Drone Tours & Scheduled Events

Steal-A-Block introduces new players to arena dynamics through a zero-mod, cinematic camera drone showcase, while keeping gameplay unpredictable with automated server-wide event rotations.

This guide details the technical operation of the spline drone flythrough system, user controls, configuration parameters, and the complete catalog of automated events.

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Cinematic Drone Showcase

The cinematic drone tour provides a smooth, 30-second flythrough across an arena plot. It requires zero client modifications, resource packs, or camera mods, operating entirely through vanilla Minecraft packets and invisible mount entities.

flowchart TD
    Trigger["Tour Trigger (/tour or First Arena Join)"] --> Mount["Spawn Invisible ArmorStand (sab_drone) & Mount Player"]
    Mount --> Spline["Follow Catmull-Rom Spline Trajectory (Speed: 0.45)"]
    Spline --> Station["Arrive at Station • 6s Hover Pause • Boss Bar + Ticker + Chime"]
    Station --> Next{"More Stations?"}
    Next -- Yes --> Spline
    Next -- No --> Finish["Restore Original Gamemode, Location & Flight"]
    Mount -. Sneak / Jump / /tour skip .-> Finish

Showcase Triggers & Safety Rules

The showcase can be launched in two ways:

• First Arena Join: Automatically plays when a player claims or enters an arena plot for the first time (only-first-join: true).
• Manual Command: Players can replay the tour at any time by running /tour or /showcase.
• Administrative Command: Staff can launch the tour for any player using /sab tour play <player>.

Anti-Exploit & Combat Safety Checks

To prevent players from using the drone tour to evade combat, exploit falling damage, or duplicate items, the engine enforces strict preconditions:

1. No Tour Mid-Air: Players falling more than 5 blocks (fallDistance > 5.0f) or falling into the void cannot start a tour.
2. No Tour During Heists: Players actively channeling a 5-second theft cannot launch a tour.
3. No Tour While Carrying Blocks: Thieves carrying a stolen block on their head cannot launch a tour.
4. Damage Immunity: While on the tour, the player is temporarily marked invulnerable (player.setInvulnerable(true)) to prevent griefing by other players or arena hazards.

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The 6 Core Tour Stations

The camera glides along 3D Catmull-Rom spline paths, pausing for 6 seconds at each of the 6 essential plot stations:

journey
    title 6-Station Drone Showcase Trajectory
    section Infiltration & Base
      1. Base Spawn Platform: 5: Player learns plot bounds and protection
      2. Central Conveyor River: 5: Player observes moving blocks and purchasing
    section Economy & Raids
      3. Income Anvil Pedestal: 5: Player inspects $/s generation and upgrade menus
      4. Deposit Zone: 4: Player views banking location for stolen blocks
    section Upgrades & Defense
      5. Tactical Gear Shop: 5: Player checks raid boots, pickaxes, and shields
      6. Security Gate: 5: Player learns gate lockdown plate mechanics

#	Station Identifier	Title & Subtitle	Visual & Sound Cues	Gameplay Commentary
1	spawn (Base Spawn)	✦ Welcome to your Base! Everything you own lives here	UI_TOAST_CHALLENGE_COMPLETE HAPPY_VILLAGER particles	Introduces plot boundaries, plot ownership safety, and the sneak-to-skip control.
2	conveyor (Block River)	✦ The Block River Valuable blocks roll past your base	BLOCK_NOTE_BLOCK_BELL END_ROD particles	Instructs players to left-click passing blocks to purchase them, and highlights rare Mystery Blocks.
3	anvil (Income Anvil)	✦ Your Anvil Pedestal Claimed blocks generate income every second	BLOCK_ANVIL_USE ENCHANT particles	Explains passive $/s cash flow, right-click block management, sell values, and fusion chamber upgrades.
4	deposit (Deposit Zone)	✦ Deposit Zone Bank stolen blocks here safely	ENTITY_PLAYER_LEVELUP FLAME particles	Showcases the gold-floored deposit area where stolen enemy blocks are banked into passive income.
5	shop (Tactical Shop)	✦ Tactical Gear Shop Boots, pickaxes, shields & traps	BLOCK_NOTE_BLOCK_GUITAR PORTAL particles	Outlines speed boots, steal gloves, guardian shields, and defensive slime stun traps.
6	gate (Security Gate)	✦ Base Security Gate Step on the gold plate to lock invaders out	BLOCK_IRON_DOOR_CLOSE CRIT particles	Teaches base locking mechanics: step on the gold pressure plate to repel enemy raiders.

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Technical Drone Architecture

The showcase engine relies on lightweight internal structures to manage camera movement and state restoration:

• Invisible Drone Mount: An invisible, silent ArmorStand (sab_drone) is spawned with setSmall(true), setGravity(false), and setCollidable(false). The player is added as a passenger, ensuring smooth spline transitions without camera jitter.
• Camera Spline Mathematics: Trajectories between stations are evaluated as smooth Catmull-Rom splines at a rate of 0.45 blocks per tick (flight-speed: 0.45).
• Head Orientation (Directed Camera):
  • When directed-camera: false (default), players have full 360-degree free look capability during flight.
  • When directed-camera: true, the player's view vector is locked toward each station's focal point.
• Top Boss Bar Progress: A segmented progress bar appears at the top of the screen (CINEMATIC TOUR • X/6 / ✦ Tour • 1/6), advancing as each station is reached.
• Action Bar Ticker: Informative gameplay commentary cycles continuously on the player's action bar.
• State Restoration: When the tour ends or is skipped, the session cleanly destroys the drone entity, restores the player's previous game mode, flight allowances, and position, and updates the player's profile in PlayerDataManager so the tour does not replay on future logins.

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Player Controls & Skip Mechanics

Players can skip the tour at any point during flight or hover pauses:

1. Physical Input: Press Sneak (Shift) or Jump (Space).
2. Command Input: Run /tour skip.

Upon skipping, the player is safely teleported to their plot spawn platform, invulnerability is cleared, and an audio bass chime signals the return to normal gameplay.

# config.yml - Cinematic Showcase Configuration
cinematic:
  enabled: true
  flight-speed: 0.45       # Blocks traveled per tick along spline (0.1 to 2.0)
  hover-seconds: 6         # Duration to pause and showcase each station
  skippable: true          # Whether players can sneak/jump to skip
  directed-camera: false   # true = lock head toward focal point; false = 360 free look
  bossbar: true            # Show top progress bar (CINEMATIC TOUR • 2/6)
  actionbar-ticker: true   # Cycle commentary lines on action bar
  sound-effects: true      # Play arrival chimes and ambient sound cues
  only-first-join: true    # Auto-play on first arena join only

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Scheduled Server Events (auto-events)

Steal-A-Block features an automated event scheduler that periodically triggers server-wide gameplay modifiers. Events alter income rates, conveyor mechanics, raiding windows, and block rarity distribution.

flowchart LR
    Scheduler["Auto-Event Scheduler (Every 60m)"] --> Select["Pick Random Event from Pool"]
    Select --> Broadcast["Broadcast Announcement + Top Boss Bar"]
    Broadcast --> Active["Active 300s Modifier (Double Income, Overdrive, etc.)"]
    Active --> Expire["Event Concludes • Audio Chime • Boss Bar Cleared"]

Automation & Scheduling Parameters

The automated rotation runs on a repeating timer configured in config.yml and events.yml:

• Rotation Frequency: Triggers every 60 minutes (interval-minutes: 60).
• Event Duration: Lasts 300 seconds (5 minutes) (event-duration-seconds: 300), unless overridden per event.
• Server Announcements: Plays an alert sound and displays a color-coded boss bar with a real-time countdown timer to all online players (EVENT ACTIVE: <Name> - MM:SS).

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Complete Event Catalog

The table below documents all 9 server events, including their visual presentation, duration, and mechanical effects:

Event Type	Display Name	Default Duration	Visual & Audio Identity	Gameplay Mechanics & Multipliers
DOUBLE_INCOME	Double Income	300s (5m)	Gold text & Gold Ingot icon	2x cash multiplier applied to all active stored blocks across the entire server.
DOUBLE_STEAL	Double Steal	300s (5m)	Red text & Golden Apple icon	Theft channeling duration reduced from 5s down to 1 second; successfully deposited stolen blocks are duplicated.
RARE_BOOST	Rare Boost	300s (5m)	Magenta text & Diamond icon	5x increased spawn weight for Rare, Epic, and Legendary blocks along all conveyor rivers.
SPEED_ROUND	Speed Round	300s (5m)	Cyan text & Feather icon	Conveyor movement speed doubled (2.0x velocity); all players receive sprint speed buffs.
SHIELD_HOUR	Shield Hour	600s (10m)	Green text & Shield icon	Base theft is completely disabled server-wide; slime stun trap durations are doubled.
LIGHTNING_STORM	Lightning Storm	300s (5m)	Light blue text & Lightning Rod icon	Random lightning strikes highlight high-value conveyor blocks and trigger free upgrades on stored plot blocks.
FUSION_FRENZY	Fusion Frenzy	300s (5m)	Purple text & Anvil icon	Guarantees 0% failure rate in the Block Fusion Chamber (/fusion) with elevated mutation roll chances.
OVERDRIVE	Overdrive	180s (3m)	Orange text & Blaze Powder icon	3.0x conveyor velocity surge accompanied by frequent high-tier block spawns.
REVERSE_RUSH	Reverse Rush	120s (2m)	Purple text & Ender Pearl icon	2.2x reverse velocity surge; conveyor belts reverse direction, moving blocks backward past rival plots.

# config.yml / events.yml - Automated Events Configuration
auto-events:
  enabled: true
  interval-minutes: 60        # How often a random event starts (in minutes)
  event-duration-seconds: 300 # Default duration if not overridden per-event
  events:
    - DOUBLE_INCOME
    - LIGHTNING_STORM
    - FUSION_FRENZY
    - OVERDRIVE
    - REVERSE_RUSH

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Administrative Commands

Server administrators with the stealablock.admin permission node can manage events and tours manually:

# Event Management Commands
/event start <type> [seconds]   # Force-start an event (e.g. /event start double_income 600)
/event stop                     # Immediately stop any ongoing event
/event status                   # Check active event name and remaining duration
/event gui                      # Open the interactive 9-slot event dashboard GUI
/event                          # Alias for /event gui when executed by an admin player

# Tour Administrative Commands
/sab tour play <player>         # Force-launch a cinematic showcase for a target player
/tour play <player>             # Shortcut syntax to launch showcase for a player