New Player Guide

~10 min read Getting Started

Welcome to EarthStonks — a Minecraft geopolitical economy server where resources are scarce, economies are player-driven, and war has real consequences. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know in your first few hours.

The Golden Rule Forget vanilla Minecraft. Strategic ores — Iron, Gold, Diamond, and Oil — do not spawn randomly. They only exist in real-world geographic zones. Coal, Redstone, Lapis, and Emerald spawn normally everywhere.

Step 1 — Get a Job & Start Earning

The moment you join, run /jobs browse and pick a profession. The two best starting jobs are:

  • Miner — earn money by mining Coal, Stone, and common ores
  • Farmer — earn money by growing and harvesting crops

Sell your materials using /shop (the admin shop) or by trading with other players at their chest shops. Your first financial goal is $5,000 — enough for your first town outpost.

Step 2 — The $5,000 Goal

Your first milestone is $5,000. This covers the cost of an outpost for your town, which is how you'll access resource zones beyond your starting territory. Use /bal to check your current balance and /baltop to see where you stand in the economy.

$5,000
Outpost cost goal
$250
Per vote reward
1:1
Iron per chunk upkeep (small towns)

Step 3 — Create or Join a Town

Towns are the foundation of EarthStonks. Without a town, you cannot claim land, mine strategic resources, or participate meaningfully in the geopolitical systems.

Joining an Existing Town

If you're new and want to get started fast, join an existing town. Use /t join [Town Name] if you've received an invite, or ask in chat. Being part of a larger town means shared resources and protection from the start.

Creating Your Own Town

Ready to go independent? Use /t create [Town Name]. Choose your starting location carefully — you can only have one town and one outpost to start. Your town needs to be near Iron zones to survive early game.

Choose Your Location Wisely You start with one town and one outpost. Plant your town near an Iron zone or make sure you can afford to buy Iron from other players.

Step 4 — Understand Upkeep

Every town requires daily upkeep paid in resources. This is not optional — fail to pay and your town loses chunks. The resource type required scales with your town's size:

Town SizeResource RequiredRate
Small (1–50 chunks)Iron1 Iron per chunk per day
Medium (51–100 chunks)Gold1 Gold per chunk per day
Large (100+ chunks)Oil1 Oil per chunk per day

Use /upkeep to see your current daily costs. Use /deposit to deposit resources into your town's stockpile and /t deposit [amount] to add cash to your town bank.

Step 5 — Secure Your Resources

This is the most important step. Open the live world map and look for green squares — those are resource zones. Each zone contains a specific strategic resource based on real-world geography.

How to Mine in a Resource Zone

  1. Find a green zone on the map containing the resource you need
  2. Claim land inside that zone (your town or an outpost must cover it)
  3. Mine Stone within the claimed zone — the strategic resource drops from the stone

Can't Mine It Yourself?

  • Buy from players — check chest shops around the map or ask in chat
  • Buy from the admin shop — use /shop, available at higher prices
  • Join a nation — your nation may share resources with member towns

Step 6 — Vote Every Day

Use /vote in-game and follow the links to vote on server listing sites. Each vote earns you:

  • 1 Vote Key — open vote crates for rewards
  • 1 Vote Point — redeemable in /shop for more keys
  • $250 cash — direct injection to your balance

Voting takes 2 minutes and compounds fast. 7 days of voting = $1,750 in free cash.

What's Next?

Once you're established with a town and a reliable resource supply, it's time to think bigger. EarthStonks has deep systems waiting for you:

  • Expand your nation — form or join a nation and pool resources across towns
  • Enter the bond market — raise capital or invest in other nations
  • Declare war — use SiegeWar to seize enemies' resource zones
  • Control the market — corner Iron or Oil supply and force others to buy from you
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