Rust's new contact system will help you "tell friend from foe"

Rust is infamous for having a pretty hostile player base - something I learned the hard way when I first started playing - but a change arriving this month could make it easier to avoid your worst neighbours. A new "contact system" is being rolled out as part of Rust's June update, and it will highlight those who have done bad things to you.

"Upon meeting a new player they'll be logged into your contacts and the contact system will now keep a history of all interactions (good, bad, indifferent, rage-inducing etc)," Facepunch explained in a press release. "To help quickly identify friend from foe, players' nameplates will now display blue for friendly and red for hostile. Waving at players will reveal your name (it doesn't always pay to be nice...) and using binoculars will reveal if a player is unknown, hostile or friendly from large distances."

On the surface, it sounds similar to the way hostile players are marked in Red Dead Online with a red dot or star depending on their recent actions. With Rust, however, it seems like it will be up to the individual to categorise other players: you can designate someone as an enemy, for instance, and make notes on each player you meet. Seems like a handy way to keep track of all those nakeds.

Along with the new contact system, the first phase of Rust's AI rework has been completed, and essentially "replaces multiple different AI systems across different game locations with a single new one". The update also brings improvements to the game's animals, with new models, materials and a fuzzy fur shader. Facepunch has assured players that this will not impact performance, and in fact, the team "discovered each model had a lot of redundant bones which we've stripped out". Even this game's development process sounds metal.

Further information on the update can be found on the official Rust blog - including details on Rust+ IFTTT integration, a demo shot system and wire colour coding.