Getting Started

What is CivCraft?
Are you a fan of Sid Meier's Civilization games? CivCraft is a game that allows you to create your own Civilizations in Minecraft! Just like in Civilization, you have to research and build up your Civ. However, the game is played from a first-person perspective, you can make your own items, and you can work together with a team of other players! You start out with wooden tools and a bit of food when you first join. The default Spawn is a small town with a bank, grocer, and global market. You can sell iron, gold, diamonds and emeralds at the bank, and buy or sell things like wood, cobble, feathers, leather etc. on the global market. You’re able to buy cooked fish at the grocer as well.

CivCraft has its own set of special Materials that you'll need in order to progress. You’ll want to start out by building a Camp. This will allow you to start gathering all the things you'll need to construct a Civilization. The resources it takes will sound overwhelming, but time flies when you have friends to help! The point of the game is to make a Civilization that will stand the test of time.

This is a very long-term game. No matter what you are planning to do with your Civ, you will have to log on regularly. For one, you have to gather enough in-game currency to pay for your Civ. All buildings have an upkeep cost, but don’t fret! It isn't hard to earn money, and if you keep your Civ small in the beginning, the upkeep cost is very manageable. When you’re first starting, it's a good idea to read the wiki, and to either bring a large group of trustworthy friends, or join an already established Civ.

Getting Started
One of the first things you need to set out to do is start a Camp. A camp will give you a safe place to store your stuff for the night and also provides some tools that will make Founding A Civilization easier. These tools consist of the Sifter, Garden and Longhouse. They are all camp upgrades that cost 500 coins. A camp is necessary to found a Civ.

Starting A Camp
At the start of the game, you spawn with a soulbound Camp. Simply find a location to found your own camp, and then right click with the camp item from your inventory to get started.

Global Market
While you can go out and find all the materials on your own, you may find certain materials difficult to find. Finding leather and feathers might be difficult since they rely on animals to be around you. Someone may have killed all of them! Instead of gathering the materials on your own, you can use coins to purchase items at the Global Market. The Global Market is located at spawn and other player made towns, if they built one. Inside this building, you can see it is full of "buy" and "sell" signs for all of the basic materials. The price of the materials is determined based on the supply and demand in the server. As players buy more of a certain kind of material, its price goes up. As they sell, the price goes down.

Exchanging Iron, Gold, Diamonds, and Emeralds
Iron, Gold, Diamonds, and Emeralds can be converted into coins directly by the server. Either through the Bank structure at spawn/player towns, or using the "/resident exchange" command. Each bank structure can have a different exchange rate, which is determined by the bank's level. The Bank at spawn is level 1 and will exchange materials at 40% their value. You may want to do some exploring to see if you can find a bank in a player made town, since the exchange rate there is likely to be higher.

If you're too far from the spawn bank you can use "/resident exchange" instead which allows you to exchange for 30% of the material's value. This can often be more cost-effective than travelling as travelling can be dangerous, and the travel time might allow you to find more materials in the meantime.

Ore Costs
The following is the coin exchange rates for Iron, Gold, Diamond and Emeralds at 100% value.

Bank Non-Member Fees
Players can make people not in their town have to pay a non-member fee anywhere from 5% to 15% of the ore's value. The non-member fee is taken away from the earnings you have and giving them into the town's treasury. This gives players who own towns with banks an incentive to keep their doors open to allow other players to use their bank. You should try and find a bank with a high exchange rate and a low non-member fee.

Founding A Civilization
Once you've got your Camp created, the next challenge is to start gathering materials to start a civilization. This is not an easy task for one to accomplish by themselves so you are greatly encouraged to work with others to get your civilization built. Founding a Civilization is similar to founding a camp, however the materials required are more extensive. Please see the Founding A Civilization page for more detailed info.

Joining A Town
The least expensive way to start building a home and to protect your valuables is to join a player made town and purchase land. First, in order to join a town you must be invited by the mayor or one of the mayors assistants to that town. The best way to find out if a town is recruiting is to simply ask in the global chat. Most towns are looking for new members and would be glad to add you. Once you are a member of a town, you can purchase any land that is up for sale in that town. When you find a chunk that is up for sale, you can purchase the plot using the "/plot buy" command. Simply walk onto the plot you wish to purchase and type "/plot buy". You can own as many plots as you have money for, but keep in mind that you must pay property tax on each plot. The tax rate is set by the mayor, and the amount owed is the combined value of your plots multiplied by the tax rate. The value of your plots equal to the price you bought them for.

Rights as a Land Owner
Once you own land, you are granted certain rights and responsibilities.
 * First, you gain the ability to completely control the plot's permissions (see Plot Commands). By default, nobody but you can build, destroy, trigger or open chests on your plot. Not even the town mayor and assistants can use your plot. It is truly yours.
 * Second, you cannot be kicked from town unless you get evicted or do not pay your taxes.
 * Third, you must pay the property taxes on your land. The amount of tax depends on the town's tax rate which is set by the Mayor. If you fail to pay your taxes you will be evicted after 8 days.

Joining a Civilization and Creating your Own Town
Player Created Towns are the hubs of commerce, research, and creativity. Towns Offer a Safe, grief protected, PVP Free zone along with powerful improvements to generate massive wealth. Not everyone is cut out to run a town, but everyone can easily join one and reap the benefits of a wealthy towns improvements, real estate and protection from griefing.

Starting a town inside an existing civilization has many benefits. You will gain all of the technologies researched by the Civilization and will benefit from trade with the other towns in that Civilization. However, in order to start a town of your own, but still be part of an existing civilization, you will need to be skilled in politics. First, you must join a town that is already part of the civilization, be it the capital or some other town. After you've joined you must convince the either the leader of the civilization, or the mayor of the town to build a Settler unit and to make you the settler. (More info on Units). Once you become a settler, you can journey out into the wild and claim an area for your town. NOTE: After the Town Hall is built, claiming further plots (chunks) has a monetary cost associated with it. When you've found the spot you wish to found your town in, type "/town new " where " " is the name for your new town.

Rights as a Town Owner
It is recommended that you work in teams of 2-4 or more people if you plan on creating your own town because the start up costs can be very costly and difficult to save up for while playing solo. The costs have been balanced around 2-4 person teams, so it will seem very time consuming on your own so find some friends and get mining! Town Improvements become exponentially more expensive as they increase in level making them very very costly. It’s important for a town's population to increase with the towns level so tax income can assist in paying the town's upkeep. Once you have created a town be sure to immediately put money in to the town's treasury so when the town's upkeep is due the town won't fall into debt.
 * You have full control over all of the town's claimed plots, unless you sell them to residents.
 * Only you have the ability to withdraw money from your town's treasury.
 * You can build structures in your town, expand your town's borders.
 * You must pay a percentage of your income to the Civilization. The tax rate is set by the Civ's leader.
 * You must pay the upkeep fee for your town, upkeep increases when you build structures, so you'll need to find ways to generate income either from cottages or from Trade.
 * If you cannot pay your upkeep, the Civilization will have to pay it, this can cause tension with the Civ's leader, and he may choose to evict your town from the Civ.
 * If your town is evicted it goes up for sale, if no other civilization buys your town, then your town falls into ruin and its protections and structures are destroyed.
 * You will be involved in wars fought by your mother Civilization, you cannot start or stop these wars on your own. This may hurt or help your town. But regardless it will thrust you into the world of international politics. If you wish to go to war, or make peace you must petition the Civilization's leader to act.

See Town Commands

Once you have created your own town, see the section below titled "Town Management" to learn how to manage your town.

Starting Your Own Civilization
Of the three options available to you, this option is by far the most ambitious. It will require a lot of materials and dedication to pull off. In order to start a Civilization, you must first gather the required materials to craft the National Flag item that founds the civilization. It is recommended that you work in teams of 4-5 people if you plan on creating your own civ. The resource costs are very steep and will be difficult to save up for while playing solo. The cost of starting a Civilization has been balanced around 5 people teams so it may seem very time consuming to attempt this feat on your own. Additionally, your Civilization will ultimately be responsible for paying the debts of the towns you found, so it will be best to plan your civilization's expansion carefully and to not over-extend yourself in the beginning.

Once you have crafted the National Flag using the materials gathered, simply venture out in to the wild and find a location for your capital. You may use the /town Survey command to see what resources the surrounding area will provide your capital city. Once you've found the location simply select you National Flag Item and right click on the ground. Some chat will appear in your chat box, asking what your civilization's name will be or warning you that the terrain you are trying to place the capital structure on is not suitable, It will then ask if you're sure, if you are and type yes, your civ's capital will begin building, throughout the whole process, you're able to cancel by just saying "Cancel."

Your Rights as a Civilization Leader
See Civ Commands Since you are a mayor as well as a Civilization leader, you will need to know how to manage a town and how to manage a civ. Keep reading below.
 * You are the mayor of the capital town, and have all the rights and responsibilities that brings.
 * You are the only person able to withdraw from the Civilization's treasury.
 * You and your Advisers are responsible for researching technology for the Civilization.
 * You and your Advisers can declare war, make peace, and make other diplomatic declarations.
 * You and your Advisers can build structures in any town in your civ, but the money will come from the Civ's treasury.
 * You must pay a maintenance fee on your towns. You will also pay any debt they pass along via upkeep. If you fail to pay this debt off your Civilization will go up for sale.
 * If nobody buys your civilization after 1 week, all of the towns go up for sale individually. If nobody buys your civ after 2 weeks, the civ and unsold towns are destroyed.

Town Management
If you are the mayor of a town (leaders become mayors of the capital town) you must know how to manage it. This section goes over the various things you need to know about managing a town.

Upgrading a Town
Initially, your town is only allowed to claim a small number of plots, and only allowed to build a limited number of tile improvements. As your town grows, you will want to increase the land your town owns as well as the number of tile improvements you want to build. Also, certain structures require that your town have certain upgrades before you are allowed to build them. Therefore once you have saved up enough money you may wish to upgrade your town. Using the "/town upgrade" command, you will are able to buy the following upgrades. Make sure you are aware and fully capable of paying the increased daily upkeep cost if you choose to upgrade your town. Upgrades also take time to research, factor the time it takes and plan out your town's upgrade path ahead of time.

Town Treasury
The town treasury is the centralized bank account for the town. All of the town's upkeep, upgrade, tax profits, trade profits, cottage profits and construction fees are automatically deducted or added to this account. If your town cannot pay it's upkeep, the amount it was overdue will be paid by the Civilization it belongs to. The leader of the Civilization will know you did not pay your debts, and this may cause tension between you and the Leader. The Leader can evict your town for any reason, and if no other Civilization buys your town, your town will be disbanded. So its best to stay on good terms with the Leader.

Anybody can deposit funds into the town's treasury, but only the Mayor can withdraw them. Assistants can spend money (by building structures and researching upgrades), but only the mayor can take that money out of the treasury. Additionally, only Mayors, and Assistants to the town can see the town's treasury balance. (With the exception of a Spy).

To put funds in the town treasury you can type the following commands

/town deposit – “Deposit Funds from Town Treasury” /town info – “Shows the treasury if you are the mayor or assistant along with other town information.”

Structures
Structures are the backbone of town development. As mayor, it is your goal to create the perfect blend of town structures to maximize your town's output in trade, hammers(production), and beakers(science). Some structures provide active benefits to your town's residents such as the Bank, Trommel, Blacksmith, Library, and Store. Others provide passive benefits to things like your town's culture such as a Monument or a Temple. Others yet, can be used defensively such as the Cannon Tower or Scout Tower, each of these structures come with an upkeep cost and may offer your town new upgrades. It is your job to save up money to purchase these structures, and to balance the upkeep costs. The Leader of a Civilization can build structures in your town without your permission, but the money will come from the Civ's treasury, and not the town treasury.

To build a structure, use the "/build" command. Find a place where you'd like to build a structure. Use the "/build" with no arguments to see a list of available structures and their cost. Pick one, then build it by using it's name. For example, to build a bank use "/build bank". The structure will begin to build itself based on where you were standing and will orient itself so that the structure's entrance faces you. If you did not like the position of the structure for some reason, use the "/build undo" command to revert the action and get a refund. You can only use "/build undo" for the last structure you build, and it only remembers until a server restart. So position your structure correctly as soon as possible then let it finish building.

Tile Improvements
A Tile improvement is a special type of structure that centers itself around on a chunk. Tile improvements are used to give your town more coins, hammers, beakers, etc, and represent your town "working" the land around it. Your town has a limited number of tile improvements it can build based on the town's level, so as mayor you must decide based on your surroundings how best to configure your town to produce the maximum yield. Certain tile improvements such as the Trade Outpost can only be built on certain tiles (in this case a trade good).

Civilization Management
If you are the Leader of a Civilization, you have your work cut out for you. You'll have to be the mayor of the capital as well as leader of your Civilization. As the leader of a Civ your responsibilities are to research technology and manage diplomatic relations. This section details how to manage technology, and diplomatic relations.

Technology
All Structures that can be built require technology research before they can be constructed. Some structures and technology require prerequisite town levels before they become available.

Tech Tree
Just like in Civilization technology is needed before town improvements are available. In order to see what technologies are available when click the Tech tree link below.

Tech Tree

Upkeep & Debt
Upkeep is a maintenance cost that every town in the server must pay to keep the lights on. The cost of the 24h daily upkeep cost varies depending on the level of the town. If the upkeep is not paid and the town goes into debt for more then 5 days the town is put up for auction. Once the town is up for auction the debt can no longer be repaid and is subject to new ownership if it is sold. The price of an auctioned town is calculated by multiplying the combined tiles of the town by $1,000. Once a player has purchased the town they become the new mayor with full control over it from that point on.

24h Daily Upkeep Cost per based on Town Level Note: Upkeep does not stack the new rate is applied every level Settlement - Upkeep $200 Hamlet - Upkeep $400 Town - Upkeep $500 Large Town - Upkeep $750 City - Upkeep $1000 Large City - Upkeep $1250 Metropolis - Upkeep $1500 Nation - Upkeep $1750

The Capitol Town of a Civ will have its upkeep increased for each Town under it's control. In addition, the upkeep for each of these towns is increased the farther away from the Capitol they are.

Resident Plot Tax Resident plot tax is a tax that only applies to residents that own plots within the town. The residents plot tax is calculated by taking the total value of their combined plots and multiplied by the percent of tax the mayor has set. Mayors may set the tax anywhere from 5-15%.

To adjust the town resident plot tax use the following command. /town tax 5-15

Resident Upkeep Towns pay an upkeep of $500 per player in the town.

Improvement Fee Improvement fee's are collected when a non resident uses one of the towns improvements and can be adjusted to 5-15%.