Drop Parties
When an admin opens the sky, currency, blocks, and crate keys rain down at spawn.
A drop party is a staff-triggered celebration where the sky opens at spawn and items rain down for a fixed duration. Currency, building blocks, and the occasional crate key all drop on a fast timer — every half second another pile of loot hits the ground. When a party goes live, the whole server sees the broadcast, and everyone who can reach the drop zone gets to scramble for a share.
Drop parties are not scheduled on a fixed clock — an admin fires them off to celebrate milestones, reward a big vote push, or just liven up a quiet evening. That makes them one of the most exciting free-lot moments on Imperium. You never know when one is coming, so when that gold broadcast hits chat, drop what you are doing and head to spawn.
How a Drop Party Works
From the moment an admin triggers it, the lifecycle is deterministic:
- A server-wide broadcast announces “✦ DROP PARTY! Items are raining at spawn!”with the duration in seconds.
- The service schedules a repeating dropper that drops exactly one item every 10 ticks (0.5s) for the configured duration. A 30-second party fires roughly 60 drops.
- Each drop is a weighted-random pick across the three categories below — most of it is currency and blocks, with a rare chance of a crate key.
- When the final item lands, the task cancels itself and a wrap-up broadcast plays: “The drop party has ended. See you next time!”
Only one party can run at a time. If a second admin tries to start one while another is live, the request is refused — so parties never overlap or stack.
What Drops — The Three Categories
Every drop is rolled against a weighted table. The defaults (which staff can override per-party in drop_party.yml) split cleanly into currency, blocks, and keys:
| Category | Drop Weight | What You Get |
|---|---|---|
| Currency | 50% | Gold ingots, gold blocks, emeralds, and diamonds (1-4 stacks). Sell for Denarius. |
| Building Blocks | 40% | Stone, cobblestone, oak logs, iron ore, coal ore, netherrack (4-16 at a time). |
| Crate Keys | 10% | A virtual key for the active crate tier, awarded to the nearest eligible player. |
The currency and block categories drop as physical item stacks you pick up off the ground and sell normally with /sellall. Crate keys, because they are minted per-player, are awarded directly — see below.
Crate Keys & the Per-Player Cooldown
When the rare crate key roll comes up, the party doesn't drop a free-floating item that one parked player can hoard. Instead it finds the nearest eligible player within 20 blocks of the drop point and credits them a virtual key directly, with a chat ping and a challenge-complete sound.
To keep keys from being monopolized, each player has a 30-second claim cooldownduring a single party. If you just snagged a key, you are skipped on the next rolls until your cooldown elapses — giving players further from the center a fair shot.
Tip: Stand near — but not directly on top of — the drop point. The system prefers eligible players (those off cooldown) over the absolute closest player, so spreading out a little means you are the nearest eligible target more often.
Duration & Drop Counts
A party's length is set by the admin who starts it, clamped to a safe range:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Default duration | 30 seconds |
| Minimum | 5 seconds |
| Maximum | 600 seconds (10 minutes) |
| Drop interval | 10 ticks (0.5s) — about 2 drops per second |
So a standard 30-second party rains roughly 60 drops; a maxed-out 10-minute party can fire over 1,200. Longer parties are usually reserved for special occasions.
How to Participate
- Watch chat. The moment you see the gold “DROP PARTY!” broadcast, stop mining.
- Get to the drop point fast. Parties fire at spawn (or a configured location). Use
/spawnor your legion warp if one is close. - Pick up everything. Currency and block drops are physical stacks — walk over them to collect, then
/sellallonce the party ends. - Stay near the center to be in range for crate-key rolls (20-block radius).
- Move on when your bags are full. There is no claim limit on currency/blocks, so grab as much as your Sarcina holds.
Tips for Maximizing Your Haul
- Empty your Sarcina first. Sell before the party so you have room for the rain.
- Camp the center, but rotate. Keys go to the nearest eligible player, so circling the drop zone keeps you in range without burning your cooldown.
- Bring friends from your legion. Legionmates can cover more ground and share block loot, and you all benefit if one of you lands a key.
- Sell immediately after. Block drops are vanilla materials —
/sellallconverts them to Denarius the instant the party ends. - Don't waste time on the edges. Drops fall on the configured point, so being 30 blocks away means you miss the bulk of the loot.
Quick Reference
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Trigger | Admin-started (not on a timer) |
| Location | Spawn or a configured drop point |
| Drop rate | 1 item every 0.5 seconds |
| Key claim cooldown | 30 seconds per player per party |
| Max concurrent | One party at a time |
Drop parties are pure upside — free currency, free blocks, and a real shot at a crate key just for being online and at spawn. They are one of the best reasons to keep chat visible and to never wander too far from /spawn.