Push a button to make it rain missiles in the new Rust update

Rust's November update will give players a new reason to watch the skies, because after today those skies might be filled with up to a dozen rockets screaming toward your base and/or face. The November update adds military bases to the map, and each base has a missile-launching vehicle that can be used to rain death and destruction onto a specifically targeted area.

"The new Desert Military Base monuments each have a parked Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS)," says Facepunch Studios. "This vehicle doesn't move—you won't be driving it around the map—but it can be set up to fire rockets to any target. Except safe zones, naturally."

You can't just run into a base and hammer a big red launch button, however. You'll need to first find an MLRS arming module, which will be in a locked, hackable crate somewhere on the base. Then you'll need to collect the missiles themselves, which will appear in elite, APC, and attack helicopter crates. Once you've loaded up on missiles, you'll use the targeting screen to pick a location on the map, which we're guessing will be another player's base. Or perhaps your own base, if you feel like redecorating.

Then you can hammer the big red launch button. No worries if there are mountains between you and your target: these rockets fly high enough to swoop over them. The system doesn't have pinpoint precision: all the rockets launched will land inside the targeted circle, but may be scattered around and not all grouped into the center, so if you're under missile attack at least there's a chance you'll survive and your base won't get completely destroyed. Fingers crossed.

Missiles launched from the MLRS can also be countered by surface-to-air missile sites. "A full barrage of 12 rockets will only be partly repelled by two SAM sites, and completely fought off by three," says Facepunch. There's a 10-minute cooldown between launches from the MLRS.

As for the new military bases, they're procedurally generated and will appear in different configurations on every map, and will change after each server wipe. In addition to the MLRS, each base will contain loot, oil, and will be guarded by NPC scientists. Find out more about the November update on the Rust blog.