ProtectTheShip

Protect the ship. Survive the attack. Reach the destination.

ProtectTheShip is a fully scripted PvE cargo ship event that turns the vanilla Cargo Ship into a large-scale cooperative survival encounter.

Players must board the ship, start its engine, defend it from increasingly dangerous attacks, survive enemy reinforcements, collect valuable loot, and keep the vessel alive until it completes its route.

The event is designed to feel like a complete gameplay scenario rather than a simple NPC or loot spawn.

⚓ Main Features

🚢 Custom Cargo Ship Event

• Spawns a dedicated Cargo Ship event vessel.
• The vanilla Cargo Ship event can be disabled automatically.
• The ship is initially stationary and must be activated by players.
• Players must insert a Fuse into the onboard Fuse Box before the engine can be started.
• The ship then begins its route and progresses through the event sequence.

❤️ Ship Health System

• Fully custom ship health system.
• Configurable maximum ship health.
• Real-time Ship HP HUD displayed to nearby players.
• Health bar changes color depending on the ship's remaining health.
• Players can repair the ship with a Pickaxe.
• Repair strength scales dynamically with the number of players participating.

🤖 Dynamic Difficulty

The event automatically adjusts its difficulty based on the number of players currently participating.

Different player counts dynamically change:

• Rocket damage
• Bullet damage
• Pickaxe repair strength

This keeps the event challenging whether players attempt it alone or as a larger group.

🚁 Attack Helicopter System

Custom Patrol Helicopters actively escort and attack the event ship.

They:

• Follow the ship while it is moving.
• Orbit the vessel dynamically.
• Fire machine guns at the ship.
• Launch custom rockets toward the ship.
• Have configurable rocket counts and attack intervals.
• Can be destroyed by players.
• Stop attacking when destroyed or when the event reaches its appropriate stage.

Destroying an attacking helicopter also rewards players with an Elite Crate.

🪖 Heavy Scientist Reinforcements

During the event, a CH47 reinforcement sequence is triggered.

The Chinook approaches the ship and deploys configurable Heavy Scientists across multiple ship decks.

The plugin contains dedicated spawn positions for:

• Upper deck
• Lower deck

Up to 16 Heavy Scientists can be configured.

📦 Hackable Locked Crates

The event features manually positioned Hackable Locked Crates on the ship.

• Up to 10 crates can be configured.
• Crates are positioned across different areas of the vessel.
• They use a custom 6-minute hack duration.
• Vanilla Cargo Ship loot is controlled so the event can use its own loot progression.

🏭 Harbor Loot Sequence

The ship follows a staged harbor progression.

On the first harbor visit:

• The ship loads its loot.
• Vanilla Cargo Ship loot is restored for the designated stage.

On the second harbor visit:

• Vanilla loot is removed.
• Custom Hackable Locked Crates are spawned.
• The reinforcement sequence begins.

This creates a progression system where the event changes as the ship moves through its route.

⏱️ Final Event Sequence

After the ship reaches the final stage, a dedicated countdown begins.

Players receive an on-screen:

SINKING IN MM:SS

countdown.

During the final phase:

• The ship prepares for its final departure.
• A departure horn is played.
• The countdown continues.
• When the timer expires, the ship begins a cinematic sinking sequence.

The ship physically moves downward while rolling and pitching before being destroyed.

🌊 Custom Sinking Sequence

When the ship is destroyed or the final event timer expires, the plugin performs a custom sinking animation instead of simply deleting the vessel.

The ship:

• Moves downward over time.
• Rolls from side to side.
• Pitches during the sinking.
• Remains synchronized for players nearby.
• Is finally removed after the sinking sequence completes.

⚙️ Automatic Event Scheduler

ProtectTheShip can run automatically without administrator interaction.

Configurable options include:

• Automatic event enable/disable
• Event interval
• Pre-event announcement
• Event start announcement
• Event end announcement

The default automatic interval is 120 minutes, with a configurable pre-event announcement.

🛠️ Administrator Commands

Start Event

Stop Event

Both commands use the permission:

protecttheship.spawn

⚙️ Highly Configurable

The plugin provides configuration options for:

• Ship maximum health
• Dynamic difficulty
• Rocket damage
• Bullet damage
• Pickaxe repair amount
• Patrol Helicopter interval
• Patrol Helicopter rocket count
• Patrol Helicopter rocket interval
• Heavy Scientist count
• Locked Crate count
• Final countdown duration
• Ship HP HUD
• HUD update interval
• Inactive ship cleanup timeout
• Automatic event scheduling
• Event announcements
• Vanilla Cargo Ship event control

🧹 Automatic Cleanup

ProtectTheShip is designed to clean up its spawned entities and timers when the event ends or the plugin is unloaded.

This includes:

• Attack helicopters
• Heavy Scientists
• Hackable Locked Crates
• Reward crates
• Chinook reinforcement
• Engine switch
• Fuse Box
• Event timers
• HUD elements
• Custom event entities

Config:

{
"AutomaticEventEnabled": true,
"AutomaticEventIntervalMinutes": 120,
"DisableVanillaCargoShipEvent": true,
"DynamicDifficulty": {
"Enabled": true,
"FourOrMorePlayers": {
"BulletDamage": 4.0,
"PickaxeRepairAmount": 2.0,
"RocketDamage": 125.0
},
"OnePlayer": {
"BulletDamage": 1.0,
"PickaxeRepairAmount": 5.0,
"RocketDamage": 50.0
},
"PlayerCountCheckIntervalSeconds": 2.0,
"ThreePlayers": {
"BulletDamage": 3.0,
"PickaxeRepairAmount": 3.0,
"RocketDamage": 100.0
},
"TwoPlayers": {
"BulletDamage": 2.0,
"PickaxeRepairAmount": 4.0,
"RocketDamage": 75.0
}
},
"EventEndAnnouncement": "[ProtectTheShip] The ProtectTheShip event has ended.",
"EventStartAnnouncement": "[ProtectTheShip] The ProtectTheShip event has started!",
"HeavyScientistCount_MAX_16": 16,
"HudUpdateInterval": 0.1,
"InactiveShipTimeoutMinutes": 60.0,
"LockedCrateCount_MAX_10": 10,
"MaxHealth": 5000.0,
"PatrolHeliIntervalMinutes": 4,
"PatrolHeliRocketCount": 12,
"PatrolHeliRocketIntervalSeconds": 5.0,
"PreEventAnnouncement": "[ProtectTheShip] The event will start in 5 minutes!",
"PreEventAnnouncementMinutes": 5,
"ShowHud": true,
"SinkingCountdownMinutes_MAX_5": 3
}