So this is going to be fairly bare-bones, and I apologize for that. There's way more than what I have here, and I've been steadily developing this for the last 3.5 years or so. But I'm literally on the verge of replacing the Stages' content outright. I finished the skeleton for the new format within the last couple of days, and don't want to type everything up, then type it BACK up a little while later.
Contrary to some beliefs, there was a complete data dump when the old wikispaces went subscription-only, and there's even a web.archive backup that holds most of the information. Very little information about this Challenge has been lost.
This Challenge was born on a forum, but lives on a wiki. Easier formatting, no character limits, and easy ability to see the history of a page--for me, the advantages are endless. Follow the links, and you'll find the Challenge's home wiki, where there may be more detail than here.
Rule of Cool
The Rule of Cool is the first and most important rule in the entire Challenge. It states that any rule may be waived for whatever reason, if it will make the experience better. This is not intended as an Easy button.
General Rules to live by
In all Stages, you should be wearing a Helmet before going underground. If your helmet breaks and you
don't have a spare, leave and get another one.
Anything found in a village, etc may be used at any time.
Worldgen buildings do not count towards requirements
a Wooden Hoe may be used at any time.
Mineshafts:
If you build a Mineshaft into the ground, there must be supports every 15 Blocks.
Natural tunnels do not need supports
Mineshafts should be at least 3x3
It's Lonely to go Alone.
While you are building, it can quickly become a ghost town. It is highly recommended that you, at the very least fill your constructions with Villagers. If you don't or can't, consider some of the following mods that help your towns quickly feel a lot more populated and homey.
Custom NPCs--Highly Recommended
Village Box
MineColony
On "Tiers" when it comes to Mods, Technology, and Magic
Sometimes it may be very clear what a Tier may be, other times it may not be. Needless to say, staying current on every single popular mod in several versions of Minecraft and keeping it up to date--then keeping the Tiers updated would be a full-time job. So I'm going to trust you, Challenger. You decide what constitutes a Tier. Please keep it fair.
In this challenge, most types of Housing are Standardized, so you won't find the Housing goalposts moving from stage to stage. However, you will gradually be building bigger and better Housing as you progress further into the Challenge, because you are attracting more wealthy immigrants and become better able to generate wealth and products within your own borders.
Next we come up with the real meat and potatoes of the Challenge The Stages. We're under a bit of a rewrite at the moment, so we don't have as much content as we once had, but this should be changing very soon. However, everything should be far more fleshed out relatively quickly. What is actually posted is slightly out of date, but I will post what I have. Right now it's written as more of a city building challenge. The rewrite will see a Kingdom/Empire Building Challenge, with more specialized towns and outposts encouraged (see: Races, Heroes, and Guilds).
This section has a LOT of content, and could easily spiral out of control. Do not be afraid to Rule of Cool it down to a size that is manageable for you. Whether that is a small portion of this, or going with everything.
Races
Each Race has specific Bonuses and Drawbacks. Bonuses stack up to 3x, and are multiplicative. Drawbacks stack up to 2x, and are multiplicative.
The Player Race is not intended for NPCs, and may be edited however you want if you don't want a true neutral for yourself.
More races are planned, but will remain at this level for now. Additional Races will probably be added with the Rogue Guilds, with Bonuses that help 'em out in that regard.
Player: Ruler only, no Benefits nor Drawbacks
True Neutral
Or Totally Customized
Humans: Crafters, not Merchants
Bonus: Craft 2x as much (Stacks 3x)
Drawback: Sell 75% as much (Stacks 2x to max 50%)
Favored Tool: Axe (+1 Material Tier, no Stacking
Favored Wood: Spruce
Favored Mob: Dog
Favored Food: Potatoes
Favored Fighting Style: Sword and Shield
Hated Mob: Creeper
Testificates: Merchants, not Crafters
Bonus: Sell 2x as much (Stacks 3x)
Drawback: Craft 75% (stacks 2x to max 50%)
Favored Tool: Shovel (+1 Material Tier, no Stacking)
Favored Wood: Oak
Favored Mob: Chicken
Favored Food: Wheat (products)
Favored Fighting Style: Walls and Watchtowers
Hated Mob: Zombie
Gnomes: Technology, not Magic
Pick one Racial Bonus, not both.
Racial Bonus 1. Tech Nut: +1 Technology all Tier (Stacks 3x to 3 Tiers)
Drawback: -1 Magic all Tier (Stacks 2x to 2 Tiers)
Favored Fighting Style: Splash Potions and Potion-tipped Arrows, Magic
Hated Enemy: Endermen
Dwarves: Mining, not Agriculture
Bonus: Better Mineshafts. +10 Blocks between required Supports (Default 15, does not multiply)
Stacks 3x: 50 max
Drawback: Brown Thumb. 75% Food Production
Stacks 2x: Black Thumb--50% Food Production
Favored Tool: Pickaxe (+1 Material Level, Does Not Stack)
Favored Wood: Dark Oak
Favored Mob: Pig
Favored Food: Mushrooms
Favored Fighting Style: Pickaxe and Shield
Hated Enemy: Slimes
Elves: Agriculture, not Mining.
Bonus: 2x better Agricultural Output
Stacks 3x to a cap of 8x Agricultural Output
Drawback: Claustrophobic:Blocks must be placed every 10 Blocks instead of the usual 15.
Stacks 2x: Speluncaphobic--Support Blocks must be placed every 5 Blocks instead of the usual 15.
Favored Tool: Bucket
Favored Wood: Jungle
Favored Mob: Cow
Favored Food: Fish
Favored Fighting Style: Axe and Shield
Hated Enemy: Spiders
Guilds:
Most activities can be found within the major 6 Guilds, or the Military. Within each Guild there may be sub-Guilds, or branches of the military. Each Major Guild and the military send an Advisor to help the Challenger run his Empire where it comes to their Guild's activities.
If you have the time, it is recommended to give each Guild a unique Banner.
The Major Guilds:
Agricultural Guild
Mining Guild
Merchant's Guild
Crafter's Guild
Engineer's Guild
Magician's Guild
and the Military.
On top of this, there may be additional, lawless Guilds that operate within your territory, such as (still to be implemented. Feel free to come up with your own rules):
Thieves Guilds
Assassins Guilds
Pirate Guilds
Again, this is a LOT. If you only use this for a bit of fluff and flavor, you're still going great!
Guild Schools
Guild Schools allows a civilization (or Guild) to pump out trained Guild Members quickly. It only takes one turn for someone enrolled in the School to become skilled at the Guild Member level. However, there must be at least 2 Masters teaching at the School.
Now, normally, using this system, it would take a long time to get people up to scratch when it comes to training new people. The answer to this is usually a Guild School. They go by many names, but their primary purpose is to churn out a great number of highly talented Guild Members as quickly as possible. Guild Schools are usually quite large, and have everything they need to train people from scratch to Member level as quickly as possible. Their training equipment may not be as large or as extensive as if they were performing their Guild's function full time, but it is still there.
If you have the time, it is recommended to give each School a unique Banner and/or Shield.
Bonus Structure:
A simplified Table can be found at the bottom of the Races page on the Challenge's Wiki.
The Ruler's Bonuses/Drawbacks affects everyone in the Kingdom.
Each Guild has an Advisor, helping the Ruler. Their bonuses affect everyone within their specific Guild.
Each ruler of a Settlement/City District's Bonuses/Drawbacks affect EVERYONE within their Settlement/City District.
Each Shop/Facility Owner/Supervisor's Bonuses/Drawbacks affect EVERYONE within their Employ.
If they are part of a Guild, their Advisor's Bonuses and Drawbacks Affect the entire Facility.
The Ruler's Bonuses/Drawbacks always affect the entire Facility.
The Settlement/District Leader's Bonuses/Drawbacks affect the entire Facility.
Heroes
Heroes are intended to be every character from the Challenger him/herself to the lowliest Farmer. Each Hero has a unique Races that gives distinct bonuses, and every Hero can have a different skill level, which allows them to either be a next-to-useless Apprentice or an over-powered Guild Master.
Heroic Hierarchy:
An optional means to help your cities grow slightly more organically, Heroes may be picked out of the unwashed masses, and be set upon the path to greatness. to Mastery in one of the Major Guilds, or even an Advisor to the Ruler! This system can be applied to anything in the Challenge (with the exception of the Military, which will have its own version of this) rather easily.
Note: Agricultural numbers are intended to be focuses. Pick one of the bonuses, per Apprentice/Journeyman/Guild Member. Guild Masters can pick an additional focus Master, for a total of 2 foci--AND perform every other function of the Guild, albeit at Guild Member level. Grand Masters get 3, and can perform every other function of the Guild at Guild Master level. This also applies to other Guilds, if such things can apply.
Apprentice
Takes one Player Stage to become a Journeyman (or Rule of Cool)
Apprenticed to a Guild Master, usually a bunch at a time
Can do 4 of whatever (or grow 1 4x4 of plants). If Bees, 2 Apiaries or 4 Bee Houses
32 of whatever, 8 4x4s at Max Bonus
Journeyman
Takes one Player Stage to become a Guild Member (or Rule of Cool)
Under the tutelage of a Guild Member to finish their training.
Can do 8 of whatever (or 2 4x4), if Bees, 1 Alveary, 4 Apiaries, or 8 Bee Houses
64 of whatever (or 16 4x4--256) at Max Bonus
Guild Member
Can be trusted on their own, can take on Journeymen or Guild Members to help them out.
Can do 20 of whatever (or 5 4x4). If Bees: 3 Alvearies, 10 Apiaries, or 20 Bee Houses
160 of whatever (or 40 4x4--640) at Max Bonus)
If a brand new discipline, most Guild Members start here.
Guild Master
Can take on as many Apprentices and/or Journeyman as they want.
Usually only a limited number of Master slots at any one time.
Can do 40 of whatever (or 10 4x4). If Bees: 6 Alvearies, 25 Apiaries, or 50 Bee Houses
320 of whatever (or 80 4x4--1,280) at Max Bonus
Grand Master (Advisor)
Only 1 Grand Master at a time.
Can do 80 of whatever (or 20 4x4). If Bees: 15 Alvearies, 50 Apiaries, or 100 Bee Houses.
Can do 640 of whatever (or 160 4x4--2,560) at max Bonus
Dirt Hovel Stage:
No Tools may be used except for the Wooden Hoe.
You're going to build a small shelter for yourself
You're going to build your first bed.
Unless you have an alternate method for creating Torches, a Furnace may be used.
Generally, if a Villager is willing to trade you something, you can use it, unless it's a tool above your Material Level (in this case, anything except shears)
Supports must be placed every 15 blocks if you're building underground
Again, you must wear a helmet of any kind of you go underground.
Build yourself a Dirt Hovel
Supports must be built every 3 blocks if the ceiling extends away from walls.
Logs of any kind are a support.
Dirt blocks (of any kind) may be supports if built in a 2x2 pillar
Must have a Bed
Must have a Crafting Bench
Must have a Double Chest
Clay Community:
A Harder version of the beginning Stage.
All Dirt Hovel rules apply
Only Clay may be used for construction.
Only Logs may be used as Supports.
Build Yourself a Clay Cabin.
Build at least 3 Clay Cottages for Immigrants
Build 4 Clay Cabins for your Advisors
Which ones are your choice.
Clay Cabin
Must have a Bedroom
Must have a Work Room
Must have Storage Room
Must have a Kitchen
Must have an Office
Must have at least the following furnishings:
a Bed
3 Crafting Benches
5 Double Chests
1 of them in the Kitchen for Food
A Painting
A Filled Item Frame
1-2 Bookshelves in the Office
Must be safe from mobs
Must have at least 1 door openable by a button or pressure plate.
Clay Cottage
Must have a Kitchen
Must have a Bedroom
Must have a Work Room
Must have at least the following Furnishings:
1 Bed
1 Crafting Bench
2 Double Chests
A Painting or Filled Item Frame
Congratulations. You've beaten Stage 1. It only gets worse from here.
Heh.
Wood Settlement
All Wood Tools are unlocked. Furnaces may be used to make Charcoal.
Generally if something can be built with Logs, Wood, etc it may be used.
You may not build with Stone.
Housing
Player Estate
You're going to want to have some room to play that is solely yours now, won't you? Let's face it, you're kind of a big deal.
You must have (somewhere on your Estate):
A Bedroom
A Storage Room
A Kitchen
A Work Room
An Item Bank
A Food Bank
At least 2-4 more Rooms of your own choice.
All Rooms must be Carpeted.
All Rooms must have at least 1 kind of decoration.
Advisors
You should have at least 6 Settlement Shacks built for each of your advisors. If possible, they should be built to favor each of their specialties:
Agriculture
Trade
Crafting
Magic
Technology
Mining
Settlement Shacks
Must be carpeted
Must have some kind of decoration on the wall in each room.
Must have a Bedroom
Must have a Kitchen
Must have an Office
Must have a Work Room
Must have a Storage Room
Must have a Sitting Room for recieving guests.
Build an Additional Room to taste
Immigrants
Build 4-8 Settlement Shanties to house incoming Immigrants
Must be Carpeted
Must have a Kitchen
Must have a Work Room
Must have a Storage Room
Must have at least 1 Additional Room to Taste
Build a Museum
This may be used in conjunction with Collections or separately.
Any surviving equipment from the previous stage should be stored here for posterity.
If not the actual equipment, then a similar type
Store variations of food inside the museum for posterity.
Build A new Room (or Wing) with every Stage.
You might be surprised how far you've come.
Build a Settlement Center
You and every Advisor who lives with you in your Civilization must have an Office in the Center.
There Must be a Meeting Hall with room for all the citizens of the Center in the Settlement Center.
Collections
Intended to be started or
stopped any time, this is simply a list of things that can be easy or
difficult to collect. Recommended to build a museum to house your Collections.
*Coming Soon*
Stockpiles
Intended
to be something that can be started or stopped at any time for an
additional challenge, this will have stage-by-stage or just general
stockpiles that you can aim for.
*Coming Soon*
Again, I apologize for how little content is actually posted here. There's lots more, but I thought that it would be a good idea to get my own thread on the Minecraft Forums back up. WAAAAY more content that I've been curating over the last 3.5 years, and formatting fixes forthcoming soon.
So this is going to be fairly bare-bones, and I apologize for that. There's way more than what I have here, and I've been steadily developing this for the last 3.5 years or so. But I'm literally on the verge of replacing the Stages' content outright. I finished the skeleton for the new format within the last couple of days, and don't want to type everything up, then type it BACK up a little while later.
Contrary to some beliefs, there was a complete data dump when the old wikispaces went subscription-only, and there's even a web.archive backup that holds most of the information. Very little information about this Challenge has been lost.
Currently, the Challenge lives on both in its birthplace on the Feed the Beast Forums and a Wikia.
Welcome to the Refugee to Regent Empire Building Challenge.
Basic Concepts and Preparation
This Challenge was born on a forum, but lives on a wiki. Easier formatting, no character limits, and easy ability to see the history of a page--for me, the advantages are endless. Follow the links, and you'll find the Challenge's home wiki, where there may be more detail than here.
Rule of Cool
The Rule of Cool is the first and most important rule in the entire Challenge. It states that any rule may be waived for whatever reason, if it will make the experience better. This is not intended as an Easy button.
Mineshafts:
It's Lonely to go Alone.
While you are building, it can quickly become a ghost town. It is highly recommended that you, at the very least fill your constructions with Villagers. If you don't or can't, consider some of the following mods that help your towns quickly feel a lot more populated and homey.
On "Tiers" when it comes to Mods, Technology, and Magic
Sometimes it may be very clear what a Tier may be, other times it may not be. Needless to say, staying current on every single popular mod in several versions of Minecraft and keeping it up to date--then keeping the Tiers updated would be a full-time job. So I'm going to trust you, Challenger. You decide what constitutes a Tier. Please keep it fair.
Housing
*Standard Designs Not Currently Implemented*
In this challenge, most types of Housing are Standardized, so you won't find the Housing goalposts moving from stage to stage. However, you will gradually be building bigger and better Housing as you progress further into the Challenge, because you are attracting more wealthy immigrants and become better able to generate wealth and products within your own borders.
Next we come up with the real meat and potatoes of the Challenge The Stages. We're under a bit of a rewrite at the moment, so we don't have as much content as we once had, but this should be changing very soon. However, everything should be far more fleshed out relatively quickly. What is actually posted is slightly out of date, but I will post what I have. Right now it's written as more of a city building challenge. The rewrite will see a Kingdom/Empire Building Challenge, with more specialized towns and outposts encouraged (see: Races, Heroes, and Guilds).
Races, Heroes, and Guilds
This section has a LOT of content, and could easily spiral out of control. Do not be afraid to Rule of Cool it down to a size that is manageable for you. Whether that is a small portion of this, or going with everything.
Races
Each Race has specific Bonuses and Drawbacks. Bonuses stack up to 3x, and are multiplicative. Drawbacks stack up to 2x, and are multiplicative.
The Player Race is not intended for NPCs, and may be edited however you want if you don't want a true neutral for yourself.
More races are planned, but will remain at this level for now. Additional Races will probably be added with the Rogue Guilds, with Bonuses that help 'em out in that regard.
Player: Ruler only, no Benefits nor Drawbacks
Humans: Crafters, not Merchants
Testificates: Merchants, not Crafters
Gnomes: Technology, not Magic
Pick one Racial Bonus, not both.
Witches: Magic, not Technology
Pick one Racial Bonus, not both.
Dwarves: Mining, not Agriculture
Elves: Agriculture, not Mining.
Guilds:
Most activities can be found within the major 6 Guilds, or the Military. Within each Guild there may be sub-Guilds, or branches of the military. Each Major Guild and the military send an Advisor to help the Challenger run his Empire where it comes to their Guild's activities.
If you have the time, it is recommended to give each Guild a unique Banner.
The Major Guilds:
and the Military.
On top of this, there may be additional, lawless Guilds that operate within your territory, such as (still to be implemented. Feel free to come up with your own rules):
Again, this is a LOT. If you only use this for a bit of fluff and flavor, you're still going great!
Guild Schools
Guild Schools allows a civilization (or Guild) to pump out trained Guild Members quickly. It only takes one turn for someone enrolled in the School to become skilled at the Guild Member level. However, there must be at least 2 Masters teaching at the School.
Now, normally, using this system, it would take a long time to get people up to scratch when it comes to training new people. The answer to this is usually a Guild School. They go by many names, but their primary purpose is to churn out a great number of highly talented Guild Members as quickly as possible. Guild Schools are usually quite large, and have everything they need to train people from scratch to Member level as quickly as possible. Their training equipment may not be as large or as extensive as if they were performing their Guild's function full time, but it is still there.
If you have the time, it is recommended to give each School a unique Banner and/or Shield.
Bonus Structure:
A simplified Table can be found at the bottom of the Races page on the Challenge's Wiki.
Heroes
Heroes are intended to be every character from the Challenger him/herself to the lowliest Farmer. Each Hero has a unique Races that gives distinct bonuses, and every Hero can have a different skill level, which allows them to either be a next-to-useless Apprentice or an over-powered Guild Master.
Heroic Hierarchy:
An optional means to help your cities grow slightly more organically, Heroes may be picked out of the unwashed masses, and be set upon the path to greatness. to Mastery in one of the Major Guilds, or even an Advisor to the Ruler! This system can be applied to anything in the Challenge (with the exception of the Military, which will have its own version of this) rather easily.
Note: Agricultural numbers are intended to be focuses. Pick one of the bonuses, per Apprentice/Journeyman/Guild Member. Guild Masters can pick an additional focus Master, for a total of 2 foci--AND perform every other function of the Guild, albeit at Guild Member level. Grand Masters get 3, and can perform every other function of the Guild at Guild Master level. This also applies to other Guilds, if such things can apply.
Apprentice
Journeyman
Guild Member
Guild Master
Grand Master (Advisor)
Dirt Hovel Stage:
Build yourself a Dirt Hovel
Supports must be built every 3 blocks if the ceiling extends away from walls.
Clay Community:
A Harder version of the beginning Stage.
Clay Cabin
Clay Cottage
Congratulations. You've beaten Stage 1. It only gets worse from here.
Heh.
Wood Settlement
Housing
Player Estate
You're going to want to have some room to play that is solely yours now, won't you? Let's face it, you're kind of a big deal.
Advisors
You should have at least 6 Settlement Shacks built for each of your advisors. If possible, they should be built to favor each of their specialties:
Settlement Shacks
Immigrants
Build 4-8 Settlement Shanties to house incoming Immigrants
Build a Museum
This may be used in conjunction with Collections or separately.
Build a Settlement Center
Collections
Intended to be started or
stopped any time, this is simply a list of things that can be easy or
difficult to collect. Recommended to build a museum to house your Collections.
*Coming Soon*
Stockpiles
Intended
to be something that can be started or stopped at any time for an
additional challenge, this will have stage-by-stage or just general
stockpiles that you can aim for.
*Coming Soon*
Again, I apologize for how little content is actually posted here. There's lots more, but I thought that it would be a good idea to get my own thread on the Minecraft Forums back up. WAAAAY more content that I've been curating over the last 3.5 years, and formatting fixes forthcoming soon.
Reserved.
Yeah, it's that big.
Nice to see a familiar face in this neck of the woods!
Am I the only one that hates that it doesn't bring you into the BB editor automatically? It's a PITA.
Anyway, nice job keeping your cool and sorry again some jerk decided the challenge had died without doing any google-fu.
Good luck!
I don't mean to be unapproachable. I accept critiques and suggestions well, so please, by all means, make as many suggestions as you would like.