Minecraft UHC server: rules, scenarios and how to host a game

What UHC is in Minecraft

In a UHC game every player starts with nothing in a new world. The one rule that makes it Ultra Hardcore is that health does not regenerate by itself: a full hunger bar no longer heals you. Every heart lost to a fall, a creeper or another player stays lost until you eat a golden apple or drink a potion. That turns every fight and every risky jump into a real decision.

UHC rules to decide and post

The core of UHC is the same everywhere, but the details differ from host to host. Players hate finding out a rule after they break it, so post the rules for each game before it starts, and keep them the same unless you announce a change.

1. Natural regeneration is off. Healing comes from golden apples, potions and similar items only.
2. No PvP during the grace period. Attacking someone before it ends gets you removed from the game.
3. No strip mining below a set height, or only mining in caves, depending on the host.
4. No teaming with players from other teams. Teams are fixed when the game starts.
5. No hacked clients, x-ray texture packs or mods that show ores or players.
6. Stay inside the border. Players outside it take damage until they come back or die.
7. Dead players leave the game or watch as spectators, and must not pass on information to players who are still alive.

A rule against telling living players where others are is hard to enforce, but it matters: in a small game one message from a spectator decides the winner. The server rules guide covers how to set fair punishments.

Game settings and commands

You can run a basic UHC game with vanilla commands. A UHC plugin automates the scatter, the timers, the border and the scenarios, but it helps to know what it does underneath.

A golden apple is crafted from eight gold ingots around an apple, which makes gold the most valuable ore in the game. Many hosts also add golden heads, a stronger healing item made from the head of a defeated player, through their UHC plugin.

Plan the world border and scatter

The border controls how long a game lasts. Too big and players never meet; too small and fights start before anyone has diamonds. Start with the size of the group and adjust after every game.

• Pregenerate the whole area inside the starting border with Chunky, so the scatter does not freeze the server.
• Keep players in a separate lobby world until the game starts; Multiverse-Core handles both worlds, and WorldGuard keeps the lobby safe.
• Scatter teams, not single players, so team members start together.
• Start the border moving after the grace period, and give players a warning in chat a few minutes before.

Team sizes

1. 01
   Solo

   Every player for themselves. The purest test of skill, but a single bad fall ends your game in the first minutes.

2. 02
   Teams of two

   The most popular size. One player can mine while the other watches, and a partner can share a golden apple.

3. 03
   Teams of three or four

   More planning and bigger fights. Needs a larger border and more players to feel balanced.

4. 04
   Random teams

   The host picks teams. New players get a chance to play with experienced ones, and groups of friends cannot stack a team.

Popular UHC scenarios

Scenarios are extra rules that change a game. Hosts usually run one to three at a time and announce them before the game. They keep regular players interested and give each game its own character.

1. 01
   CutClean

   Ores drop as ingots and animals drop cooked food, so nobody needs a furnace. The most common scenario of all.

2. 02
   Timber

   Breaking the bottom log of a tree fells the whole tree, which speeds up the start.

3. 03
   Time Bomb

   When a player dies, their items go into a chest that explodes after a short time.

4. 04
   No Clean

   A player who gets a kill cannot be damaged for a short time, so they cannot be picked off straight away.

5. 05
   Fireless

   Nobody takes fire or lava damage, which changes how fights and escapes work.

6. 06
   Bowless

   Bows cannot be crafted, so every fight is up close.

7. 07
   Blood Diamonds

   Mining a diamond costs half a heart, which makes greed dangerous.

8. 08
   Double Ores

   Ores drop twice as much, for shorter games and faster gear.

Fair play and x-ray

UHC is a race for ores, so x-ray is the most common way to cheat. One player who finds diamonds through walls ruins a game for everyone else.

• Turn on the anti-xray setting of your server software; the anti-xray guide on Lodehost explains how.
• Watch mining statistics after each game. A player who mined ten diamonds and almost no stone is worth a closer look.
• Let a spectator follow suspicious players during the game, without telling them.
• Keep recordings or logs, so a ban after the game can be explained.

The factions server guide covers alt accounts and other kinds of cheating that also turn up in UHC.

Host a UHC game step by step

1. Announce the date, time, team size and scenarios a few days ahead.
2. Generate a fresh world, set the border and pregenerate it the day before.
3. Open the lobby half an hour before the start and let players form teams.
4. Post the rules in chat, then scatter the teams and start the grace period timer.
5. Announce when PvP turns on, when the border starts moving and when meetup begins.
6. Watch as a spectator, deal with rule breaks and keep chat informed about the players left.
7. Announce the winner, post the result and delete the game world afterwards.

Hosting works best as a team: one person runs the commands, another watches for cheating. The event ideas guide has more on running a live event, and the hosting guide on how to reduce lag helps when the final fight brings everyone into one small area.

How to show your UHC numbers on your website

The Network and Prison templates in the website builder have a Numbers section on their home page: a strip of big numbers under the heading. On a UHC server it tells visitors in one glance how big and how regular your games are.

1. 01

   Open the Numbers section

   Go to Website in the server panel of Astroworld Hosting or minecrafthosting.cc, open the editor and click the Numbers section on the home page.

2. 02

   Pick numbers you can back up

   The editor asks for only numbers you can back up, like the year you started. For UHC that means things such as games hosted so far, players in the last game or the year your first game ran.

3. 03

   Fill in each number

   Put the number in Number and a short description in Label, such as 120 and UHC games hosted, or 2 and Players per team.

4. 04

   Add up to four

   Use Add number until you have up to four. Fewer is fine: two strong numbers say more than four weak ones.

5. 05

   Show who is online first

   Switch on Show the players online now first if you want the live player count in front of your own numbers.

6. 06

   Publish the numbers

   Press Publish. Our team checks every change before it goes live, so update the numbers the day after a big game.