Ships & sailing
LiveBuild a ship out of ordinary blocks, fill it with cargo and animals, and sail it smoothly anywhere in the world.
Ships are how you cross the sea and move serious cargo. You build one out of normal blocks, however you like, and the server turns it into a vessel that sails smoothly, turns at any angle and docks wherever you drop anchor.
Building a ship
- Build a boat floating in water, up to 1,000 blocks: a wooden hull with a wool sail up a mast (see what makes her seaworthy). Give it a deck, chests for the hold, and a block for the wheel.
- Look at the block you want as the wheel and run
/ship create <name>. That block becomes the helm. - Right-click the wheel and choose Set sail.
The ship is detected from the wheel outward. Everything connected is part of the ship, up to where it meets the sea floor or land. If it touches the ground you'll get a warning. Make sure it's floating free before you set sail.
You can't place blocks on a ship while it's under way. Drop anchor first.
What makes her seaworthy
When you choose Set sail, the ship is checked. If anything is wrong she stays in port and tells you exactly what, with the numbers. Nothing is lost.
| Rule | What it means |
|---|---|
| A wool sail | At least 20% of all her blocks must be wool in the top 60% of her height. Wool in the bottom 40% doesn't count. On a 400-block ship that's 80 wool, up high. |
| A wooden hull | At least half of the blocks in her bottom 40% must be wood: planks, logs, wooden stairs, slabs, fences, trapdoors and doors, plus chests and barrels. You can't build the hull out of wool. |
| Nothing heavy | No stone of any kind (stone, cobblestone, bricks, deepslate, andesite and so on), obsidian, concrete, terracotta, ores, or metal blocks. These aren't part of the ship, and one touching her stops her sailing. |
| Nothing natural | No dirt, grass, sand, gravel, clay, mud, snow, kelp, seagrass, coral or sea pickles. |
| Afloat and clear | She must float clear of the seabed, and not touch a stone quay or any natural ground. Leave a gap of water between the hull and the dock. |
| Size | Up to 1,000 blocks. Every block is drawn separately while she sails, so the limit keeps the server smooth. |
/ship create already warns you if she wouldn't sail yet, so you can fix the sail or the hull before you load the hold.
Sailing
- Right-click the wheel and Take the wheel.
- Steer with your movement keys: W/S for throttle, A/D to turn.
- When you arrive, Drop anchor. The ship turns back into solid blocks wherever she stopped, so you can walk her decks and open her chests like any build.
| Speed | Starts at 4 blocks/second; up to 14 |
|---|---|
| Turn rate | 25° per second by default, up to 90° |
| Reverse | 40% of forward speed |
The helm shows your speed and compass heading. Ships leave a wake of spray, and push anything in their path (mobs, players, boats) out of the way.
Crew and passengers
Anyone standing on deck when the ship sets sail, or who boards her afterwards, is part of the crew. Once she's under way everybody stays seated, skipper included. You can look anywhere, but you can't fall off, be shaken loose, suffocate or drown.
- Getting off at sea: sneak twice. The first sneak asks if you're sure.
- Getting on:
/ship board, or be aboard when she sails. - If the skipper leaves the wheel, the ship drops anchor by herself.
Crew on a ship are safe from everything the open ocean throws at swimmers.
Cargo
Chests, barrels and other containers on board keep their contents for the whole voyage. You can open them at sea, and everything is saved as you go, so even if the server restarts mid-voyage the ship and her cargo come back where she was.
Cargo on a ship has no weight penalty for you. That's why ships matter: a hold full of stone or iron would leave you overloaded on foot.
Livestock
Animals ride along. Cows, sheep, horses, wolves, anything friendly standing on deck when you sail is carried, up to 40 of them. They're protected from harm while aboard and keep grazing and wandering on deck.
- Pen them in. Animals are only carried while they're over the deck. Fences hold them.
- Hostile mobs are left behind.
- Boats and minecarts on deck aren't carried.
This is how you bring chickens home from the Spiderholme Isles, or sheep from the Outer Isles.
Commands
/ship create <name> | Make the block you're looking at a ship's wheel. |
/ship menu | Open the wheel menu for the ship you're on. |
/ship board / /ship leave | Join or leave a ship's crew. |
/ship dock | Drop anchor. |
/ship list | Your ships and where they are. |
/ship remove | Stop a build being a ship. The blocks stay where they are. |
/ship | Help. |