I’ve been ziplining maybe… twice, both times at a summer camp. It’s not that interesting if you’re just doing it for its own sake, but as a means of practical transportation, it definitely beats walking and climbing. There’s a reason ziplines are a common staple of home-grown survival settings: they’re not that hard to set up, and they get you from place to place quickly and relatively safely. If that sounds interesting to you, then good news, you can start using ziplines in Rust.
Yesterday, Facepunch Studios released the new Zipline and Rail update for Rust, implementing, among other things, functioning ziplines and the beginnings of a procedurally generated rail system. It’s truly the age of modern travel, or at least as modern as you can get on an isolated forest island.
Rust Zipline and Rail Update
Starting with the most interesting addition, the various electrical towers that line a Rust map, along with the power lines that connect them, have received a new installation. Some electrical towers now have wooden platforms attached to them that, when climbed, allow you to zipline across the power lines and quickly travel to other electrical towers, as well as certain connected monuments.
Normally, ziplining on a power line would be a terrible idea, but they’re not supplying power, so it’s probably fine. You have full control of your speed while ziplining, and you can jump off the line wherever you want, provided you can safely endure the landing. Be careful, though; any collision with a solid object, be it a wall, tree, or poorly timed vehicle, will knock you off the line.
In addition to the ziplines, the islands have also received the beginnings of a procedurally-generated rail transport system. Any map you load up that’s at least size 4250 can have a single railway line spawn in a ring around its perimeter. This is just a test for the moment; the devs are still working on developing actual vehicles to drive on these rails, but expect your own driveable trains in the not-to-distant future.
Besides the big stuff, there are a handful of other additions, including:
- Improvements to monument lighting
- Visual tweaks to landmines
- Alternating loading screen images
- Improvements on the magnet crane controls
- 18 new achievements, unlockable on official servers
