Phase escalation
A server-wide difficulty counter starts on the first tick after the world loads, from its
age, with no relation to the day/night cycle. It climbs on its own, never falls back, and survives server
restarts. It stops at 1000000, and the phaseLoopEnabled option (off by default)
sends it back to tier 1 once it hits the configured maximum. Each advance is announced in chat
(☠ Phase N). The higher the tier, the more punishment the zombies that spawn take,
but their power is bounded.
Timer behavior
The clock is based on the age of the overworld
(ServerLevel.getGameTime()): persisted and shared, a multi-world server holds
only a single global progression, not one per dimension. The default interval is 36000 ticks
(30 minutes), with a jitter of ±3600 ticks (±3 minutes), recalculated on each tier advance. The
/lethalphase command reports the current tier. An operator can jump straight
to one with /lethalphase <n>: the change is saved with the world and
announced in chat, same as a natural advance.
What scales with the phase
Each zombie that spawns draws its statistics from the ranges for the current tier:
- Health, damage, speed: multipliers applied to the vanilla attributes.
- Beneficial potion effects: chance, number of effects, maximum amplifier.
Zombies carry no gear (no weapon, tool or armor): their escalation comes only from statistics and effects. Up to tier 15 the curves accelerate; beyond it they bend onto a ceiling they approach without ever reaching. Tiers 30, 50 and 100 therefore stay distinct: a plain clamp would have made them identical.
Tier 15. Health ×3.0 to 4.5, damage ×2.5 to 3.2, plus beneficial potion effects. Every tier up to 15 is unchanged to the bit since the ceilings were introduced. Tier 1 already applies minimal scaling; tier 0 lets no hostile survive loading at all, every category included.
Two ceilings, not one
Bounding the curve is not enough. A Strength effect rolled by a zombie is added to its attack base before the tier multiplier applies: the multiplier therefore amplifies it, and the final value re-crosses any ceiling placed on the curve alone. The mod bounds both stages separately.
| Quantity | Multiplier ceiling | Uncapped, at tier 100 |
|---|---|---|
| Damage | ×6.0 | ×32.3 |
| Health | ×8.0 | ×73.8 |
| Speed | ×2.2 | ×5.0 |
| Zombie density | ×30.0 | ×144 |
| Spawn frequency | ×24.0 | ×107 |
| Attribute | Absolute ceiling | What it guarantees |
|---|---|---|
| Attack damage | 18.9 | Three hits minimum to fell a full suit of the finest material, unenchanted. |
| Maximum health | 200 | A tough opponent, never a wall. |
| Movement speed | 0.45 | Roughly twice a vanilla zombie: threatening, without an unwinnable chase. |
These three ceilings are re-imposed on every activation, not only at spawn: the base game grants some zombies a leader bonus after creation, and grants it again mid-session whenever a zombie calls for reinforcements.
No instant kill. Whatever the tier (100, 1000, up to the 1000000 maximum), no zombie can fell a fully armored subject at full integrity in a single blow. The damage ceiling is the one guarantee in the mod that depends on no difficulty setting whatsoever.
Configuration
| Field | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| phaseSystemEnabled | Enables the phase system. If disabled, a flat "legacy" effect roll takes over independently of the phases. | true |
| phaseIntervalTicks | Base interval between two phase advances. | 36000 (30 min) |
| phaseJitterTicks | Random ± variation around the interval. | 3600 (±3 min) |
| phaseDmgCeiling | Ceiling on the damage multiplier. | 6.0 |
| phaseHpCeiling | Ceiling on the health multiplier. | 8.0 |
| phaseSpdCeiling | Ceiling on the speed multiplier. | 2.2 |
| phaseMobcapCeiling | Ceiling on the zombie-density multiplier. | 30.0 |
| phaseFrequencyCeiling | Ceiling on the spawn-frequency multiplier. | 24.0 |
| phaseDamageCap | Hard ceiling on attack damage, effects included. | 18.9 |
| phaseHealthCap | Hard ceiling on maximum health, effects included. | 200.0 |
| phaseSpeedCap | Hard ceiling on movement speed, effects included. | 0.45 |