I wanted to use Fabric, but that’s not one of the options that Server.Pro offers.
(I wanted to use Fabric based on a review of several option from my son, mind you, it’s not that I independently know anything about these things.)
My kids loved Fabric mods. My daughter saw some Youtubers using a mod called “Origins” where you can choose your species and profession, which give you some bonuses and penalties. Stuff like being a mermaid who breathes water, but drowns on land, or a spider who can climb walls but takes extra fall damage. There’s a nice in-game mini-map mod (like WoW or other MMOs). Really cool stuff that completely changes the game. But, many of their friends just couldn’t handle install the client-side part of the mods, and since half of Minecraft is playing with friends, that was that.
I tried a variety of commercial server hosts, but I got fed up with lag and latency, so I turned an old PC into a headless Ubuntu server to run my Minecraft server. It’s beefy enough for no lag and the latency is in nil, since it’s physically close.
Sadly, I’m too old to have many friends who still play minecraft. I got started using it as a venue where we could “meet” to square dance during the pandemic. So, if you want to swing by and visit me sometime…
I would, but for managing the kiddos and their friends. And someone has to show them how to build a proper castle. 
Ah, well, if you have advice on building a proper castle, maybe I need to visit you. I’m struggling with my one simple black tower.
aww. And I read the fine print, and they are only giving me the PC version, not the console version. 
Oh well.
And in more bad news, I tried manually installing the plug in. and it’s still not working. I suspect my virtual server is underpowered for it.
Oh, i never updated this. To my great surprise, the nice user support people at server.pro fixed this for me. And i now have a lovely map of the known world. I’m tempted to link it to show it off, but i think that gives the url of the world, and i don’t want to publish that and attract vandals. That’s seems to be a thing in Minecraft, sadly.
I found a plugin called “GriefPrevention” that is simply wonderful. It lets players claim land for their exclusive use, which removes 99% of the drama. As bonus for myself, it also prevent creepers and endermen from messing with your stuff. (So I don’t have to set up genocide blocks anymore. )
Good to hear you’re up and running again. Yeah, you have to be careful of accidentally publicizing to avoid the trolls. You can set your server to whitelist-only, but then you have to manage it. I set mine to open when I’m expecting new players, then once they’ve connected, I add them to the whitelist and switch back. I also use a non-standard port, which adds another layer of obscurity.
My real protection is that everything gets backed up regularly. The company i rent from does backups every night, and keeps those for a few days, and i do a manual backup whenever I’ve made significant progress.
And early on i tested that i could restore from a backup, and if I’m careful, it works fine.
But I’d still rather not have to deal with griefers.
As an aside, early in the game an enderman helped me a great deal. As you might recall, my base is in mushroom fields. But i wanted a local supply of wool. An enderman placed a block of grass not far from my hut, and i was able to cultivate that into a nice little pasture for a flock of sheep.
I’ve done most of my building out of blocks that endermen don’t move. And I’ve been breeding cats, to protect structures from creepers.
Well, my industrialization is coming along nicely. In addition to a bustling village where I can buy most of my adventuring needs (weapons, tools, armor, and almost all the top-level spells) I have running farms for crops (melons and pumpkins to sell to villagers for cash) skeletons, spiders (both based on spawners), slimes (based on variable light rules), creepers (based on spawn-size), and iron. I actually have two iron farms – one that I built as an iron farm, which is also a fletcher outpost (They are close to the spider farm, and turn string into cash) and another that I really built as a retirement home for redundant villagers. But it produces iron, too. Although I often end up with a stray golem wandering around, and it stops working until I kill the golem. I’m not sure whether that’s because I missed a spawning point, or because it’s too close to my main village, and golems sometimes wander over.
I also have an arboretum that functions as a source of wood, and a few head of cattle (including both colors of mooshrooms). And some wheat, of course.
I’m still afraid to venture into the nether, and haven’t really learned to kill either endermen or witches. So I guess killing endermen and braving the nether is next. At some point I hope to get my son to help me kill the end dragon, and get some shulker shells and elytra.
Gah. There’s a pillager with a banner hanging out near my “vacation home”. (It’s built on the scenic intersection of and ice spike field and a flower forest, and has lots of windows.) I’d like to get rid of him, but i don’t want to get “bad omen” and risk destroying a village.
Thoughts:
- kill it, then go grab some milk i left near the slime farm, away from villages.
- drag an iron golem through the portal and let the iron golem kill it.
- kill it, then go to my fletcher outpost/iron farm, where the only 5 villagers live on a small elevated platform with no spawnable spots, and then hope i can kill off all the raiders.
- ??
In unrelated news, i stumbled upon an alpine village in a meadow, one of the new biomes introduced with caves and cliffs. Wow, it’s pretty.
Endermen can be pretty easily handled with a boat. They’ll walk into them and be stuck inside, so easily killed. Wearing a carved pumpkin also keeps them from becoming hostile.
As for Witches, you can try getting in and swinging between potion tosses, or I would probably try using a bow. Bows will definitely be needed for later mobs, and just save some grief from needing to melee skeletons and creepers.
The Nether isn’t too dangerous*, out side of a few areas. But you’ll feel and be safer keeping some potions for healing and fire-resistance on your toolbar. And if you’re really worried you should only take a few items. Blocks like cobble, a sword/bow for hostile mobs, flint and steel, food and a chest to set up a quick fort around your portal. (No beds)
Huh, that hadn’t occurred to me, although early in the game i accidentally caught two creepers in a boat. (It’s easy to kill creepers with a bow if they don’t get close to you )
The restricted vision of the pumpkin head made it had for me to do stuff, including fighting mobs. So I thought it was a cute dynamic, but probably won’t use it.
Hmm. I think they regenerate too fast, given my accuracy with a bow. Although i have a more powerful bow, now, so that might tip the balance.
Hmm. I haven’t really used potions at all, yet. That’s an interesting thought.
Thanks.
Stick it in a hole and burn it with fire.
How close to the village are you?
I was literally across the known world from my valuable village, and not especially close to any villages. (I found this patch of land, where the ice spikes meet a flower farm, in version 1.17, and waited to upgrade to 1.18 until I had mapped it out to preserve it. My son built me a portal to the roof of the nether specifically so I could get here. But even in the nether, it was a long walk. Yes, I am now up to version 1.19.)
It turned out I had a bucket of milk in the chest in one of the buildings I had made, so I just killed him and drank the milk. For now, my plan is to expand my dairy holdings so I don’t have to worry so much about wandering pillagers.
My son also suggested burning it with fire. That’s a good trick to know about. That would be been fairly easy to do, too. Thanks.
You could also drop an anvil on his head, or a big spike of drip stone. Or lure a creeper near him. Lots of non-aggro aggro options.
Question re fighting witches on open land: would it work to pillar up and then shoot them with a bow? How high would i have to go?
Oh, and i see why not. You need blaze powder (and usually nether wart) to brew potions.
I’m not sure how high you’d have to go. I’d be worried about being knocked off. I’d just rush them and whack ‘em. It sounds like your gear is plenty capable.