Something's coming...

Major new feature coming to the server this weekend... 

Helpers

After looking at feedback, what times we had Helpers online and how many we had online at any given time we decided the following:

GethGerlan & yuolyuol 

...have been returned to Member+ rank for now, but will both be considered for Helper rank again in the future.

blad2003

...is now a full Helper!

xPhantomY2Kx 

...is now a probationary Helper!

Protection Stones Changes

I've made some improvements to the Protection Stones plugin as follows:

I fixed limit by rank! The new limits are:

New Builder   - 1   (5041 Surface blocks)
Member         - 2   (10082 Surface blocks total)
Member+       - 3   (15123 Surface blocks total)

If you are a New Builder and already have two stones placed then don't worry you will get to keep them, but if you remove the second stone you won't be able to place it again until you are promoted! 

I've also blocked stones from being placed in The Nether & The End.

Finally I've created the 'Protection Sponge', which will be included in the choice of prizes offered for winning challenges if the winner is Member+ rank or above, as the name suggests it's a sponge block that protects an area... but the cool bit is that the area is more than twice that of a normal protection stone, 111x111 (12321 Surface blocks). Only one 'Protection Sponge' can be placed per player and only the person it is originally given to will be able to place it, it will also count as one of your 3 stones (giving you 22403 Surface blocks total).

If you are wondering how these new limits measure up for a VIP, the VIP region also counts as a stone giving limits of:

VIP Region Only                         - (63001 Surface blocks total)
VIP Region + 1 Stone                  - (68042 Surface blocks total)
VIP Region + 2 Stones                - (73083 Surface blocks total)
VIP Region + 1 Stone + Sponge  - (80363 Surface blocks total)

Temporary Whitelist

As I'm sure you all know Tekkit Classic and pretty much all related plugins are no longer in development, I don't have a great deal of experience with Java/YAML but I am working on a few tweaks and fixes for some of the simpler plugins, most of it is behind the scenes stuff but it will require the occasional bit of downtime to test!

To this end I'm putting a whitelist in place this morning to test a modified version of one of our plugins, I expect it to be in place for around 15 minutes and will post an update here when it's removed or if I need a little more time. The whitelist will be applied in around 1 hour.

UPDATE: 09:45 - I expect to remove the whitelist at around 10:00 UK time (15 minutes from now)
UPDATE: 10:00 - Whitelist will be removed any minute, I'm just tidying up!
UPDATE: 10:05 - Whitelist removed! 

VIP Limit Reached!

The VIP limit for this quarter has now been reached!

Thanks to the generous donations of our players 100% of our hosting fees up to 16th July 2013 have now been raised, a big thank you to everyone who has donated in the past few weeks, whether it was a VIP donation or a smaller amount it is very much appreciated!

To confirm, the donation links links will be put back onto the site on or around 16th July 2013, when we will start accepting donations for the following quarter.

Thanks again!

May Challenge - Castles

We've seen a few castles that people have already started and they are looking very impressive so far!

I thought I'd better post some more details on how and when they will be judged...

Judging will take place on Saturday 1st June, sometime in the afternoon, the July challenge will be announced shortly afterwards.

Entries will be judged by DiggyWig, DigginChickin and 3-6 other random players chosen on the day, judges will need skype (sound not necessary) so we can discuss choices outside of the game.

Each judge will make a first and second choice, being selected as a judges first choice will get you 10 points, second choice will get you 5 points, all your points will then be added up to get your basic score.

As well as the basic score bonus points will be awarded for:

Best moat (water or lava) - 10 bonus points

Best garden / courtyard - 10 bonus points

Best castle name - 10 bonus points

Most unique build - 10 bonus points

Most interesting use of materials - 10 bonus points

For the bonus points each judge will get to cast a single vote for each category, the castle with the most votes in each category will get the points, or they will be split in the case of a draw.

Once all the votes are in, I will add up everyones points and post the first and second place entries on here, the winners name will also be displayed on one of the boards at spawn and images of the builds will be posted here and on the Technic Forums!

The winning entries will also be offered a choice of prizes!

To enter you need to send the name/s of the player/s entering the castle, the name you have given your castle and coordinates the judges should teleport to when judging it. This information can be sent either by skype (DiggyWig or DigginChickin) or e-mail (admin@diggyminecraft.co.uk) but must be received by midnight on Friday 31st May for your entry to be included.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you all come up with!