SatelliteCrashManager

The problem

The Satellite Crash is the best thing in the Power Trip update and most of your players will never see one.

Vanilla has no satellite event scheduler. The only way a satellite comes down is a player powering up the control computer at Launch Site, which requires the powergrid at stage 4 — eighteen Heavy Fuses burning at once. On the average server that happens never. And when it does happen, nobody else knows it happened until they stumble on a burnt-out wreck someone already emptied.

What SatelliteCrashManager does

Schedules them. Random interval between a minimum and maximum you set, gated on a minimum player count, skipping its slot if one is already on the way. Your server gets satellite crashes whether or not anyone has touched the Power Plant.

Announces them. Chat message when the satellite starts falling, another when it lands with the map grid reference, another when the fires burn out and the crates open. A map marker sits on the crash site so latecomers can find it.

Locks the wreck. The first player to open a crate or hit the remains claims the site, and their whole team inherits access. Everyone else gets told how long they have to wait. No more third parties sniping loot from the crew that flew the thing down.

Collects the settings. Every satellite server variable that actually matters — including the in-game hour cooldown on the control computer — gathered into one config block with plain-English labels, applied on load and restored on unload.

Uses Facepunch's own crash-site search

Launches go through vanilla's satellite.random, so the site validation is Facepunch's code: topology, water, ground slope, unevenness, safezone clearance and building-privilege standoff. No reimplemented targeting to drift out of sync next update, and no satellites landing in the middle of someone's base.

Built for PVE too

Two settings turn this into a PVE event: drop the powergrid requirement so crashes work without a stage 4 grid, and set the impact kill radius to 0 so a landing stops killing players and flattening buildings. Combined with the loot lock, you get a co-operative event that rewards the crew that showed up.

Features

• Automatic crashes on a random interval, with a minimum player gate
• Skips its slot if a satellite is already descending
• /satellite call to trigger one on demand
• Descent, impact and crates-ready chat announcements with map grid references
• Map marker at the crash site for a configurable duration
• Loot lock — first crew to arrive owns the crates and the wreck
• Optional lock on damaging the wreck, not just looting it
• Bypass permission for staff
• /satellite lists live crash sites, their age and their owner
• Nine vanilla satellite settings in one labelled config block, restored on unload
• Full language file
• Oxide and Carbon
• No dependencies

Commands

Permissions

• satellitecrashmanager.admin — /satellite and /satellite call
• satellitecrashmanager.bypasslock — ignore loot locks

Configuration

{
  "Automatically launch crashes": true,
  "Minimum minutes between automatic crashes": 90.0,
  "Maximum minutes between automatic crashes": 150.0,
  "Minimum players online for an automatic crash": 2,
  "Announce when a satellite starts descending": true,
  "Announce where a satellite landed": true,
  "Announce when the crash crates stop burning": true,
  "Show a map marker at the crash site": true,
  "Map marker radius": 0.4,
  "Map marker minutes": 30.0,
  "Loot lock mode (off, firstcome)": "firstcome",
  "Loot lock seconds after impact": 900.0,
  "Loot lock also blocks damaging the wreck": true,
  "Apply the vanilla convar overrides below on load": false,
  "Vanilla convar overrides": {
    "satellite.require_powerplant (needs powergrid stage 4 to launch)": true,
    "satellite.free_power (power up the computer with no items)": false,
    "satellite.free_fuel (thrusters cost no fuel)": false,
    "satellite.kill_radius (metres cleared on impact, 0 to harm nothing)": 10.0,
    "satellite.crate_fire_duration (seconds crates burn before they unlock)": 300.0,
    "satellite.wreck_fire_duration (seconds the wreck is too hot to harvest)": 480.0,
    "satellite.control_window (seconds of thruster control)": 180.0,
    "satellite.cooldown_hours_min (in-game hours before the computer can be used again)": 18.0,
    "satellite.cooldown_hours_max (in-game hours before the computer can be used again)": 18.0
  }
}

The convar block is passthrough — those are Facepunch's own server variables, gathered into one labelled place and set for you on load.

Known limits, stated up front

Loot cannot be locked to whoever launched the satellite. The game does not record that — SatelliteControlComputer has no owner field. First crew on site is the lock this plugin can honestly offer.

Requirements

Rust server on the Power Trip build (2026-08-06) or newer.

Pairs with

GridControl — hold the grid at stage 4 and let players launch satellites from the control computer the way Facepunch intended, alongside the scheduled ones.

Support

Every purchase comes with the private updates channel in our Discord and updates for the life of the plugin. Your licence key and download live on your purchases page the moment payment clears.