Ultimate RUST Scrap Guide

Scrap: The Currency of Survival

From a young age, we are taught that everything has intrinsic value, both to society and to individuals. We spend our entire lives in pursuit of more of it, whether it be the mighty dollar, the skills to make more dollars, or the knowledge to use others’ dollars to make ourselves wealthy. It’s not the most glamorous of ambitions, often bringing out the worst in us as we edge closer and closer to poverty or prosperity. In RUST, especially on vanilla servers that wipe blueprints every month, Scrap is King… at least for the first few weeks.

This topic is one of the most frequently searched subjects across the RUST community — “How can I make Scrap fast, easy, and safe?” On the surface, it’s a fairly straightforward question, and just about everyone who’s seen a streamer or YouTube video on the subject could rattle off any number of ways. However, we’re not content with just a few methods; this guide aims to cover them all. Yes, we are setting ourselves up for failure with such a goal, but in the end, at least we can say that we failed spectacularly.

 

As a preface, we must temper the scope of ridiculousness. nyone can say ‘loot’ and then add any container type afterward. The same is true of the words sell, steal, PvP for… Instead, we will cover all of these topics but narrow down the possibilities to a select few per topic for simplicity’s sake. Not to say that we won’t be inclusive of legitimate modes and methods, but you see how it could get out of hand quite fast if we didn’t use discretion.

Additionally, we will outline some contingencies before moving forward. They are below;

• For things like running monuments, roads, tunnels, and other quick respawning venues, our payout ranges will be for roughly 30-minute windows of work.
• For things that deviate from the 30-minute format, such as vanilla Cargo Ship events that take closer to an hour due to crate spawn times, we will take that into account.

While no guide is precise because no instance-to-instance payout is the same, we have done our research based on a sample size instead of what we got from a single Trainyard monument run… We’ll instead combine the results from the three runs and provide a median Scrap output.

Tiers or Tears

This Scrap guide aims to inform and instill confidence in the reader in any given scenario. We aren’t here to blow wind up your orifice of choice and give new players the indication that they can solo the Nuclear Missile Silo with a bow and burlap.

Instead, we’re going to lay things out in layperson’s terms, using phrases like Low, Medium, or High risk to describe not only the content itself but the chance that other players are going to counter you. Links will be provided to monument-specific content that we cover, offering a better sense of what you’re getting into and even what gear to bring.

For everything else, a simple description of what we used will be given. If you take one thing away from this Scrap guide, we hope it’s that foresight and preparation are all that you can control and that sometimes the best you can do is good enough.

Some things are out of our control, and it doesn’t do any good to get upset about getting knocked down. Get back up, and go make gains.

Conditions and Contingents

This will chiefly showcase a duality of RUST situations and what a solo can expect compared to a group, especially for more conditional modes such as PVP or raiding, as a solo historically has considerably more hurdles than a group would for these things.

All information herein was gathered over three months on two separate US East and West RUST Official servers. These servers had an average mid-wipe population of 337 and 344 during peak hours. This number increased by several hundred at the beginning of the wipe and decreased by the same amount towards the end. All good things come to an end, of course. For perspective, only one month of data was collected on Premium servers, as they didn’t exist before the start of our research.

The group composition used to gather this data was, as mentioned, either solo or in a group of 3 in total. Altercations with Steam accounts that utilized cheats (proven over time) that impacted outcomes were excluded altogether, and instances in which Zerg activity skewed results were left in but given outlier consideration when our final numbers were tabulated. They’re a part of the game, after all, and should impact this subject.

Due to the nature of the overlap, some data points are intentionally merged. For example, if you are running the roads, you are inevitably going to loot junk piles, but also things like electric power stations or roadside blue scientists that get in your way. In instances where this is the case, we will consolidate these items into an umbrella category.

Finally, we accomplished all of these things with gear typical of their type; we ran the roads in burlap and leather but tackled higher monuments with kits and AKs. We didn’t utilize teas or other stat-affecting tools. Could you run Underground Train Tunnels with a complete metal kit and an M249? Absolutely. But for our purposes, these results need to reflect those that do them and project realistic values. With this in mind, let’s get to it.

Scrap Gathering Methods in RUST

Land-Based

In no particular order, we will begin with land-based Scrap acquisition methods. These are historically the most prevalent modes, but Facepunch has made frequent yearly updates to aquatic features that give these a run for their money.

Best done either naked or with very rudimentary clothing, just enough to mitigate potential radiation zones around starter monuments. 11 Radiation protection is generally viewed as enough to do any of these things, and contrary to the notion of looting the road for a solid 30 minutes, we instead did three sets of 9-minute runs, with 1 minute travel time on average, to achieve our 30-minute benchmark. This is also advised for all players regardless of experience, as it reduces how much you stand to lose if you run into those more geared.

Acting as our first umbrella topic, barrel, and crate looting includes any of the following things;

• Roadside Junk Piles
• Road Signs
• Broken Down Cars, Vans, Trucks
• Electric Substations
• Ziplines

Running the road in Rust is an excellent early-game strategy for farming Scrap, as it has a low barrier to entry; no keycards or special gear are required. While direct Scrap gains are modest, the sheer volume of lower-tier scrapable items makes recycling highly profitable. Loot respawns fast, offering a steady flow of resources, all the while granting a low-risk option with a strong potential for quick loot-and-scoot gameplay.

On the flip side, being a road runner comes with significant risks that players should be aware of before they run out of their front door sporting valuable kits. Junkpile Scientists guard some roadside loot, while frequent player traffic makes inattentive survivors easy targets. Compared to other loot locations of similar risk, road loot quality is lower, often consisting of junk items that take time to sift through.

Newer players compete heavily for scraps, leading to more fights over barrels and crates. The terrain, dependent on the biome, favors ambushes, with roadside shrubs providing perfect cover for hostile players and animals. Additionally, barrels require melee weapons, and breaking them takes time and makes noise, potentially revealing your position.

All this stated, here were our rough averages. Timing yourself while being shot at is an interesting experience.

Median 30-minute Scrap haul:

• ~250 Scrap and assorted components before recycling.
• ~550 all in if using a safe recycler
• ~800 all in if using a hostile recycler

Gambling in RUST is definitely a hit or, more often, miss proposition, but one that many players turn to at any point during a wipe. The reality is that we can’t tell you how much you could gamble, win, or lose by doing any of the following. That being said, we have included links to our assorted guides on the subject. Best of luck with this one.

Junkyard Car Magnetic Crane Scrapping

The Junkyard monument is probably one of the hidden gems of the RUST world… and I could go on for hours about the specifics, but that isn’t what this guide is about. Brass tacks, the highly underutilized Junkyard Magnet Crane can be used with the help of Low Grade Fuel to convert anything with wheels into quick, raw Scrap.

Below, find a complete list of all known vehicles and entities that can be scrapped in this way, along with their outputs. For this guide, we are only including those items that directly yield Scrap.

• Large Chassis: 150 Scrap
• Medium Chassis: 125 Scrap
• Small Chassis: 75 Scrap
• White Junkyard Scrap Trucks: 50 Scrap
• Snowmobiles: 50 Scrap
• Minicopters: 100 Scrap
• Scrap Transport Helicopters: 150 Scrap
• Attack Helicopters: 200 Scrap
• Bike Types: Between 30 and 50 Scrap, depending on the model

The RNG Gods sometimes smile at us, and as such, we should use these gifts to our advantage. While the act of finding, researching, and crafting in itself is a mostly safe venture, selling such items through any number of forums like advertising in trade and selling at Bandit or Outpost (less risk), using a vending machine near your base (moderate risk), or installing one where you live (high risk) is a gamble. While this isn’t an all-inclusive list, we include some of the wipe-day favorites that groups and solos alike will pay above-average prices for, often even a few weeks later, all of which are player-craftable.

Weapon

• Beancan Grenade
• Double Barrel Shotgun
• Waterpipe Shotgun
• Weapon Flashlight
• Semi-Automatic Pistol
• Molotov Cocktail
• Military Silencer
• Thompson
• Semi-Automatic Rifle
• Rocket Launcher
• Holosight
• SKS
• Assault Rifle
• 8x Zoom Scope

Construction

• Armored Doors
• Garage Door
• High External Stone Walls and Gates
• Ladder Hatch, Square, or Triangle

Items

• Bed
• Cooking Workbench
• Mixing Table
• Rug Bear Skin
• Small Oil Refinery

Tool

• Hatchet
• Pickaxe
• Salvaged Axe
• Salvaged Pickaxe
• Satchel Charge
• Timed Explosive Charge

Medical

• Medical Syringe

Ammunition

• 5.56 Rifle Ammo
• Explosive 5.56 Rifle Ammo
• Fire Arrow
• High Velocity Rocket
• Incapacitate Dart
• Pistol Bullet
• Rocket
• Torpedo

Component

• Camper Vehicle Module

Electrical

• Auto Turret
• Large Rechargeable Battery
• Large Solar Panel
• Wind Turbine

Scavenge-to-Sell

Even if you’re freshly spawning naked on a beach, depending on the population of the server you’re starting, we all have the capacity to do one thing with virtually nothing: Scavenge. The wise player, even if they aren’t comfortable with PVP, knows to mark relative locations when they hear a distant raid or nearby gunfight.

Whether through being raided or through the natural course of decay, some of the best loot jackpots of all time were found rather than earned. The range here is literally up to your imagination, with most finds being as small as a few tools and light scrapables, to the largest being enough to finish all of your blueprints via tech tree from absolute zero.

Buying and Recycling for Resale

As the wipe continues, the dynamic pricing system on default safe zone vendors kicks in. As this proceeds, the price to purchase things like Variable Zoom Scopes decreases while the direct sale value of resources like High Quality Metal increases. A properly motivated player with a knack for entrepreneurship can make quite a profit with a minimal amount of startup Scrap.

Purchasing the Variable Zoom Scope from Bandit Camp at a maximum of 50% off will cost 150 Scrap. Recycling this scope at a non-safe-zone recycler yields 48 High Quality Metal. Selling this HQM back to the Bandit Camp monument merchants while at 100% value will pay out 192 Scrap. This is an immediate Scrap turnaround of 42 Scrap per scope.

Mid-Risk Scrap Gathering Methods

Of course, as the danger increased, so too did how we armed ourselves for the following modes. Each was done within the bounds of how the developer intended, so we didn’t go overboard, and Zerg Mining Outpost with AKs all wipe to achieve higher outputs.

For the sake of this experiment, we took most of the guesswork out of what you can expect if you enter an otherwise completely unlooted Monument and loot everything therein. The totals reflect the average yield of recycled Scrap before converting byproduct materials at resource exchanges (like cloth for Scrap). Monuments with keycard rooms will have those values listed separately. We have included even low-tier monuments in the Mid category because, as the population grows, so does the danger, making something like an Oxum’s Gas Station recycler more dangerous than a Military Tunnels recycler.

• Abandoned Cabins:
  • ~82 Scrap, 1 Green Keycard
• Abandoned Military Base:
  • ~342 Scrap, high premium component output
• Abandoned Supermarket:
  • ~146 Scrap, 1 Green Keycard
• Airfield:
  • ~370 Scrap, +3 Diesel barrels
  • Green / Blue Keycard areas, + ~178 Scrap, 1 Red Keycard
• Arctic Research Base:
  • ~335 Scrap, high premium component output
  • Blue Keycard area, ~223 Scrap, 1 Red Keycard
• Dome:
  • ~282 Scrap, +2-3 Diesel barrels, high premium component output at the summit
• Ferry Terminal:
  • ~296 Scrap, 1 Green Keycard
• Harbor:
  • ~266 Scrap
  • Green Keycard area, ~56 Scrap, 1 Blue Keycard
• Jungle Ziggurat:
  • ~186 Scrap
• Junkyard:
  • ~244 Scrap, +2-3 Diesel barrels, 1 Green Keycard
• Lighthouse:
  • ~152 Scrap, 1 Green Keycard
• Mining Outpost:
  • ~136 Scrap
• Oxum’s Gas Station:
  • ~154 Scrap, 1 Green Keycard
• Power Plant:
  • ~364 Scrap, +3 Diesel barrels
  • Green / Blue Keycard areas, + ~248 Scrap, 1 Green Keycard, 1 Red Keycard
• Radtown:
  • ~239 Scrap, +2-3 Diesel barrels
• Satellite Dish:
  • ~232 Scrap
  • Green Keycard area, ~48 Scrap, 1 Blue Keycard
• Sewer Branch:
  • ~134 scrap
  • Green Keycard area, ~242 Scrap, 1 Blue Keycard
• Train Yard:
  • ~230 Scrap
  • Green / Blue Keycard areas, + ~288 Scrap, 1 Red Keycard
• Water Treatment Plant:
  • ~271 Scrap, +3 Diesel Barrels
  • Blue Keycard area, ~198 Scrap, 1 Red Keycard

Grubbing

This section is another one of those “pig and a poke” scenarios, far more contingent on the commitment of resources, luck, and persistence than anything else. If you’re running out with double barrels only, you have a really high chance of eventually making a profitable play.

Still, it is very easy to get caught up in a sunk-cost fallacy situation. If you’re spending 80 Scrap in pipes over an hour to bring back 80 Scrap in resources, you are breaking even on Scrap and losing an hour’s worth of profit otherwise. This method is also a great way to get yourself raided.

That said, mad gains are just a shell away.

Traveling and Waterwell Vendor Deals

Sometimes, the best way to make Scrap is to spend it, especially early in the game. These modes are more of a springboard than a tangible Scrap-making venture in that they allow players to have an RNG-based chance to purchase weapons minutes into the wipe, as well as get valuable teas and blueprints like the medical syringe.

Often, those with the best technology are the most financially secure. The big opportunity for profit here is the resale of RNG Advanced Ore and Tree teas that can appear on the Waterwell Vendor’s inventory. Ranging from 30-40 Scrap each, either one of these could be turned around and resold immediately for 2 to 3 times that amount to other players.

Running diesel in smaller quarries quietly or at night and selling resources (HQM at Bandit, etc) can be pretty lucrative. The issue you encounter here is that, especially on higher-population servers, large groups often attempt to take over the Sulfur and HQM Quarries to corner the market.

Hired Hand

Offering farming, building, and electrical services to groups, especially those more oriented toward the FPS portion of the game, can be pretty lucrative. While this requires quite a bit of trust on both ends, players who excel at any of these subsystems can make both friends and profits, especially if you garner a reputation in the community for such a thing.

Diesel Acquisition

Specifically for wholesale, while we’ve mentioned that diesel is quite valuable for its intended use, groups are more than happy to pay reasonable prices for this black gold. As these transactions are often conducted through vending machines, this could be on the lower end of the danger spectrum if you’re selling to a machine, or a guarantee of a raid if you sell from your machine.

Early game, Diesel Fuel on our test servers averaged around 80-100 each (slightly skewed to the positive by larger groups), while later in the wipe, Scrap offers seemed to disappear, replaced by HQM.

Garage Services and Vehicle Sales

While not the most conventional mode of making Scrap, the occasional self-serve garage does pop up. The basic premise is a standalone roadside structure that sells Keys. The structure itself has a vending machine for these transactions, and each key sold opens a garage door with a vehicle inside. Players make the purchase, find and open the door, and drive off. While sample sizes were limited, full armored camper setups were retailing for 350 Scrap with a half tank of fuel.

Wholesale Crude

Like the diesel trade, crude sales are perhaps even more critical. Large groups consume an ungodly amount of Crude Oil and Low Grade Fuel daily, as it is used to make Meds, Explosives, and, of course, to get around. Blowing Bandit Camp’s offers away, Crude Oil can range from as low as 2 Scrap each all the way to 25 Scrap at its height. When you consider how much Crude Oil you can get from running the Dome monument or even roadside barrels, this can get profitable in a hurry.

Camping Harbors

This method of acquiring Scrap is a crossover Land and Sea entry, but for our purposes, you don’t necessarily ever have to leave the Harbor monument to pull this off. By that same token, depending on what you choose to wear and the weapon you carry, this can range from low to high risk.

Since the Cargo Ship event docks at all Harbors on the map, these become prime opportunities at which to camp to scoop up almost forced PVP profits. Those doing the event have to wait a considerable amount of time before those crates both spawn, begin opening, and finally crack. This method provides ample window for the highly motivated to sneak onboard, make a hot lead delivery, and skedaddle with the goods. It may sound simple, but this is a highly competitive market with stiff competition around every corner.

Due to its high spawn rates and built-in mode of transit, the Underground Rail Network is not just a host to a series of trains but to seemingly infinite numbers of Tunnel Dwellers. The amount that you earn is based on your skill, gear, and speed. Luck also plays a small role, as a like-minded, larger, better-geared team can quickly turn your adventure into a Fast Travel back to your base. Risk, then, is also contingent on what you choose to wear.

With a primitive kit, a Hunting Bow, and Bandages, you might average a few hundred to a thousand Scrap per hour. Moving up to a Hazmat Suit or mid-tier kit and something like a SAR, that number could increase to 1-2 thousand Scrap per hour.

If an experienced player goes down (or several) and encounters little to no outside player resistance, using top-tier guns like AKs, it is possible to pull in over 4,500 Scrap in an hour. This number is not an exaggeration and is completely RNG-based. Bring a backpack, plenty of meds and ammo, and a backup gun.

Higher-Risk Scrap Gathering Methods

High-Tier Monuments

It has the same protocols as the lower to mid-tier monuments list. Assuming ideal conditions and outcomes. Monuments with Keycard rooms will have those values listed separately.

• Giant Excavator Pit:
  • The Excavator is a publicly announced event monument that dares other players to come counter you. That being said, it is arguably the most dangerous monument on this list. The Scrap gains here aren’t necessarily from boxes or scientists but from the Diesel-related Airdrops every 10 minutes and what you choose to do with the resource output you select. It’s nearly impossible to put a number on what you’ll get from the Airdrops, but if you were to run HQM, convert it into its cooked version, and sell it at Bandit Camp with the later wipe 100% pricing, this equates to 12,000 Scrap per hour alone.
• Launch Site:
  • 522 Scrap
  • Red Keycard area, + ~326 Scrap
• Military Tunnels:
  • 288 Scrap, +2-3 Diesel barrels, + Imbalanced Scientist loot
  • Green / Blue / Red Keycard areas, + ~378 Scrap, 1 Red Keycard
• Missile Silo:
  • 170 Scrap
  • Blue Keycard areas, + ~1778 Scrap, 1 Red Keycard, +2-3 Diesel barrels

Bradley APC Kill

Like Giant Excavator Pit, taking down the Bradley APC is fairly announced, with everyone within earshot hearing both your means of attack and the explosion when it blows up. In addition to all that mess, similar to Patrol Helicopter crashes, a large explosion icon appears on the map, baiting players to the scene.

As far as Scrap output goes, Bradley is a mixed bag. It can drop large bundles of Tech Trash, Cameras, and Laptops, as can the Scientists that he spawns, and you can walk away with 800-1000 Scrap potential. Conversely, he can drop a Square Ladder Hatch and an MLRS Rocket… All for nothing if you can’t make it away with the loot.

Was a coin toss whether or not to include Patrol Helicopters in this list. From a pure Scrap perspective, this event is honestly terrible. However, since it has the potential to drop large amounts of explosives, some would argue that converting a few bullets into raid supplies is more than enough reason to both take him and your neighbor’s possessions. As is with the Bradley, it is all for nothing if you don’t have the capability and numbers to defend against the crash.

Raid Player Bases

A Patrol Helicopter was the perfect segway into this hit-or-miss proposition. There are times when you will breach a single wooden door and find thousands in Scrap and scrapables. Then again, you might go through 10 armored doors and find an empty tuna can. This is the nature of the beast in RUST.

There is no 100% guaranteed payout with raids. That being said, there isn’t quite any other activity that equals the thrill of taking the work of others away from them, especially if they deserve it.

Extortion / Protection Business

Not to put too fine a point on it, but sometimes you offer a loot tour and tithe to your local Zerg to not pay with your life for building ‘too close.’ Sometimes, you’re the Zerg. This racket doesn’t occur everywhere in RUST, but it does happen.

Sometimes, it’s done in a joking sense as an introductory act of trust, while other times, the Zerg takes your Gunpowder and raids you overnight with your resources anyway. This is the one we couldn’t put a price on because the test group wasn’t massive enough to extort any of our neighbors, all of whom typically outnumbered us 4:1.

Cab Service

Made popular in some rather infamous YouTube videos, offering cab services in global chat is a great way to both make and lose Scrap. Sometimes, the customer is sincere, tips well, and genuinely appreciates the ride. Other times, you’re met with turrets on switches, HV rockets from rooftops, and a swift bullet to the head. Not for the weak-willed.

Overwatch

Almost every good Rust revenge story hits the same old snag: how can a Trio take down an eight-man? And just about every such tale ends the same way: by hiring other teams that mutually hate the eight men, of course!

Usually, it isn’t a direct Scrap transfer that facilitates this sort of transaction, but rather the promise of splitting the non-boom loot after the deed is done. If you, the hired party, pull through and impress, this can lead to gargantuan payouts in Scrap and components.

Roaming

This once-popular RUST pastime has all but fallen to the wayside on Official and Community servers, but has made quite the resurgence on modded multiplier (2x, 3x) servers. Because of the rise in grubbing, the addition of quick-deployment barricades, and the rampant cheating that still takes place, most teams opt to save their hard-earned loot in their base and take out limited kits to do just about anything.

For those who still want to get the gang together and go out to terrorize the neighborhood, there is profit potential. Everything else we’ve named so far happens outside the base, thus presenting the opportunity for a group of players to stumble upon the odd solo or duo that just happens to be moving their valuables to a main base or from a raid. You never know until you try.

Camping Vendors / Monuments

Do you know all those Waterwell vendors we talked about earlier, along with Bandit Camp being the literal hub of economic potential? Well, in the case of the first, there is no protection from other players, and these can be pretty profitable locations to camp in a bush.

In the case of the second, the aim of the guards is laughable at best and can also be a great place to bush-wookie it up. As with all ‘skummy’ actions, this is listed under high risk because of the potential blowback. If you happen to kill the wrong person, some teams will employ unfair methods to find you and recover those resources.

Water-Based

Facepunch, in their infinite wisdom, has invested many hundreds of thousands of hours and updates into making the ocean a more hospitable, resource-rich environment while simultaneously making it a terrifying hellscape that no one would ever willingly venture into that wasn’t already borderline insane.

Lower-Risk

Diving for Sunken Crates

Once upon a time, there was a Scrap farming method that was dull yet safe. A vast underwater oasis, free from threats except for the occasional fellow diver. The seas were clear, the boxes plentiful, and the water… moist.

Then the Sharks came, along with the Underwater Labs monument and a slew of other reasons to entice the masses into the deep blue.

Honestly, so long as you don’t dive at night, bring adequate oxygen tanks, use proper gear, and bring along a Combat Knife to speed the process, you’ll be fine. If you see sharks, go to the next dive site, made evident by the new buoys.

The small crates are relatively garbage, similar to a lower-quality barrel, but the large boxes are full of goodies. Depending on the distance between sites, we averaged out to 211 Scrap per 10-minute tank, but ended up with a lot of high-quality metal to sell.

Fishing system, following its most recent updates, is quite extensive in its own right. It is chiefly broken into two categories, one being manual rod and reel and the other being passive trapping; instead of breaking that all down in this already extensive guide, we are going to take the more comprehensive approach and link to our How to Fish in RUST guide for those who want to learn more.

TL; DR, read the fishing guide; the Scrap gains are potentially massive.

Mid-Risk

Ocean Floats

Ocean float farming is quite popular among the solo crowd, but it presents its own set of problems. Unlike the slightly safer dive sites, there isn’t anywhere to hide when going from float to float on a boat.

Honestly, if you are snuck up on by another boat, the best thing you could do to mitigate the risk is to wear a scuba set. If you’re in a rowboat, you can’t escape an RHIB or any helicopter… If any of these things arise, you’d be smart to dive. Scrap output is comparable to diving after you negate the ascending and descending times.

We averaged right at 194 Scrap per 10 minutes, but that was due to luck and no loot falling to the bottom of the ocean.

Higher-Risk

Cargo Ship Event

There are few things in the game as perilous to a solo as doing Cargo alone. It is a fan-favorite event that anyone serious about PvP loves to participate in. Before continuing, if you skipped to this part of the guide, we recommend scrolling back up and referencing the Camping Harbors section.

Grubs being able to intercept Cargo when the ship docks notwithstanding, there is nothing quite as terrifying as being below deck and hearing a boat pull up or, worse, a Scrap Transport Helicopter. But you’re not here for the warning; you’re here for the loot spread.

To put it bluntly, throughout 41 successful full Cargo Ship lootings, our investigators averaged 1,293 Scrap per event, without recycling items that could have yielded more components, such as Auto Turrets. This is all-in-the-figure and excludes a few instances where Counters were killed with the loot they brought from shore.

Underwater Labs

Underwater Labs is quite similar to the Underground Rail Network, particularly in its use of scientist AI. The difference here is the method of reaching it. Players must scuba dive and approach the moonpool or use a submarine. What puts this into our High-Risk tier is that these moonpools give unilateral advantages to players already at the monument, camping at the entrances. Once the population of a server reaches a certain level, it is nearly impossible to board Underwater Labs without getting a shotgun to the face.

Because they’re procedurally generated, it is unrealistic to expect each lab to pay out the same amount. We were averaging roughly 220 Scrap per 10 minutes without doing the keycard puzzles, with that number increasing to 410 Scrap if we remembered to bring them with us.

Lumping these two together because they are relatively similar in design and identical in AI, with small numerical pluses or minuses. Each guide unto themselves, literally; check out Small here and Large here.

Much like the Cargo event Keycard, the reason that rigs are High Risk stems from needing better-than-average armor and weapons to do the content, and then the community’s obsession with ‘Controlling Rig’ in chat.

We had fewer full clears to gauge from because these monuments are often permanently camped. From our data, what you can expect to rake in fluctuates greatly depending on RNG.

For the Small Oil Rig, breaking every barrel, doing every card room, killing every scientist NPC, we averaged a mere 648 Scrap. There were outlier instances where we obtained as few as 399 Scrap and as many as 1121 after recycling, but these were low and high RNG instances, where we either received no Tech Trash yielding components or a large amount.

The Large Oil Rig monument was surprisingly similar, despite its upscale appearance, with a range as low as 512 and as high as 1233 Scrap. We excluded the probability of reselling or converting the diesel gained from each, as well as the profit that could be made from recycling the Miniguns we received from heavy scientists, which have numerous components.

Submarine Raiding

Like traditional raiding, there is no 100% guaranteed payout with raids. Unlike conventional land raiding, submarine raiding has considerably more stringent conditional requirements but takes a heap less Gunpowder to do correctly. Torpedoes are a superior raiding method if they can hit their target at a fraction of the cost.

We did attempt some submarine raids for completionist’s sake, but they were fraught with tragedy and failure. Bases have to be deep in the water for this to be efficient, and when they are, it works like a charm. But if you’re trying to hit barely submerged foundations on the coast, you might save yourself the hassle and do something else.

Side note: It isn’t challenging to blow yourself up if you misgauge your depth or directionality.

Passive / Automatable

Finally, we come to the last topic in our guide. No long-winded intro, just the facts. This is why we have seen such a marked increase in farm bases and river rats. Because we’re focusing on Scrap making, we are going to stick mostly to things that can be directly sold at Bandit Camp vendors or that other players will buy repetitively.

Lower-Risk

Farming

• Corn: At its best, 20 Scrap per 15 Corn isn’t going to break the bank, but the real detractor is that it’s on the same restock cooldown as Cloth, Fertilizer, and Honey.
• Hemp/Cloth: See Corn, 80 Cloth per 20 Scrap isn’t terrible, but the cooldown is murder.
• Roses / Sunflowers / Orchids: This is where farming, in general, goes a bit off the rails. The key to this being more successful than any other method is that, instead of selling to a single Bandit Camp vendor, you can sell at any Large Barn or Ranch, which can exist in higher numbers on larger maps. Here are the facts, assuming the 100% value increase is active into a wipe;
  • Roses: 12 roses sell for 100 Scrap. A single Large Planter with a Genetic sequence of 2 Yield genes and 2 Growth genes yields 56 Roses per plot, nine plots total, for a total of 504 Roses per 90 minutes. 504 divided by 12 is 42, times 100 Scrap is 4200 Scrap per 90 minutes.
  • Sunflowers: 1 Sunflower sells for 6 Scrap. A single large planter with a Genetic sequence of 2 Yield genes and 2 Growth genes yields 56 Sunflowers per plot, nine plots total, for a total of 504 Sunflowers per 90 minutes. 504 times 6 is 3024 Scrap per 90 minutes.
  • Orchids: 1 Orchid sells for 16 Scrap. A single large planter with a Genetic sequence of 2 Yield genes and 2 Growth genes yields 57 Orchids per plot, nine plots total, for a total of 513 Roses per 90 minutes. 513 times 16 Scrap is 8208 Scrap per 90 minutes.
• Fertilizer: See Corn, 2 Fertilizer per 6 Scrap isn’t excellent, and the cooldown is murder.
• Teas: Until the incorporation of teas being sold at Waterwell vendors, they would fetch an absolute premium. Now, they’re slightly more regulated based on the vendor prices. Pure teas can go for as little as 100 Scrap or, realistically, as much as 200 Scrap each.
• God Clones: Our final wildcard farming tip. God clones are considered any clone with a genetic sequence of “GGGYYY” or some combination of 3 and 3 in any order. We were able to pull perfect god clones for Hemp and Yellow Berry clones, with Hemp selling a total of 4 clones at 1000 Scrap per clone. The Yellow Berries brought 850 Scrap per clone and sold 9 times. Prices are contingent on your server’s population and need, but clans will pay out the wazoo for these early games.

Beekeeping isn’t especially profitable, with Honey selling to Bandit Camp at 4 Scrap each under optimal conditions. The primary reason we’re including it is its passive nature.

Chicken Husbandry

Just like Beekeeping, Chickens and their offspring Eggs don’t hold a lot of value. Their passive nature is key to their worth, and harvesting chickens for Chicken Pies can bring marginal gains, around 100 Scrap per pie

Mid-Risk

Trap Bases

We’ve all seen them, if not directly been party to the havoc they reap. You see a base, open door, seemingly raided, only to hop in and immediately have it slam behind you. With modern innovations and automation, including the Hopper and any RF Transmitter system, those that set up these bases can kill you, have your body and possessions flown through the air into a box, and have the whole thing reset itself and send them a real-world text notification when they’ve profited.

And this entire setup can be yours with just a quick Google search and some basic building materials. We didn’t test this, as no one on our team could bring themselves to be this unscrupulous. However…

Higher-Risk

Rail Network Ambush Bases

We decided to build an above-ground rail network trap right outside our main base. This involves essentially building your house right next to the rail network and running foundations and turrets as close to the lines as possible.

We then put a notification on each turret to transmit a signal when they acquired a target. The final bit involves placing a train right in front of your base so that anyone coming along on a train of their own will either ram into it at high speed, slowing down considerably and being shot, or intentionally slow down, also resulting in their murder.

We gave it the same automated treatment, with a funnel system of boxes and hoppers that pathed the loot directly into our foyer. The profit from this, initially, was astronomical. We must have brought in 8 Hunting Bows, 2 Revolvers, and 12 Scrap.

The base was unsuccessfully raided several times before it was eventually completely offline-raided a few days later. Within a few hours of our establishment, warnings were sent out, we were called some very hurtful words, and the trains stopped coming.