interesting. Having a huge roster means more firepower. It also means more people to keep supplied and more infrastructure to maintain. Now there's another fucking bill attached to having a massive clan. And this could finally make clan leaders think twice about carrying people who contribute nothing. If you're sitting in Discord all wipe doing fuck all while everyone else is farming, building and supplying the group, you're going to have to start pulling your weight. Farm for your shit. Contribute to the clan or get the fuck out. The days of having 40 people in a clan just because you can might start getting more expensive. If ten people are doing all the work while thirty people are sitting around asking for kits, that roster suddenly looks a lot less impressive. The bigger your group gets, the more you're going to have to ask whether every player is actually worth the resources they're costing. For clan leaders, that could mean tighter recruitment.

For inactive players, it could mean getting fucking cut.

What makes this wipe interesting isn't just the raids. It's how much shit is happening around them. Old rivalries are becoming wars. Wars are becoming massive raids. Raids are turning into map changing events. Clans are merging to survive. Insiders are proving that sometimes the biggest threat isn't outside the compound. Every major fight creates another grudge for the next wipe. That's how Rust works. Nobody forgets. Someone gets raided? They remember. Someone loses a monument? They remember. Someone fails a raid? They really fucking remember. Someone gets insided? That shit gets brought up for the next six wipes. The Rust clan scene doesn't really have an off season. It just has different levels of fucking chaos.

Build the biggest base. Farm the most sulfur. Recruit the biggest clan. Control the monuments. Own the skies. Have enough guns to arm a small fucking country. Then make one stupid mistake. That's all it takes. One code shared with the wrong person. One TC left open. One idiot giving permissions to someone they met three days ago. One door left unlocked. One person who decides they're done with the clan. Suddenly the strongest group on the server is standing outside their own base wondering "What the fuck happened?" That's Rust. Everybody thinks they're untouchable until they're not.

The clan with the biggest base gets raided. The clan with the most guns loses a fight. The farmer who spent six hours collecting sulfur gets killed on the road by some naked with a fucking bow. The guy who spent all wipe talking shit gets offlined at 4 AM. The 40 man clan gets bullied by five people. The five man clan gets steamrolled by 40. The best defense gets cracked. The strongest alliance falls apart. Somebody gets betrayed. Somebody gets insided. Somebody loses an entire wipe because they trusted the wrong person. And somewhere, somehow, there's always one naked guy crouching around the remains of the compound trying to steal a fucking metal pipe. Nobody is safe. Not the biggest clan. Not the smallest clan. Not the richest clan. Not the guy who thinks he's untouchable. Eventually somebody is going to bring rockets.

When they do, all that matters is who's still standing when the dust clears.

This wipe isn't over. The rivalries aren't over. The raids aren't over. Judging by the amount of bullshit already happening, the next chapter is probably going to be even worse. So keep farming. Keep building. Keep raiding. Keep talking shit. Just remember to lock your fucking doors.

If your clan has something worth reporting, we want to hear about it. Whether it's a major raid, a crazy defense, a new alliance, a rivalry, a wipe progression update or something else happening across the Rust clan scene, reach out to @rusthubherald on Discord. We're open to hearing from clans directly. We can arrange interviews, gather information and cover your side of the story for future RUST HUB HERALD reports. If you have information about your clan, a raid, your wipe progression or something happening across the server that you think deserves to be covered, send it our way.