Community
Rustaroo is built with its players to be the best Rust server for South Africans: fast, with no place for cheaters. This page says what we have done, why we decided what we decided, what changes at the next wipe and how you have a say.
Up for a vote6 questions open · 3 players voted
Wipe dayopen
Which day should the weekly wipe be?
- Monday 20:30 33%1 vote
- Thursday 21:00 (current, with Facepunch's monthly update) 67%2 votes
- Friday 20:30 0%0 votes
- Saturday 20:30 0%0 votes
Map sizeopen
How big should the map be?
- 2000 (small, more fights) 0%0 votes
- 2750 (current) 67%2 votes
- 3000 33%1 vote
- 3500 0%0 votes
Ratesopen
Gather, craft, smelt and stack rates?
- 2x 0%0 votes
- 3x (current) 100%3 votes
- 5x 0%0 votes
Huntersopen
The scientist hunter that tracks armed players every 45 minutes: keep it?
- Keep the hunters 100%3 votes
- Remove the hunters 0%0 votes
Cash amountopen
How much real money should the biggest wallet win per wipe?
- R500 0%0 votes
- R1000 (current) 50%1 vote
- R2000 50%1 vote
PvP rulesopen
Any rules on raiding and group size?
- Keep as is (no rules) 50%1 vote
- No offline raiding 0%0 votes
- Team limit of 4 0%0 votes
- Both: no offline raiding + team limit 50%1 vote
Why Rustaroo existstwo players, one server, no company
1Fast
The server runs in Johannesburg (Google Cloud africa-south1). That is the only reason it exists: low ping for South African players.
2No cheaters
We hate cheaters. So every player's aim, movement and fights are reviewed by an AI admin, from telemetry and from real footage, and bans happen without a human online. It reviews everyone equally, including us.
3A community that tells us what to change
We are players ourselves and we love the game. We cannot pick the best settings alone; the people playing the week can. That is the means to the first two goals, not a slogan.
Rustaroo is run by two admins who play here too. We pay for the server, the AI review and the cash prizes out of our own pockets. No sponsors, no shop, nothing to buy, no pay-to-win. The aim is to make it great for everyone playing here. Once it works in South Africa, we want to bring the same setup to other countries.
You decide the settingsnothing is set in stone
What that means
Settings change between wipes. Wipe day, map size, gather rates, the hunters, the cash amount and the PvP rules are all decided with you. If something feels wrong for a week, that is the test running. Say so and it changes at the next wipe.
Wipes are weekly, Thursdays 21:00 SAST. On the first Thursday of the month the map wipes when Facepunch's monthly update lands — around 21:00 SAST, sometimes later — and blueprints reset too.
How we decide
Two inputs, in this order:
- 1Feedback. What players tell us on the contact page, in game, in the polls below and with their kill cam votes.
- 2Numbers. Players online per hour, how many come back the next day, how many fights happen, how many wallets are filled, how many AI reviews flag someone. All of it is on the home page and the live feed.
A change ships at a wipe, never mid-week, so a week is a fair test.
What we have doneAugust to September 2026
- 23 AugServer up in Johannesburg. Telemetry plugin on the game server, this site with live stats, leaderboards and the base map. Goal 1: fast.
- 23 AugAI review pipeline. Every player's aim, movement and fights summarised from telemetry and reviewed every 10 minutes; auto-ban when the verdict is cheating. Goal 2: no cheaters.
- 23–26 AugKill cams. Every PvP kill recorded from both players, then six cinematic angles, a director's cut with slow-motion replays and live commentary. Proof the anti-cheat is looking at real footage, and fun.
- 24 AugFight replays. Every fight tracked at 4 Hz and replayed top-down on the base map, both POVs side by side;
/replayin game. - 27 AugHunters. Carry a gun and 30+ rounds and every 45 minutes a scientist hunter tracks you down. Anyone can kill it and keep the loot.
- 27 Aug3x and the loot rework. 3x gather, crafting, smelting and stacks; scrap ×3 in every crate and barrel; deployable junk removed from the loot tables.
- 27 AugQuality of life. Free
/mini, fuel-free helicopters, kits on a cooldown. - 27–28 AugRegion and listing fixes. The server now shows in the in-game browser with a South African ping, restarts itself within minutes of a new Rust build, and is listed for voting (EasyVote).
- 31 AugWeekly wipes and a bigger map. A wipe every week instead of every month; the map grew from 2000 to 3000.
- 2 SepRustaroo Cash. R5 coin and R10–R200 notes in barrels and crates, wallets, 15% drop on death, a TC raid takes the wallet, and the richest wallet at the wipe is paid real money, up to R1 000. Steam and email login, kill cam votes as the tiebreaker, the R5 coin toss, a payout claim form, the contact page, and the prize in the server name.
- 3 SepThursday 21:00 wipes and a 2750 map. The weekly wipe moves to Thursdays 21:00 SAST so the monthly one lands with Facepunch's update; the map comes down from 3000 to 2750. The settings polls open on this page.
- 7 SepFaster server. Lag reports checked against frame-by-frame telemetry, then the game VM moved from a shared 2-thread machine to two dedicated Intel cores (n4-standard-4). Goal 1: fast.
- 7 SepIn-game tutorial. New to Rust? Three tasks on screen at a time, from the first tree to the AK, with the live recipe for every step.
/tutorialhides it. Goal: a server beginners enjoy too. - NowBuilt with you. Come to the next wipe, play the week, tell us what to change.
Decisions and whywhat we tried, what we decided, and the goal it serves
Weekly wipe Goal: community
- We tried
- A monthly wipe.
- We decided
- Weekly, Thursdays 21:00 SAST. On the first Thursday of the month the map wipes with Facepunch's monthly update and blueprints reset too.
- Why
- With a small population a monthly map goes dead in a week. A fresh start every week is fair for people who join late and keeps the server "recently wiped" in the browser.
- Open
- Wipe day: Thursday 21:00 — Monday, Friday or Saturday? Your call.
3x rates Goal: community
- We decided
- 3x gather, crafting, smelting and stacks. Scrap ×3, deployable junk out of the loot tables.
- Why
- An evening player with two hours should reach fights, not spend the week farming. 3x is still recognisable Rust, not 100x chaos.
- Open
- Higher, lower, or 3x as is.
2750 map Goal: community
- We tried
- 2000, comfortable for about ten players, then 3000 from 31 Aug.
- We decided
- 2750 from 3 Sep: more monuments and more room than 2000, without the empty stretches of 3000.
- Why
- Fights need room and monuments to fight over, but players need to find each other. It moves again if the map feels empty or crowded; tell us.
- Open
- Map size.
AI admin instead of human admins Goal: no cheaters
- We decided
- Every player is reviewed by an AI admin from telemetry and footage; bans happen without a human online.
- Why
- Two admins cannot be online 24/7, and a human admin has friends. The AI reviews everyone equally, the admins included. This one is not up for a vote.
Kill cams Goal: no cheaters
- We decided
- Every PvP kill becomes a kill cam: killer, victim, six angles, commentary.
- Why
- Real footage is the proof that the anti-cheat is real and that a ban was earned. And they are fun. Your votes on them decide ties in the cash draw.
The public map Goal: community
- We decided
- The public map never shows exact positions: bases and players are shown as an area at least 5×5 grids.
- Why
- The base map and the feeds are for bragging and for the story of the wipe, not for finding someone's door. Fight replays stay exact: they are history, not where anyone is now.
Rustaroo Cash Goal: community
- We decided
- Real Rand notes drop in barrels and crates all week; the biggest wallet at the wipe is paid out in real money, up to R1 000, by EFT.
- Why
- The end of a wipe should be exciting, not empty. The week builds to a payout: the last days are the fight for the wallet, and raiding the leader's main TC takes it. It rewards playing the week out, the cap keeps it sustainable, and it is our marketing. We are committed to it; the amount can change per wipe.
- Open
- The amount per wipe.
Hunters, free mini, no-fuel helis Goal: community
- We decided
- Quality of life. A hunter every 45 minutes for armed players, a free minicopter, helicopters without fuel.
- Why
- Less time farming and travelling, more time fighting. Each one stays or goes on feedback.
- Open
- Hunters on or off. Mini and fuel-free helis, keep or cut.
Johannesburg, Google Cloud Goal: fast
- We decided
- africa-south1 on a dedicated-core Intel VM (n4-standard-4: 2 physical cores, 16 GB, NVMe), restarted daily at 03:00 and on every new Rust build.
- Why
- Low ping for South Africa. Server FPS and your ping are on the home page; if either drops, tell us.
Next wipeThursday 17 September, 21:00 SAST
What happens
- Thursday 17 September, 21:00 SAST: new map, 2750 m, blueprints kept.
- The cash draw runs at the same moment: the biggest wallet is paid out, then wallets reset and the notes start dropping again.
- Settings for the week: 3x, weekly wipe, hunters on, free mini, fuel-free helis, up to R1 000 in cash. Whatever you tell us this week changes at the wipe after.
Come and play the week, then tell us what to change. One week on Rustaroo is the test; your feedback after it is the result.
Your vote
- Wipe day: Which day should the weekly wipe be?
- Map size: How big should the map be?
- Rates: Gather, craft, smelt and stack rates?
- Hunters: The scientist hunter that tracks armed players every 45 minutes: keep it?
- Cash amount: How much real money should the biggest wallet win per wipe?
- PvP rules: Any rules on raiding and group size?
Not up for a vote: the AI admin and the bans it hands out.
Have your saythree ways, all of them read by the admins
Contact page
The direct line. Say which wipe you played and what you would change; the subject is filled in for you.
In game
Say it in chat. The admins are usually on in the evenings (SAST) and the live feed shows who is online.
Kill cam votes
Log in with Steam or email and vote on the kill cams. Votes decide ties in the cash draw, and they tell us which fights people like.
Takedowns. If a kill cam of you shows something sensitive — your base layout, your location — you can request a takedown from the clip page (Steam login). It comes down immediately, we review it, and we fix the generation so it does not happen again. A taken-down clip leaves the votes and the cash draw with it.