MONUMENT BLOCKERSMonument blockers are a new obstacle we're adding to monuments with red keycard puzzle rooms. They’re intended to slow down early access to the loot at these monuments. They require a significant amount of damage to destroy but once destroyed they won't respawn. You may also find a handful of weaker monument blockers which can be destroyed by melee.We don't think this will have an enormous impact on progression speed but it might make the early wipe a little more interesting for the first joiners.In the event they aren’t destroyed within the first 24 hours, they will start to decay.UPKEEP GROUP SCALINGStarting this month Tool Cupboards will now apply an additional upkeep tax based on the number of players that are in a base. When calculating that number we consider a few things:Any players directly authed on the TCAny players that have been deauthed from the TC in the last 24 hoursAny players that are authed on a code lock in the base (including guest code access)Any players that were deauthed from a code lock in the last 24 hoursThe upkeep rates are tiered based on number of players:First 4 players incur no taxNext 6 players incur 2% tax per playerSubsequent players incur 4% tax per player This means a TC with 6 players authed will have +4% upkeep, a TC with 12 players will have +20% upkeep. There is a maximum tax amount of 300%. You can see the current tax rate being applied by hovering over the upkeep cost while the TC is open.Large player groups are a tricky game balance problem to tackle as they essentially bypass most difficulty mechanics in the game via sheer numbers. We don't want to make this an unviable playstyle - Rust is a sandbox best played with friends and we believe you should be able to play it as you see fit.We're hoping this adds an interesting problem for large groups to solve that doesn't come at the expense of small groups and solos as we believe these groups don't really have many interesting gameplay problems to tackle.As usual, we'll monitor this over time and make adjustments as necessary. Server owners will find a set of ConVars in the Decay class that can be used to modify these behaviours, including disabling it entirely.HQM NODE AND COLLECTABLEHigh quality metal ore nodes and collectables can now be found across the island. They're extremely scarce, but you'll have more luck finding the HQM node in the Jungle.MARKETPLACE POWERThe Drone marketplace is now connected to last months Power Plant system, requiring the server to keep the power plant up and running in order to operate drone deliveries. The marketplace now has a built in power level that slowly increases when 4 or more fuses are active in the Power Plant.Once the battery hits 50% it can start accepting purchases. As long as at least one fuse is inserted into the Power Plant the battery won't decrease, but if it drops below 50% then the marketplace will deactivate again.You can see the current charge level from the marketplace map screen.MEDICAL HONEY BANDAGEThe Medical Honey Bandage is a brand-new healing item on the Workbench Level 1. Designed to bridge the gap between the regular Bandage and Medical Syringe, it gives aspiring beekeepers another way to put their honey reserves to good use. Players with thriving bee farms often end up with more honey than they know what to do with, so we hope this new item makes the surplus feel a little sweeter.ATTACK HELI/HAB CONDITIONAL ARMOURWe’ve heard your feedback - the Attack Helicopter is too difficult to counter. Attack helicopters' existing cockpit armour will now fall off in stages as it becomes damaged, exposing both the pilot and gunner. Pilots will now have to be more careful with how close they fly to the sun.Attack heli armour conditions 80% Left panel - 680hp70% Right panel - 595hp60% Front panel - 510hpWe can't forget about the armoured HABs though, these will also have conditional armour.Armoured HAB armour conditions 90% Left panel - 2250hp 80% Right panel - 2000hp 70% Back panel - 1750hp60% Front panel - 1500hpWe'll being monitoring your feedback as always.MODULAR CAR HANDLING IMPROVEMENTSWe've given a little bit of love to how modular cars handle. The steering, turning and suspension have all been tweaked to feel better. We have hopefully also improved how well they drive for players with higher latency.As well as that, we have also added a handbrake mechanic, you can activate it by pressing your CTRL key. Now you will be able to do hairpin turns, take tighter corners, drift, and even do some doughnuts.RADWATER SPRINKLER BUFFYes: we are buffing Radwater again. This time we've given it a large buff when used in Sprinklers, specifically against those with armour.Radwater will now seep through more armour types, causing significant radiation to those in full kits, or lower radiation protection gear. Hazmats are still an effective counter.SAM SITE BUFFED VS. DRONESThe SAM site will now do a much better job of destroying hostile drones.Missiles will fly faster vs drones and have a larger detonation fuse area, meaning drones get taken down much more reliably.NOTABLE CHANGESWe've made several smaller balance changes across the board this month, some addressing community pain points.Heavy Plate HelmetThe heavy plate helmet now suppresses noise when worn. We've also increased the crafting costs.Heavy Plate ArmourPlayers wearing the Heavy Plate Jacket or Pants will now make noise when moving, audible to other players.Swamp TreesThe wood harvest from swamp trees has been significantly increased to be in line with other types of trees.Semi-PistolThe damage falloff has been increased, meaning less damage at range. We've also increase the crafting cost.PiesVarious pies have had their durations extended and recipes adjusted. The Hunters pie bleed reduction has increased.GrenadesStack sizes have been reduced for the F1, Bee Grenade, Molotov, Flashbangs and Beancans.Homing LauncherThe homing launcher lock-on duration has been reduced, allowing for earlier firing.SMG & Rifle BodiesSMG bodies are now minorly more common, whilst rifle bodies have seen a slight reductionLarge MedkitThe Large Medkit now remove radiation to match the behavior of Medical Syringes.ComposterYou can now see how quickly things will take to turn into fertilizer, your crops will thank you.FLASHLIGHT REMAKELet there be light! This month, the flashlight has received a new update - featuring a brand new high quality model, high resolution textures, and new animations. We've also updated the functionality, r/click to turn on/off, just like the torches. You'll even get a different admire animation, based on whether it's on or off!ARROW REMAKEArrows have had a facelift. Wooden arrows have now been updated to have more visual interest (complete with new fletching) and to feel more "RUST".Under the hood, it's been a fiddly one, as each existing weapon contained the arrow mesh directly, so updated rigs and prefabs were required.If this felt like dejavu, you're right. We accidentally left it in the last dev blog. It's in-game this time, we promise.NEW WORKSHOP SKINNABLE: WOOD ARMORThis month’s workshop skinnable is all four pieces of Wood Armor:Wood ChestplateWood Armor PantsWood Armor HelmetWood Armor GlovesBranching out to all four Wood Armor pieces this month we’re pining for the community to spruce up the workshop!To make your own Wood Armor skins, head over to the in-game workshop and leaf through the Wood Armor attire items listed above. From there, you can download the model files and add your own materials and make something tree-mendous.CRYSTAL ASSAULT RIFLE DLCMachined from the toughest gemstones, this Assault Rifle skin will show each and every shot you take.Coming in 5 unique color variations, the Crystal Assault Rifle shows ammunition in the magazine as well as inner workings of the internals as you fire. The Crystal Assault Rifle can be purchased in-game or from the Rust Steam item storeNEW WORLD MODELSIt's about time world models have a bit of love. This month, we're introducing over 70 new world models to replace the burlap sack. We went to effort to make sure they were more or as performant than the burlap sack. Dropped items from electrical components to clothing.NETWORK RANGE AUDITLots of the entities in the world are usually networked way before they can be seen by players. Sometimes this happens too far out, so if a player was running through a specific grid: they may be getting network data about entities which they likely won't be super close to. These all add up: resulting in extra network overhead for the client + server. A few months ago we rolled out a system that would allow us to have custom network ranges for specific objects: close, standard, far. This has only been setup for the very worst offenders, but now I've had a proper audit of most of our entities and set a huge amount of entities (around 300) to that 'close' network range. This affects things like signs, mushrooms, driftwood etc, greatly reducing our overhead.This won't affect gameplay, and nothing has been reduced which is rendered very far in the distance. We hope to be able to better use this system in the future, but this is a great start.RANDOM SKIN CRAFTINGThere's a new "random" skin option at the start of the skin list. With this selected, each craft of that item will get a random, unlocked skin applied.This is saved per item, so you can have it activated for some items and keep other items with a specific skin selected.NEW NAVMESHWe introduced a completely new navmesh in a previous patch, disabled by default, accessible by booting servers with the -useNewNavmesh command line parameter.We since improved performance a lot, reduced the save sizes, and squashed a lot of bugs.This patch we are going to enable it on some of our servers and monitor how it performs.The goal is to make it the default as a hotfix or as part of next patch if everything goes well.What you can expect as a player:maybe some animals will ...