New Player Guide
FortressMC is a Civ-style survival server based on player-run settlements, conflict, trade, and justice. It does not use faction claims. Buildings and possessions are instead protected through individual block reinforcement, physical access keys, territorial bastions, and surveillance systems.
New players receive 32 cookies, a bed, a boat, and a welcome book on first join. The server address and platform requirements are listed at Joining FortressMC. Recruitment and trade are organized through the FortressMC Discord, while the live map displays the overworld.
Initial priorities
The server rules should be read before playing. FortressMC permits raiding, theft, griefing, and player imprisonment when these actions use intended mechanics. Unreinforced or unlocked property is therefore vulnerable.
Important blocks should be reinforced with Citadel and bound to an interaction key before the owner disconnects. A new player may also seek an established nation through Discord rather than settling alone.
Reinforcement
Citadel adds durability to individual blocks and selected entities. Reinforcement material placed in the hotbar or offhand is consumed automatically while auto-reinforcement is enabled. Existing blocks can be reinforced or inspected by left-clicking them with a valid material.
| Dimension | Material | Breaks required |
|---|---|---|
| Overworld | Brick | 50 |
| Overworld | Iron ingot | 250 |
| Overworld | Diamond | 1,250 |
| Overworld | Netherite ingot | 6,250 |
| Nether | Nether brick | 50 |
| Nether | Gold ingot | 250 |
Reinforcement matures over time and does not make a block permanently indestructible. Stronger tiers are generally used for containers, doors, entrances, and other critical parts of a structure.
Access keys
Interaction Keys control the use of doors, containers, redstone components, entities, and other compatible objects. A copper nugget crafts a normal key, while a diamond crafts a master key capable of storing many binds.
Left-clicking a compatible object with a key binds it. A player carrying a matching key may use the object. Master keys can be copied, linked, combined, or waxed, allowing access to be distributed among members of a settlement. Access is granted by possession of the item, so a lost or stolen key remains usable.
Bastions
Bastions impose restrictions within an area surrounding a reinforced and key-bound block. A beacon creates a city bastion, which prevents unauthorized reinforcement and hostile mob spawning. A locked conduit creates a vault bastion, which also prevents unauthorized block placement, buckets, pearls, chorus fruit, teleports, piston entry, and fluid flow.
A matching key bypasses the associated field. Bastion range depends on the beacon pyramid tier or conduit frame size.
Pearling and disconnection
A player killed during combat may be bound to an exile pearl when an eligible attacker carries a blank ender pearl. The pearled player is confined to the Nether until the pearl is destroyed or its fuel expires. Player Essence, received once every 20 hours of eligibility at login, refuels pearls and is also used in factory trades.
Disconnecting does not remove a player from danger. Finale creates an offline body containing the player’s inventory and equipment. The body can be killed, looted, moved under certain conditions, or pearled.
Economy
Most vanilla sources of experience are disabled. Emeralds release experience when consumed, while bottles o’ enchanting release it when thrown. Emeralds can be mined or produced through the advanced Experience Factory. The Basic Experience Factory converts crops and Player Essence into bottles. Emeralds and bottles can also be crafted into one another. Ordinary villager trades are replaced by factories, in which a villager is permanently specialized through an investment trade and then used for bulk production.
Surveillance
A snitch is created by reinforcing a calibrated sculk sensor and binding it to a key. It records vibrations caused by players without access to that key. A nearby sculk shrieker enables alerts. The plugin also records recent block activity for inspection with a brush and maintains chunk-based player scent records through adult sniffers.
World and travel
Vanilla structures do not generate. Alternative mob spawns, drops, recipes, and world features provide most structure-dependent items. Eyes of ender point toward a custom end portal grid. See Structures Disabled and Structure Alternatives.
Each new player receives two command teleports. /tpa <player> requests travel to another player, while /tpr <player> requests that the other player travel to the sender. Requests are accepted with /tpaccept and rejected with /tpdeny. The player who moves consumes one teleport. /gamma toggles the server’s night-vision effect.
Differences from other Civ servers
| System | FortressMC implementation |
|---|---|
| Access control | Physical interaction keys rather than NameLayer groups |
| Reinforcement | Material in the hotbar or offhand, with optional automatic reinforcement |
| Surveillance | Calibrated sculk sensors and brush forensics |
| Bastions | Reinforced beacons and locked conduits |
| Factories | Permanently specialized villagers |
| Acid | Soul campfires placed on tiered base blocks |
| Disconnection | Persistent offline bodies |
The principal mechanics are documented in Citadel, Interaction Keys, Bastion, Exile Pearl, Snitch, and Factories.