News 2013 Week 33

posted Aug 17, 2013, 10:48 AM by A. Wizard [ updated Aug 17, 2013, 3:16 PM ]

Please welcome all our newest Ravenkrafters!

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Welcome back,roblindofmalice, dougflournoy3, Lukee412!

Publishing Builds

To have your builds listed in the news posts, please post them atboard.fourz.orgin theShowcaseforum.

New and Updated Plugins

• SimpleAFK - The AFK autokick has been extended to 24 minutes.
  

• ItemRenamer - This plugin is responsible for naming our tokens and telling new players where to cash them in to the unattainables shop. The plugin is currently broken, however, the token still work for trade. This will be fixed once a replacement is found. For now, the original text on the token can be found in this old post.
  

• DynmapFactions - The dynamic map hosted at map.fourz.orgnow has a layer that shows claimed faction territory. Please submit a ticket on the forums to have your faction colored to your liking.
  

• Factions - The Factions plugin was updated with the 1.6.2 update a while back and there were more than a few notable changes.
  • Recruit rank for new members -When you invite a player to your faction, they will have a dash (-) next to their name. This denotes they are a recruit. By default recruits have no build power in your faction. Individual faction permissions for different groups can be set using the /f perm command. You can promote a them to a member and upward using /f promote like this: /f promote wizardofire. Members will have a plus (+) next to thier name.
    
  • Factions disbanded -Unfortunately, the new update imposed default faction settings such as the 30 day auto-disband, 30 day inactive player kick and even changing some permanent factions non-permanent. Power per player levels, 120-day inactive player/faction rules have been reapplied. If you need your faction made permanent, please contact a moderator.
    
  • Factions Permissions -You can now change whether or not different relations (allies, enemies, new players, new recruits, etc) all have the ability to interact with your faction individually. Basically use /f perm to see your options and then use this syntax to change them: /f perm FACTION PERM RELATION YES/NO e.g.: /f perm RVNPC DOOR NEU YES would allow players in neutral factions to use doors in RVNPC. Here is a link to online guide.
    
  
  

• TrainCarts -Horses are great and all, but Minecraft probably could have used functional trains first, in this admin's humble opinion. The ability to link minecarts together and haul goods around is much needed. Is it overpowered? The short answer? No. Building any transportation infrastructure is a huge undertaking and quite rewarding except when your minecarts move like dead animals rolling down a hill. TrainCarts makes minecarts behave like one might expect. Here is a short guide on how to use them:
  • Create a Train - Just push two minecarts together. Thats it! You've created a train!
    
  • Add an Engine - Add a powered minecart to anywhere on the train. Use coal on the powered cart will push/pull the entire train in the direction opposite to where it was clicked.
    
  • Hitch a Ride - Right-click on an empty minecart. Its best to position yourself behind another cart so you can stop the train when you get out.
    
  • Braking - You can use rail mechanics like unpowered powered rail or just use Lshift to get out and stand in the train, slowing it to a hault. Then remove the engine.
    
  • Unlinking - Minecarts in a train can be used as links. Leave empty carts between storage carts for easy separation of complex trains. Simply destroying a cart in the middle of the train will split the train into two separate trains.
    
  • Loading Mobs - To prevent a train from colliding with a lone sheep or creeper on the track, mobs, by default, will not load into minecarts with this plugin. Its a bit of a nuisance but it beats the alternative... an exploded train from an auto-loaded creeper as your passenger. To set a train with the ability to load entities, place a sign under the track like this one. Passing the train over top of it will change its ability to load entities.
    
  
  

Not too long ago, we legalized gold grinders. This upset more than a few people and in retrospect, we probably shouldn't have...
However, It has brought about a few positive changes and most of the negative was caused by the need for change that it incited.

To get back on track with our barter economy, a few things need to be done:

New Base Market Values - One reason we have a barter economy is that I, as admin, don't feel that the prices should be set by the owner. Ideally, merchants should set prices according to their personal values for each item. This is difficult since there is some disagreement. The way it should work is that the owners would adjust their prices to fit the market, setting it up so prices are not more than customer want to pay, but not less than the effort it is worth to mine/farm, collect and ship to market. Shop owners and their customers should take into consideration the convenience there is shopping in a particular place. Prices should be adjusted from time to time to meet the demands of the current state of the economy. This doesn't seem to work, possibly because its more trouble than it seems to be worth. To get us to a fair starting point, I would like to suggest my estimation of exchange rates between the prevalent rare minerals and an explanation for each

1 diamond :2 emeralds
1 emerald : 4 gold ingots
1 emerald:20 iron ingots
1 emerald : 96 logs
1 emerald:112 stone/stonebrick
1 diamond : 8 gold ingots
1 emerald : 24 nether quartz
1 emerald : 20 nether quartz ore
see the updated full listing here

Now remember, these are only suggested exchange rates. A shop owner's personal value of each should be based upon supply and demand. One thing about the gold crash that many people don't know is that gold still has plenty of value. The people grinding it appear to be hoarding it and thus, nothing changes until its spent. These values inflate gold by only a factor of 6. That could change if the market becomes inflated.

A Merchants Guild -A consensus on best practices, market trends and demand could be addressed better in an organized effort. If you would like to join the Merchant's guild, you need only be a shop owner and join our upcoming server meeting. It will announced in the next week or so. Anyone unable to attend can still be a member, you will just need to attend a future guild meeting. The guild will discuss changes in the market and make adjustments based upon any inflation and supply/demand changes.

Subsidies - are"a grant or other financial assistance given by one party for the support or development of another." Basically, incentives will be provided to shop owners who bringtheirshops up to date with emerald prices AND new shop owners. The defacto grant amounts are 8 diamonds, 16 emeralds, 96 gold or 192 regular logs, but alternatives are negotiable. Please contact wizardofire. These items are not spawned, but from my personal inventory. If you would like to donate to this effort, please do so in the donations chest in the Ravenport Enclosure. Obviously we are accepting diamonds, emeralds, gold and logs. Anything of value is welcome. If you would like to purchase a plot in Ravenport, please see wizardofire. These are currently on sale for only 16 gold. The subsidy will be granted after the shop is finished/updated.

Upcoming Server Meeting

In the next week or so, we will be having a conversation on our Teamspeak server where everyone will have a chance to talk and give input. It will be announced on the Ravenkraft Facebook at the FourzSMP Twitterwhich is also mirrored on the front page of this website.

Some topics already mentioned for the meeting:

• Plugin Suggestions
  
• Upcoming Group Builds
  
• Finishing Sol Sanctum
  
• Server Voting Contest -- with rewards
  
• Referrals Incentives
  
• Ways to encourage forum usage.
  
• How to Rank
  
• Becoming Staff and rolesavailable
  
• Server promotion
  

Anyone is invited to come and bring forth any ideas you have. Lets just be sure to remember that Ravenkraft is a semi-vanilla server which means plugins that overhaul the base mechanics are not going to be accepted by most established players.