13 — Vehicles

Last updated: May 18, 2026

Rust has a full vehicle tier. Each one solves a different problem — moving fast, moving heavy, moving across water, moving across air. This file is every vehicle: cost, stats, fuel, controls, when to use it.

Ground vehicles

Horse

Tameable wild horse — the entry-level mount.

• Acquire: find wild horses near roads and fields. Hold E on a saddled horse (or rope-lasso a wild one). Stables sell saddled horses for ~75 scrap.
• Speed: ~10 m/s walk, ~14 m/s gallop. Stamina-limited.
• Inventory: 8 slots once saddled.
• Food: raw horsemeat, apples, corn, plant fiber. Auto-eats from inventory. Feed regularly or stamina drops.
• Armor: horse shoes + horse armor (HQM tier, optional). Wood/roadsign/metal variants exist.
• Dung: the horse poops periodically. 1 dung per ~15 min stabled. Compost ratio 10:1 → fertilizer. Major passive income for solos. See 05_Horticulture.md.
• Hitch post: craft a hitch post in your base to tie up to 4 horses. Hitched horses don't decay and accept food/water from the post.

Pro tip: horses are the cheapest reliable transport. They climb hills decently, accept saddle bags, and the dung-fertilizer-scrap arbitrage is real free money.

Modular Car

Build your own multi-cab car from parts. Found wrecked along roads at gas stations and auto shops.

• Acquire: find a chassis (2, 3, or 4-slot), tow it to a Modular Car Lift (only spawns at Outpost or craftable WB3).
• Modules: engine, fuel tank, storage cab, passenger cab, flatbed. Mix-and-match across the chassis slots.
• Engine components: crankshaft, spark plug, valve, piston (each tier 1-3). Tier 3 max speed and durability.
• Speed: 25-40 m/s depending on engine quality and chassis size.
• Fuel: low-grade fuel. Roughly 1 fuel per 10 seconds at speed.
• Inventory: 18 slots per storage module.
• Use case: hauling stuff between bases, road trips to far monuments, ramming nakeds.

Pro tip: repair kits + spare parts in a storage module mean you can fix the car mid-trip. Without spare parts you'll be walking back to base after one bad jump.

Workcart (Train)

A modular train that runs on the rail network.

• Acquire: find one at a Train Yard or in the underground rail tunnels.
• Speed: ~25 m/s at top throttle.
• Fuel: low-grade fuel. Massively efficient — one tank lasts a full underground sweep.
• Inventory: 36 slots on the locomotive plus more on attached cars.
• Use case: Train Yard farming, Tunnel Dweller monument runs. Linked passenger/storage cars let you haul a team.

Pro tip: the underground tunnel network is a hidden mid-game farming circuit. Crash through scientists with the workcart, loot stations, recycle on site.

Snowmobile

Snow biome-only fast vehicle.

• Acquire: craft (WB2, 200 frags + 50 wood + 1 gear) or find at snow biome locations.
• Speed: ~22 m/s on snow, 10 m/s on grass (slow).
• Fuel: low-grade fuel.
• Inventory: small storage at the back (8 slots).
• Use case: Arctic Research Base runs, Christmas-themed events.

Aerial vehicles

Minicopter

Small 2-seat helicopter, the most popular vehicle in the game.

• Acquire: buy at Bandit Camp Air Wolf shop for 750 scrap. Or rarely loot from heli crashes / find as world spawn.
• Speed: ~25 m/s forward, vertical takeoff/landing.
• Fuel: low-grade fuel. ~1 LG per ~3 seconds of throttle. A full tank (200 LG max) is ~10 minutes of flight.
• Inventory: none — what you carry stays in your inventory. (Mini doesn't have storage.)
• Use case: monument runs, scouting, escaping ambushes, transporting two players quickly.
• HP: ~750 hull. Crashes destroy it; rockets/explosives shred it; SAM sites lock onto it.

Pro tip: keep your minicopter at a dedicated landing pad inside your base behind a garage door. Crashes happen — having spare LG and a repair plan keeps it alive.

Scrap Transport Helicopter

Bigger heli — 4 seats + storage.

• Acquire: Bandit Air Wolf for 1,250 scrap.
• Speed: slower than minicopter (~20 m/s).
• Fuel: burns ~2x faster than minicopter.
• Inventory: 60-slot rear storage.
• Use case: clan runs, hauling loot from far monuments back to base, group transport.
• HP: ~1,000.

Pro tip: great for hauling raid material. 60 slots of C4 + rockets + sulfur means you can deliver an entire raid kit one trip.

Hot Air Balloon

Drifting aerial vehicle.

• Acquire: craft or find tied at monument fields.
• Speed: wind-dependent (~2-5 m/s).
• Fuel: low-grade fuel for the burner (vertical lift only).
• Inventory: 18 slots.
• Use case: sky scouting, AFK monument loot floating, comedy.

Limited combat utility. Vulnerable to ground fire. Fun for scouting and clan recon.

Watercraft

Rowboat

Cheap small boat.

• Acquire: Fishing Village shop for 125 scrap, or rarely as wreckage on shore.
• Speed: ~5 m/s.
• Fuel: low-grade fuel.
• Inventory: 18 slots in the seat storage.
• Use case: lake crossings, river travel, fishing trips.

RHIB (Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boat)

Combat-capable fast boat with mounted weapons.

• Acquire: Fishing Village for 400 scrap.
• Speed: ~12 m/s — faster than rowboat.
• Fuel: low-grade.
• Inventory: 30 slots.
• Weapons: mounted M2 Browning option in some servers.
• Use case: Cargo Ship boarding, ocean island monuments, underwater lab travel.

Pro tip: for Cargo Ship runs, RHIB is essential. Approach from low waterline to avoid sniper fire, dock at the side ladder.

Submarine (Solo)

One-seat submersible.

• Acquire: Fishing Village for 300 scrap.
• Speed: ~6 m/s underwater.
• Fuel: low-grade fuel.
• Inventory: 12 slots.
• Weapons: torpedo tube. Torpedoes loaded from inventory.
• Use case: Underwater Lab runs, ocean treasure recovery, escape route.

Submarine (Duo)

Two-seat submersible.

• Acquire: Fishing Village for 500 scrap.
• Speed: ~6 m/s.
• Inventory: 24 slots.
• Weapons: torpedo tube + improvised gun port.
• Use case: duo lab runs. One drives, one mans torpedo.

Fuel system

All powered vehicles run on low-grade fuel.

• Craft at WB1: 1 animal fat + 1 cloth = 1 low-grade fuel (and 4 charcoal).
• Alternatively: 3 crude oil + furnace = 9 low-grade fuel.
• Pump jacks pull crude oil from natural deposits (oil monuments).
• A modular car uses ~6 LG per minute at speed.
• Minicopter uses ~20 LG per minute at full throttle.
• Sub uses ~3 LG per minute.

Pro tip: stockpile 200+ LG in your base before any long-haul trip. Running out mid-flight = falling out of the sky.

Repair

Vehicles take damage from:

• Crashes (don't crash)
• Bullet/explosive impact
• Decay (gradual HP loss when unmanned outdoors)
• Random terrain (sharp rocks, trees)

To repair:

• Modular car: drive onto a Modular Car Lift, click repair, costs scrap + parts
• Minicopter / Scrap heli / boats: approach with a hammer + materials (frags/wood/HQM depending on damage), look at vehicle, repair
• Workcart: hammer-repair similar to heli

Carry a hammer and 100-200 frags on any long trip. A 20-second mid-trip repair beats a 20-minute walk back to base.

Storage for vehicles

Dedicate a section of your base for vehicle bays:

• Minicopter pad: open roof (no twig overhang) or large hangar with garage door
• Modular car bay: 2-3 foundation deep room with a wide garage door
• Boat dock: if base is coastal, a floor-extension over water with a fence around it
• Multiple vehicles: dedicate one large outbuilding to vehicles, separate from main base

Pro tip: vehicles don't despawn if hitched/parked inside your TC bubble. Outside it, they're picked up after ~3 hours unmanned.

When to use what

Common vehicle mistakes

1. Flying a minicopter without spare LG. Tank runs dry, you fall, vehicle dies.
2. Parking outside the TC bubble. Some random griefer takes it.
3. Riding the heli over Bradley APC. Bradley shoots minicopters out of the sky.
4. Crash-landing on water with a horse. Horses can't swim well. Pick land routes.
5. Engaging Cargo Ship without a RHIB. Rowboats are too slow and visible.
6. Carrying 200 LG on your person mid-flight. If you crash, all your LG is gone too. Store some at home.
7. Forgetting to repair. Vehicles at 20% HP die from a single bullet. Top them up.

Pro tips

• Buy a minicopter at hour 8-10 of every wipe. 750 scrap is achievable by then and the time savings on monument runs pays back 10x.
• Modular Car > Workcart for non-rail travel. Workcart is rail-only.
• Park at the Bandit Air Wolf shop if you crash near it — repair on the same trip.
• The Scrap Heli is too expensive for solos. Save it for clan-tier wealth.
• Don't take a minicopter into the patrol heli's airspace. Patrol shreds you in seconds.
• Snowmobiles only matter in snow biome bases. Outside the snow biome they're slow.