Formations

A Formation (阵法) is a spirit array inscribed into the ground, anchored to one chunk and reaching out over the chunks around it. There are three kinds: one that feeds your own cultivation, one that starves everyone else’s, and one that hurts anybody who walks in uninvited. They are how a Sect turns a claimed mountain into ground that actually defends itself.

The whole system is gated behind Formations-Enabled (default true).




The Three Arrays

Array:Radius:Effect:
Spirit-Gathering Array (聚灵阵)2 chunks (QiGathering-Radius-Chunks)Multiplies meditation Qi regen by 1.4x (QiGathering-Regen-Multiplier) for its controllers meditating in range.
Mountain-Guarding Array (护山大阵)2 chunks (Warding-Radius-Chunks)Multiplies meditation Qi regen by 0.25x (Warding-Outsider-Regen-Multiplier) for outsiders meditating in range. Controllers are unaffected.
Immortal-Binding Array (困仙阵)1 chunk (Trapping-Radius-Chunks)Roots and wounds intruders caught inside it.

Radius is square (Chebyshev), measured in chunks from the anchor - so radius 2 covers a 5x5 block of chunks, and radius 1 a 3x3.

By default a Spirit-Gathering Array only feeds its own controllers. Set QiGathering-Benefits-Everyone to true to make it a public good that helps any meditator in range.

A Mountain-Guarding Array does more than choke Qi: outsiders also cannot inscribe their own formations on warded ground, and cannot claim a Cave Abode there.

The Immortal-Binding Array’s trap, every 3 seconds (Trapping-Interval-Seconds), does the following to every intruder standing inside it:

  • Deals 4% of their max health (Trapping-Damage-Percent-Of-Max-Health) through the normal damage pipeline, so armour and the mod’s own damage reductions apply.
  • Applies the Root entity effect for 2.5 seconds (Trapping-Debuff-Effect / Trapping-Debuff-Duration-Seconds). Blank the effect id to skip the debuff and keep only the damage.
  • Never kills. Trapping-Lethal is false by default, so a trap tick always leaves at least a sliver of health - the intruder has to flee its bounds, not respawn. Set it true to let a trap finish off a persistent trespasser.

Controllers walk through their own trap freely.




Who Controls a Formation

Control follows a single rule: your sect if you are in one, otherwise you personally.

  • Placed by a sect member, the array is controlled by the sect, and every member of that sect is a beneficiary.
  • Placed by a soloist, it is controlled by their UUID alone.

Membership is resolved live, so joining or leaving a sect immediately changes who benefits from - and who is an outsider to - that sect’s arrays, without touching the stored formation. Two consequences worth knowing:

  • Renaming a sect carries its formations with it (see Sects), so a sect never ends up warded and trapped by its own arrays.
  • Disbanding a sect disperses every array it controlled. Left behind they would match no living sect, making everyone an outsider forever, with nobody able to remove them.




Placing and Removing

Each array has its own Formation Flag item. Use the flag while standing in the chunk you want as the anchor.

Flag item:Places:Crafted from:
Spirit-Gathering Array Flag聚灵阵1 Profound Core + 1 Spirit Core
Mountain-Guarding Array Flag护山大阵1 Divine Core + 1 Profound Core
Immortal-Binding Array Flag困仙阵2 Divine Cores

See Qi Gathering for where cultivation cores come from. None of the three flags drops on death.

The flag is a toggle. Using it on a chunk where you already control an array of that same type removes it instead of placing a second one. Otherwise:

  • The flag is consumed only on a successful placement - a refusal costs you nothing.
  • Placement is refused if another controller already holds an array of that type on that exact chunk.
  • Placement is refused on ground warded against you, whether by someone else’s Mountain-Guarding Array or by a sustained Cave Abode.
  • Placement is refused once you are at your cap: 3 formations per controller (Max-Formations-Per-Controller). The cap is per controller, so a whole sect shares three between them.

/cultivation formations (aliases formation, arrays) lists every array you control - type, world, anchor chunk and radius, newest first - so you can walk back to one and disperse it.




Overlap and Stacking

Only an exact-chunk duplicate of the same type is refused, so arrays on neighbouring chunks overlap freely. To keep that from compounding, each type applies at most once however many arrays of that type cover the chunk you are standing on. Three Mountain-Guarding arrays laid side by side choke an outsider at 0.25x, not 0.25x cubed.

Different types do combine: an outsider meditating inside both a Spirit-Gathering array that benefits everyone and a Mountain-Guarding array gets 1.4 x 0.25.

A Cave Abode’s own meditation multipliers are applied separately from this, on top.




Commands

Command:Description:Permission:
/cultivation formationsLists every formation you control, with its anchor chunk and radius.cultivation

Placement and removal have no command - they are done entirely with the flag items.




Every value on this page lives in the society config - see Society Config for the full field reference, and Commands for every command in the mod. Formations interlock with Sects, defend a hall during Sect Wars, and share their warding rules with Cave Abodes.