Build Tools

Five Grades

Each grade has a number. Type /bg and the number to start building at that grade. Twig, wood and stone are open to everyone, metal unlocks at VIP, and armored at Veteran. Top Voter and Top Donator get both. Click a grade to try it in the demo further down.

Twig means "no upgrade". Blocks are placed at twig as usual, but the tool still counts as on. That's handy when you're laying out a base before you commit resources.

How It Works

Switch it on

Type /bg. The tool turns on at the grade you used last, or wood the first time. Type /bg again to turn it off.

Pick a grade

A small badge appears above your hotbar showing the active grade. Click it to open Build Settings and pick another grade, or use /bg 0 to /bg 4.

Build

Place blocks with the building plan. Each one is upgraded the moment it's built, for exactly what a manual upgrade costs.

Blocks you've already built are never touched, and the hammer works like vanilla.

In Game

The Build Settings window with wood selected and the five grade tiles, showing AUTO DISABLE 1 MIN — **Build Settings** Click a tile to switch grade. The footer shows your auto disable time.

The Build Tools badge showing the stone tile — **The badge** Sits above your hotbar while the tool is on. Click it to open the window.

Chat line: [BuildTools] Build tool on at Stone. Switches off after 30s. — **Chat** Every switch tells you the grade and how long until it turns off.

Try It

This demo follows the same rules as the plugin in game, including the replies you'll see in chat. Type commands, click the badge, and place walls to see what happens.

Tool off

Game Chat demo

Preview as

The demo uses the real timers and vanilla wall costs, and gives you unlimited resources. Switch "Preview as" to see what each rank gets.

Command Quick Reference

Chat Commands

Also answers to /bt and /bgrade

/bgTurn the tool on at your last grade, or off if it's on

/bg 0-4Twig, wood, stone, metal (VIP and up), armored (Veteran and up). Picks that grade, and turns the tool on if needed

/bg up / downNext or previous grade you can use, wrapping around. Turns the tool on if it's off

/bg helpShow the command list in chat

You type /bg 2 while...	What happens
the tool is off	The tool turns on at stone
the tool is on at another grade	The grade changes to stone
the tool is already on at stone	The tool turns off

Key Binds

Every command has a console version you can bind to a key. Press F1, paste a line, and swap the key for any key you like.

F1 Console

bind b buildtools.toggle

Turns the tool on or off with [b], same as /bg.

bind pageup buildtools.grade up

bind pagedown buildtools.grade down

Moves up and down through your grades without typing.

bind n buildtools.grade 3

One key for one grade (metal here). Pressing it again while you're on metal turns the tool off.

bind j buildtools.ui toggle

Opens or closes Build Settings, same as clicking the badge. The tool has to be on. You can also use open, close or set 0-4.

buildtools.status

Shows whether your tool is on, your grade, the time left and whether you build for free.

What It Costs

No discounts and no markup. You pay for the twig placement as usual, and the upgrade costs exactly what a manual upgrade to that grade does. If you can't afford both, the block stays twig and chat tells you what you're short on and how much more you need.

Piece

How many

10

Grade

10 x Wall at Stone

Metal needs VIP or higher, armored needs Veteran or higher.

Standard Rust costs. The game always charges what it shows in game, and that number is the one that counts.

Rules It Keeps

Build Tools only does what a manual upgrade could do at that moment. If a hammer upgrade would be refused, the block stays twig.

Building privilegeYou need to be authorised on the tool cupboard, just like a manual upgrade.

Recently attackedBlocks that took damage in the last 30 seconds can't be upgraded.

Blocked areasPlaces where the game blocks upgrades still block them.

Decay limitsThe server's decay upgrade limits apply as normal.

Other pluginsRaid Bases, Skills, Enchanting and the Remover Tool all work as normal.

No downgradesBlocks you've already built are never changed, and the hammer is plain vanilla.

Who Can Use It

Everyone all players

30 sec

Twig, wood and stone

VIP and VIP Gold

2 min

Unlocks metal

Veteran and Veteran Gold

5 min

Unlocks armored

Champion and Champion Gold

10 min

The longest timer

Top ranks Top Voter and Top Donator

10 min

Metal and armored

The timer counts from your last upgrade. Every block you upgrade starts the countdown again, so the tool only switches off once you stop building. The Build Settings footer shows your time rounded up to whole minutes.

Good To Know

My block stayed twig. Why?

A manual upgrade would have been refused too. The usual reasons:

You were short on resources. Chat tells you which item and how many more you need.
You aren't authorised on the tool cupboard.
The block was damaged in the last 30 seconds.
The spot blocks upgrades, or another plugin said no.
Your grade is set to twig, or the tool had already switched off. With a short timer that can happen quickly.

The tool switched itself off.

You went longer than your rank's auto disable time without upgrading a block, and chat says so. It also switches off if you lose access to the grade you were using, for example when a rank ends. Type /bg to turn it back on.

It forgot my grade.

Your last grade is remembered while you're connected, even with the tool off. It's cleared when you disconnect or the server restarts, and the tool starts at wood again.

The grade pictures are blank.

The grade pictures are Steam Workshop images, and your game downloads them the first time they're shown. They show up a moment later. If they still don't show, the badge and window use a text-only version that works exactly the same way.

Does it work with the hammer?

No. It only works on blocks you place with the building plan. The hammer upgrades blocks the vanilla way, and nothing is ever downgraded.