User blog:Smurfgar/LOTR Minecraft Ultra-Hardcore Server

Since people on the forums have brought up the idea of a hardcore server, I wanted to go ahead and mention my UHC server (ultra-hardcore) is just that, and is currently in Alpha-Testing. It's based on Mevan's LOTR Mod, and will be refreshed from scratch using the same version 25.x mod that Mevan is about to release. It does NOT USE ANY OTHER MODS, but is able to offer a whole new experience based on the the importance of cities and clustering together, and sieging, in addition to what it currently offers. As of right now, these are the features that are working and only need player/performance testing/balancing: * SIEGE WARFARE SYSTEM. Build-destroying catapults, flaming ammo, and bypassing banner protection, oh my!* Radically improved overworld. No more vanilla-Minecraft overworld. Amazing terrain, and pre-generated structures.* LOTR ores (like quandralite and Mithril) can be found HIGH in the mountains of the overworld.* Orc/Elven portals disabled. They ruin the balance especially in a world that allows sieges. Entry into the overworld only at predesignated spot(s).* Built-in anti-PvP logging. Fight to the death brah! No bans, no whining, just game mechanics. The winner, however, gets a nice revenge-zombie to deal with.* Thirst. You don't get water...you die. (can also satisfy thirst through various foods).* Non-movable water/lava. Use water where you find it. Very realistic UHC sruvival element.* Gain permanent levels / increased health, based on your activities.* Basic Player Shops. Sign-based, nothing fancy, but real... and working. (and of course, an economy/banking system based on the LOTR mod silver coins.* True detailed map of genearated areas.* Epic locations to explore (Minas Tirith, Helms Deep, Isengard, etc.).* Fast Track system is disabled. WAY to overpowerful. Built-in map is still accessible, since all pre-built areas will be built at the FT points so it's a good reference. However we offer a real dynamic web-based map.* Player weight (speed bonus for being light weight, speed penalty for being over weight).* Built-in player feedback system for players to send bug reports, balancing suggestions, etc.* High speed US-based paid Minecraft SSD hosting rated to support up to 80-players. Again, all of this (above) is working as of right now. Milestone 1. Basically, the server will be switching to the next test phase here as soon as version 25.x of the LOTR mod is released, and we re-import the epic locations onto the fresh map. We've performance-tested and optimized as much as we can, and now need people online to move forward. We have all the tools in place for detailed performance testing, both on the server-side, and on the client-end. The following changes are present, but haven't been fully tested, configured, or may be turned on and off frequently: * Guild/Clan/Faction/City system. Extremely important, but requires a ton-ass of configuration. This is the current priority along with the performance testing (other than getting the new mod version up). - This includes everything from renting spots in an NPC or player-ran city, to the class/race choosing system, to configuring effects/bonuses for each class/race, what faction armor can be used, etc. etc. * Music. Still experimental, but pretty awesome and will get more attention as time goes on. * Replacement for Fast Track system. Basically teleports at FT point towns w/ either a cooldown and/or $$$ cost to take you to certain nearby teleports. * Dramatically improved performance should allow horses to work reliably now.* City defense systems (i.e. the other half of sieging = fun defenses).* Torches don't last forever. Can't craft glowstone from dust. Use faction torches, redstone lamps, or hearth blocks. Milestone 2. Still in Testing and will be pursued once all of the above has been sorted out: * City NPCs - Virtually working but one major issue that can hopefully be worked out. NPCs have a daily routine and can do various things for the player (make potions, repair armor, sell from their shop, banking, give quests etc.)* Fancier player shops.* Complete detailed custom help system.* Some automated PvP-based arena minigames. Milestone 3. These features are far from finished, and not guaranteed to make it into the final product, but are at least promising based on early, early testing: * Ships, and naval combat. (the other half of the siege system)* Global auction/marketplace system.* Mail system. Milestone 4.This is where we will add more content in terms of NPCs and questing (hopefully) and really start hitting the cutomized builds in all the FT marker towns. The quests, NPCs, etc. prior to this are just to work the bugs out of the system and to work as protypes.