MineColonies

Overview

MineColonies is a colony simulation mod that adds over 50 building types and dozens of NPC worker roles to Minecraft. Your colonists will mine, farm, build structures, craft items, guard against raids, and even raise animals, all without you needing to lift a Pickaxe (though you certainly can help). Every building follows a 5-level upgrade path, each level expanding the structure's footprint and unlocking better capabilities for the worker assigned to it.

The mod includes a full research system accessed through the University, a dynamic raid system with five enemy factions, citizen happiness and disease mechanics, and over 10,000 schematic styles so your colony can match any biome. You can browse all 88 recipes and 53 items this mod adds using the tabs on this page. This guide will walk you through every system from founding your colony to surviving endgame Pharaoh raids.

Colony Borders and Chunk Claims

When you found a colony, it immediately claims a square of chunks around the Town Hall (default 4-chunk radius, configurable up to 15). As you place buildings near the border, the colony automatically extends its territory outward. The maximum colony size is 20 chunks radius (320 blocks from the Town Hall) by default, creating a potential 640x640 block territory.

Colony protection prevents non-member players from breaking blocks, interacting with objects, or attacking citizens within your borders. Explosions default to damaging entities but not blocks inside colony territory. Colonies must be spaced at least 8 chunks (128 blocks) apart from each other. You can see your colony border by holding the Build Tool.

The Builder System

Builders are the backbone of MineColonies. Every structure in the colony is constructed, upgraded, repaired, and deconstructed by Builders. A Builder's Hut level directly limits what level of buildings that Builder can work on: a Level 1 hut can only build Level 1 structures, Level 2 builds up to Level 2, and so on. Building multiple Builder's Huts (up to 5 is recommended) lets you run parallel construction projects and dramatically speeds up colony development.

Builders use two key skills: Adaptability (faster block placing) and Athletics (faster block breaking). When assigning workers, check these stats to find the best candidate. Tool restrictions also follow building level: Level 1 allows Stone tools, Level 2 Iron, Level 3-4 Diamond, and Level 5 enchanted Diamond. Sometimes Builders get stuck inside partially constructed rooms that don't have doors yet. Use the Recall Worker button in the Builder's Hut interface to teleport them out.

Citizens: Skills, Happiness, and Health

The 11 Skills

Every citizen has 11 skills that determine how effectively they perform different jobs. Skills level up passively as citizens work, and each skill has a complementary skill that rises alongside it and an adverse skill that tends to decrease. The skills are: Athletics, Dexterity, Strength, Agility, Stamina, Mana, Adaptability, Focus, Creativity, Knowledge, and Intelligence.

Each job benefits from two primary skills. Builders want Adaptability (block placing speed) and Athletics (block breaking speed). Farmers want Stamina and Athletics. Knights want Adaptability (attack speed) and Stamina (HP bonus). Rangers want Agility (damage bonus) and Adaptability (range and attack delay). When hiring for important roles, check citizen skills in their info panel and assign the best match. Citizens level up their job-relevant skills over time, so even a mediocre start will improve.

Happiness System

Colony happiness is a weighted average of 13 modifiers, scored on a scale of 0 to 10. The heaviest-weighted factors are Housing (weight 4.0) and Security (weight 4.0). Citizens in higher-level Residences are happier (a Level 5 home maxes out the housing factor). The security factor rewards maintaining roughly 1 Guard per 1.5 workers. Other significant factors include Employment (weight 2.0), Health (weight 2.0), Saturation (weight 2.0), and Social factors (weight 2.0) which track the overall wellbeing of the colony.

When a citizen dies, all other citizens mourn for 3 days (death modifier weight 3.0). Surviving a raid without casualties gives a 3-day happiness boost. Building a Mystical Site provides a passive happiness bonus, with a Level 5 Mystical Site giving a 3.5x factor. The University's Happiness research chain (Circus through Theater) can boost total happiness by up to 50%.

Buildings by Category

Fundamentals

The Town Hall is the administrative center of your colony. It displays colony-wide stats, happiness breakdowns, citizen lists, work orders, and permissions. The Town Hall also determines the colony's chunk claim center. Upgrade it to unlock teleportation between allied colonies (Level 3+).

The Builder's Hut is required before any construction can begin. Build multiple for parallel construction. The Residence houses citizens and its level determines how many beds are available and what food quality citizens demand. Higher-level Residences require more complex meals. The Tavern provides beds for 4 citizens plus attracts Visitors who may become permanent colonists. The Warehouse is centralized storage accessible by Couriers and all workers.

Food Production

The Fisherman's Hut is the fastest way to get food early on. The Fisherman needs a water source within range (they'll complain if none is found). The Farmer's Hut requires Scarecrow fields to be placed and assigned. Each field needs a seed type set via the Scarecrow block. The Farmer uses Stamina and Athletics skills. The Cook's Hut (Restaurant) prepares meals and distributes food to hungry citizens automatically. When a citizen's hunger drops to 6 shanks or below, they head to the Restaurant. At Level 3 the Cook gains a Cook's Assistant who handles crafting recipes. The Baker's Hut specializes in baked goods like Bread, Cookies, Cake, and Pumpkin Pie (baked from dough items in a Furnace). The Baker uses Knowledge and Dexterity skills.

Resource Gathering

The Lumberjack's Hut (Forester) automatically chops and replants trees. You can configure which Saplings they use via the Saplings list. The Lumberjack uses Strength and Focus. The Miner's Hut digs mine shafts underground in a structured pattern. The Miner requires a valid cobblestone column and ladder placement. Higher building levels unlock deeper mining and better tool tiers. Research can boost ore yields by up to 200%.

The Simple Quarry and Medium Quarry provide open-pit mining with a Quarrier worker. They dig out large rectangular areas. The Simple Quarry requires an Iron Pickaxe in the recipe, while the Medium Quarry needs a Diamond Pickaxe.

Crafting and Processing

MineColonies includes a full chain of crafting buildings. The Blacksmith crafts tools, weapons, and armor (Strength and Focus skills). The Stonemason works with Stone-based materials. The Sawmill handles Wood crafting. The Smeltery processes ores (you need to set which ores to smelt in the Ores list). The Stone Smeltery converts Stone variants. The Crusher breaks down blocks (Cobblestone to Gravel, Gravel to Sand, etc.) with a configurable daily limit. The Sifter processes materials through meshes (String, Flint, Iron, Diamond) for bonus drops, with better meshes unlocked through research.

Additional crafting buildings include the Fletcher (arrows and bows), Glassblower (Glass items), Dyer (dyes and colored blocks), Mechanic (Redstone components), Concrete Mixer (Concrete from Concrete Powder), and the Plantation (Sugar Cane, Bamboo, Cactus, and other growable crops). You can teach workers custom recipes by placing ingredients in the crafting recipe slots of their building interface.

Animal Husbandry

Five herder buildings handle different animals: the Chicken Herder (Eggs, Feathers, Chicken), Cowboy (Beef, Leather, and optionally Milk), Shepherd (Wool and Mutton), Swine Herder (Pork), and the Rabbit Hutch (Rabbit, Hide, Rabbit's Foot). Each has settings for breeding and feeding. The Beekeeper harvests Honey and Honeycombs from Bee Hives. Make sure to set flowers for the Beekeeper or they'll complain about having no flowers to work with.

Logistics

The Courier's Hut (Deliveryman) is essential for a functioning colony. Couriers automatically move items between buildings, the Warehouse, and workers who need supplies. They use Agility and Adaptability. Without a Courier, you'll have to hand-deliver everything. The Warehouse stores items and Couriers pull from it to fulfill requests. The Post Box lets you submit item requests to the colony's request system. The Stash is a personal drop-off chest that Couriers empty into the Warehouse.

Military and Defense

Guard Types

MineColonies has three guard specializations, all assigned through Guard Towers or Barracks Towers. Knights are melee fighters who use Adaptability for attack speed (base 32-tick delay, reduced by Adaptability/3 down to a minimum of 16 ticks) and Stamina for HP (gaining Stamina level + 15 bonus HP on level-up). They deal 3 base physical damage and can research Shield blocking, Whirlwind AOE attacks, and Taunt (forcing all nearby mobs to target them).

Rangers are ranged fighters using Agility for damage (base 2 damage plus Agility/5 bonus) and Adaptability for range and attack speed. Their base range is 10 blocks, extendable up to 24 blocks. Attack delay starts at 60 ticks and decreases by their Adaptability level. Research can unlock Fire Arrows, Arrow Piercing II, and Multishot (25-50% chance of firing double arrows).

Druids are potion-throwing support guards who use Mana and Focus. They gain Mana level/2 + 12 bonus HP on level-up. The Panoramix research (costs 64 Mistletoe) enables them to use enhanced potions for healing allies and debuffing enemies. Druids are the newest guard type and excel at supporting Knights and Rangers in mixed defense setups.

Guard Armor Progression

Guard armor is restricted by building level. At Level 1-2 they use Gold Armor, Level 2-3 Chainmail, Level 3-4 Iron, and Level 4-5 Diamond. Leather Armor is always available. Shields require the Avoidance research (Guard Tower Level 3). Guards can be set to Patrol (walk a route), Guard (stay in one spot), or Follow (follow a player). The Guard Tower houses one guard per type, while the Barracks Tower supports multiple guards at the building's level.

Training Facilities

The Combat Academy trains Knight squires (Adaptability and Stamina), while the Archery trains Ranger recruits (Agility and Adaptability). Both require the relevant research to unlock (Improved Swords for Combat Academy, Improved Bows for Archery). Training buildings can hold workers equal to the building level, so a Level 5 Archery trains 5 Rangers simultaneously. The Barracks is a compound building that automatically generates Barracks Towers as it upgrades, providing a scalable military complex.

Raids and Enemy Factions

Your colony will face periodic raids from five distinct enemy factions. Raids occur on average every 14 nights (minimum 10 nights between raids, configurable). The difficulty scales dynamically with your colony's raid level, which increases as your colony grows. Enemy health starts at a base of 10 HP and increases by 0.025 HP per raid level. Damage follows a similar formula: 2.0 base plus a scaling factor based on difficulty and raid level (capping at 3x the base modifier).

The Five Factions

Barbarians are the most common raiders, consisting of melee Barbarians with Swords, Archer Barbarians with Bows, and Chief Barbarians with 1.5x HP and bonus armor. They can break through walls when stuck (configurable) and will break down doors. They spawn in a camp near your colony border.

Pirates arrive on ships and include melee Pirates with Scimitars, Archer Pirates, and Captain Pirates with 1.3x HP. Their ships persist for 3 days before despawning. Egyptians feature Mummies, Archer Mummies, and the fearsome Pharaoh who serves as a boss with 4.5x the normal HP scaling. The Pharaoh is the most dangerous single raider in the game.

Norsemen include melee Norsemen, Norsemen Archers, Shieldmaidens, and Norsemen Chiefs with 1.5x HP. Amazons field Archer Amazons, Spearman Amazons, and Amazon Chiefs who are especially tough with 4x the normal armor bonus. At higher difficulty (5+), Chiefs of all factions apply Speed II buffs to nearby raiders every 48 seconds within a 7-block radius. Raids can include up to 80 raiders per wave at default settings.

The University and Research

The University building unlocks the research system, which is divided into three main trees: Civilian, Combat, and Technology. Each research requires specific items as costs (like Books, Golden Apples, or Bone Meal) and takes time to complete. A Researcher worker at the University processes research, with their Knowledge skill determining speed. Higher University levels allow researching higher-tier upgrades.

Civilian Research

The Civilian tree focuses on colony capacity and citizen wellbeing. The citizen cap chain (Outpost, Hamlet, Village, City) increases your maximum population from the base 25 up to 1000+. The First Aid chain adds up to +20 bonus HP to all citizens. The Happiness chain (Circus through Theater) provides up to +50% total happiness. Walking speed researches (Nimble through Athlete) give citizens up to +25% movement speed. Other notable researches include Rails (citizens use Minecart rails), Vine Climbing, and Night Owl (workers stay up 1-2 extra hours).

Combat Research

The Combat tree enhances guard effectiveness. Knight damage increases from +0.5 (Quick Draw) up to +4.0 (Savage Strike). Ranger damage follows the same progression from Precise Shot to Deadly Aim (+0.5 to +4.0). Shield blocking chance (Squire through Captain of the Guard) adds +5% to +50% block chance for Knights. Multishot chance (Trick Shot through Master Bowman) gives Rangers +5% to +50% chance of firing double arrows. Armor chains can double the effective armor for both Knights and Rangers. The Taunt research lets Knights force all mobs to target them, while Whirlwind gives Knights an AOE attack.

Technology Research

The Technology tree unlocks advanced buildings and production upgrades. Key chains include the farming yield line (Bonemeal through Magic Compost, up to +200% crop yield), Sifter mesh upgrades (String, Flint, Iron, Diamond, unlocked through various crafting buildings), and the Miner ore bonus chain (More Ores I through V, +10% to +200% ore drops). The "Open the Nether" research unlocks the Nether Mine building, and "Magic Potions" enables the Alchemist. Building-specific unlocks include the Composter, Florist, Dyer, and Plantation.

Education and Advancement

The Library employs Students (2 per building level) who passively improve their Intelligence skill. The School trains child citizens as Pupils, who gain Intelligence XP based on their Teacher's Intelligence level. The School requires carpet blocks placed for seating. The Enchanter's Tower drains XP from nearby worker buildings (set which buildings to drain in the Enchanter Stations module) and uses it to enchant items. The Enchanter uses Mana as their primary skill.

Special Buildings

The Hospital is where sick citizens go to be cured by Healers. Keep cure materials stocked (especially Carrots and Potatoes for Influenza). The Graveyard is managed by the Undertaker who buries deceased citizens. With the Resurrection Chance research (based on the Undertaker's Mana skill at 0.125% per level) and the Raising the Dead research (enables Totem of Undying use), dead citizens have a chance to come back.

The Mystical Site provides a passive happiness boost to the entire colony (factor of 1.0 + building level/2, so a Level 5 gives a 3.5x happiness factor). The Nether Mine sends workers to gather Nether resources without building a portal infrastructure. The Alchemist brews potions for Druid guards and colony use, unlocked through the Magic Potions research chain.

Progression Guide

Early Game (Colony Levels 1-2)

Your first priority is establishing the core loop: Builder's Hut, Tavern, food production (Fisherman's Hut), a Courier's Hut, and a Warehouse. Build one thing at a time per Builder. Upgrade the Builder's Hut to Level 2 as soon as possible so you can build Level 2 structures. Place a Guard Tower early since raids can start happening at any time, and the security happiness factor rewards having guards. Keep Carrots and Potatoes in every citizen's inventory to handle Influenza.

Mid Game (Colony Levels 2-3)

Expand your workforce with a Lumberjack, Miner, and Farmer. Build a Cook's Hut to automate food distribution. Add Residences to house your growing population. Build the University and start researching the citizen cap chain and First Aid. Get a second (or third) Builder's Hut to speed up construction. Establish crafting infrastructure: Blacksmith for tools and armor, Smeltery for ores, and a Sawmill for wood products. Upgrade Guard Towers to Level 3 for Iron armor access and Shield use.

Late Game (Colony Levels 4-5)

Push all key buildings to Level 4-5. Build Barracks for a military compound with multiple guard types. Research advanced combat abilities (Multishot, Whirlwind, Taunt). Upgrade to Diamond-tier equipment for guards. Build a Hospital with stocked cures. Add the Mystical Site for happiness. Unlock the Nether Mine and Alchemist through research. At this stage, your colony should be largely self-sustaining with Couriers automatically distributing resources, guards defending against raids, and workers producing all the materials you need.

Configuration Options

MineColonies has extensive server configuration. The most impactful settings are: initialCitizenAmount (default 4, range 1-10) controls how many citizens spawn when founding a colony. maxCitizenPerColony (default 250) sets the hard population cap. builderBuildBlockDelay (default 15 ticks) controls how fast Builders place blocks; lower values speed up construction significantly.

For raids, barbarianHordeDifficulty (default 5, range 0-10) scales enemy health, damage, and wave size. Setting it to 0 effectively disables raids without turning them off entirely. averageNumberOfNightsBetweenRaids (default 14) controls raid frequency. maxBarbarianSize (default 80) caps the number of raiders per wave. The workersAlwaysWorkInRain setting (default false) makes workers stop during rain unless you've researched the working-in-rain upgrade.

Unique Items and Blocks

Beyond hut blocks, MineColonies adds several utility items. The Build Tool (crafted from a Stick and an Emerald as the Shape Tool) is your primary placement interface. The Resource Scroll shows required materials for the linked Builder. The Clipboard (shift-right-click on any building) displays all open citizen requests. The Build Goggles let you see building previews while wearing them.

The Rally Banner summons all guards to a specific location, useful during raids. Racks are the colony's internal storage blocks placed inside buildings. Waypoints help citizen pathfinding by marking preferred routes. Construction Tape is automatically placed around buildings under construction. Colony Banners are decorative flags in your colony colors. MineColonies also adds craftable Chainmail Armor using Iron Ingots and Iron Nuggets, and Composted Dirt for farming.