Getting Started
MCLabs is the longest-running Minecraft farming server. Formerly known as MCDrugs, the server now uses a chems theme, with an economy built around growing, selling, and confiscating chems. This guide gives a quick overview of the server’s main features and the basics you need to get started.
Reading this entire article isn't necessary to get started - you can start playing and refer back here when needed! If you don't want to read the entire thing before playing, here's a pragmatic summary of what this page recommends for new players to know:
- We recommend that new players start in the Overworld and farm carrots and potatoes.
- You're able to craft chem compounds, which sell for more money than base chems. Check your crafting book or /recipes for compound recipes, and see /chems for prices.
- Follow the redstone trail at /spawn to find a dealer where you can sell your chems - but watch out for the Police!
- Once you reach the Intern rank, you can sell chems for others as a Runner.
- Spend your money to rank up and earn rewards with /rankup!
- Once you reach the Trainee rank, you can become a police officer and catch players selling chems with /police enroll.
- Travel to different worlds with the /nav command.
- Buy items from other players at /warp shops, or from anywhere with /shop.
- Get free access to the Communal Farm for 48 hours to farm sugar cane at /warp cfarm. Note: Once you've ranked up past Trainee rank, you cannot enter the communal farm.
Make sure to be familiar with the server rules!
MCLabs Basics
Chems
Chems are regular Minecraft crops that you can sell to Dealers in Spawn for in-game money. These include wheat, beetroot, carrots, potatoes, nether wart, sweet berries, cocoa beans, chorus flower, sugar, paper, smelted cactus, pumpkin seeds, melon seeds, and glow berries. These base chems sell for a decent amount on their own, and they are also used to craft more valuable chem compounds.
Before you can sell large amounts of chems, you will need a farm. Where you build your farm matters, and we strongly recommend that you build your farm in the Overworld until you gain enough money and "know-how" to venture into the Underworld! A tried-and-true method to earn money early on is to make a manual chem farm in the Overworld that grows carrots and potatoes. These sell for a good price and don't require an expensive auto-farm setup. Additionally, carrots and potatoes can be combined together to create Cartatonide, a chem compound that sells for even more money at the Dealers. More information on chem compounds is covered below.
To get a jump-start on producing chems, you can use /kit seeds and check the /seedbank to get a good amount of seeds to start a farm with! For basic building materials such as dirt and sand, you can buy them with /shop. For some starter cash, you can use /warp cfarm and farm sugar cane, or simply /vote!
Overworld
The Overworld is intended for newer players just starting out (even for those who want to play competitively after getting set up) and for players who want a more casual experience. PvP, raiding, and griefing aren't allowed here, so it's a good place to make a town and farm(s) that can't be destroyed!
There are some limitations: Chunk hoppers cannot be used here and you may only utilize manual farms here (with one exception). Auto-harvesting farms are not permitted in the Overworld, with the exception of automatic cactus farms, as they don't require redstone! Large cactus farms in the Overworld are generally not worth the time investment it takes in building them, and it's recommended to use the Underworld for large cactus farms instead.
For more information, see the Overworld page!
You can get to the Overworld with /overworld or /ow.
Spawn
The main functions of Spawn are selling chems and using player shops. This is where you start, and it's a safe place to be, as you're invincible while here (except in prison, where PvP is enabled). It's also a fun place to explore, as there are tons of hidden areas and details!
In order to easily see the layout of Spawn and where everything is, view the Spawn map! There are also warps to many areas around Spawn. See the available warps with /warps.
You can get back to the Spawn world at any time with /spawn.
Police
Police are the counterbalance to chem sellers: they earn money by catching players carrying chems and selling the confiscated items. They can choose to frisk players at will, which checks the player's inventory for chems. If they have chems, the police officer gets the chems and the player goes to jail for a short amount of time (typically between 1 and 3 minutes). Police can frisk you anywhere they can reach you (right-click you) in the Spawn world except inside the Player Shops. When a police officer is on duty, they can walk up to the Spawn building (where /spawn takes you), but cannot go inside. You can easily identify police by their dark blue leather armour.
Any player is able to enroll in the police force once they reach the Trainee rank with /police enroll. If you choose to enroll, you must be sure to familiarize yourself with the rules for police officers.
Chem Compounds
Selling base chems will only get you so far. For an even greater profit, you'll want to start selling chem compounds. These are made by combining multiple base chems in specific ratios. Compounds sell faster than base chems and are worth more than the combined value of their ingredients!
Chem compounds can be crafted in your crafting grid or a crafting table. Check your recipe book in-game for the recipes, or use /recipes. Chem compounds can also be crafted more quickly in the Chemlab once you reach the Bioengineer rank, and eventually you can craft chem compounds of higher purity through the Company Lab!
Essential Commands
Before going further, here are some of the most basic commands that you'll need to know to utilize the above information properly:
- /sethome <name> saves your current location as a home with the given name, allowing you to teleport back.
- /delhome <name> deletes your home with the given name.
- /home <name> teleports you back to your home with the given name. Tip: Don't forget to set a home at your first farm! If you go back to Spawn, you'll need to have a home set to get back to it!
- /tpa <player> sends a teleport request to another player. Tip: Don't trust teleport requests from players you don't know - you don't have to accept a teleport request.
- /spawn returns you to the Spawn world.
- /nav opens the navigation menu to access different worlds.
- /warp nether and /warp end give you easy access to the Nether and the End.
- /tpdeath returns you to the location where you just died (available for use in most but not all worlds).
In case you don't know, in Minecraft, commands are chat messages that have an effect other than sending a message. To run a command, write the command in your in-game chat. Commands will always begin with a slash (/)!
Selling Chems
To sell your chems, take them with you to /spawn and follow the redstone trail to find the chem dealer's building. Inside, there's an NPC that you can right-click to open the chem selling menu (or use shift + right-click to instantly sell all chems in your inventory, bypassing the chem selling menu). Remember to avoid the police while you're traveling there, as they will try to frisk you and send you to jail! Once you reach the Assistant rank, you gain access to /smuggle sell, taking you right past the police force to the Smuggler Dealer. There is a significant cooldown for smuggling chems, and you can see how long it will be before you can use this dealer again with /smuggle check. This cooldown decreases gradually as you rank up.
Tip: As a new player, you have a period of new player protection from police! When frisked, you're able to preserve some of the chems that would have otherwise been confiscated! Use this time to scout selling routes and learn where police are likely to be before you start selling downright outrageous amounts of chems!
Running
If you don't have any chems to sell, but still want to make some money by selling chems, you can run chems for other players. Once you reach the Intern rank, you can go on Runner Duty with /runner duty, and take jobs for a cut of the total sell price. You should be familiar with the selling routes before running, since you have a runner reputation, and failing jobs (getting arrested or losing the chems) will lower your reputation.
For more information, see the Running page!
Ranking Up
The main purpose of money on MCLabs is to rank up. You start off as a Junky, and can work your way up to the Director rank. Once you have enough money, you can rank up with the /rankup command.
Each rank has rewards, and ranking up gets you closer to Chem Lord status.
Once you complete all of the ranks, you can prestige, which will set you back to Junky of the next prestige, and earn you a Prestige Key and Museum Bust, among other rewards.
To see each rank-up cost, use /ranks. View Ranks for all perks and advantages to each rank.
Voting
Voting is the easiest way to make money on MCLabs. You can vote for the server every day by doing /vote, or by going directly to the voting page, and voting on each link.
Voting not only earns you money, but also Vote Tokens, Voter Crate Keys, and more (view all the rewards from voting with /vrewards)! Vote Tokens are a special currency that can be used in /vshop, and Voter Crate Keys can be used at /spawn or /warp crates to open crates with additional rewards. Use /convert to transform 3 Voter Crate Keys into 1 Deluxe Voter Crate Key for better rewards!
The top five voters each week and each month earn huge cash rewards. Be sure to vote every day to become a top voter. There are also rewards for hitting voting milestones, which grant even more money, and cosmetic chat tags.
Some Differences from Vanilla Minecraft
Certain mechanics and features of vanilla Minecraft are disabled or altered on MCLabs (although this may not be an exhaustive list):
- Hoppers are not craftable. They must be purchased from /shop or from other players.
- Shulker boxes are completely disabled.
- Bonemeal cannot be used in dispensers.
- Villagers cannot be spawned or cured.
- Iron and Copper Golems are both disabled.
- Illager raids are disabled.
- Elytras are disabled in Spawn.
- Enchanted Golden Apples ("notch apples") have a cooldown that limits their usability in PvP.
- Nether portals are disabled (access the Nether with /warp nether).
- Withers cannot be spawned (instead exchange 3 wither skulls for a Nether Star with /convert).
- You're capable of automatically replanting a crop right back where it was when it was harvested (as long as you have the crop or seed needed to plant the crop in your inventory when it's harvested) using Auto-Replant!
- Wet sponges can be used to soak up lava, turning them into dry sponges (as if they were just smelted by a furnace)!
- Running (and even jumping) on top of crops will not break the crop blocks like it would in vanilla Minecraft.
- Cactus items do not get deleted when they come into contact with a cactus plant (but every other item is still destroyed by cactus) like they would be in vanilla Minecraft. This allows for super space-efficient cactus farm designs in the Underworld.
- In the Underworld and the Raid World, when an automatic chem crop "grows", it is instead automatically harvested and sent directly to your company chemtainer (/c ch).
Other Features
Jobs
Jobs are a great way to earn small amounts of passive income over time. You can make money while mining, exploring, fishing, etc. It's always a good idea to be in a job while doing other activities (e.g. join the Quarrier job with /jobs join quarrier if you're planning on digging out a big farm in the Underworld).
View all the available jobs with /jobs browse, and join a job with /jobs join <job name>!
Clarkour
Use /clarkour tp to access this week's custom parkour course (rewards 0.5 Event Points)!
Fishing
Fishing is a calm, relaxing break from the world of chems, and can be moderately profitable. You can craft fish into sushi, which can be sold for even more! You can sell sushi by exiting the Spawn building from the exit directly behind you when you run /spawn. Then, look for the two nearby glowing NPCs (near the shoreline)!
For more information, see the Fishing page!
mcMMO
mcMMO adds skills and abilities that enhance vanilla Minecraft mechanics. Each skill has a level that you can increase by doing the corresponding activity. These activities include mining, excavation, swords, etc.
If mcMMO is new to you, you can read all about it on the official mcMMO walkthrough!
Shops
Player Shops
You can buy from and sell items to other players at the Player Shops in Spawn. You can get here with /shops. Player shops are stocked and maintained by the players, so the items available and their stock is not always consistent.
For more information, see the Player Shops page!
Server Shop
The server shop menu can be accessed anywhere with /shop. This shop has infinite stock and only lets you buy items, not sell them. Using the GUI, you can choose to buy as little as one item or as many as 27 stacks of an item at a time.
