and putting structure instances into an array so that you can refer to them via indexes of the array entries (as the only escape from being maimed by the borrow checker) is normal?
C++ would be bonkers even if Rust did not exist.
you have a point. The usual approach was to choose a subset of C++ features, so it becomes appropriate for a given project. But yes, the language is huge - as it tries to suite everyone but no one in particular (which is insane)