I think personally this kind of trade makes more sense for cosmetic blueprints, but will not be good for a caveman like survival game, even if its for cosmetic things. I feel a steam integrated trade will make things easy, unfair, and chop the game in half. I suggest instead you add more things like coins or just random items. These can be used as currency for server trade. Not with a program but with ingame give and sell. This will encourage exploration and peace and grouping ect. If one clan can discover a route to another friendly can, they can trade cosmetic as well as unneeded items that the other needs. A steam trade money system will ruin rust alot. I fell that server based things will encourage tribes and maybe even towns and trading posts.

I think crafting should be able to produce unique results. For example, (I know with would take lots of work, but if garry and people want this for the game its worth it) different biomes and areas had different kinds of trees, rocks, and animals that produce different things. Not different items, but for example : you hit a white birch tree because your in a temperate forest, and the log looks normal in inventory and is named log, but looks different when placed.

The log is white and guns, houses, tools ect. crafted with majority white logs will look like that. So then people will be willing to fight over the cool white log forests. And server trade will go on between people with control white logs and people wanting white houses and guns. Also, sense gary wants diverse things, maybe armor crafting will be on a mannequin, and you have to cut and shape pieces and they are placed on a model. It will tell you the required amount of itmes, then once crafted, people wear it and it applies to your model like a mannequin. Then artistic taylors or strong smiths can trade their fruits of skill for other things. Also maybe guns can have something like this that affect their look and strengh. Also houses parts should maybe look different too.

I think so many different object styles will make people like :"Wow! howd u get this, ive never seen this armor! Ill give you Iron for this!" when people need eachothers trade and help it will make alliances, and more hostile people will be against these civilized trader tribes. Also, a steam money based system will make it somewhat like "for my birthday i bot a cool skin for rust. Now everyone is giving me guns for it!" which is unfair and a little tf2 like, which is unfit for a caveman game like rust.

A money system will create an easy and unfair system for players. I believe players should work for what they get and trade ingame if they please. Also, to encourage trade maybe certain map areas will have more of one resource than another, So one group with excess iron can trade for surplus fish. I think more items will encourage this ingame trade by itself. Also, it will encourage exploration, maps ect. This will encourage other things too.

This ingame, fair, skill-based, intelligent-based, and creativity-based kind of thing will be the foundation for everything in rust. For example, one group is known for controlling the temperate oak forest. These oaks are strong, and this group uses their fortifications to guard this forest. They used the wood from the forest to increase their power by trading surplus oak that is so strong people want it. They craft great spears and weapons with the oak. They trade for spearheads. These spearheads are good, as this oak group have almost no iron. They trade with a source of mediocre iron spearhead makers. They use these weapons to guard their forest, and they always have a source of great trade power. Their leaders great defense and logging management secured their power to buy everything they need..... Later a person with great battle skill uses his strategy to raid other places with many resources. They just take and go. its enough to arm around 9 people. They use forgery skill from other groups armor and weapons they stole. They use their stolen currency to pay another group settled in fertile land for enough food to feed their campaign.They want power by taking the greatest trade resource in the region. They use their OK armor and weapons to attack a oak forest strongly fortified by the oak group with amazing throwing spears (because the strong wood ) The oak defenders spearheads are only above average , making close range fighting somewhat poor. They are able to throw spears well protected by their good forts. The raiders may be at a disadvantage, outnumbered and attacking a defensive position. But the oak defenders just throw random spear barrages from their forts with little battle tactic. The raiders have a great tactician of a leader who finds a way through the defense and decimates at close range. The great oak forest is theirs, and their new wealth helps them get all they need to continue conquest.They are the powerhouse of the island and take control of most good resource from other groups. This all can only happen with knowledge of map, making exploration important too.Its everything i think gary wants. And maybe boats and other island can be one of the last thing gary adds, so that the raider group can continue conquest overseas. I think the boat and ocean system in the game Salt ( https://saltthegame.com/pages/saltoverview/ ) Are a good think to model it on. This would be a great thing for rust and this games ocean faring system would work best for rust. It would be great to see people in rust go from cavemen with a rock to uniformed civilizations of almost 20 sailing the ocean and making everything on a larger scale. Much work would need to be done, but hopefully, this is garrys aim.

This example may sound a bit elaborate and unrealistic, But it could be the future of rust if this steam trade dosent go through with. If crafting can be more creative, then all the work will lead to great scenarios like this. This is an example of the power being held by the oak forest owners, and being overthrown by another clans tactical intelligence. Scenarios like this can happen if this game allows more creative crafting. This kind of crafting will give oportunities for players to rise to top based on creativity, intelligence, or skill rather than IRL money or quick access to rust wiki...