A squad of around eight Government soldiers crossed the eastern mountain on Saturday night to set up a raid base outpost, applying pressure to a den of bandits beginning a long period of fighting throughout the area. All sorts of weapons were immediately being fired, sending local wildlife fleeing to escape the carnage. We were under fire while building the outpost, even harassed by rockets, but return fire kept the enemy from aiming their rockets at us properly.

Our squad fired several rockets back at the target building (as was our objective), although highly armed counter-raiders showed up from two different directions behind the Government raid outpost, so were unable to make any progress into the bandit’s base in what became a siege. We garrisoned the outpost and were firing out at all directions, exchanging quick hits in this savage encounter. Essentially stuck in place, rockets were now fired at us from behind.

Our outpost featured a sentry gun, which the full raid party was authorized on, but the stocking of ammunition had been forgotten at first. It was later fed bullets and brought online in time to be useful, but the siege at medium range continued despite this. Some of the enemy were running in the open, which were easily dealt with by rifle fire, but others were using the cover of windows and rocks.

The rocket damage to the outpost was soon repaired by a squad member, but in highsight I think the bandits at that stage were just fruitlessly trying to fire the rockets through the arrowslits to kill soldiers inside. Even if they had been more accurate, we were too entrenched with encampments there and around the area with many sleeping bags, so it wouldn’t have been effective against us. Later reports revealed that we were outnumbered, with lots of enemy killed as we punished their aggression, but with supplies running short in this stale-mate we eventually decided to break off.

The retreat wasn’t particularly co-ordinated, as we melted into the night, heading back west to Government territory. But it was a well-timed decision, as the rocket attacks against the outpost resumed, and I fear that some pumpkin seeds we left behind in it may have fallen into enemy hands. It’s suspected that one of the snipers had a rifle with a good scope and night-vision, as bullets were still whizzing overhead at long range before we got back over the mountain. I had joined the raid with a rifle, and it was so chaotic that I lost it and returned instead with three submachine guns. But even though they dared not chase us – crossing the mountain was only a lull in the fighting.

Arriving back at the main village, I came under shotgun slug fire by “grubs” that were attempting to take over a villager’s decaying shop on the lake. The squad secured the area and killed many of these grubs as they returned in the open over the next half hour, repeatedly running across the lake with primitive weaponry. I’m not sure why these scavengers were so determined to fight us there, but they sounded furious at having been stopped, and their hideout was dealt with minutes later. Even after this incident, the fighting still continued.

A group of far better armed bandits had run almost exactly through the same area, appearing to be headed for the Fishing Village, and it took slightly more effort to put down this incursion. It would take more weaponry and motivation than a few slugs and transient anger to crack the Government Territorial Army. Even the rifles fired at us later gave us little trouble. That was finally the end of the episode, but the wider conflict was obviously primed for escalation.

We were fighting a clan that terrorized their neighbours into putting up signs declaring themselves as friends of the clan in order not to be attacked. The next day a more dramatic attack against the village occurred. Some gunmen reached all the way to the art gallery during the night, and outrageously hid behind it to fire a rocket at the popular Market 47 that only featured a single westerly-facing window. Unfortunately for these bandits, this particular shopkeeper had an AK, night vision, and 16,000 hours logged in Counter-Strike. The trespassers were pinned, and the Government forces (already alerted) quickly swarmed the position and brought an end to the skirmish.

The enemy had very few rockets, so it seems their objective wasn’t to breach buildings. But their aggression was a blatant attack on one of the only democracies in Rust. The local grub hideouts were discovered and purged in the following hours, and valuable information gathered during Saturday night’s inconclusive battle was added to the latest (classified) intelligence report. No doubt this is not the end of hostilities. Opposing forces have been nailed by rifle fire any time they leave defensive positions, but without a decisive raid to capture their arms stashes, the struggle continues.

Categories: Raids