Minecraft anticheat guide
Anticheat for Towny and Economy Survival Servers
How to pair an anticheat with town claims, wars, and shop economies on Towny-style survival servers, using claim-border and price evidence before punishment.
What does a Towny-style server need from an anticheat?
A Towny-style server needs an anticheat that understands claims and economy changes. Cheats on these servers show up as claim-border fights, unfair wars, and shop prices that move without a trade. Start with claim-border and economy evidence in alert-only mode, then connect those checks to the rules your town and nation systems already enforce. Keep the claim plugin's own permissions as the first line of defense.
Where cheats hurt a town economy
A claim or town is a shared asset, so one cheater can change many players' results. A player with reach or killaura can take a border fight that should have been lost. A player with fast mining can flood a shop market. A player who dupes items can distort prices that other shop owners use. The review path should match the harm: fights go to combat logs, and prices go to economy logs.
| Pressure point | What a cheat changes | Log to review first |
|---|---|---|
| Claim-border fights | Wins at a border that should be lost | Combat log with claim ownership at the hit position |
| Town war outcomes | Unfair kills during a declared war | Kill log tied to war dates and participants |
| Shop prices | Sudden supply from fast mining or duplication | Price history and trade log |
| Bank and balance changes | Gains without a matching trade | Economy transaction log |
| Resource nodes near towns | Advantage from x-ray or fast mining | Block-break log by location |
Set up the claim-aware review
Claim boundaries change over time, so an alert from last month may point to a claim that no longer exists. Save the claim state with each alert window.
Use economy evidence before punishment
A price change can come from many sources: a new shop, a seasonal demand shift, or a player who spent their savings. Ask for the transaction log and the trade history before you decide that a cheat caused the change. An economy review may need a rollback plan, so agree on that process with the staff who manage balances.
case: <id>
player: <name>
town or nation: <name>
claim at event: <claim id>
check: <check name>
war active: <yes or no, war id>
price or balance change: <item or account, before and after>
logs reviewed: <combat, block-break, economy>
reviewer: <name>Test the claim-aware checks in staging
Create a test town with a border, run a legal fight on each side, and confirm that alerts carry the claim at the hit position. Then run a block-break test inside and outside the claim and compare the entries. These tests show whether your logs can answer the questions staff will ask.
What we have not verified
Claims also change hands. When a plot is sold, transferred, or abandoned, the owner shown on the map can lag behind the actual owner. Ask the claim plugin's admins for the transfer log covering the alert window, and use it to confirm who owned the claim during a fight or a trade. A review based on the current owner can accuse the wrong player of entering a claim.
Keep an incident note for every town war, with the start and end time, the roster, and any rule changes made during the war. Economy disputes often follow a war, and a clear note lets staff answer questions without reopening the whole case. Treat the note as a record of the rules at the time, and do not rewrite it later when a decision is challenged. Shop owners often notice price changes before staff do, so give them a simple way to report unusual prices with the item name, time, and shop location. Those reports are leads, not proof, because one seller can move a price for reasons unrelated to cheating.
We have not tested any anticheat against a specific Towny-style plugin or economy plugin, and this article does not state whether any anticheat reads claim data. Check the integration with your own plugins on staging before you rely on it.
FAQ
Should a war fight be reviewed differently from normal PvP?
Yes. Confirm the war roster and the claim at the hit position first. Then review the combat evidence with the same standard you use everywhere else.
How do we avoid blaming a player for a market change?
Compare the price history with the trade log and the player's sales. Price changes from supply, demand, or new shops are common.
Can an anticheat roll back an economy change?
Not as a general rule. Rollback is a separate procedure. Agree on it with your economy staff before an incident happens.
Why save the claim state with each alert?
Claims are created, removed, and moved over time. Without the state from the alert window, a review can compare a fight with the wrong border.