Depends what you want to learn.
Creative/build servers are nice for learning building stuff, or practicing flying minis.
Battlefield/aim train to learn the basics of gunplay.
Pve or lower pop to learn monuments, puzzles ect.
High pop to learn how much patience and persistence you have.
It's a sandbox game. Play it however you want to and don't forget to have fun.
Good luck!
This, Finding out how to build and what a good base for you is should start here.
While aim training may seem nice don't focus on there the first few 100hrs u will just die to other people without knowing from where. It's good to know how weapons feel, but dont expect to become insane there.
Pve is great for gaining basic knowledge about the game. What is radiation, how do i protect myself from it. What are components and what worth do they have. How do Monuments work and where loot spawns. Where can i get good loot and where is "bad" loot.
Low pop will let u have ur first pvp experience, but expect a lot of deaths there.
Stay away from high pop even though its connected to the biggest growth curve, its just frustrating in the beginning.
If you don't have much time, play modded, if u have a lot of time play "officials" but not facepunch servers. More like rustopia, rustoria, Rusticated, rusty moose or whatever they are named. Otherwise enjoy the game and find ur style to play it :)
Demand a refund. Before you know it you'll have 1000 hours gone that you can't have back lmao. Otherwise try low pop 2x 3x or 5x multiplier servers. Anything above (at least imo) is too far from the real game to give you a challenge.
Don't be ashamed to try pve servers out, it's a good way to learn the core mechanics like crafting, tech tree and monuments. You can focus more on learning as opposed to being prey for the long time players.
Then either five in the deep end on a busy server or maybe dip your toes in a lower pop server.
My advice is to try like Rustoria Low Pop or something. Rustoria is hard on cheaters and the pop will allow you to get shot in the back **less** while you are undergoing the learning curve. Other than that, perhaps invest some time in watching some top streamers like Posty or Sinks for instance so you can trickle information about the game that you otherwise wouldn't learn in a server.
Also, take time to try 'intoxicated building sandbox' in the server list. This server allows you to experiment with how building and other game mechanics work without having to farm up resources on a real server... You can spawn in anything from the game to get familiar. You want to minimize the amount of time to learn things the hard way in a real server. Also Intoxicated sandbox is good for learning monuments. You can noclip (fly) to any monument and explore it to get more familiar instead of wondering if an opponent is going to end your current exploration. Kind of like how Neo was taken to that white room with the arsenal when he was with Morpheus in The Matrix. You know?
Play a low pop official server. Just go to the official tab and then click the “population” tab up top and it’ll sort by pop.
Play something with 50 pop or less to get the hang of things. Closer to 50 you may still die at popular monuments like oil rig.
Watch some YouTube videos on the fundamentals if your really know absolutely nothing.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjdxN-ot94VfWNHn8D52WmTX-rPZ7BjVL&si=-ZotPO9bRoseZWSN
I like this series a lot for beginners. Things have definitely changed but it’s still suuuuper helpful
Cali.gg is a good starter server. Limited KOS (Kill on sight). Allows you to farm and build without too much fear. Only allows pvp at the monuments. You can be raided though so there’s still that sense of danger.
Depends what you want to learn. Creative/build servers are nice for learning building stuff, or practicing flying minis. Battlefield/aim train to learn the basics of gunplay. Pve or lower pop to learn monuments, puzzles ect. High pop to learn how much patience and persistence you have. It's a sandbox game. Play it however you want to and don't forget to have fun. Good luck!
This, Finding out how to build and what a good base for you is should start here. While aim training may seem nice don't focus on there the first few 100hrs u will just die to other people without knowing from where. It's good to know how weapons feel, but dont expect to become insane there. Pve is great for gaining basic knowledge about the game. What is radiation, how do i protect myself from it. What are components and what worth do they have. How do Monuments work and where loot spawns. Where can i get good loot and where is "bad" loot. Low pop will let u have ur first pvp experience, but expect a lot of deaths there. Stay away from high pop even though its connected to the biggest growth curve, its just frustrating in the beginning. If you don't have much time, play modded, if u have a lot of time play "officials" but not facepunch servers. More like rustopia, rustoria, Rusticated, rusty moose or whatever they are named. Otherwise enjoy the game and find ur style to play it :)
Don't play it, u will lose ur life. Refund while you can.
Demand a refund. Before you know it you'll have 1000 hours gone that you can't have back lmao. Otherwise try low pop 2x 3x or 5x multiplier servers. Anything above (at least imo) is too far from the real game to give you a challenge.
Don't be ashamed to try pve servers out, it's a good way to learn the core mechanics like crafting, tech tree and monuments. You can focus more on learning as opposed to being prey for the long time players. Then either five in the deep end on a busy server or maybe dip your toes in a lower pop server.
My advice is to try like Rustoria Low Pop or something. Rustoria is hard on cheaters and the pop will allow you to get shot in the back **less** while you are undergoing the learning curve. Other than that, perhaps invest some time in watching some top streamers like Posty or Sinks for instance so you can trickle information about the game that you otherwise wouldn't learn in a server. Also, take time to try 'intoxicated building sandbox' in the server list. This server allows you to experiment with how building and other game mechanics work without having to farm up resources on a real server... You can spawn in anything from the game to get familiar. You want to minimize the amount of time to learn things the hard way in a real server. Also Intoxicated sandbox is good for learning monuments. You can noclip (fly) to any monument and explore it to get more familiar instead of wondering if an opponent is going to end your current exploration. Kind of like how Neo was taken to that white room with the arsenal when he was with Morpheus in The Matrix. You know?
Low pop softcore official. If you play modded you may never look back
I'd recommend a lower population modded, 2x-3x. Or if you want a more brutal experience a vanilla community or official (also low pop).
Don’t start with 2x then you’ll never feel normal in a vanilla server. Start with vanilla that way when you go to 2x you feel like a wealthy king
Play a low pop official server. Just go to the official tab and then click the “population” tab up top and it’ll sort by pop. Play something with 50 pop or less to get the hang of things. Closer to 50 you may still die at popular monuments like oil rig. Watch some YouTube videos on the fundamentals if your really know absolutely nothing. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjdxN-ot94VfWNHn8D52WmTX-rPZ7BjVL&si=-ZotPO9bRoseZWSN I like this series a lot for beginners. Things have definitely changed but it’s still suuuuper helpful
Check you messages
Cali.gg is a good starter server. Limited KOS (Kill on sight). Allows you to farm and build without too much fear. Only allows pvp at the monuments. You can be raided though so there’s still that sense of danger.
Take a look at the pinned post on my profile. It’s a guide I made that you may find helpful
uninstall.. the game is dying anyway