THE SHORT ANSWER
Rust's Common Ground update introduces the Apartment Complex monument with rentable rooms and player-run shops, a clan system with permissions and map tracking, softcore raid windows (6 PM–9 PM local time), and new sprinting animations for rifles and one-handed melee weapons.
- Apartment Complex monument lets players rent rooms from basement to penthouse; scrap upkeep required or face eviction
- Player-run shops in the complex charge upfront and hourly scrap rent; takeover mechanics escalate costs after 6 hours
- Softcore mode gets 2x gather rates and daily raid windows (6 PM–9 PM server time) with TC-based protection outside those hours
- Clan system supports roles, announcements, nameplate tags, and nearby member map visibility; disabled in hardcore
- New sprint animations for two-handed rifles and one-handed melee weapons replace the old robotic movement
Apartment Complex gives fresh spawns a roof and a risk
The headline addition this wipe is the Apartment Complex, a new monument designed for players landing on a fresh server. Talk to the receptionist in the lobby and you can rent a room — basement units cost less, penthouses come with more storage, furnaces, and perks. The catch: you must feed scrap into the slot beside your door. Miss a payment and you're evicted; everything inside is seized.
A master key hides somewhere on the island. Find it and you can unlock any occupied room for five minutes. A guard in the basement may offer a hint on which units are worth hitting. The complex also houses a small row of player-run shops.
Rentable shops bring a player economy to the monument
Each shop front has a contract. Interact with it and you'll see a non-refundable upfront scrap fee plus an hourly scrap cost (real time, not in-game). You need at least 12 hours of rent banked to open. Once live, the shop works like a vending machine — set listings, adjust stock, customize the sign. Drones can't access them.
If a shop has been open for six hours, another player can take it over at double the upfront and hourly cost. That multiplier climbs (3x, 4x) with each subsequent takeover until someone runs out of rent and the shop resets. If you lose a shop or it closes with your gear inside, you have 24 hours to reclaim items by interacting with the front. The master key works on shops too, so don't stash high-value loot there.
Softcore mode gets raid windows and faster gathering
Softcore servers now run a 2x multiplier on all resource gathering — ore, wood, food, animal drops — similar to what modded servers have offered for years.
More significant is the raid window system. By default, raiding is only allowed between 6 PM and 9 PM local server time. Outside that window, Tool Cupboards project a raid-blocking radius: you must be inside a TC's range to have your base protected. Building blocks and doors (walls, floors, roofs, doors, ladder hatches) cannot be damaged. Deployables and unprotected TCs remain vulnerable. A TC must be at least one hour old to project protection, preventing fresh-placement abuse. Server owners get ConVars to adjust window times and rules.
Clan system replaces basic teams with structure
Clans are a step up from the old team system. They support more members, role-based permissions, a dedicated chat channel, and a message-of-the-day/announcement board. Creation and management happen at Clan Tables, a new deployable. Clan names appear on member nameplates, and you can see nearby clanmates' positions on the map. The system is disabled on hardcore servers.
Animation overhaul continues
Facepunch is rolling out new sprint animations for most two-handed projectile weapons and rifles. The right arm lifts and the body animation takes over, removing the stiff, robotic look. Last month's torch animation system has been extended to cover one-handed melee weapons as well.
The update landed alongside the monthly force wipe on July 2, 2026. Server admins should review the new Softcore ConVars before players settle in.