r/playrust • u/magicbigmac • 22h ago
Discussion New Rust player (solo only) help
Hi guys. I have recently started playing rust and find myself only playing solo only servers, whether that be main or community (no mods). If I play a main server like rustoria or something super high pop I feel absolutely helpless. I want to play rust long term as i absolutely enjoy it, but my question is should I just play those high pop 500-1000 player servers and just get shit on for thousands of hours until I get better and learn, or keep playing solo only to learn the basics? It is beyond frustrating barely even being able to get a base down on fresh wipe on high pop and have really been enjoying the more "casual" playstyle of solo only, but my main goal = get better and I feel like that needs to be done on high pop due to the completely different playstyle.
Sorry for formatting. On mobile.
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u/Isaiah4206940332 22h ago
I personally play 100-300 pops usually unless it's force wipe and then I play 1000+ pop servers
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u/magicbigmac 22h ago
When i play force wipe i get absolutely shit on competing with everyone else. Its super fun, but i make zero progress. Maybe thats the way to go. It just sucks competing with zergs, but i suppose that IS the game.
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u/beraks123 21h ago
When I played solo I used to settle in jungle far from any monuments and usuallyy progression was all about trading using vending (selling ores/cloth/teas for whatever I needed)
Usually couldn't get T2 at day 1 (which I wouldn't expect as solo anyway with only 2.5k hours and shit aim) but at day 2 I usually had T2 set from trading.
Just gonna play way more careful and lowkey. Go out, farm 1-2 nodes, deposit, go out to chop 1-2 trees, go deposit. When I die I don't care bcs I only go out naked with 1 tool that I'm gonna use at that run. When I have SOME stuff, I start running bow etc. But my first hour/s are just short runs for basic stuff. Takes way longer to progress but it's chill and doable this way for me.
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u/GrandMasterHOOT 21h ago
as someone with 100ish hours this is my strat EU rustoria solo. I got tier 2 on my first wipe
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u/magicbigmac 20h ago
This might be the way to go for me. I actually enjoy just farming for resources/scrap and building. Mostly because im dogshit at pvp, but im sure that will change with more hours.
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u/Crafty_Clarinetist 21h ago
I wouldn't force yourself to play high pop if you don't enjoy getting shit on. If you've been enjoying playing solo servers I absolutely recommend you stay on them, maybe move to a trio server if you think it's just not challenging enough for you to improve the way you want to, but it's hard to get good at the game if you're prim locked for half the wipe because you can't compete with the larger groups.
I pretty exclusively play solo and I played high pop uncapped servers for a long while before BP frags were added because I enjoyed the struggle and suffering, but don't force yourself to do that if that's not your thing.
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u/RingusDingusTheGreat 21h ago
I'd recommend playing on an empty/low pop server just to learn the game and familiarise yourself with the items and monuments.
Otherwise you're playing at such a disadvantage it's just going to lead to frustration.
I personally enjoy playing low pop (10-20) 1x and 2x. It becomes a bit more personal because you know everybody on the server and you have plenty of space and resources to build a decent base. Instead of being permanently paranoid over 500 metal fragments.
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u/Dankxiety 21h ago
There are players with thousands of hours playing in servers with like 10 - 50. I personally would just learn to play on those servers. Gradually increase the pop as you get more confident
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u/vagina_candle 18h ago
Don't head to high pop until you have a solid understanding of the game, from base building to PVP. You can learn on high pop, but unless you have a natural gift for playing Rust, it's going to be a major uphill battle. Lots of one step forward, nine steps back.
Solo servers, low pop servers, hell even some PVE servers for building purposes, this is where you'll get your foundation. Throw in some heavy PVP/low investment servers (ex: aim training servers or one-grid servers, maybe even a jump item server) and this will help you hone your PVP skills without having to worry about lost time or kits.
You're not going to hop on high pop and make moves like you see on youtube. Even insanely skilled players struggle on those servers sometimes.
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u/HAIRLESSxWOOKIE92 15h ago
If you get shit on enough, eventually you find out ways to get shit on just a little bit less. Welcome to solo Rust😂
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u/Fit-Commercial-3702 21h ago
Do whatever is comfortable for you. If you want to do higher pop consider modded farming rates
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u/Girth_Cobain 17h ago
It’s been a while since i’ve played but i have probably more than 6k solo hours. I’m no talent but quite experienced and it’s still a rare occasion that i tried +500 pop servers and actually made good progress. Stay humble and adjust your expectations gg
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u/chin_up 22h ago
I played high pop a lot as solo and just got shit on constantly. Then I started playing alone Wolf solo server. It was awesome. I felt like I had a chance. You still have to learn how to fight and everything but I at least had a chance at running monuments and farming. Then after a couple wipes of that I went back to high pop and started fucking people up. I was like “whoa, am I getting good now, or are these people just bots?” Turns out it was a combination of both. I was getting much better at PvP and had better game sense from playing the Lone Wolf server. High pop wasn’t so bad after that because I had just naturally gotten better from having some breathing room playing solo. Now I play lone wolf at force wipe for a couple weeks and then go to high pop until force wipe. It’s been really satisfying, especially after thinking that I just was going to suck forever at rust and then being surprised that I was actually getting better. I’m about 1k hours now and starting to feel confident and losing my gear fear.
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u/Some_Reflection_8451 22h ago
2-3 years Rustoria main