When the Fog swallowed the world, civilization was left with one last stronghold: the settlement of Emberhold. Its dome is held up by an artifact of unknown nature. The seraphs who awakened in Emberhold have been given a chance to bring civilization back to this world. To do so, they found new settlements, join forces and develop them, restoring spatio-temporal stability across an ever larger territory.
Founding a settlement
Any player can found a settlement. It’s free.
How to found one:
- Find a place free of Fog.
- Open the claims window with the L key.
- Choose where to place the settlement.
Restrictions:
- The settlement’s claim must not overlap NPC claims (story locations and trader sites) and must be at least 1 chunk away from them. NPC claims are visible in advance.
- A settlement can’t be founded closer than 30 chunks to an existing settlement. Keep in mind: the closer to the center of a neighboring settlement you found yours, the more your domes will overlap, either right away or as the settlements grow.
- One player can found any number of settlements, but no more than one per real-world week.
You can also find a suitable spot during a calm period, when the Fog temporarily draws back from the domes. See the article “The Fog” for details.
Renting a home or a plot in someone else’s settlement doesn’t stop you from founding your own: just choose a free spot for it.
Territory and dome
A settlement has two zones.
Settlement territory is a square of chunks around the settlement’s center. Rifts of the Rust World do not appear on it. This is where the manager sets up administrative and rental claims.
The dome is a much larger circular area around the settlement. Under the dome the Fog disappears: you can gather resources and use everything the game offers. Under the dome but outside the territory, rifts appear as usual, depending on rift activity.
Claims on settlement territory
The manager sets up three types of claims on the settlement’s territory.
Administrative claim
The settlement’s public buildings and roads. By default, outsiders can only use doors. The manager can allow them certain other actions, such as cooking. The manager can give partners full access, including building.
Rented home
A building constructed by the manager that players can move into for a fee. While the rent is paid, the tenant can use the building and its storage. Placing or removing blocks in a rented building is not allowed.
Rented plot
A plot where the tenant can build anything they like. Complete creative freedom.
How renting works
- Rent is paid in rusty gears. The manager sets the price per week.
- You can pay through the claims window at any time, including many weeks in advance.
- A tenant can give other players access to their building or plot.
- You can cancel a lease at any time, but rent already paid isn’t refunded.
- Warnings are sent before the paid period runs out.
Important: if the rent isn’t paid, the tenant loses access to the building or plot. Items left in storage are not returned. A structure built on a rented plot stays in place and passes to the manager’s control.
Settlement manager
For now, a settlement’s manager is its founder. In the future, it will be possible to appoint other players as managers.
Claims under the dome
Under the dome, outside the settlement’s territory, any player can place a claim of their own.
Freehold: private land. No one but the owner can do anything there: not place or remove blocks, not open doors or chests. See the article “Freehold” for details.
Mine: works the same way as a freehold, but for a separate fee you can regenerate the rock in it, restoring what was dug out. See the article “Mine” for details.
Civilization points
A settlement grows through civilization points. They are earned by:
- defeating monsters;
- farming;
- cooking;
- crafting.
The more dangerous the monster and the more complex the craft, the more points.
Points go to the settlement whose dome the player is under. It doesn’t matter who the player is: the founder, a tenant, a freehold owner or a passing guest. Players aren’t bound to a settlement: anyone working under a dome moves that settlement forward.
If the domes of two settlements overlap, both settlements receive full points for actions in the overlapping area.
Gathering resources and building don’t earn points. Whatever you gather turns into points through crafting anyway, and we don’t want resources gathered for points rather than for a purpose. Building isn’t counted because the same block can be placed and removed endlessly.
The settlement’s progress is always visible on the bar above the hotbar.
Settlement levels
A settlement has six levels. With each level, the territory and dome grow. To move up to the next level, the bar must be filled to 100%. Every real-world day, the settlement spends some of its points on upkeep.
| Level | Territory, chunks | Dome radius, chunks | Points to next level | Upkeep, points per day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camp | 2×2 (4) | 15 | 60,000 | 2,100 |
| Outpost | 4×4 (16) | 30 | 100,000 | 4,000 |
| Village | 6×6 (36) | 45 | 180,000 | 8,750 |
| Town | 8×8 (64) | 60 | 320,000 | 16,000 |
| City | 10×10 (100) | 75 | 560,000 | 28,000 |
| Metropolis | 12×12 (144) | 90 | 1,000,000 (for further growth) | 50,000 |
Growth beyond Metropolis is still in development.
Leveling up
When the bar is filled to 100%, the manager can level up the settlement with a button in the claims window.
Leveling up can be postponed. Points beyond 100% aren’t lost: they build up in an additional bar. This way residents can see their efforts count even when the manager is offline. Until the settlement levels up, upkeep is taken from the additional bar. After leveling up, the accumulated points carry over to the new level.
Decline
If life under the dome comes to a standstill, upkeep eats away at the bar.
Protective ring
Around the bar there is a segmented protective ring. It keeps a settlement from losing a level because of a short lull.
- When the bar drops to 0%, the ring starts to drain gradually. It drains completely over 48 hours of server uptime.
- Server restarts and downtime don’t affect the ring.
- Recovery begins once the bar stays above 5% for an hour without interruption. The ring refills with new civilization points from players’ actions.
Losing a level
Once the ring is fully drained, the settlement drops to the previous level with its bar filled to 100%.
- The dome and territory shrink to the size of the previous level.
- The Fog moves into the area the dome no longer covers.
- Administrative claims and rented homes outside the new territory border disappear.
- Rented plots outside the new territory border become freeholds.
Disappearance of a settlement
If a Camp loses a level, the settlement disappears. The dome vanishes, and the Fog takes its place. The settlement’s territory claims disappear. Freeholds and mines remain, but under the Fog they can’t be interacted with until a new dome opens over that spot.