13Jul

Steam Run & Mid-Month Updates

Posted in Competitions, Game Nights, Special Events | Leave a comment

Get Ready for the Summer Steam Run

The poll has been taken and it looks as if next weekend is the best time for everyone, so we’re making the formal announcement now that Saturday, July 20th at 3pm and Monday, July 22nd at 9:30pm (aka Minecraft Monday stream time) are the days that will be available to choose from.

Like the previous Steam Run back in January, entrants may choose one of the two days to sign up for, using the form at the end of this article. Patreon patrons on the Awesome Tier may participate on both days of the event, so there is no need to submit the form if you are on the Awesome Tier, just show up, however you should know that superpickaxe will not be enabled for this event.

The play area will be smaller this time around, and we won’t be going as bonkers as last time with the special block/item density (I’ve finally learned how to use proper percentages for replacing stone). However as per usual, you can expect to find plenty of goodies, including 60 hidden Steam keys in each run. These keys will be placed in books, that are then placed in chests, so keep an eye out for these. If you don’t know how to redeem a Steam key in order to get a game from it, check out the video below.

If you’d like to sign up for either day of the Steam Run, use the form at the end of this article to do so. Any questions, feel free to ask in the Facebook group.

New Kitz in the Serverus Shack

Now that we’ve all settled into 1.14, I’ve taken it upon myself to add some new thingies to the Serverus Shack. If you’ve got some SAMCoin burning a hole in your pocket, head on down to the shack (located right outside the command tower) and right-click on a sign to get yourself a little something.

I’ve removed all the super bows except for one, which is obviously the one that everyone likes using ?

Normally I don’t reveal what the kitz are except for hints in the name of the kitz themselves but this week I feel like being a bit more transparent so here they are:

  • Clipz – $1000 SAMCoin: Unbreakable Shears of Death (unbreakable, sharpness 5, can only be purchased once)
  • Flyz – $1000 SAMCoin: Elytra (can only be purchased once a day)
  • Swimz – $500 SAMCoin: Turtle Helmet (can only be purchased once a day)
  • Ballz – $50 SAMCoin: Gets you one Fireball (right-click to throw, don’t use it in close quarters)
  • TPz – $1000 SAMCoin: The Void Bow (shoot it and you will teleport to where the arrow lands)
  • Catz – $500 SAMCoin: 2 cat spawn eggs (can only be purchased once a day)
  • Pandaz – $500 SAMCoin: 2 panda spawn eggs (can only be purchased once)
  • Foxez – $500 SAMCoin: 2 fox spawn eggs (can only be purchased once)

Quick Notes

Here’s some stuff you may or may not care about. That’s why it’s at the end of the article!

  • SA points are in since Thursday, convert to SAMCoin, use Command Zone or grab some games!
  • We’ll be showing off how to use the Secret Beta goodies on Monday’s stream so if you’re confused by them, tune in!
  • Command of the Week starting on server restart Sunday night is SmoothSleep.
  • I have ethernet back in my office so no more frame drops or spotty voices. YAY!

Steam Run Sign Up Form

[wpforms id=”2442″ title=”false” description=”false”]

27Jun

Getting Ready for 1.14 + July Upcoming

Posted in Holidays, Servers | Leave a comment

There are months, and then there is June. Let’s look ahead to July shall we? I’d like that.

1.14 and the Amazing Technological Dreamcoat

This weekend is Link’s make-up birthday party, despite already making up for his original birthday plan (circumstances were just ugh) with a last-minute Orlando escapade skillfully put together by my ace in the hole, a.k.a. my wife, which Link had already said was the “best birthday ever”. But I’m a total pushover, and he’s a born salesman, so here we are. To wit, that means we’re scheduling a tentative AquaNu update to 1.14 over the holiday weekend, starting July 5th with a don’t build anything you’re in love with couple of days following that, just in case something corrupts and we have to do a rollback. That being said, with the exception of a couple non-essential plugins, things are shaping up pretty nicely according to current tests. So get ready for some Pandas Power.

AquaNu 616 is Still Up & Stable

Yes it’s a Marvel Universe joke, which I will not apologize for, even though it was pointed out to me by a few people that 616 is the canon universe, and this is a test server, so yeah, I’ve been better with clever names.

Anyway, in case you don’t know, we have a 1.14 server up and running that is a copy of AquaNu. Everyone has Creative over there, so feel free to fly around and scope stuff out. Once we’ve migrated the true AquaNu over, you can go claim land that you might have seen over on the other server. Everybody is once again going to get one free claim so make sure you have those coordinates ready, and we do expect you to be at the coordinates you want to request a for when we go to mark it off (or if you’re logged off, we can see the coords you last logged off at). The trick is making sure you can get to those coords quick enough to claim your spot, but not before we switch over (because then they’d end up being 1.13 loaded chunks) so you’ll need to stay frosty yo.

You can visit the test server at 616.smaws.me. If you have trouble getting on, let me know.

RUSH MAP PARTICIPANTS

If you logged into the Rush Map at any point, and you have stuff in your inventory, you will receive those items in a shulker box which will be placed in your backpack. If your inventory overflows into your enderchest, you will receive two shulker boxes in your backpack with said items. Obviously you can’t have more stuff than that, so two is the max you can get. I will be personally taking on this responsibility and it is a little tedious so please bear with me on that once 1.14 is deemed a sure thing.

End of July Steam Run

We owe you guys for sticking with us through this fraught and frustrating year so far so what better way to make it up to you than with a juicy 1.14 Steam Run. I can say with conviction that it will not be as bonkers as the last one, but I can assure you it will still be worth your while. If you’re new and you don’t know what a Steam Run is yet, check out the video of January’s run below for a general idea.

Sign ups for the Steam run will be available once we do the Facebook poll for best two days. As per usual, Awesome Tier players will be able to attend both days of the run if they can make it (as of the time of this writing, there are currently 4 more slots available for Awesome Tier so try not to lollygag if you want one).

There’s More on the Way!

I know the admin ladies have a bunch of stuff in the pipeline with regards to Fourth of July, plus we’ll be revealing a fantastic new Secret Beta, an updated Command of the Week ( /firework ), Serverus Shack updates for the holiday, and whatever groveling I have to do to ensure that everyone continues to like me, because I have a fragile ego and need constant validation that I’m not a fraud ?

Seriously though, I can only thank you guys for your continued support and dedication to this server yet again, another month going, while Tonya and I continue to navigate this minefield that is currently our lives. I’m not necessarily trying to be dramatic here or anything, we’re not asking for pity, but we certainly appreciate your patience, and we just want you to know it.

So now, here is a video salute to all our players…

23May

All The Things

Posted in Servers, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Dear Diary, it has been 47 days since I last wrote to you…

We have a lot of catching up to do so let’s get right to the nitty gritty.

Rush Map Ends Sunday

And we’ve updated the Rush Map to 1.14.1!

Now that a stable 1.14.1 seems in the cards, and with our plugins getting updated (most of them anyway, more on that later) for compatibility, we find ourselves at the end of the road for yet another Rush Map. I’m sure when Microsoft starts putting out 1.15 a month from now we’ll have it available again. ?

Make sure that everything you plan on carrying over is on your person or in your enderchest by 11am EST Sunday morning. Nothing else you gathered on the Rush Map can make the trip. I will port your goodies over, once AquaNu is given a go to update, via my patented I AM YOU player data transfer method (basically I just copy your data onto my player file) and I will empty this out into a chest for you. I’ll reach out to you to see where you might want the chest to go.

In it’s place, we will be putting the official Minecraft 10th Anniversary map up and trying out some plugins in the meantime to see which ones will fit the bill for 1.14.1. That map will stay up for one week.

CLICK HERE IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE RUSH MAP

Updating AquaNu to 1.14.1

I know we are all anxiously awaiting this update, but we still have some plugins that are a bit behind, including:

  • Bottled XP
  • Treefeller
  • ItemRecycler
  • Ridables
  • TimedFly (aka /flymenu)
  • DoubleJump

We’ll be testing all our plugins on the 10th anniversary map once that is up. If we can all agree on alternatives or just plain old “doing without” for these plugins, and provided that the other plugins are up to snuff, we will look towards updating AquaNu sometime next weekend (likely Saturday, June 1).

New Bows at the Serverus Shack

If you haven’t noticed yet, we’ve replaced the entire wall of the Serverus Shack with fun new magic bows. Each one is 1000 SAMCoin and up to this point I hadn’t said exactly what each of them were, except to hint at it through their kitz names, but here’s what each of them do:

  • Fiyaz – Fire Bow (fire burst, area-of-effect burn)
  • Izez – Ice Bow (ice explosion, area-of-effect slow)
  • Acidz – Corrosive Bow (area-of-effect poison)
  • Zapz – Lightning Bow’lt (summons a lightning bolt)
  • TPz – Void Bow (teleports you to the arrow when it lands)
  • Threez – Trippple Bow (fires 3 arrows instead of one)
  • Gravz – Gravity Bow (attracts the target to your location)
  • Boomz – Explosive Bow (area-of-effect damage)
  • Rumblez – Earthquake Bow (summons a shockwave)

Patreon patrons on Gold and Awesome tiers can now enchant their special bows.

We’ll be swapping out bows every now and then for new ones. Grab yours while you can at the Serverus Shack today!

New Calendar

Are you sick and tired of missing events because you missed a post on the Facebook group? Well now you can just go to this page and take a look at what we’ve got going on for the month, as well as upcoming birthdays. I promise you we will try to keep it updated ?

We’ve Gone Double Secret

Not only are Secret Beta items now in your backpack (if you are on Awesome Tier) but on top of that, we’ve also changed the Facebook group from Closed to Secret. There was a practical reason for this but also I’ve been wanting to do this for some time now.

The reality is, for a while it has been rare for a person outside of this group, with no connection to anyone inside the group already, to pass our verification test. That being the case, we’re very happy with the caliber of players we have in the group already, and would rather lean on the side of exclusivity than risk having to deal with unvetted players.

People already in the group may invite others to the group without issue, and I prefer that the players hold the power of this server’s growth, since I trust you guys to pick people like yourselves to play with us.

Quick Notes

If you’ve read this far, you might still be interested to know the following quick tidbits:

  • KeepInventory is now OFF (please be careful!)
  • ItemRecycler list of allowed items has been updated
  • Command of the Week on Sunday will be SuperTrails
  • The stream on Monday will be located on the 10th anniversary map
  • Remember if you need some flying time, you can buy it with /flymenu

Thanks!
~ Serverus

06Apr

Happy Anniversary SAMC!

Posted in Holidays, Servers, Some Awesome | Leave a comment

6 Years! Wow we are old.

It has been quite the ride since we first opened the server back in 2013. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs over the years, but we couldn’t be happier with where we are today. Some of you have been here since the beginning (like our very first player and beloved admin Sarah “Akumo” Penney) and some of you have only been here a few months, but we wouldn’t have an anniversary at all if it wasn’t for the amazing support we get from you guys year after year. So thank you all for another trip around the sun for SAMC!

Every year we put up a throwback map and this year is no different (well maybe a tad different). It will be running on Spigot 1.13.2 so it’s also a nice little pre-test for moving Main onto the latest version too. We’ve taken down the Rush Map for a couple days but it will be back up (and at snapshot 19w14b) after the stream on Monday night.

Since the traditional six year gift is something made of iron, we’ve made it so that when you type /kit annie into chat, you will spawn your very own Iron Golem. This Kitz has a cooldown of 100 minutes, so feel free to use it more than once.  There’s also another new Kitz in the Serverus Shack, a one-time use providing you with a free $6000 SAMCoin, as our way of saying thanks for so many great years!

Of course, you could just use it to buy more Lucky Blocks in the Kitz a few signs over 😉

Wait! What are Lucky Blocks?

Oh yeah, I am SUPER BEHIND on announcements. Let’s get to those shall we?

Remember this post I made in March? Yeah well we finally got to implementing Lucky Blocks at the end of last month, which was kind of a blessing in disguise really, because we were also able to use them as part of April Fools week, since some of these blocks ain’t so lucky! You can get them occasionally from mining, or for $100 SAMCoin each in the Serverus Shack.

Speaking of blessings in disguise, since it is in fact April Fool’s week, we’ve turned on our perennial joke plugin, iDisguise! Turn yourself into any mob (except the ender dragon) and annoy or terrify your fellow player! To use it, type /d in the chat, followed by the mob you want to disguise yourself as. So if you wanted to be a blaze, type /d blaze into the chat. There should be a success message pop up when you’ve done it correctly, though you will not be able to see yourself as the mob. Everyone else will though 🙂

We’ll keep these on for the next couple of weeks since I’ve been slow to alert everyone to their presence. Watch out for some of those Lucky Block surprises though! Some will kill you, which is why we also have KeepInventory on for the time being too (only in the overworld of course as per usual).

Anniversary Map

Every year during our anniversary we would put up the first backup map we ever had, taken just a few days after we launched the server to the public back in April of 2013. This year I found one that is a backup of a few months later (more of you were on by this time). This is a chip off of Main, our very first world (and one that is raring up to make its comeback soon) and the previous home of the LeMorris Family when we played offline before all this.

The Anniversary Map will be where Tonya and I will be streaming during Minecraft Monday so if you’d like to join us over there, you can get to it by using six.smaws.me as the server address.

Buy Fly Time with SAMCoin

A month or so ago I talked about adding /fly to the Command Zone, but it ended up being more practical (and easier for people who didn’t have access to the Command Zone) to just add a plugin where you could instead buy blocks of flying time directly with your SAMCoin balance. To take advantage of this April offer, just user /flymenu in the chat.

You can choose between a 3 hour block for $500 or an 8 hour block for $1000. These are “real time” hours meaning that if you leave the game, the clock is still ticking, so pick wisely.

We’re doing some other interesting things with flying options right now as well that the Secret Beta folks are testing out for us, so look for more great stuff ahead!

Quick Notes

Here are a few small things that you might want to know, or you might not care at all about. That’s why they’re at the end of the article!

  • Redstone Block Sale Sign in the Serverus Shack works again
  • Get Fire & Ice Bows using the special kitz in the Serverus Shack
  • Points are in for Patreon Patrons over at SomeAwesome.com
  • We’ll be doing a stability update for Spigot and AWS tonight in the wee hours
  • Loot boxes are on the way for Awesome Tier patrons!

15Mar

Come and Visit our Wee Irish Village!

Posted in Holidays | Leave a comment

It’s St. Patrick’s Day and the villagers are celebrating with a parade!

Meanwhile, the town is completely overrun with leprechauns hiding their gold.

After the parade, enjoy some delicious pub food down at the Pug and Pine and kiss the Blarney Stone!

Don’t forget to stop by the leprechaun house at the end of the garden path for some St. Patrick’s Day swag. (XP Bottles and a bundle of sticks required!)

12Mar

Quick March Update – OK, You Guys Win

Posted in Servers, Some Awesome | Leave a comment

ANNOUNCEMENTS YAY!

So all the points are in over at SomeAwesome.com for this month’s patrons, and I’ve gotta say, they’re really starting to accumulate for some of you. Like getting closer to 6 digits than 5.

I’ve held out for as long as I can on this, and you guys have nagged me forever about it anyway. Plus, I’m looking to breathe some life back into the review site, so I made it a point to at least make this concession on my own terms.

? OK, Deep Breath ?

Starting next Monday, the Command Zone welcomes /fly to its repertoire.

BUT IT WON’T BE CHEAP

Currently, the most expensive thing in the Command Zone is /superpickaxe, which is 2000 points for one day (and honestly I think there’s a bug I have to fix where it chops off 3 hours because of GMT vs EDT, I can take a look at the log and refund you hours) but that is now supplanted by /fly which will cost you 3000 points for the day (I promise to have that bug fixed by then ?).

Secret Beta testers are getting something…similar. Let’s just go with that for now. To be fair it isn’t very secretive so you’ll see it soon enough.

COMMAND OF THE WEEK

Is /home, but better. It’s unlimited /home.

What does that mean? Well when you use /sethome, you can add a name to the home after the command, e.g. “/sethome serverus” and then later find another place and use “/sethome family” instead. Then to move between them you would type “/home serverus” or “/home family“. Create as many of these as you like until this COTW is up. If it’s popular enough I’ll add it to the Command Zone (seriously, please go spend your points ?).

SmoothSleep is off now so prepare your evenings accordingly.

/hat is still on because /hat is always on.

BUILD WARS SPONSORED POST

You can find it here.

If you participated in the first part of the Build Wars challenge, then your creation is up to bat. Feel free to share your photo or the whole album, just be sure that all “Likes” (we technically count all FB reactions) are on the original photo inside the original album post.

Because it is a Sponsored Post, it will make its way via the social graph aka the Zucc Matrix of Doom and throw itself at the mercy of the open public (I narrowed the demographic down to only people who like Minecraft). I wish you well in your pleasing of the gods.

We will be putting a poll in the Facebook group shortly for the second round of Build Wars Part V with the same old question about what weekend works best for most folks. May the odds be ever in your favor.

I’m using way too many movie quotes here. Let’s move on.

WELCOME TO THE TEAM, BLACKBIRD_CLOUD!

SAMC veteran Blackbird_Cloud has accepted our offer to become our newest admin! Jen Madsen Seelaus is coming up on her 4 year badge with this group and makes up 50% of one of our most adorable server couples. She lives on the Mushroom Island we zoom away from at the end of every stream, and this week she’s getting her feet wet with all of our obscure and probably outdated process documents, so be nice you miscreants!

She’s also done a spectacular job on our St. Patrick’s Day holiday area that will be open starting Friday, March 15th, and lasting probably throughout the week? I don’t know we haven’t figured out the whole timetable yet.

Welcome Blackbird_Cloud to the team! ❤❤❤

THAT’S ALL FOLKS!

Did I mention it’s been a Hell of a week? We’ll have more for you real soon!

~Serverus