Logo
Jerry's Colonies Wiki
🔍
CurseForge Discord YouTube
Jerry's Colonies
A civilization addon by @Jerryeatsbeans
DOWNLOAD LATEST

Getting Started in Jerry's Colonies

Jerry's Colonies is a multiplayer-oriented addon for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition that adds player-managed colonies to the game. The goal is to turn Minecraft into a civilization simulator where players can manage/build cities, create lore, and simulate diplomacy.

🎉
v2.8: Votes and Vows — This is the latest update for Jerry's Colonies as of updating this wiki on October 20th, 2025

The First Step:

You are well on your way to growing a powerful civilization, but first you need to set up the basics. Craft a flag using 6 wool and a stick. This is what will create your colony.
The flag is the first step of making all colonies, and later on you can place more flags to expand your colony!

Flag crafting recipe
Crafting recipe for the Flag

Placing Your Flag

Now you can place your flag! To do this, build a flag pole out of any vanilla fence and right click (mobile users: hold) to place the flag on the fence. If it doesn't work, your flag pole isn't tall enough, you are too far away, or you are not looking at the fence.
You will be asked to enable democracy, it's recommended you read the wiki page about it before enabling it. Learn about democracy mode here.

⚠️
Important: Many people struggle to place the flag and get an error saying they can't. If this happens to you, you're likely just not tapping the right area on your screen — stand directly in front of the flagpole and try again.

After placing the flag you should be given a crown named after your colony. This crown is unique and cannot be replaced — take good care of it.

👑
Colony Crowns: Several new crowns have been added to make each colony more unique, to learn more about crowns, read this page.
Placing a flag
Placing a flag
📖
Read Next: Learn about The Mayor's Table to start managing your colony.

Mayor's Table

The Mayor's Table is the central workstation for your colony. Use a crafting table to make the Mayor's Table, the recipe is shown below.

Crafting Recipe

Combine these materials at a crafting table to create your Mayor's Table.

Mayor's Table crafting recipe
Mayor's Table crafting recipe

Mayor's Table Abilities

The Mayor's Table provides access to all colony management functions:

  • View Colony Info

    — Sends a chat message containing info about your colony. Only you can see this.
  • Change Flag Color

    — Customize the flag color, and the color of your colonies display name
  • Manage Members

    — Invite players, Purchase Citizens, and Manage Population. You can also use this menu to assign player permissions, and custom ranks. Learn more about Player Ranks here.
  • Diplomacy

    — Set relationships with other colonies (ally/neutral/hostile), or declare war on your enemies.
  • Rename / Delete Colony

    — Change your colony's display name, or permanently delete a colony.
  • Transfer Ownership

    — Pass the crown to another player, transfers full ownership and administrative rights to them.
  • Teleport Between Flags

    — Fast-travel to any of your colony's flags (Only appears if your colony has multiple flags)

Interface Examples

Mayor's Table contents - left
Mayors Table UI 1/2
Mayor's Table contents - right
Mayors Table UI 2/2
📖
Read Next: Learn about Feeding Citizens to keep your colony healthy.

Feeding Citizens

It's important to learn how to feed your citizens before inviting citizens to your colony. Citizens need food to stay alive and productive. If a colony runs out of accessible food, citizens can become hungry and will eventually die.

Crafting & Setup

Craft a Food Crate by combining a chest with two bread and some planks at a crafting table — place the crate inside the colony territory so citizens can access it.

Food Crate crafting recipe
Food Crate crafting recipe

How it Works

Citizens will automatically take one food item from any accessible Food Crate per in-game day. The crate must be within the colony's protected radius.

💡
Tip: Make sure to refill Food Crates regularly to ensure all citizens have access to food.
Food crate example 1
Food Crate
Food crate example 2
Food Crate UI
📖
Read Next: Learn about Citizens and how to manage your population.

Citizens

Citizens are the heart of a colony. There are two kinds:

Types of Citizens

Players

Invite other players through the Mayor's Table to join your colony.

NPCs

Hireable citizens purchased from the Mayor's Table. Cost shown in the Mayors Table (Default 5 Emeralds Each), and they can be equipped with armor by dropping it at their feet and assigned jobs.

NPC example 1
Citizen Purchase Menu
NPC example 2
NPC Citizen
NPC example 3
Job Selection UI

Feeding Citizens

Civilians require food to survive — see Feeding Citizens for more info. Check a citizens hunger by interacting with them.

🍞
Remember: Keep your Food Crates stocked or your citizens will starve!

Knights

Knights are a special citizen job. They are stronger, and can be ordered to follow and assist you in combat.
Knights will be getting updated shortly, currently they are not very useful aside from fighting hostile mobs.

Benefits & Mechanics

  • Colony Buffs: Every 10 citizens unlocks a status effect for colony members within colony territory (up to 50 citizens worth of effects).
  • Jobs: Assign jobs (botanist, miner, hunter, etc.). Citizens occasionally give items related to their job; a yellow exclamation mark appears above them when they have items to collect.
  • Population Limits: Server admins can set NPC caps via the moderation tool, and adjust the price; be mindful of performance and balance when hiring many NPCs.
  • Citizen Inventory Management: Crouch + Right Click / Tap and hold to manage the citizens inventory
👶
New in v2.8: Citizens can rarely have babies, and the children yearn for the mines.
Benefits example 1
Citizen ready to claim items
Benefits example 2
Citizen item claim UI
📖
Read Next: Learn about the Colony Ledger to view levels and rankings.

Colony Ledger

The Colony Ledger (formerly known as Player ID) is your way to view all stats related to Jerry's Colonies. View colony rankings, player levels, and track your progress.

🆕
New in v2.8: Player ID has been renamed to Colony Ledger and massively enhanced.

Colony Levels

Colonies can now level up through three primary activities:
(Colony Levels will become more useful in future updates)

  • Having Citizens: Grow your population to increase colony experience
  • Winning Wars: Victory in wars grants substantial colony experience
  • Owning Flags: Multiple flags across the world contribute to your colony's level
🏆
Scoreboard: Use the Colony Ledger to view the complete scoreboard and see how your colony ranks against others!

Player Levels

Alongside colonies, individual players can now level up by killing other players during battle, but beware, dying causes you to lose personal points.

Rank Progression

There are 10 distinct ranks spanning 50 levels. Here's the complete progression path:

🎖️ Level 1-5: Recruit

Everyone starts here.

⚔️ Level 5-10: Soldier

🛡️ Level 10-15: Veteran

🎯 Level 15-20: Captain

⚡ Level 20-25: Warlord

👑 Level 25-30: Conqueror

🏛️ Level 30-35: Emperor

✨ Level 35-40: High Emperor

🌟 Level 40-45: Overlord

💎 Level 45-50: Titan

🏆
Note: Your rank is displayed in the Colony Ledger and shows your status to all other players!
📖
Read Next: Learn about Player Ranks and rank progression.

Player Ranks

Custom Colony Ranks

Ranks can be assigned to members of your colony via the citizen management menu of the mayors table. You can create up to 10 different ranks with different permissions.

🎨
Tip: Custom Rank Names are displayed on the colony ledger for all players to see.
📖
Read Next: Learn about Crowns and the various styles available.

Crowns

Crowns are the symbol of colony leadership in Jerry's Colonies. Each crown is unique to its colony.

🆕
New in v2.8: Several new crown styles have been added.
All crown styles available in Jerry's Colonies
All available crown styles
📖
Read Next: Learn about Mysterious Merchants and their special items.

Mysterious Merchants

Mysterious Merchants are special NPCs that sometimes spawn, selling unique and valuable items that can't be obtained elsewhere!

How Merchants Work

Mysterious Merchants spawn during the day and are slightly less common than witches. When you spot one, approach them to browse their special inventory.

Special Items for Sale

Mysterious Merchants offer three exclusive items:

🎺 Trumpet

A new musical item perfect for enhancing roleplay... or annoying people.

💍 Wedding Ring

An essential item for the new Marriage system. Use this to propose and merge colonies with another player.

💿 New Music Disc

A mysterious music disc that can only be obtained from Merchants. "The Arena"

Mysterious Merchant and special items
Mysterious Merchant. He may look scary, but he's really nice!
📖
Read Next: Learn about Democracy and voting systems.

Democracy

Democracy is enabled when you create a colony, read this page to learn all about it.

How Democracy Works

When you create a colony, you have the option to enable democratic governance. In a democratic colony:

  • Regular Elections: Leadership elections occur every 30 real-world days
  • Member Voting: All colony members can vote for their preferred leader
  • Fair Process: Votes must go through the new block, The Ballot Box
  • No Going Back: You cannot disable Democracy
Real-World Time: Elections happen every 30 real-world days, not in-game time.

🗳️ The Ballot Box

The Ballot Box is a new block designed for democratic colonies.

Ballot Box block
The Ballot Box block used for voting

Using the Ballot Box

  • Placement: Place Ballot Boxes in accessible locations within your colony
  • Voting Period: At any point, members can interact with the Ballot Box to cast votes for the next election
  • Vote Counting: The system automatically tallies votes and announces the winner
  • Security: Each member can only vote for one player, but can change their vote at any time.
🎯
Strategy: Campaign for votes and demonstrate strong leadership to win elections!

Democratic vs. Authoritarian

Choose your colony's governance style when creating it:

Democratic Colony

  • Regular elections every 30 days
  • Members vote for leadership
  • Power can change hands
  • Promotes engagement

Traditional Colony

  • Original founder remains leader
  • Leadership only changes via transfer
  • Stable long-term governance
  • Classic colony management
📖
Read Next: Learn about Marriage and merging colonies.

Marriage

Two players can now merge colonies through marriage.

How Marriage Works

Marriage is a special system that allows two players to unite their colonies:

  • Obtain a Wedding Ring: Purchase a Wedding Ring from a Mysterious Merchant
  • Propose: Right-click another player while holding the Wedding Ring to propose
  • Merge Colonies: When accepted, the two colonies merge into one (Highest level colony absorbs smaller colony)
  • One Marriage: Each player can only be married to one other player at a time (Right click spouse to divorce)
📖
Read Next: Learn about the Taxation Table to earn income from your citizens.

Taxation Table

Tax your player citizens to earn income for your colony. The Taxation Table allows you to set up regular income cycles to fund your colony's growth and development.

How Taxation Works

The Taxation Table enables you to collect taxes from player citizens in your colony. This provides a steady income stream that can be used for colony development, purchasing citizens, and buying blueprints.

💰
Income Source: Only player citizens can be taxed - NPC citizens do not generate tax revenue.

Tax Cycles

Choose from three different taxation cycles to suit your colony's needs:

  • Weekly: Collect taxes every 7 real-world days - fastest income but smaller amounts
  • Bi-Weekly: Collect taxes every 14 real-world days - balanced approach
  • Monthly: Collect taxes every 30 real-world days - largest income but longest wait
Real-World Time: Tax cycles are based on real-world time, not in-game time, so plan accordingly.

Setting Up Taxation

  • Craft the Table: Create a Taxation Table using the appropriate crafting recipe
  • Choose Cycle: Select weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly taxation
  • Set Rates: Configure how much each player citizen will be taxed
  • Collect Income: Return to the table when taxes are due to collect your colony's income
💡
Strategy Tip: Balance tax rates to maintain citizen happiness while generating sufficient income for colony growth.
📖
Read Next: Learn about Mailboxes for sending items between colonies.

✉️ Mailboxes

Send items and letters to other mailboxes across the world. Mailboxes provide a postal service system that connects colonies and players regardless of distance.

How Mailboxes Work

Mailboxes allow you to send items, letters, and messages to other mailboxes placed anywhere in the world. This creates a postal network that enables long-distance communication and trade between colonies.

📮
Global Network: Any mailbox can send to any other mailbox, creating a world-wide postal system.

Delivery System

The delivery time for your mail depends on the distance between the sending and receiving mailboxes:

  • Local Delivery: Nearby mailboxes receive mail quickly
  • Regional Delivery: Medium distances have moderate delivery times
  • Long Distance: Far-away mailboxes take longer to receive deliveries
⏱️
Distance Matters: Plan your deliveries based on urgency - closer mailboxes receive items faster.

Using Mailboxes

  • Craft & Place: Create a mailbox and place it in your colony or desired location
  • Send Items: Open the mailbox interface to send items to other mailboxes
  • Address System: Target specific mailboxes by their location or owner
  • Receive Mail: Check your mailbox regularly for incoming deliveries
  • Letters: Send written messages along with or instead of items
🤝
Trade & Diplomacy: Use mailboxes to establish trade routes and diplomatic communications between colonies.
📖
Read Next: Learn about Plagues and how they can affect your citizens.

War & Diplomacy

Diplomacy is how colonies manage their relationships with one another — set allies, neutrals, or hostiles and use the Mayor's Table relations menu to interact with other colonies.

Relations

Open the Relations menu at the Mayor's Table to view other colonies, set alliances, or mark another colony as hostile.

🤝
Diplomacy Options: Set relationships as Ally, Neutral, or Hostile to manage inter-colony relations.
Relations menu interface
Relations menu showing another colony

Declaring War

To declare war, use the diplomacy menu and choose Declare War against a hostile colony. The target colony must have 5 or more citizens. When a war is declared, the target colony receives a notification and a war timer starts.

Wars are timed events where the duration is chosen by the declaring colony. Score points in a war by eliminating opposing NPCs or player citizens. Victorious colonies may claim one of the other colony's flags (if they have more than one).

⚔️
War Requirements: Target colony must have at least 5 citizens before war can be declared.
📋
Server Rules: Be aware of server-specific rules — some servers may impose their own restrictions for war.
War declaration notification
War declared notification message

War Mechanics

  • Timer System: Wars have a set duration chosen by the declaring colony
  • Scoring: Gain points by eliminating enemy NPCs and player citizens
  • Victory Rewards: Winners can claim flags from defeated colonies (if they have multiple flags)
  • Minimum Population: Both colonies should have adequate defenses and population
📖
Read Next: Learn about the Mod Tool for server administration.

Blueprints & Construction

Blueprints let you instantly place complex structures so you can quickly expand your colony with nice buildings and layouts.

🏗️ Blueprint Workbench

The Blueprint Workbench is the new dedicated home for buying blueprints! This specialized workstation works exactly the same as the construction menu from the Mayor's Table, but provides a focused interface just for blueprint management.

🆕
New Feature: The Blueprint Workbench provides a dedicated interface for all your construction needs, separate from the Mayor's Table.
💰
Note: Blueprint prices are still configurable by server administrators through the moderation tool.
Blueprint workbench interface
Blueprint Workbench purchase interface

Crafting the Blueprint Workbench

Craft your own Blueprint Workbench to access the construction system independently of the Mayor's Table. This allows for more organized colony management and easier access to building tools.

🔨
Crafting Required: You'll need to craft the Blueprint Workbench using the appropriate recipe before you can purchase blueprints.

Placing a Blueprint

Select a blueprint, position the preview outline in the world, and confirm to build. You have a short preview window to cancel the placement. If you don't like where it is, you have one more chance to undo it.

🔨
New in v2.8: Blueprints now build block by block, rather than all at once! Watch your structures come to life. The undo feature has also been tweaked to work more reliably.
⚠️
Important: You only have a brief window to cancel or undo blueprint placement, so choose your location carefully!
Blueprint preview step 1
Step 1: Select blueprint location
Blueprint preview step 2
Step 2: Preview placement outline
Blueprint preview step 3
Step 3: Confirm and watch it build!

Example City

Here's a city built using several different blueprints to demonstrate the potential of combining multiple structures:

City created with multiple blueprints
Complete city built using various blueprints from the construction menu
🏗️
Pro Tip: Combine multiple blueprints to create unique and impressive colony layouts!
📖
Read Next: Learn about War & Diplomacy and managing relationships with other colonies.

Marauder Attacks

Marauders are very dangerous events where hostile NPCs arrive by hot-air balloon and assault your colony — first from the air, then on the ground.

Marauders arriving by balloon
Marauders Attack Starting

What are Marauders?

Marauders are hostile NPC raiders that spawn above colonies in small groups (commonly 3–5). They arrive in hot-air balloons and may target your colony for a raid that comes in multiple waves.

⚔️
Danger: Marauder attacks can cause significant damage to your citizens.

Attack Waves

Marauder attacks typically happen in two distinct phases:

Wave 1 — Aerial Bombing

Marauders remain in their balloons and drop explosive bombs over the colony. Bombs damage entities but do not break blocks.

Bombing phase
Marauder Balloons
Hot air balloon
Marauder Bomb
Bomb explosion
Marauder Entity

Wave 2 — Ground Assault

After bombing, the marauders land and continue the attack on the ground, engaging players and NPC citizens directly in melee combat.

Defense Strategies

  • Shelter Citizens: Keep citizens sheltered inside protected structures during raids to reduce civilian casualties
  • Equip Knights: Equip knights and guards with good armor and weapons — they perform well defending against the ground wave
  • Iron Golems: Use Iron Golems for defense — they deal heavy damage to Marauders, but Marauders deal heavy damage back
  • Admin Settings: Admins can change the frequency via the moderation tool if raids are too frequent or too rare
⚔️
New in v2.8: Marauders no longer drop all their armor when defeated, making them tougher but more balanced!
🛡️
Pro Tip: Build defensive structures and keep your citizens well-equipped to survive marauder attacks.

🚩 Totem of Peace

The Totem of Peace is a powerful new defensive item that can provide temporary protection from marauder attacks.

How to Obtain

Totems of Peace are dropped by defeated marauders during attacks. Successfully defending your colony against a marauder raid may reward you with this valuable protection item.

Protection Effect

When activated, the Totem of Peace prevents marauder attacks on your colony for 3 real-world days. This gives you time to rebuild, restock supplies, and strengthen your defenses.

🛡️
Ultimate Defense: 3 full days of guaranteed protection from marauder attacks.
Real-World Time: Protection lasts for 3 real-world days, not in-game time.

Strategic Usage

  • Post-Attack Recovery: Use after a devastating attack to rebuild safely
  • Planned Expansion: Activate before major construction projects
  • Resource Collection: Ensure safe gathering of materials outside colony walls
  • Diplomatic Events: Secure peace during important negotiations with other colonies
📖
Read Next: Learn about Blueprints to build defensive structures.

Plagues

Plagues can infect a colony, applying Weakness III to citizens for 20 minutes. World admins can adjust how often plagues occur.

What are Plagues?

Plagues are random events that can strike your colony, weakening all citizens for a duration. They represent disease outbreaks that can impact your colony's citizens.

🦠
Warning: Plagues apply Weakness III to all citizens for 20 minutes, making them less effective in combat and survival.
New in v2.8: Citizens with plagues now emit particles, making it easy to identify infected citizens!
Plague affecting colony
Citizens affected by plague with weakness effect

Managing Plagues

  • Prevention: There's no way to prevent plagues - they occur randomly
  • Duration: Plagues last exactly 20 minutes once they start
  • Admin Control: Server admins can adjust plague frequency via the moderation tool
  • Strategy: Avoid major combat or important tasks during plague outbreaks
📖
Read Next: Learn about Marauders and defending your colony from attacks.

Server Moderation

Each colony protects a 100 block radius around each of its flags. Non-members cannot break blocks inside this area unless admins configure otherwise. Server admins use the Moderation Tool (an admin-only item) to manage colonies and tweak addon settings.

The Mod Tool Item

The mod tool is an item given to server admins that opens a powerful administration UI. Use it to quickly manage colonies, adjust global settings, and troubleshoot issues. To open the UI, right click or hold on any colony flag.

🔧
Admin Setup: To use the mod tool, grab it from the creative menu, then give yourself access via the command: /tag [username] add admin
Moderation tool item
Moderation tool item in inventory

Admin Interface

The moderation tool provides access to comprehensive colony management features:

Colony management options
Teleport and delete colony options
Module toggles
Toggle addon modules on/off
Protection settings
Land protection configuration

Administrative Features

  • Global Settings: Tweaking addon settings and configurations
  • Economy Control: Setting prices for citizens and blueprints
  • Event Management: Triggering plagues, marauder attacks, and other events
  • Fast Travel: Teleporting between colonies for administration
  • Population Control: Setting citizen limits and managing colony size
  • Colony Management: Force-deleting problematic colonies
  • Protection Settings: Configuring land protection and build permissions
  • Module Control: Enabling/disabling specific addon features
⚙️
Server Balance: Use these tools to maintain server balance and ensure fair gameplay for all players.
📖
Read Next: Check out the FAQ for answers to common questions.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions about Jerry's Colonies. Can't find what you're looking for? Join our Discord for help!

How do I give players permissions in my colony?

Go to the mayors table, click citizen management, then click player ranks, and create a rank with the permissions you want.

How do I access the mod tool?

Run the command /tag @s add admin and then right click a colony flag.

Why can't I place a flag?

Stand DIRECTLY in front of your flag pole, face-to-pole, and try again. If it still isn't working, join the Discord for help.

📖
Read Next: Learn about the Custom Structure Builder for creating expansion packs.

Custom Structure Builder

Create your own expansion packs for Jerry's Colonies! Upload your .mcstructure files and generate a complete expansion pack that integrates seamlessly with the colony system.

Step 1: Download Jerry's Structure Editor World

To create properly sized structures (15×22×15), you must use Jerry's Structure Editor world. This is the only way to create structures that will work correctly with the colony system.

⬇️ Download Jerry's Structure Editor World

After downloading, double-click the .mcworld file to import it into Minecraft. Then create your 15×22×15 structures and export them as .mcstructure files.

Step 2: Upload Your Structures

That's the essentials — use the Mayor's Table and flags to manage and grow your civilization, and join the Discord for suggestions or support.

404 — Page not found

This page does not exist. If you followed an external link that led here, try returning to the Get Started page.