Rust: keep your base protected and your circuits legible

1. Separate permission from decay

A cupboard can protect connected building blocks from decay while your character is not authorized to build, or your character can have building privilege while the cupboard has insufficient upkeep. One symptom does not prove the other is working.

2. Restore authorization without guessing the radius

1. Go to the Tool Cupboard and use its interaction menu to authorize. Facepunch says placement authorizes the placer; teammates need to authorize themselves separately.
2. Walk through the exact area where the building plan is blocked. The BUILDING PRIVILEGE indicator is a practical boundary check; do not infer the shape from a simple circle around the cupboard.
3. If an authorized teammate still cannot build, have them inspect their own indicator and re-authorize at that cupboard. Confirm they are not working on a disconnected external structure.
4. Read the placement preview and the game’s blocker message. TC authorization does not override every placement restriction, and unauthorized twig floors or ladders can behave differently from other building pieces.

3. Read the upkeep panel as the current calculation

Open the cupboard inventory and record the displayed resource categories, cost per 24 hours, time protected, and any visible upkeep tax. Those values are more useful than a generic ‘small base’ estimate. Doors and building blocks affect upkeep; the Facepunch guide says ordinary deployables such as sleeping bags do not.

1. Write down each material row exactly as the game displays it; do not combine unlike materials into one total.
2. Check the visible group tax by hovering over the upkeep cost if the interface offers that detail. The September 2026 group-scaling update counts current and recently removed authorizations and code-lock access, so removing someone just before checking may not immediately erase the tax.
3. If your server advertises an upkeep multiplier or custom decay settings, record it from that server’s rules/admin. Do not apply an extra multiplier to a TC reading that already reflects it.
4. Reopen the TC after any group, building, or server-setting change; the screen is the baseline for your next reserve plan.

4. Plan a reserve for the time you will be away

Use the local reserve planner below only as arithmetic on numbers you enter. It assumes a straight-line multiplier because the owner enters that assumption; it does not know the server’s config or apply Rust’s internal group-scaling rules. If the in-game 24-hour display already includes the server’s settings, leave the multiplier at 1.0.

5. If the panel and the server rules disagree

Record the server name/type, patch date, visible TC values, group size, and the exact decay message. The official console-command reference documents server-side upkeep controls, but a player should not assume a command value is active on a community server. Ask that server’s admin to confirm the effective setting. Steam discussions are anecdotal context, not a substitute for the TC UI or administrator confirmation.

1. Identify the port before moving wires

The Electrical Branch has one Power In and two distinct power outputs. Branch Out is the configured side; Power Out carries the remainder. A Switch has Power In, Power Out, plus separate Switch On and Switch Off control inputs. A wire that reaches the wrong port can look almost right while delivering no useful output.

2. Trace the circuit in a safe order

1. Start at the generator, turbine, solar panel, battery, or other source. Read its current output in-game; a listed maximum is not proof it is producing that amount now.
2. Follow the wire into the first component’s Power In. Confirm the line is connected and does not end at an adjacent but incorrect input.
3. At each Branch, note the displayed/set Branch Out amount and identify which leg the target consumer is actually on. Continue from the correct output port.
4. For a Switch, flip it manually once and observe whether its own Power Out changes. If you wired a control line, verify it reaches Switch On or Switch Off, not Power In.
5. At the consumer, verify its Power In and any state/on condition. Then return upstream to find the first point where expected power stops.

3. Distinguish three common branch mistakes

4. Budget the branch with actual readouts

Enter the source output you can currently observe, the Branch Out setting, and the demand of consumers on that branch in the private planner. It flags only arithmetic mismatches in those values. It cannot model every component’s active-usage rule, battery behavior, state, or server changes; Rust’s own live readouts and a one-wire-at-a-time test remain decisive.

1. List only consumers fed by that Branch Out leg; do not add loads on Power Out to that subtotal.
2. Use current observed values, not a solar panel or wind turbine’s best-case maximum.
3. If your sum exceeds the set Branch Out amount, raise the configured amount only after confirming the upstream remainder still supports other circuits.
4. Toggle the switch and re-read the consumer state after each change. Keep a note of the known-working wiring before rebuilding a larger circuit.

5. Compare community schematics carefully

Steam threads and community guides can help you spot a familiar wiring pattern, but they may use different item states, patched behavior, or a modded server. Facepunch’s Waves of Change notes explicitly changed electrical-branch behavior and fixed usage calculations; prefer those notes and current port descriptions when a community post conflicts. Reproduce a circuit in your own base only after you understand what each leg is meant to do.