Movecraft guide

Movecraft is one of the two most powerful plugins on the server, alongside bending. It permits players to construct a variety of sea- and aircraft which can then be moved. Different vehicles are capable of transporting vast numbers of chests, mobs, players, or weapons over long distances at fast speeds and low cost. This makes the entire world much more interconnected due to the added safety and efficiency from vehicles, and less reliant upon specific transport infrastructure that can be damaged, such as portal networks or highways.

Pilot Signs

Signs are the primary method of controlling ships in Movecraft. They allow the user to control the ship, receive pertinent information, detect other ships in the area, control subcrafts, man weapons, and add crew members. This article is a guide to different kinds of signs and how they are made.

Control Sign

This sign is necessary to take control of a ship. It will have the vehicle type on line 1 (e.g. "ship") and the name of the ship on line 2 (e.g. "Kirov").

Right clicking this sign will cause Movecraft to begin checking for a viable craft - if it fails, then it will alert the user in the chat with the problem. If the craft is viable, then it will finish scanning and inform the user that they have successfully taken control of the craft and what its size is.

Helm

This sign is necessary to turn the craft. It is made by typing "[helm]" on line 1 of a sign. This will generate a steering wheel. The craft will turn around the axis of the helm's location - left clicking the sign will turn the ship left, right clicking the sign will turn right.

Cruise

The cruise sign will cause the ship to move at a consistent speed in whichever direction the sign is facing. This is made by typing "Cruise: OFF" on line 1 of a sign. The sign is toggled by right clicking. Cruising works by "jumps", as the ship effectively teleports in small bursts to produce a constant speed. The terminology for cruising is thus: Speed = overall speed of a craft

Jump length = number of blocks traversed each time the ship moves forward

Jump time = number of seconds between each jump

Release

This sign is necessary to stop controlling a craft. It is made with simply "Release" on line 1. Right clicking this sign, while piloting, will cause you to release control of the craft.

Ascend/Descend

These signs are used in aircraft and submarines to control altitude. Two signs are required, one for ascending and one for descending. They are made with "Ascend: OFF" and "Descend: OFF" on line 1, on two separate signs. Right clicking Ascend will cause the craft to move directly upwards until right clicked again. Right clicking Descend will do the opposite.

Status

The Status sign will tell the user the health of the craft they are controlling and fuel status. It is made by typing "Status:" on line 1. This sign will not begin to show data until *after* the craft has begun moving. The format it shows will resemble something like this:

Status:
W 78/50
Fuel: 3891

The second line shows a necessary block - W = wool, P = planks, I = iron, R = redstone, etc. The first number shows actual percentage on the craft, the second shows the required number. In this example, the craft requires 50% wool and is 78% wool. This will show as green, signifying success. After a craft begins moving, it can keep moving so long as its flyblocks do not go below 99% of the goal, as this will cause it to sink.

The third line shows fuel. If the craft does not need fuel, this will show in red as 0. The number shows the number of blocks that the craft should be able to move based on the amount of fuel in its furnace. In this example, it will be able to move another 3891 blocks.

Speed

The Speed sign will tell the user the speed of their craft and how quickly their jumps are taking place. The sign will not begin to show data until *after* the craft has begun moving. The format it shows will resemble something like this:

Speed:
5.00m/s
10.21ms
20T

The first line shows speed, which is a fixed value for each ship type. In this case, it is 5 metres per second, or 5 blocks per second.

The second line shows jump time, or the time between each jump. Due to the jump length being almost always 5 blocks, this will almost always converge on a single figure as both average speed and distant are constant. In this example, it's 10.21 milliseconds, but it would update on every jump. This is also a useful indicator of when the server is lagging, if the number starts drifting upwards. If this happens, best practise is to stop the craft immediately so that the server can catch up and so that the lag doesn't break your ship.

The third line is unknown. Good luck figuring it out!

Contacts

A Contacts sign allows the pilot to receive prompts in the chat when other nearby crafts come into range. It is made by typing "Contacts:" into line 1, and will show the ship type as well as their coordinates.

Crew

A crew sign allows other players to participate on the ship while not being able to pilot. It allows players to set a spawn point that moves with the ship - using a bed on a stationary ship without this sign will cause you to respawn in the exact location of the bed at the time, and has been known to cause major bugs. This is ideal for if you want people to be able to use torpedos or use subcraft, such as turrets or elevators. To make this, a bed must be placed on the ship while stationary and the prospective crew member must place a sign with only "Crew:" on line 1. If the sign works, the placer's username will appear underneath and they will have crew permissions.

Ships

Ships are the simplest type of vehicle to construct and the most popular currently. They can carry chests, weapons, players, and mobs over bodies of water. They cannot move out of water or lower into water, although ships can extend below sea level without problem.

The build requirements for ships are relatively lax. Other than generic armour restrictions, they only require to be 25% planks or higher to be deemed a valid ship (assuming the ship is in water). Due to their 2D style of piloting, they are excellent learning tools for the Movecraft piloting system. Since the Kami Breakthrough, ships are able to carry all mobs and entities.

Kirov-class
Stoneclad-class
Aircraft carriers

Submarines

Submarines are vessels capable of moving in 3 dimensions in water. They are somewhat slow and fairly expensive to construct, requiring:

• 25% planks
• 15% iron blocks
• 10-100k size parameters

They also require fuel to operate.

Submarines are extremely rare due to their cost of construction and perceived lack of utility compared to ships, which are faster, cheaper to build, and cheaper to run. They are, however, highly potent weapons due to their ability to dodge most conventional weapons used by ships.

The only known submarine is a Frisian craft. It has a single torpedo, and is almost impossibly uncomfortable. It is one of the most powerful and dangerous weapons in the world.

Airships

Airships are the largest, and slowest, form of aircraft. They range from 1000-5000 blocks in size, and building them requires:

• 50% wool or higher
• 1% redstone or higher
• Standard armour limitations

Unlike AirSkiffs and AirCruisers, Airships have 0 fuel costs due to the Fuel Revolution. As a result, while their upfront costs are harsh, they are the cheapest long-term method of air travel. Travelling at 5m/s, airships are faster than ships and submarines but slower than other aircraft.

History of airships

Airskiffs

AirSkiffs are the smallest and fastest crafts in the game. They require:

• 50% wool
• 8% redstone
• 80 blocks maximum size

Due to their relatively cheap construction, airskiffs are the most popular form of aircraft with examples in Cassland, the Free Territory, the Earth Kingdom, the Air Nation, Fryslan, and Arboris. They consume fuel at a somewhat high rate but it is still relatively cheap thanks to the Fuel Revolution.

Skiffs travel at 7.5m/s, making them incredibly fast. For this reason, they are sometimes feted as fighters. The Earth Kingdom Airforce consists of 6 such airskiffs, armed with TNT, torpedos, and fire charges. These designs are powerful but their small size and high wool content makes them desperately fragile - a single hit from an enemy will be enough to destroy one of these designs.

AirCruisers

AirCruisers are a type of ship that are designed to act as a middle ground between airships and airskiffs. They require:

• 50% wool
• <15% chests
• 2% redstone
• 81-999 size parameters

AirCruisers move at 6m/s, making them faster than airships (5m/s) but slower than airskiffs (7.5m/s). They cannot carry weapons like torpedos, TNT, or dispensers.

While airships and -skiffs are only capable of reaching a height cap of y=130, AirCruisers are better suited for higher altitudes. They are better able to support themselves than an airskiff, while also less heavy than an airship. Their height cap is thus y=256, making them particularly efficient over long distance travel compared to airskiffs who might need to turn or dodge obstacles.

AirCruisers do require fuel, but it is 4x the rate of an AirSkiff - 1 coal in a cruiser will go the distance that 4 coal would in a skiff - making them much more fuel efficient.

SubAirships

SubAirships are ships that can move in 3D in both air and water. They are extremely versatile, and only one is known of. They require:

• 50% wool
• 10% iron blocks
• 1% redstone
• 1000-5000 size parameters

The only known SubAirship in the world is the Redwood, located at Willowham. The craft is unarmed but represents one of only two vessels capable of underwater travel. Unlike airships, subairships do consume fuel albeit at a slow rate.

Subcrafts

Subcrafts are smaller craft that are not intended to be able to carry players, mobs, or chests over long distances. They require separate signs to function. Subcrafts can be placed on a moving ship and used independently of the main ships, or can be placed outside of a ship and used as per their design.

Elevators

Elevators are a subcraft that can be made out of most materials and allow players to be transported either up/down but never sideways. There are two examples of this currently: the gate at Fenixholm Slott, which uses an elevator subcraft to open/close; and the interior of the Free Territory skyport.

Torpedos

Torpedos are a subcraft that can be placed on any ship, except an AirCruiser, or on land. They are composed of a single coal block and a sign saying "LaunchTorpedo" on line 1 which will fire the torpedo when right clicked by the user.

The explosion of a torpedo has an explosive force of 10. A TNT block has a force of 3, a creeper of 2. When fired, torpedos will travel in a perfectly straight line for upwards of 100 blocks. If it hits a player or block, it will explode. If not, it will sink to the sea floor.

When firing, the torpedo consumes the coal block but the sign will stay in place. This makes them very easy to reload. Due to their perfectly horizontal firing pattern, torpedos are an ideal weapon for sea warfare, and are the most common form of weapon on warships by a large margin. The Earth Kingdom Airforce also arms their skiffs with torpedos, so as to do strafe runs on enemy ships. They are also capable of shelling coastal positions, however. Torpedos are usable but ill-suited for aerial warfare, due to the much larger distances involved and the differences in altitude.

Turrets

Turrets are a subcraft that can be placed on a ship out of light grey wool and allow this section of the ship to turn but not away from its position. Not much is currently known about them, but they present powerful opportunities for their ability to to present a gun that can face in multiple directions.