Everything is spot on, exactly what you want
The service, the servers, it's nothing but fantastic. Will help you with whatever it is, even if you're slow like me they help amazingly and keep their cool. Nothing but love for the guy, an amazing soul.
The map is the big one. A Rust server keeps the whole world in memory, and the area grows with the square of the size, so going from a 3000 to a 4500 map more than doubles what the world alone needs.
Next come players and what they build. Every base, wall and box is an entity the server tracks, and those pile up until the wipe clears them, so a monthly-wipe server needs more memory in week four than on day one. Plugins add a little each, and more for big ones like economies, NPCs and events.
The calculator adds those up from data we collected on Rust servers, then leaves about 15% headroom so the server never runs right at its limit. It's a guide, not a promise, and you can upgrade from the client area at any time.
Quick answers about Rust server memory.
A small vanilla server on a 3000 map needs about 6 GB. Most community servers run a 3500 to 4500 map with 50 or more players, which needs 8 to 12 GB. Big modded servers on large maps need 16 GB.
The map. Memory grows with the square of the map size, so a 4500 map needs far more than a 3000 map. After that come player-built bases, which pile up the longer you go between wipes.
Yes. A wipe clears every base and deployable, which is where most of the growth over a wipe cycle comes from.
A few simple plugins barely register. Large economy, NPC and event plugins add up, so a heavily modded server needs more headroom.