Introduction

Hello everyone, my name is Alfie and I’m the latest writer for lone.design. I am going to be writing these every two weeks, at the start and middle of the month. These blog posts will aim to keep you all up to date on the changes to Rust, as well as showcase items from our store, as well as anything else I think might be interesting or useful to you guys. This month is a big month for Rust, with Twitch drops starting again, for the first time after the HDRP update. This will be a huge showcase of the new visual style to many potential new players. The latest rounds of Twitch drops begin on the 5th till the 12th, followed by another set the following week. These drops should mean we see a huge number of new and returning players. This spike in activity is always great for server owners, boosting player counts by considerable amounts. Make sure you have all the best plugins, maps and prefabs for your server in time for the drops! The monthly update also comes with the release of a new Rust DLC, called ‘Voice Props’. It retails at $12.99 or £12.99, and comes with a host of new sound/voice focused items for you to paly around with. I’m very excited to see what new plugins people create with the new DLC items.

New Rust Content

Biggest Change: New Wounding System (crawling) + the new ‘Voice Props’ DLC

Main Additions:

• Render Scale Options
• Addition of DLSS
• New Wounding System to allow players to crawl whilst downed
• New ‘Voice Props’ DLC – adds a mobile phone, new dances, megaphone, disco floor just to name a few
• New AI for various monuments
• New Tree Birds
• New Cubes for map makers – these can be seen in the image below. They are concrete, white and black. They look really nice and should be very useful for you prefab makers. You can find them in Rust Edit by typing ‘cube’ into the prefab list

These are the main additions this month. Most bug fixes are minor and there were no removals this month. Definitely a lot of new content for players and developers to get involved with. Very excited to see what emerges from this new stuff. You can find the full patch notes here.

Lone.Design Content Showcase

Each blog post will showcase some of my favourite store items from the past two weeks, across a range of categories. These are of course all my own opinions and I will try to showcase as big a variety as possible!

Plugin of the Month

This will not be awarded this month as its my first post. In the first blog post of every month I will chose my favourite plugin from the past month.

Prefab/Map of the Month

Like Plugin of the Month, this will not be awarded this month.

Best New Items

These are chosen from the ‘New Arrivals’ tab on lone.design

• In First Place I chose the plugin ‘Z-Billboards’ by JOSH-Z.  This plugin makes use of the neon signs, allowing users to put high quality images and gifs on their signs. It really gives life to servers, making bases much more vibrant and colourful, which is a nice break from the generic theme of Rust. This plugin is also great for server owners, allowing you to easily advertise to your users. Overall a great plugin that I hope to see on many more servers.
• Second Place goes to the ‘Port-a-Fort’ by Cameron . This is the second Fortnite themed plugin from Cameron, with his previous being the Boogie Bomb. This plugin seems really fun, and would fit great into modded PVP servers, perhaps battlefield servers. It adds a new mechanic to the very grounded PVP of Rust, changing the dynamic of fights in seconds. Server owners can make their own forts to fit in it, meaning the possibilities are endless. A very cool plugin that is a great bit of fun for perhaps less serious PVP players.
• Third Place goes to the ‘Lost Island’ map by flouONEs. This map is visually stunning with lots of great custom monuments. Perfect for server owners who want a map with more depth and exploration than an standard Rust map. The limited nature of where you can build probably lends this map more to RP server. Players can also travel above ground on a train with the addition of a free plugin, which is a really cool feature.

Best Sale Items

Everyone loves a bargain, so in this section I thought I would showcase my favourite items currently on sale in the store. These are listed in no particular order.

• The ‘Simple Link’ by Ryz0r is a must for anybody looking to seriously start their own Rust Server. A whopping 43% off at the moment. The tool is very easy to use, and has nothing but positive reviews. This tool allows server owners to easily setup a discord/steam verification system, an integral part of a growing a strong server(‘s). With the inevitable influx of players during the twitch drops, this a plugin to seriously consider for your server.
• ‘Motel‘ by Who is Mike Jones? is a great little monument that can fit into any map. With loads of loot to be found in its close-combat interior its a perfect place for players to fight over Tier 2 loot.
• My final recommendation is Gruber‘s ‘Collection of 5 Maps’. These 5 maps are all great quality, and really go a long way to giving your server a unique feel. Coupled with the other two items listed above, these are great tools for any potential or existing server owner to step up their game!

Hope you guys enjoyed reading my first blog. If you have any suggestions for any sections you would like to see covered in subsequent blogs do let me know. You can reach me at alfie#0001 on Discord.