Feb 5, 2026
View on Steam↗NAVAL UPDATE
5/5 Game-Changing
The Naval Update introduces player-made boats, the high-risk Deep Sea region with Floating Cities and Ghost Ships, and a massive server performance overhaul.
Key Changes
- 1Player-made boats with custom building blocks and deployables
- 2Deep Sea region featuring Floating Cities, Ghost Ships, and Tropical Islands
- 3Major server performance overhaul via custom Unity/PhysX implementation
- 4New Scientist AI that uses noise and line-of-sight instead of wall-hacks
- 5Floating Cities safe zones with vendors, gambling, and utilities
- 6PT Boat addition with dual machine gun turrets
- 7Artist DLC Pack including Paintball Guns and paintable deployables
- 85 new naval-themed missions and mission system QoL improvements
- 9RHIB visual refresh and navigation tool updates
- 10Budgeted processing for Ovens, Industrial systems, and Auto Turrets
All Changes
🚢Naval Gameplay(10)
- newBoat Building Station: Added Boat Building Station deployable for constructing and editing custom vessels in deep water.
- newBuilding Plan: Introduced the Boat Building Plan for utilizing boat-specific building blocks.
- newSails: Added Sails for wind-based propulsion with reverse functionality via radial menu.
- newHelm: Added Helm for steering and securing boats with a lock code.
- newEngine: Added Engine which consumes low grade fuel for high-speed travel.
- newAnchor: Added Anchor to prevent boats from drifting to shore.
- newCannon: Added Cannon naval weapon that fires cannon balls to sink other vessels.
- newSmall Ramp: Added Small Ramp and Plank for boarding ships or reaching land.
- changePlayer Made Boats: Enabled placement of regular deployables on player-made boats.
- newBoat Building Station: Added Deploy & Edit mode for Boat Building Stations (unavailable in Deep Sea).
🌊Deep Sea Content(6)
- newDeep Sea: Introduced the Deep Sea offshore region, a high-risk world event area where building is disabled.
- newGhost Ships: Added Ghost Ships, stationary loot monuments guarded by scientists and containing hacked crates.
- newFloating Cities: Added Floating Cities safe zones featuring docks, NPC vendors, and the Deep Deck Casino.
- newTropical Islands: Added Tropical Islands biome featuring white sands, palms, and semi-procedural ruins/ore.
- newPT Boat: Added PT Boat, a slow but heavily armored vessel with dual machine gun turrets using 5.56 ammo.
- changeRHIB: Refreshed RHIB with updated models, textures, storage box, and working compass/map screens.
🤖AI & NPCs(4)
- changeScientist AI: Implemented new Scientist AI for Oilrigs and Deep Sea that uses noise/sightings instead of wall-hacks.
- changeScientist AI: Scientists now utilize flanking maneuvers, smoke grenades, and ambush tactics.
- newLarge Oilrig: Scientist boats now spawn at Large Oilrig alongside the crate event.
- newMissions: Added 5 new naval-themed missions available from NPC providers.
⚙️Performance & Technical(8)
- changeServer Performance: Implemented custom Unity/PhysX libraries to drastically improve server physics performance.
- changeOvens: Optimized Oven/Cooking systems with a 0.25ms per frame budget and cached fuel lookups.
- changeIndustrial System: Reduced Industrial system overhead by up to 85% through container lookup optimizations.
- changeAuto Turret: Added budgeted loops for Auto Turrets (tick_update_ms) to prevent server resource spikes.
- changeBuoyancy: Batched buoyancy simulations to run 4x faster across multiple worker threads.
- fixServer Performance: Fixed procedural spawning bugs that caused massive lag spikes during junkpile respawns.
- changeFlame Turret: Reduced networking overhead for Flame Turrets by decreasing rotation sync frequency.
- fixCaboose: Optimized Caboose performance by reducing excessive canvas usage.
🎨Items & DLC(3)
- newArtist DLC: Released Artist DLC Pack featuring Paintball Guns, Overalls, and various paintable frames.
- newSKS: Added SKS as a new workshop skinnable weapon.
- changeBuilding Plan: Added Viewmodel to the Building Planner to match third-person visuals.
Summary
Naval Expansion
Rust's Naval Update fundamentally changes the ocean gameplay loop. Players can now construct custom vessels using the Boat Building Station and a dedicated Building Plan. These boats can be outfitted with engines, sails, cannons, and ramps.
The Deep Sea & New Biomes
Beyond the mainland lies the Deep Sea, a new offshore region featuring Tropical Islands, Ghost Ships, and Floating Cities. Floating Cities act as safe havens with vendors, gambling, and utilities, while Ghost Ships offer high-tier loot guarded by advanced Scientist AI.
Technical Overhaul
This update includes a significant technical rework, including a custom Unity/PhysX implementation and budgeted processing for turrets, industrial systems, and buoyancy to drastically improve server stability and frame rates.