Hold Your Ground — Raiding, Decay & Base Defense

Building a base was step one. Now comes holding it. This update turns every structure into something you have to defend, maintain — and, if it's not yours, break into.

Feed the cupboard, or lose the base

Your Tool Cupboard is now the heart of the base. Press E on it for the Base Info panel: it shows every protected piece, your upkeep drain, and exactly how long before things start falling apart. Deposit Wood, Stone, and Metal to keep it running — upkeep quietly bleeds materials over real time, even while you're logged off.

Let the cupboard run dry and the rot sets in: unfed pieces slowly decay and eventually collapse. A twig shack crumbles in hours; a fully-fed metal compound stands for the long haul. Toggle Show Protected Area to light up a dome marking exactly how far your build privilege reaches.

Damage, health & repairs

Every build piece now has real health, and walls take a serious beating — structural HP is cranked way up so cover actually holds. Aim at a piece and a clean integrity bar floats over it so you can read the damage at a glance.

Took a hit? Hold a Building Hammer, look at the damaged piece, and press R to repair it — it costs materials scaled to the damage and swings the hammer to patch it back to full. Repair your Tool Cupboard the same way, or straight from its Base Info panel.

Raiding: pick it, or blow it

Build doors can now be locked — fit a padlock or a keypad and only you (or someone with the code) gets through. Raiders get in the hard way: pick the lock with the lockpick minigame, batter the wall down with gunfire and explosives — or bring the loud option.

That loud option is C4. Craft a breaching charge, stick it to a wall or door, and clear out — it arms, then detonates with a blast big enough to punch through what bullets can't. Balance is Rust-hardcore: stone is bullet-resistant, metal is bullet-immune, and explosives are the real breach path.

Rain that pools like the real thing

Storms hit different now. When it rains, water pools on the ground — real reflective puddles that gather on flat, low ground, mirror the sky, and ripple under the raindrops, then dry out after the weather clears. It's drawn right onto the terrain, so it hugs every hill and hollow.

Melee, finally a real weapon

Your melee weapon now lives on the scroll wheel like everything else. Scroll to it, hold it in hand, and left-click to swing — no more fumbling for a quick-melee key mid-fight. (The quick-melee key still works too.)

Fixes

• You can no longer reload a holstered weapon — no more phantom reloads while you've got a hammer or blade out.
• Wall and structure health rebalanced across every tier for a proper defensive game.