Snitch

A summary of snitch mechanics on CivClassic. "JukeAlert" refers to the name of the snitch plugin.

Part of a series on
Mechanics and Plugins
Core Mechanics
Citadel NameLayer Bastion Snitch Exile Pearl
Common Mechanics
Orebfuscation HiddenOre Chat Factory Enchanting Realistic Biomes Item Exchange Brewery Essence Kira
Minor Mechanics
Spawning Chunk Limits RailSwitch Arthropod Egg Combat Tag Elevator CastleGate One Time Teleport Commands

A snitch is a block commonly included in Civ servers which records nearby player movement or actions. Snitches provide different abilities based on their type. Some can send a message to a NameLayer group when it detects player movement, allowing for real-time tracking of players. Other snitches can log nearby actions and can be examined after the fact to determine a recounting of events, even if nobody was present at the time.

Snitches are frequently placed in high-traffic areas to provide real-time insight into player movement, and in high-value areas so that any attacks can be traced back to a particular player or group.

Civ servers generally use reinforced noteblocks and jukeboxes as snitch blocks, with each providing different capabilities.

First introduced by Civcraft, snitches have been included in every mainline civ server since.

Mechanics

Type	Radius	Dormant after	Culled after	Detects movement	Detects actions	Preserves logs	Emits redstone
Noteblock	11 blocks	4 weeks	8 weeks	Yes	No	No	No
Jukebox	11 blocks	6 weeks	12 weeks	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Type	Radius	Dormant after	Culled after	Detects movement	Detects actions	Preserves logs	Emits redstone
Noteblock	11 blocks (configurable)	—	3 weeks	Yes	No	No	No
Jukebox	11 blocks (configurable)	—	3 weeks	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Creation

To create a snitch, place a noteblock or jukebox and reinforce it.

You can give use /janame <name> to set the name of the nearest snitch, which will then use that name in its notifications. By default, a snitch's name is empty.

Movement

When a player enters the radius of a snitch with the ability to detect movement, the snitch will send a message to the group it is reinforced to. The format of this message varies by server, but is generally <player name> entered snitch at <snitch name> [world <x>,<y>,<z>].

Snitches that track movement will also track if a player logs in or logs out within their radius. This sends a message in the same way player movement does.

Actions

When a player takes one of a predefined list of actions within the radius of a snitch that can detect actions, the snitch will record that action so it can be viewed later. Unlike movement, the snitch will not broadcast recorded actions in real time.

The following is an complete list of actions which snitches record in their logs.

Action	Description
BLOCK_BREAK	A player broke a block.
BLOCK_PLACE	A player placed a block.
DESTROY_VEHICLE	A player destroyed a vehicle (such as a minecart).
DISMOUNT_ENTITY	A player dismounted an entity (such as a horse).
EMPTY_BUCKET	A player emptied a bucket (such as placing water).
ENTER_VEHICLE	A player entered a vehicle (such as a minecart).
EXIT_VEHICLE	A player exited a vehicle (such as a minecart).
FILL_BUCKET	A player filled a bucket (such as taking water).
IGNITE_BLOCK	A player ignited a block (such as lighting a block with flint and steel).
KILL_MOB	A player killed a mob.
KILL_PLAYER	A player killed another player.
MOUNT_ENTITY	A player mounted an entity (such as a horse).
OPEN_CONTAINER	A player opened a container (such as a chest).

Breaking

When a player breaks a snitch that is not theirs, it will print the name of the group they are reinforced to, along with the primary owner of the group. This provides players a clue as to who had placed the snitch, which might otherwise be very difficult to determine.

This mechanic was first introduced in CivClassic and is present in every proceeding mainline server.

Logs

/ja as seen in-game. Each block denotes a recorded action.

If a snitch preserves logs, you can run /ja to open an interface containing the logs of the nearest snitch. /jainfo can also be used to print the logs of the nearest snitch to the chat (only visible to you). You can run these commands only on snitches reinforced to a group you have permissions on.

/jainfo can take additional parameters in the syntax /jainfo [<page number> or 'next'] [censor] [action=<action type>] [player=<username>]. These parameters can be combined in any order.

/jainfo Parameter	Description	Example
<page number> or next	View older entries. It can either be a page number or the keyword next. next will print the next page.	/jainfo 3 will print the 3rd page.
censor	Censor coordinates from the logs. This is useful for posting snitch evidence publicly.	/jainfo censor will print Falvyu Block Break 1 [*** *** ***] instead of Falvyu Block Break 1 [1562 13 178]
action=<action type>	Filter by action type.	/jainfo action="block break" will only print entries where a block has been broken. Note that double quotes are only mandatory if the action has a space in it.
player=<username>	Filter by player name.	/jainfo player=RaiderCC1 will only print entries for 'RaiderCC1'. Note that this is case insensitive and will also print partial matches. /jainfo player=raider will therefore print entries for 'RaiderCC1' and any other player who has the word 'raider' in their name.

Dormancy and Culling

Snitches need to be periodically refreshed by a player entering the snitch field who is on the snitch group with the namelayer LIST_SNITCHES permission. Snitches that are not refreshed will first become dormant and lose all functionality but once refreshed will become functional again, if a dormant snitch isn't refreshed however after more time it will become culled. A culled snitch has no functionality but also can't be refreshed, functionality can only be regained by breaking and replacing the snitch block. You can use /jalist to see if your snitches have become dormant or how long is left until a snitch becomes dormant or culled.

Redstone Interaction

Snitches with the ability to emit redstone can be be configured to emit a redstone pulse when it records a specific action. This behavior must first be enabled for a specific snitch with /jatogglelevers (/jatogglelevers 1 to enable, and /jatogglelevers 0 to disable). Then, place a lever on one of the four cardinal faces of the snitch block — i.e., anywhere but top or bottom.

The face the lever is placed on changes the action which will cause the snitch to emit a redstone pulse.

Snitch face	Trigger
North	Player entry or login/logout
East	Block placement
South	Chest opened
West	Block break

Kira

Kira can be set up so that movement notifications are automatically relayed to a discord channel, in addition to being sent to a NameLayer group.

Mods

The SnitchMod mod by GJum can be used to manage snitches.

Command Reference

Command	Description
/jahelp	Display the help menu.
/ja	Open the in-game snitch interface.
/jainfo [<page number> or 'next'] [censor] [action=<action type>] [player=<username>]	Print snitch logs in chat.
/jalist [group]	Open an interface containing a list of snitches. If group is given, shows only snitches reinforced to that group.
/janame <name>	Set the name of the closest snitch.
/jalookup <x>, <y>, <z>	Look up a snitch by its coordinates. This will show what group the snitch is reinforced to. This command can only be run on snitches on groups you have permissions for.
/jamute [group]	Temporarily mute or unmute movement notifications for snitches reinforced to group. If group is not given, list all ignored groups.
/jaclear	Clears snitch logs from the closest snitch.
/jatogglelevers <0,1>	Enable (1) or disable (0) the lever output functionality of the closest snitch.