As it currently stands, it just seems that solo players and small groups have no advantages over larger and 6+ member clans. Right now, it's as if numbers are everything in this game. In my experience, there used to be the equalizer of being more coordinated as a smaller group... or only having to worry about yourself as a solo player (Which is still kind of the case in today's Rust) As well as being able to pull off the juicy plays with primitive weapons.
Nowadays, it seems that more and more clans and large groups are just infesting the servers. Creating colossal bases and milking the big boy monuments.... in some cases, setting up giant towers next to the smaller monuments, gas station and super market, just to bolt away at all the little guys trying to get their feet off the ground.
The game is turning into clan v. clan. Higher numbers, members who can stay on for shitloads of hours at a time, the clan that has the better wipe day... The only people raiding these giant clan bases, are other clans. Small groups have to farm away for hours to hope for an attempt to take down a big ol clan base. Even then, you're still outnumbered and will likely be going up against bolty and M2 from the roof or from other towers around the base.
Even in PvP, clans still rule. It's harder than ever for solo players to sit on equal firepower with a zerg. Getting an things like AK and full metal kits are EXTREMELY difficult. The only equalizer is to resort to doorcamping with a db and hope to scuttle off with some kind of loot... but even this can be hard to do. A while back, a three man group armed with crossbows and pipes, could put up a good fight with a large clan kitted with AK's. Nowadays, it'll hardly be a fight.
Playing the game solo = incredibly difficult... I've brainstormed a few ideas that could benefit solo players and smaller groups. (Fair warning, I'll admit that some of these ideas are a bit out there... (I'm also not well versed in how to go about programming a game))
Change how food works- Right now, it feels like Rust is more of a PvP game than a survival game. My idea is to change hunting up. To somehow, implement a way to for the game to detect foot traffic and large bases and the activity surrounding it. Then, tweaking the animal spawn rates to put more animals is less crowded areas. This... either forces the clan to go out on a roam to hunt (Taking them away from their rooves or monuments)... or to send out one or two on their own to hunt (Bringing a smaller number to an area that, in all, contains solo players and smaller groups) Of course, little things would have to be tweaked, such as fishing, farming and food crates... but these are all getting re-worked in the future anyways. To bring it further, would be to change hydration and nutrition. Making the bars deplete quicker... adding more emphasis on securing a means of food to survive. (It kind of ticks me off how, after dying, you can just use a med stick to get to full hp and dont really have to worry about keeping your nutrition or hydration up, once it gets to the point where you start losing health, just pop another med stick... which isn't a big deal for the clans who sit on loads of materials to make the sticks)
Give more tools for the little guy- perfect example of this... the fire arrow, load this up into a bow, and you've got a great tool at taking on a larger clan in the first few days of wipe when they've revolvers and pythons. Load this up into a crossbow, and you've got a great tool at taking on a larger clan when they've full kits. There should be more options for players who don't have boxes full of fully automatic guns. There should be more room for cleverness and cunning in the game. Positioning, traps, utility... this would all be stuff that'd be nearly useless for a clan to utilize. The high amount of members would make things like traps... kind of unappealing. A great help to solo players, would be the ability to move around... stash loot in multiple 1x2's scattered around the island... and allowing workbenches to be moved around as well. Another great example of giving more tools for the little guy... boats and underwater monuments... collecting all the pieces required for the scuba set.. can be a little difficult. It's inefficient for a large clan to go out and get all the pieces needed to get to these underwater monuments. To kit up everyone on a boat and wait for one or two guys to swim down and untie loot... just doesn't seem worth it. However, for a solo/duo/trio, perfectly viable option. More things like these should be added to the game.
I really hope that the state of the game, regarding the effectiveness of giant groups, improves. Rust is a lovely game, that deserves to have a fitting experience for solo players and large group, alike.
This is why I play on modded servers. Because I get 100+ rockets and 50+ C4, and yeah I offline raid them, destroy every single door but try not to damage the walls and trap them inside. This is just so I can say: modded servers are more balanced than official ones in terms of PvP and raiding, mostly because everyone gets a chance.
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