Formation

A Formation defines a structure that players can build and activate: it declares the vanilla structure template it is built from, how far it reaches, what it consumes, the behaviours that run on activation, on every maintenance cycle and on failure, and an optional high-priority aura override for its area.

File Location

Formation JSON files go in data/<namespace>/mxt/formation/ within your data pack.

The filename corresponds to its ID. For example, data/example/mxt/formation/spirit_gathering_array.json has the ID example:spirit_gathering_array.

Fields

Field	Type	Default	Description
structure_template	Identifier	required	The vanilla structure template ID.
radius	NumberProvider	required	The formation's area of effect radius.
max_bonus	Map<Holder<resource>, NumberProvider>	{}	The aura maximum bonus for each resource in the chunks within range; overlapping formations are handled per resource.
activation_costs	List<ResourceCost>	[]	Consumed on activation.
maintenance_costs	List<ResourceCost>	[]	Consumed every maintenance cycle; the formation fails when they cannot be paid.
activate_action	Block Action	mxt:no_op	The activation block behaviour.
tick_action	Block Action	mxt:no_op	The formation periodic block behaviour.
deactivate_action	Block Action	mxt:no_op	The failure block behaviour.
entity_tick_action	Entity Action	mxt:no_op	Executed for every entity within the radius.
aura_zone	Holder<aura_zone>	none	A high-priority runtime aura override.

Each entry of activation_costs and maintenance_costs is a ResourceCost with an id and an amount; see Shared Data Types for its exact shape.

max_bonus is optional and defaults to 0 per resource: it appends a value to the effective maximum of the chunks within range, and overlapping formations take the highest bonus. aura_zone is an optional high-priority aura override created by the formation at runtime, and it replaces the aura types, element values, rules and display template of the lower-priority environment. After a formation fails, its maintenance fails or its structure is broken, the coverage disappears automatically.

All lifecycle extensions use the matching Action field uniformly; there is no domain behaviour registry.

Example

{
  "structure_template": "example:spirit_gathering_array",
  "radius": 8,
  "max_bonus": { "example:spirit_power": 50 },
  "aura_zone": "example:spirit_gathering"
}

A formation with costs, block behaviours and entity behaviour:

{
  "structure_template": "example:spirit_gathering",
  "radius": 8,
  "max_bonus": { "example:spirit_power": 50 },
  "activation_costs": [{ "id": "example:spirit_power", "amount": 10 }],
  "maintenance_costs": [{ "id": "example:spirit_power", "amount": 1 }],
  "activate_action": { "type": "mxt:change_aura", "aura": { "example:spirit_power": 20 } },
  "tick_action": { "type": "mxt:change_aura", "aura": { "example:spirit_power": 2 } },
  "deactivate_action": { "type": "mxt:change_aura", "aura": { "example:spirit_power": -10 } },
  "entity_tick_action": {
    "type": "mxt:apply_effect",
    "effect": "minecraft:regeneration",
    "duration_ticks": 40
  },
  "aura_zone": "example:spirit_gathering"
}