Rules & Player's Guide

How The Worlds Work

World Details

Game systems and server details. These describe how each world plays.

Permacore Life States

These systems apply on Permacore servers. One Grid does not use Permacore lives. On Small Grid, Permacore lives are coming in a future wipe and are not active yet.

In the world of DUST, Permacore enforces its own law: do not kill, do not steal, do not destroy. Breaking it changes your life state.

Neutral

• New survivors start as Neutral.
• Neutral players can die and respawn without losing lives, as long as they stay within Permacore law.
• Killing NPCs (Cobalt Security, D.U.S.T.) does not change you from Neutral to Survival.

Survival

• Attacking, stealing from, or destroying other players' property moves you into Permacore Survival.
• Survival players have a limited number of lives. Each qualifying death costs one.
• Blood Bags in your inventory protect a death: the bag is used up instead of a life.

Blacklisted

Lose your final life without Blood Bag protection and you are Blacklisted until the next blacklist wipe, unless someone revives you. On Permacore Survival, the blacklist wipes weekly.

Neutral self-defense

• If a Survival player attacks a Neutral player first, the Neutral player has up to 90 seconds to fight back against that exact attacker without penalty.
• This does not allow team revenge, looting the attacker, retaliating against their property, or unlimited counterattack time.
• Castle Law protections for defending your own TC-controlled property are planned. They are not live yet.

Permacore Survival is one life. The 5-life resets were from earlier beta test runs.

NPC and Faction Hostility

• Killing any Cobalt NPC makes you hostile to Cobalt for one hour: an hour-long bounty.
• D.U.S.T. agents hunt Unregistered Survivors and treat armed or resisting players as threats.

Server Details

Permacore Survival

One-life hardcore survival on a large 6K map with the full Permacore, Blood, and medical systems. Map wipe: the monthly force wipe. Blacklist wipe: weekly.

One Grid

2X vanilla rates on a custom map. Solo, duo, and trio groups. Full PvP and PvE. No Permacore lives: die, respawn, gear up, go again. No blood or life systems. Weekly wipe: Fridays at 12 PM ET, plus the monthly force wipe. The Friday wipe does not run the week of a force wipe.

Permacore Island Wars: Small Grid

2X Permacore island-control server. Start with nothing, fight for the capture islands, secure resources, progress through Rust's crafting eras (Salvage, Classic Crafting, Modern Tech Tree), and occupy monuments. Weekly wipe: Fridays at 12 PM ET, plus the monthly force wipe. The Friday wipe does not run the week of a force wipe.

Permacore lives, blood, and medical systems are coming in a future wipe. They are not active on Small Grid yet.

Island control

• Three triangle-shaped capture islands: Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie. Each sits inside a visible force-field bubble that stays up all wipe.
• Players and clans can build and PvP inside the bubbles. There is no special capture mechanic: an island registers to whoever holds the zone, which is usually a clan.
• Hold all three islands and your clan can place a Treasury Box (it has a map inside) and collect taxes of up to 50% on resources farmed in your area. Lose an island and you lose that right.
• A clan holding one island plus a big enough claim (a large base on the island, or a Citadel claim on a monument) can also set a treasury for its claimed areas.
• One-island claims are capped at 30% of the server, so at least 70% of the map is always contestable.
• An hourly heat map shows team PvP and PvE activity, with contested zones where claims overlap. Clan, monument, and building changes update instantly.
• A hexagon-grid map shows all of it: islands, claims, heat, and contested zones.

Wipe schedule

Every DUST server force wipes on the first Thursday of the month at 2PM ET.

Staff and Alpha Testers

Becoming staff: post in #apply-here to request an interview. Interviews happen in voice chat with Frank Stein.

How To Play

Player's Guide

What Is DUST?

DUST is a custom Rust network. Its Permacore servers are built on harder survival, deeper realism, and lasting consequences, and each server plays differently.

The story in short

A massive earthquake and tsunami (The Fall) shattered an island owned by the Cobalt Company. It released toxic gas, radioactive water, and Permacore, Cobalt's secret self-replicating nanobots. Permacore can repair the body and bring people back from death, but it also enforces a law that lives inside people: do not kill, do not steal, do not destroy. Now three sides fight over what is left.

Survive. Build. Conquer. What rises from the DUST is up to you.

Full lore is in #dust-lore and on the home page.

Choose Your Server

Open Rust, press F1, paste the entire connect line, and press Enter. Rust must be fully closed for Join Server to work. If Rust is already open, copy the command into the F1 console instead.

1. 01Open Rust.
2. 02Press F1 to open the console.
3. 03Paste the entire connect line for your server.
4. 04Press Enter.

Your First Hour

What is different from vanilla:

• No map without a map. You need a physical Paper Map in your inventory to see the world map. Get one from /shop, from Military Crates, or as a drop from some NPCs.
• Hidden identity. Other players cannot see who you are unless you reveal yourself.
• Harder start. You do not spawn with the usual Rock or Torch, and Rocks and Bone Clubs do not gather resources. You have to scavenge.
• Limited inventory. Better clothing and backpacks increase how much you can carry.
• The water is deadly. The sea around DUST is radioactive (Rad-Water, or T2O in the lore). Entering it kills you. Doing that on purpose is how you leave the island.
• Toxic gas. H2S gas leaks from tunnels and facilities. If you see "GAS PRESENT", move toward fresh air. Some areas need the right gear and preparation.
• Realistic weather and day cycle.

Useful commands

Permacore Life States

Permacore servers only. The full details are in World Details. On Permacore Survival the life limit is one life. On Small Grid, Permacore lives are coming in a future wipe.

Neutral self-defense: if a Survival player attacks you first, you have 90 seconds to fight back against that specific attacker without penalty. It does not cover their teammates, looting them, or hitting their base.

NPC hostility: killing a Cobalt NPC makes Cobalt hostile to you for one hour.

Blood and Medical System

Blood keeps you alive on Permacore Survival. There are no Professions yet, but everyone there has access to the Blood system. One Grid does not use it, and on Small Grid it is coming in a future wipe.

Blood Volume

• Every player has Blood Volume from 0 to 100. It goes down when blood is drawn or lost and slowly recovers over time.
• Low blood can cause no sprinting, passing out, a permanent crawl or critical state, or death.
• 1 Blood Bag = 10 Blood Volume.

Keep Blood Bags in your inventory. If you would lose a life, a Blood Bag is used up instead.

How to make a Blood Bag

1. 01Have a Large Medkit and a Medical Syringe.
2. 02Get to 100% health, 100% hydration, and 100% hunger.
3. 03Use the Medical Syringe while fully topped up.

Medical Syringe controls

Donating blood

• Use /blood donate to toggle whether others are allowed to draw your blood.
• Donors need high health, food, and water, enough Blood Volume, and must be awake and stable.
• The person drawing the blood pays the medical supplies and gets the bag.

Transfusions

Transfusions are meant to be given to another player, not yourself. You need at least one Blood Bag and medical access. Currently everyone can transfuse. Aim at the patient, press Shift + R + Right Click, and wait for it to finish.

Traumatic wounds

• A lethal head or chest shot kills normally.
• A qualifying lethal PvP gunshot elsewhere can leave you crawling instead of dead. Your inventory drops beside you, and normal pickup or revive will not save you. You need enough blood transfused to get back above the critical threshold.

Blood commands

• /blood status
• /blood stats
• /blood recovery
• /blood donor
• /blood help
• /blood version
• /blood donate

Battery-powered gear

The Taser runs on batteries. Hold it and press R to load them. The Salvaged Defibrillator is currently unavailable.

Economy and Money

To pay someone in game, hand over Batteries (small amounts) or Cobalt Shares (large amounts). To pay someone online, send ☉ Credits.

Gold conversions

• Inside Rust: Raw Gold through /shop becomes $. Example: 9,500 Raw Gold = $1.00.
• Through the DUST Bank: Raw Gold through a Banker becomes ☉ Credits. Example: 9,500 Raw Gold = ☉80. 11,875 Raw Gold = ☉100.

Why Credits matter

☉ Credits survive wipes, are stored online, cannot be looted, and can be sent to other players. Only a DUST Banker or Admin can create new Credits.

Banking commands

Use these in #my-account.

How to build wealth

• Mine. Stone nodes give Gold Dust, and any mining tool can find rare ores. Rates vary by tool. The Jackhammer is strong. Cobalt Ore (Heterogenite) is moving to Facepunch's new ore node instead of metal nodes.
• Save, trade, refine, or sell your Gold through /shop for $, or deposit it with the Bank for ☉.
• Collect Batteries and Cobalt Shares for trading.
• Win Zombie Infection for Blood rewards.
• Selling Blood Bags pays only a little now. They are for survival, not farming.
• Mining Licenses are suspended during testing, but Miner and Field Medic bonuses are active for everyone.

Zombie Infection

• Runs every 30 minutes. Needs only 3 players to start.
• /zijoin to join. /zileave to leave. /ziprize to claim rewards.
• Survivors stay alive until the timer runs out or Zombie Prime is defeated. Zombies try to infect everyone.
• The reward is Blood. Play at your own risk: losing badly can leave you needing medical help.

D.U.S.T. Forces

D.U.S.T. agents roam the island, and there are a lot of them. Their speed compared with a vanilla sprint:

Cobalt Security NPCs also defend Cobalt sites.

Get Involved

• Report bugs in #bug-bounty. Valid reports can earn rewards.
• Become an Alpha Tester or Player Staff: read #beta-tester-info and apply in #apply-here. Staff stay Neutral, help new players, and test systems. Rewards include Blood Bags, extra lives, a permanent Alpha icon, and exclusive items when DUST goes live.
• Lore: #dust-lore. News: #anouncments, #alerts, #change-log.

Coming soon

Announced, not live: Professions and licenses, Field Medics and a revival system, Castle Law property defense, a way to preserve physical wealth between wipes, D.U.S.T. survivor registration, and suit patching with Duct Tape.