Livestock in Rust: Animal Farming, New Loot Rooms, and Helipad Repairs

In the Livestock Update announcement, Facepunch links animal breeding to resources, food, and trading. This gives farms a new purpose: keep livestock for a steady supply of goods, raise it to sell, or butcher it. Beyond the base, the update also changes the start of a wipe and routes to loot.

Cows and sheep can be bred for resources and trade offers

Plants used to be the main focus of breeding; now cows and sheep have genes and needs of their own. Maverick warns that animal genetics work differently, so familiar plant-breeding methods may not apply. Wild livestock can be caught in several ways, and new fences and gates help keep it on the farm. With the new navigation system enabled, NPCs can enter player-built structures and account for doors opening and closing.

• Cows and sheep: produce manure; cows also give milk, while sheep give wool.
• Butchering animals: yields meat, bones, and leather. Beef and lamb have been added.
• Fences and gates: new placeable items for keeping livestock.
• Horses: now produce much less manure, making livestock a more efficient source.
• Selling livestock: take an adult animal to the stables and talk to the new vendor outside. The random offer depends on the animal's gene quality.
• Haggling: reject an offer to get two more. After that, the vendor won't buy an animal for 15 minutes.
• Selling wool: the same choice of three offers applies. The reward depends on how much wool you bring at once; the maximum amount counted is 400 units of wool.

Breeding quality therefore affects not only your own farm but also what you can sell. Jarryd Campi describes selling a large batch of wool as a high-risk, high-reward move: the amount affects the offer. The economy section received 87 votes in favor and 16 against.

Milk extends tea effects, while cream makes them stronger

Milk can be drunk straight away or saved for processing. Farms now tie into consumable crafting: according to Jarryd Campi, milk generally extends tea effects, while cream makes them stronger. Processing requires a fridge and time.

• Milk: after 4 hours in a fridge, you can skim the cream.
• Milk processing: produces Skimmed Milk and Cream; cream is a stronger consumable.
• Tea: most pure Teas now have Creamy and Milky versions.
• Cooking: Shepherds Pie and Beef Pie have been added; milk and cream are used in the recipes.

The Biofuel Generator turns meat into fuel but needs regular attention

Raw and spoiled meat now have another use. The Biofuel Generator turns organic matter into low-grade fuel, but it doesn't run fully on its own: its contents need to be stirred by hand. Ian Henderson describes it as a way to finally put this meat to use; for players, it adds another fuel source that needs occasional attention.

• Start-up: once organic matter is loaded and stirred by hand, the device begins processing it.
• Maintenance: you'll need to stir it again after about 30 minutes.
• Notification: connect an electrical input/output to get an alert when it needs stirring, even from another room.
• Fuel output: depends on the input; organic matter with a higher calorie value yields more fuel.

Air Wolf won't sell aircraft until the helipad is repaired

At the start of a wipe, the Air Wolf helipad at Bandit Camp is now damaged. Previously, purchases weren't tied to repairs; now the vendor turns everyone away until the helipad is fixed. Martyn Chapman explains the goal: aircraft from this vendor shouldn't become available too early, and the repair is intended as a server-wide effort.

• Helipad repairs: require resources, which are transferred from your inventory with hammer hits, as when building siege equipment.
• After repairs: the helipad stays operational until the end of the wipe, and the vendor becomes available to everyone.
• Early access for a clan: requires a significant investment but also unlocks trading for other players.
• Server settings: vehicle.padrepairsrequired set to false removes the repair requirement; vehicle.setrepairablepads set to 0/1 sets the helipad to fully damaged or operational.

Sandbags can be built up into a fortified shelter

Instead of the previous standalone barricade, Sandbag Barricades can now be built up in stages. Adam W describes four levels, each taller than the last, with the final one turning the structure into a pillbox-style shelter. Players can choose the height by adding more sandbags, and the crafting cost has been reduced to account for stacking them.

• Barricade upgrade: placing another sandbag on top moves the structure to the next stage.
• Loot: found Sandbag Barricades now come in stacks of 4.
• Storage: the maximum stack size has increased to 20.
• Skins: supported on all structure variants.

The power station unlocks map loot rooms

The loot room at Powerplant, introduced in Power Trip, became the basis for expanding the system. New rooms at other monuments remain locked until enough Heavy Fuses are inserted into the power station. Damian Lazarski explains that more challenging monuments require more fuses than beginner locations. The developers haven't disclosed the exact room locations.

• New rooms: Airfield, Ferry Terminal, Harbour 1, Harbour 2, Junkyard, Launch Site, Military Tunnels, Nuclear Missile Silo, Radtown, Sewer Branch, Trainyard, and Water Treatment Plant. Ferry Terminal is listed twice in the announcement.
• Power: the number of Heavy Fuses required varies by monument.
• Heavy Fuse duration: with 10 or fewer players online, fuses last four times longer. The multiplier decreases as the player count rises; at 100 players or more, the previous duration applies.
• Small Heavy Fuse box: moved next to the broken window at Power Plant and can now be accessed from outside the building.

Rin says the change to fuse duration addresses a problem on low-pop servers: power would stay off for long periods, and tying the market to power would block trading. Longer-lasting fuses and a box accessible from outside should help maintain the minimum power phases. The section received 85 votes in favor and 5 against.

Updates

Read alsoPower Trip in Rust: The Power Plant Now Affects Loot and Events Across the MapThe August 6 update connects several monuments to the working power plant. Players can bring the power grid online, direct a satellite crash and set up resource extraction—but the benefits are available to rivals too.CasewayNewsRead

Grenade and explosive throws are less affected by server delay

Previously, after a throw, the client waited for the server to create the grenade, C4, or Satchel. The delay was especially noticeable at high ping. The client now simulates the throw locally first. Ian Henderson says this makes throws feel smoother, while the server still corrects the result if there's a mismatch.

• Grenades, C4, and Satchels: now use client-side throw prediction, which is especially noticeable at high ping.
• Server mismatches: the local simulation is corrected if its result doesn't match the server's.

What else is in the update

• Critters and Swimmers: frogs, rabbits, squirrels, sea turtles, crabs, and jellyfish appear in suitable biomes; for now, they're mostly decorative.
• Machete: new model, high-resolution textures, and a set of animations.
• Country Selection UI Refresh: the country selection interface in the server browser has been updated.
• NPC navigation: according to Maverick, performance has at least doubled since the previous patch. When the NPC processing budget is exceeded, NPCs respond more slowly instead of their growing numbers directly reducing server FPS.
• Performance - Viewmodel memory: 133 duplicate hand models have been removed, saving about 100 MB of memory.
• Performance - Dynamic Store Assets: the store loads assets as needed, saving around 250 MB at launch and 450 MB after the store is closed and assets are unloaded about a minute later.
• Performance - Animation IK Jobs: procedural animations have been moved to multithreaded processing; the stated saving is about 1 ms per frame with 100 players in the scene.
• Rust Render Pipeline: the new renderer can be enabled in the experimental settings tab. For the first month, players can switch back if they encounter graphics issues or worse performance.
• Anticheat: TPM and Secure Boot are now also required on [US East] Facepunch 1, [EA] Facepunch 1, [EU] Facepunch 15, [EU East] Facepunch 1, [EU] Facepunch 16, and [EA] Facepunch 2.
• Crash uploading: crash reports are automatically sent to the developers.
• Rust Isles: the Twitch Drops event is in its final days. The developers remind players to link their accounts and watch out for scams. The section received 31 votes in favor and 11 against.
• Steam Autumn Sale: discounts of 50% on Rust and DLC, and 20% on Rust - Warhammer 40,000 Pack, have been announced.
• Oil Rig: crude oil extraction now starts producing after 15 minutes; fixed radiation starting before the locked crate was looted.
• Bases and raids: Water Wheel has been made more resistant to melee attacks; fixed battering rams hitting tool cupboards through walls and players being able to clip their heads through roofs using storage adaptors.
• Quality of life: you can change the code on boat helms and place smart alarms on other deployables; neon signs now have a color wheel and a larger brush.
• Other: 11 achievements have been added; fixed some foods cooking too quickly on campfires and cooking workbenches shutting down during cooking.

All Ladder Hatch variants are now available in the workshop, and the Plague Doctor Hazmat Suit has been added to the in-game and Steam stores. The new suit received a notable share of negative ratings: 72 votes in favor and 22 against.