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SCULKANTICHEAT
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Punishment Configuration

Sculk's core promise is that a hunch is never a ban. This page explains the four punishment stages and how to tune them for your server's risk tolerance.

The four stages

FLAG      →  LOG        →  SETBACK      →  BAN WAVE
staff see    evidence      advantage        punishment,
one line     accumulates   quietly undone   batched & reviewable
  1. Flag. A check fires. Staff with alerts on see one line; the player sees nothing. Violation level (VL) increases.
  2. Log. Every flag is recorded with its evidence — the packet timing, the rotation delta, whatever tripped the check. /sculk logs <player> reads the history.
  3. Setback. For movement and world checks, Sculk can quietly undo the cheated action: snap the flyer back to ground, revert the scaffold bridge. The cheat stops paying off without anyone being punished.
  4. Ban wave. When a player's VL crosses max-vl with punishment: BAN_WAVE, they join the pending wave — they are not banned instantly.

Why waves instead of instant bans?

Two reasons, both practical:

  • Cheat developers learn from instant bans. Ban a client the second a check fires, and its developer knows exactly which action tripped which check. Batching punishments breaks that feedback loop.
  • You get a review step. /sculk banwave list shows who's queued and why, with their evidence. If something looks wrong, remove them and lower that check's sensitivity — before anyone was banned.

Waves run on your schedule (config: banwave.schedule) or on demand with /sculk banwave run.

Configuring punishments

banwave:
  # cron-style schedule; "manual" disables automatic waves
  schedule: "0 4 * * *"
  # command template executed per player in the wave
  command: "ban %player% Cheating (Sculk: %checks%)"
  # notify this Discord webhook with a wave summary
  announce-webhook: true

checks:
  killaura:
    max-vl: 40
    punishment: BAN_WAVE
  speed:
    max-vl: 35
    punishment: SETBACK   # movement cheats often need nothing harsher

The command template means Sculk works with your existing punishment plugin — LiteBans, AdvancedBan, vanilla /ban, anything that takes a command.

Tuning advice

Start with defaults. Watch verbose mode during peak hours for a week. If legitimate players flag a check repeatedly, raise its max-vl or that check's tolerance rather than disabling it. VL decay means occasional borderline flags never accumulate; only sustained cheating climbs.