‘Rust’ Airborne update turns hot air balloons into flying fortresses

The Airborne update for Rust has added an attack helicopter, parachutes and armoured hot air balloons to travel through the skies, as well as a homing missile launcher to take enemies out.

In a post to Steam, Facepunch Studios showcased everything that the update offers as well as the improvements to the pumpjack and quarry models, hot air balloon fuel consumption and decay, signifiers for unlearnable blueprints, and more.

There was also a trailer that encouraged the community to wreak chaos with the new aerial additions. Check it out below:

Rust‘s new attack helicopter, costing 2,250 scrap from the Air Wolf store at the bandit camp, features a pilot and a gunner seat. Players are able to use the turret or HV and incendiary rockets to launch an assault on opponents.

However, the homing missile launcher has the capability to take this threat out very effectively. Pilots should be aware of a warning lock audio to avoid being hit by the missiles and send out a flare (if available) to disrupt the path of the missile. Homing missiles are craftable, too, for 20 HQM, three metal pipes, one tech trash and one CCTV Camera.

Rust players will also be able to use parachutes to direct their descent from heights. The parachute does degrade with each use though and a lower quality parachute falls faster, flies forward slower and is harder to manoeuvre with.

Last but not least, the hot air balloon is now reinforceable with corrugated steel and wood to boost the balloon’s health pool and provide protection from other players. This upgrade is found at the vehicle parts vendor at the bandit camp.

Additionally, the edges of the world will react differently to players who travel out of bounds. Previously, the player and their vehicle would be destroyed with no notification that they had lost their way. The update now prevents vehicles or boats from exiting the limits of the world with a “force” applied to push the player back to the safe area.

In other gaming news, Dark And Darker was hit with a huge distributed denial-of-service (or DDoS) attack, weighing in at over “600 Gbps” according to the developer.