Village Tiers
# Village Tiers
**Villages on VC are separated into 7 tiered categories**, plus their precursor homesteads / land claims. The tiers system adds **challenges, goals, and grants perks for achieving each new tier** for a village. Tiers are advanced one at a time, **so long as the requirements have been met**. Players may request to advance their village a tier by asking a Staff member to come assess it. **Staff have discretion** as to whether the requirements have been met or not. Please **read each tier's requirements, and then the guidelines** to properly meet those requirements.
The tiers system was passed by the VillageCraft Senate (Senate Vote 11b) on 3rd December 2021 and the VillageCraft Parliament (Parliament Vote 33) on 7 December 2021, and then added to the server on 5th February 2022.
## VILLAGE TIERS
### **0: Homestead / Land Claim**
Land Claims are not region-protected Villages, but are early/small builds in the Outlands. Insignificant block placements, such as dirt/cobble towers used for climbing, do not constitute a land claim. A single completed structure, which could be called a homestead and used for living/survival, does constitute a land claim. These builds can be advanced into a Hamlet if the requirements have been met.
**Requires:**
- **1 structure**
- **FREE**
**Grants:**
- **A claim on the land in the immediate vicinity (Note: Does NOT grant region protection)**
*Notes:
Any build that does not qualify for protection as a hamlet falls under this tier, and Rules 6-8 apply; however, any build within 200 blocks of a village that the builder does not own is subject to being claimed by the owner of that village after 7 days when a warning is provided. This is an exception to Rules 6-8 in this scenario. The Village Owner must provide a warning and give the builder 7 days to move their build before the Village Owner can claim it for themselves.*
### **1: Hamlet**
Hamlets are region-protected Villages. All existing villages prior to the introduction of the Village Tiers system are automatically considered Hamlets.
**Requires:**
- **5 structures**
- Staff approval, and for **Staff to create the protected region**
- **$5,000**
**Grants:**
- **Protected region** around immediate vicinity (~50m)
- **[Basic Rules for Villages on VC](http://www.villagecraft-server.com/forum/index.php?topic=3435.0) enforcement**
- **Ability to join [Village Unions](http://www.villagecraft-server.com/forum/index.php?topic=3435.0)**
- 2 month owner inactivity leeway
*Notes:
You can not claim a Hamlet that is within 200m of a Village you are not the owner of. You can only get a Hamlet claimed within 200m with consent from Owner provided to the Staff protecting the Hamlet.*
### **2: Settlement**
**Requires:**
- Hamlet
- **10 structures**
- **1 art installation** (fountain/statue/art wall, etc)
- **$25,000**
**Grants:**
- A Shulker full of your Official Village Banner
- 3 month owner inactivity leeway
### **3: Town**
**Requires:**
- Settlement
- **15 structures**
- **1 town hall** (village rules can be posted here)
- **1 food production place** (bakery, butcher, restaurant, etc)
- **$50,000**
**Grants:**
- **Ability to set village rules for members to follow**
- **Ability to link embassies via warp signs**
- **Protected region expansions more liberally** permitted (with staff approval)
- 4 month owner inactivity leeway
### **4: Shire**
**Requires:**
- Town
- **25 structures**
- **1 gathering place** (pub, church, market square, etc)
- **1 civic building** (post office, court house, school, etc)
- **1 embassy**
- **$120,000**
**Grants:**
- **Ability to create [Village Unions](http://www.villagecraft-server.com/forum/index.php?topic=3435.0)**
- **A Free v-warp for your Village.** This could be for the village itself or a shop
- 5 month inactivity leeway
### **5: City**
**Requires:**
- Shire
- **40 structures**
- **1 attraction** (arena/stadium, museum, fairground, etc)
- **3 embassies**
- **$300,000**
**Grants:**
- **Village title appears on screen** when entering
- **A free Ad sign** at /warp ad
- 6 month owner inactivity leeway
### **6: Metropolis**
**Requires:**
- City
- **65 structures**
- **Transportation infrastructure** (subway/trains with stations, canals with docks, horses with stables and hitching posts, etc)
- **5 embassies**
- **$1,500,000**
**Grants:**
- **A billboard in a server-owned Public Village** (such as Qualia, Tal Avar, Tirinuvik), including a picture and writing (pending Staff approval and placement)
- **A billboard in your Village that showcases the next upcoming server event.** This billboard automatically updates.
- 7 month owner inactivity leeway
### **7: Country**
**Requires:**
- Metropolis
- **100 structures**
- **1 health and safety structure** (hospital, police station/jail, military base, etc)
- **3 unique non-housing structures** (not houses/apartments/hotels)
- **7 embassies**
- **$3,000,000**
**Grants:**
- **Village Warp (v-warp) accessible to anyone**, regardless of donor level
- **A VW Paperperson Armour Stand** added to your village.
- 8 month owner inactivity leeway
## ADDITIONAL INFO & TERMS
### **Owner Inactivity Leeway:**
**Applies only to the owners of villages**, and therefore **ownership transfers**. **All other inactivity on the server uses the 2 month inactivity rule**, including village membership, salvaging, and unlocking locks.
### **Homesteads / Land Claims Near Other Villages:**
**Builds within 200m of a village that the builder doesn't own cannot be protected without consent of the nearby village owner.**
Should that village owner **choose to expand their village in the direction of the land claim**, with staff approval, **they may give 7 days warning for the land claimer to pack up and leave** (signs posted, mail, public chat, etc), after which point **the village owner may expand over and claim the builds and chests for themselves and their own village**, with locks removed. Thus, **it is suggested nobody build this close to an existing village** that they don't own.
### **Advancing Tiers:**
**Tiers are advanced one at a time**, and **Staff have discretion on whether a village has met the requirements** to advance a tier (see Guidelines below).
Tier requirements may be able to be reasonably bypassed for significant unique builds (see Guideline E below).
### **Structure Count:**
**Specifically required structures** (such as "food production place") **are included in the total structures count.** Staff have discretion if requirements have been met.
### **Embassies:**
Embassies represent one Village in another Village. Generally each village owner builds their embassy in the other's village.
**Embassies have additional requirements to be considered complete (see Guideline C below).**
### **Embassy Warps:**
Once complete, **embassies between towns get free warp signs that go from embassy-to-embassy.**
(Staff Note: Naming convention example from Qualia to Tirinuvik: Warp e-QUAtoTIR. And from Tirinuvik to Qualia: Warp e-TIRtoQUA. Add a letter if needed. Log village shortforms on Discord.)
### **Tracking Tiers:**
Custom region flags will be used so **anyone can see which tier a village is at.**
## GUIDELINES - Meeting Tier Requirements
**For Staff to consider a requirement to have been met, a structure should have a design with style and effort put into it.**
**Special requirement structures should additionally have 3 distinct features** that convince the Staff member it is indeed that structure, so that they can check it off the requirement list. If Staff feel your village has not met the requirements to advance a tier, they will tell you and may give you advice on how to succeed.
### **A - All Structures:**
All structures require **a design with style and effort put into it** (this is at Staff discretion - we won't allow cobble/dirt cubes to pass as a structure).
### **B - Specially-Required Structures:**
**At least 3 features** that convince the Staff member that it is indeed that structure.
- **Example 1:** A **food production building** could be a **bakery**, and the 3 features could be a **big oven**, a **kitchen** with work stations, and a reception or **sitting area** for visitors.
- **Example 2:** A **civic building** could be a **post office**, and the 3 features could be a **reception desk**, **mail boxes**, and a **sorting room**.
- **Example 3:** An **attraction** could be a **fairground**, and the 3 features could be a **flower garden**, a **parkour course**, and a **stage**.
**Use your own creativity and style**, and **convince us** that you've put some effort into your work so your village can advance in the tiers!
### **C - Embassies:**
**An embassy is considered complete when it has at least 4 of the following features:**
- **Flag of Village** (Banner, decorated)
- **Map of Village** (On display)
- **Armor Stand people** (owners of Village, significant figure, or someone in the theme)
- **Signs explaining the Village** (The history, a description, an ad, or explain relation to Village the Embassy is in)
- **Decorated reception desk** (example: worker, book or computer, flower pot)
- **Ambassador's office**
- **Residence or inn rooms**
(Bypassing these feature requirements may be permitted when a significant unique alternative design is done instead, by Staff discretion.)
**Embassies in both respective villages must be complete for the Village Tier requirements to be met.** **Embassy-to-embassy warp signs can then be added by Staff** members by request. Villages may request warp signs be dismantled at any time.
**Tirinuvik** Public Village has an embassy zone, and **will offer a free embassy to any Town (Tier 3) or higher that has built a completed embassy in Tirinuvik.**
### **D - Staff Required for Tier Advancements:**
**Tiers 1-4 Require one Staff member to approve.**
**Tiers 5, 6, and 7 need at least 2 Staff members to approve** (Staff Note: and need to be logged)
To advance to City, Metropolis, or Country, you must have 2 Staff approve, rather than 1. Staff who approve these Tier upgrades must log it on Discord.
### **E - Bypassing Requirements with Significant Unique Builds:**
**Significant Unique Builds might be able to bypass requirements**, but need **extra Staff approval**.
On a **case-by-case basis**, Staff may agree to bypass normal Tier requirements for significant unique builds. In cases like this, the **number of Staff members that must consent to the Tier increase must be the same number as the Tier** (Tier 5, City, requires at least 5 Staff to agree to upgrade it from Shire). Staff may still demand certain Tier requirements be added and met before agreeing.
### **F - Staff villages:**
**Staff cannot approve villages they own or villages they have significantly assisted in building for tier increases**, and require uninvolved or minorly involved Staff to approve. Uninvolved or minorly involved means the **approving Staff can't be specifically working towards the goal that is potentially being approved**, but it's okay if they've neutrally built in the Village at some point, such as owning a house there. If this is ever unclear, seek the least involved Staff member available for approval.