Who all wants to dig holes with me?

[kazsymonds]

As above really.

Since the glory days of Hokey land there have been few places that we minecraftians can play together. First there was the mynecraft debacle, and then we were able to play on a server rented by Pi who seems to have since abandoned it.

I am considering renting a server for the purpose of;
1. Playing myself
2. Hanging out with other .netters
3. Hopefully creating a nice map with some cool buildings

So my question is, how many of you still play minecraft? And also, how often do you play?

I have the intention that the server would have at least one other admin, and the server remain reasonably active and generally a nice place to build your gawdy skyscrapers.

If I go ahead and nobody wants to play on the server with me, then my money is wasted. Vote above if you would connect at least once per week, so I can get an idea of how many of you might pop your heads in if I were to go ahead.

 

[Escaep]

I just got the game so I'm all for it.

 

[lord_raken]

I'm in.

I've been looking for a solid server for a long time. Hopefully this one will stick. I'll do my part.

 

[Ennui]

I will play, and my girlfriend will too. I can put in at least a few hours a week, maybe more sometimes.

You can get a good server for quite cheap these days, 20 bucks a month or so. I did some research on it a while back.

I think we should try to build some kind of small functioning city divided into plots of land with pretty roads and parks and a skyscraper district and suburbs and all that. I like that more than the kind of estate-style thing where everybody marks off a huge area and builds their own house in seclusion.

I'd rather play without mobs tbh. I guess we can vote on that though. It would be nice at least to have a large central area where mobs can't spawn.

 

[lord_raken]

I will play, and my girlfriend will too. I can put in at least a few hours a week, maybe more sometimes.

You can get a good server for quite cheap these days, 20 bucks a month or so. I did some research on it a while back.

I think we should try to build some kind of small functioning city divided into plots of land with pretty roads and parks and a skyscraper district and suburbs and all that. I like that more than the kind of estate-style thing where everybody marks off a huge area and builds their own house in seclusion.

I'd rather play without mobs tbh. I guess we can vote on that though. It would be nice at least to have a large central area where mobs can't spawn.

Ennui, will you build a city with me?

What I have in mind is find a nice large area of land and build an Imperial city like you describe. Then people can go an build estates or other projects elsewhere.

I think we should keep the mobs off, at least at the beginning. Perhaps we can turn them on once we have the city walls set up.

Anyone know about server Mods and admin-ing?

 

[kazsymonds]

I would be open to the idea of voting on the fairly major issues such as mobs being on.

Personally, I love mobs. A big part of the game for me is kiting creepers around, and setting traps. There is a whole metagame where you have to make a source of food / hunt pigs in order to re-generate your health.

I think the idea of building the city limits first and then turning the mobs on is a good one.

Have any of you US guys played on EU servers? If I was in the minority, I would consider having it in the US as this would reduce the lag (presumably) because only one foreigner is connecting (me). I do, however, feel inclined to have it in the EU, at least whilst I'm paying for it. I guess that can be sorted once we can gauge the demand.

 

[lord_raken]

I would be open to the idea of voting on the fairly major issues such as mobs being on.

Personally, I love mobs. A big part of the game for me is kiting creepers around, and setting traps. There is a whole metagame where you have to make a source of food / hunt pigs in order to re-generate your health.

I think the idea of building the city limits first and then turning the mobs on is a good one.

Have any of you US guys played on EU servers? If I was in the minority, I would consider having it in the US as this would reduce the lag (presumably) because only one foreigner is connecting (me). I do, however, feel inclined to have it in the EU, at least whilst I'm paying for it. I guess that can be sorted once we can gauge the demand.

I know what you mean about the mobs. Its fun to build with them in mind. In once instance I tried to see how open a house I could make (balconies and the like) while having it still be monster proof. However, Mobs can be VERY frustrating. A creeper in the wrong place at the wrong time can be ALL kinds of trouble. When we put them on we should start with peaceful and then move up to easy once we have a secure area. Then we could probably move up to normal.

Now, what about item spawning? In SMP I tend to think its more about the building that the surviving. When given Admin powers I use them to give LOTS of material for construction of cities. In Earthcraft we had a general guideline that permits spawning of materials for community projects but private projects had to be legit. I think its a pretty good rule, but there is no real way to reenforce it. Then again, only Admin will be able to spawn so it should not be a big problem.

We really need someone with Serve mod and management experience so he can point out which mods and tools we need to get our server like we want it.

 

[Vegeta897]

Me and Raz are busy digging eachothers holes, sorry.

 

[kazsymonds]

I know what you mean about the mobs. Its fun to build with them in mind. In once instance I tried to see how open a house I could make (balconies and the like) while having it still be monster proof. However, Mobs can be VERY frustrating. A creeper in the wrong place at the wrong time can be ALL kinds of trouble. When we put them on we should start with peaceful and then move up to easy once we have a secure area. Then we could probably move up to normal.

Now, what about item spawning? In SMP I tend to think its more about the building that the surviving. When given Admin powers I use them to give LOTS of material for construction of cities. In Earthcraft we had a general guideline that permits spawning of materials for community projects but private projects had to be legit. I think its a pretty good rule, but there is no real way to reenforce it. Then again, only Admin will be able to spawn so it should not be a big problem.

We really need someone with Serve mod and management experience so he can point out which mods and tools we need to get our server like we want it.

I was thinking about this.

I don't have any problem with spawning raw building materials (stone / sand etc), but would rather we didn't give out free lava / water. With buckets fixed now, there is no need to give people free water when they can easily collect 2 buckets and make an infinite spring.
The same goes for lava, and I'd rather people didn't build crazy things (like houses with lava walls). I'm all for it if it fits in, but when you are building a medieval city, and someone makes a giant house in the middle of things using only lava and glass, it would become annoying. That isn't to say that lava would be banned, just encouraged to be used sparingly.

I wouldn't want to tell people what to build, but I would express my disdain if someone made a lava skyscraper!

 

[lord_raken]

I was thinking about this.

I don't have any problem with spawning raw building materials (stone / sand etc), but would rather we didn't give out free lava / water. With buckets fixed now, there is no need to give people free water when they can easily collect 2 buckets and make an infinite spring.
The same goes for lava, and I'd rather people didn't build crazy things (like houses with lava walls). I'm all for it if it fits in, but when you are building a medieval city, and someone makes a giant house in the middle of things using only lava and glass, it would become annoying. That isn't to say that lava would be banned, just encouraged to be used sparingly.

I wouldn't want to tell people what to build, but I would express my disdain if someone made a lava skyscraper!

Exactly.The main city would follow a certain aesthetic (we should standardize a texture pack). We could build a Mt. Doom fortress for the lava addicts, a could city for those how want to build with iron, gold, diamonds, and glass.

I think the server aesthetic should be medieval and Roman/Greek (no skyscrapers).

 

[Quixoticism]

I'll start playing on whatever server becomes and stays the active 'hl2.net' server.

 

[kazsymonds]

So, uhh, I got a server and i'm installing things. Not sure what this will turn out like guys, stay tuned!

 

[Ennui]

You should use this as the admin mod (it is the descendant of hMod which is no longer updated): http://bukkit.org/

I would prefer the server in the US (east coast is a decent compromise between west coast US people and people in the UK / western Europe) because Pi's server lags pretty badly for me most of the time. However I'm happy to try and see how the latency is on an EU server.

Mobs are fine with me so long as we build a large city perimeter first. I also think we should have a lot of discussion before people just start building so we can lay out roads and plots in the city. I agree with what's been said with respect to item spawning and all that.

If we standardize a texture pack, my vote definitely goes to a customized Painterly pack.

 

[lord_raken]

You should use this as the admin mod (it is the descendant of hMod which is no longer updated): http://bukkit.org/

I would prefer the server in the US (east coast is a decent compromise between west coast US people and people in the UK / western Europe) because Pi's server lags pretty badly for me most of the time. However I'm happy to try and see how the latency is on an EU server.

Mobs are fine with me so long as we build a large city perimeter first. I also think we should have a lot of discussion before people just start building so we can lay out roads and plots in the city. I agree with what's been said with respect to item spawning and all that.

If we standardize a texture pack, my vote definitely goes to a customized Painterly pack.

My thoughts exactly. First: find a large and mostly flat location. Second: clear it. Third: plan it. Fourth: build it

I can compile a texture pack and upload it to Zippyshare. The biggest question is what kind of glass we want. I found this one that has a cool iron boarder without obscuring the view. I'll put the ling in this post.

 

[Sulkdodds]

I would be very much up for this, as would Toaster. I can't promise that either of us would be able to get very good connections, though. Had some trouble in that regard. I like the idea of trying to keep a semi-coherent theme to what we build; not stifling, but pleasant. Perhaps we could institute 'zoning' - i.e. build whatever the hell you want out in the wilderness, but stick to theme X in district X, and theme Y in district Y. And a...seafood...theme...in District 9? I don't even know.

My preference for mobs and spawning is fundamentalist. I want full mobs on hard difficulty right from the beginning, and no spawning allowed unless someone makes a thread about it explaining just why they need a free ride and what their project is (i.e. 'planning permission'). The only thing we should MAYBE be able to spawn is TNT for mass digging, but maybe that could be limited in some way - e.g. a daily 'TNT ration' deposited in a large storehouse. Naturally we could change this policy if digging for shit really did just become super tiring.

The reasons I say this basically boil down to "it means more when you work for it." As with iambic pentameter and the Timesplitters 3 map editor, creativity is often enhanced by having to work within limitations. Why build aqueducts and roads if not to travel faster and more safely? If we want to clear a wide area of monsters, we should have to fortify and light it in-game. And I think it would be really super fun to have a stage at the beginning of the server where we are still trying to carve out our place in the wilderness against the horrible beasties that face us. The safe and happy playground we build will be all the sweeter for being hard-won.

i say "we", i might not even be able to connect

 

[Sheepo]

I'm down. Once a week may not be likely, but I'll probably have about a 2:3 visit to week ratio at my least consistent.

 

[Viperidae]

>hey guys let's have mobs because it's more satisfying when it's challenging
>let's have free TNT too while we're at it

Que?

 

[kazsymonds]

Server up
Whitelist enabled
Bukkit installed
Essential plugins added

I've been a busy boy. I was surprised at how easy all of this is.

I've sent the ip address to Ennui and Raken. Guys - as you are both in the US I'd be grateful if you would test the server for me to make sure it's not too laggy for US players. I don't want us to get attached to the server if it turns out this wont work.

If all goes well, I'll start taking whitelist requests and release the details for everyone to join.

I'll also add admins based on who will be on fairly frequently (Raken is on quite a lot, so I'll make him an admin if he wants).

 

[Sulkdodds]

>hey guys let's have mobs because it's more satisfying when it's challenging
>let's have free TNT too while we're at it

Que?

What can I say? I like explosions. And I was just trying to be considerate to those who might not enjoy so much as I do the joyfully dreary activity of methodically emptying a huge cuboid chunk of land. But now you mention it, this many people can probably quite effectively hunt down creepers and/or build a trap farm of some kind. And we could all stand mine together while singing sea shanties.

 

[lord_raken]

We could make a huge monster grinder like Pi did and hide it in a mountain somewhere.


I'm okay with spawning stuff but it should be limited to the Admin. Maybe the Admins would maintain a warehouse with a certain amount of supplies in it.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Could be down for a bit more diggering, was about to give it another try just before all the difficulties with Pi's server. Let us know how it goes.

As far as keeping a unified aesthetic and all that stuff, big no thanks to the standardised texture packs. I prefer sticking with the default, but I think anyone should be able to use what they like. If a certain creation or zone is intended to be viewed with a certain pack, it can be signposted and links provided in the thread or something. Not exactly hard to switch between packs any more, so.

I would be in support of sticking to a theme for certain zones, though. I've always wanted to contribute to a town/village with plots set out for people and certain rules for construction, but of course people should be allowed to build whatever they like outside of these zones.

 

[morgs]

I'd be keen, especially if we get given plots in a city project, and stick to certain styles. Would have one mean town.

 

[lord_raken]

I've previewed the map and it is a beauty. The area right around spawn is mostly flat with some well shaped mountains and ridges. There is a site perfect for a city right next to spawn and some neat little features tucked away. Thee are some nice clay deposits so brick will be accessible. I've put up some chests with basic tool and materials to get you started.

I'm in Texas, which is pretty far from the server, and I have had minimal, if any, lag issues. I had one timeout error but that was hours ago.

Because this is Kazsymonds' server he should probably be the one to run the Whitlist.

 

[Escaep]

Just played for about an hour an a half, was fun as it was my first mp game. I'm from Florida and I would experience some minimal lag for about 5 seconds but it was nothing debilitating. Currently digging my quarry and I hope to get a rail up and running so I can transport some materials to the city.

 

[lord_raken]

Just played for about an hour an a half, was fun as it was my first mp game. I'm from Florida and I would experience some minimal lag for about 5 seconds but it was nothing debilitating. Currently digging my quarry and I hope to get a rail up and running so I can transport some materials to the city.

We should probably build a station or at least scope out a place for it. Perhaps and underground rail and warehouse complex...