THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO FACTIONS

What is Factions? Factions is one of the greatest PVP Bukkit plugin. It helps make a better way to fight in PVP wars. Type /f help to see if your server has the Factions plugin.

Note that most information below uses the default settings in the config.yml. Your server may have different settings, e.g allowing opening wooden doors anywhere. Check outhttp://massivecraft....factions/config. I am currently assuming you are using default Factions configurations..

Basics

Power/Land claiming

To claim a chunk of land, type /f claim and it will claim the current chunk you are standing on for your faction. As you should know, neutrals and faction-less people cannot hurt you on your own land, nor can anyone not in your faction build, use or open things on your claimed land. A claimed land is a chunk, or a 16x16 extending from bedrock to the sky.
First, power = land. One piece of land/chunk = 1 power. When you claim a chunk of land, it uses up one power. Every person will usually start with 10 power, so the maximum chunks a 1 person faction can claim will be 10. For every new person in your faction, their power will add up. So for example, a 4 person faction will have 40 power, from the 10 power of each 4 people, and can claim a maximum of 40 chunks.
Power can be lost on death. If you lose power, your faction's total power gets affected too. It is also possible to go into negative power, hindering your faction even more. For example, if Person A has 10 power, and Person B from the same faction also has 10 power, but A dies once, his power may drop down to 7. Before the death, the faction's power is 20, from person A's 10 and B's 10, but with the death, the power is now 17/20, from the 3 power lost on the death of person A., who now have 7 instead of 10 power. Remember, power is the amount of land you can hold. If the faction has 17 power, they can only hold 17 chunks of land. If they have 10 power, they can only hold 10 chunks of land. If, the power of the faction drops lower then the amount of chunks claimed by the faction, then your lands are vulnerable to being claimed and stolen by neutral and enemy factions. Power does regenerate though, at a constant but slow rate.

Lets say Faction A has 2 members, B and C. They have claimed 15 pieces of land. On their /f list it should say 15/20/20, the first number being the lands claimed, 2nd number is the current power, and the 3rd number being the maximum power of the faction. If, A gets killed once, and has his power dropped down to 7, the faction's power would be 17. Because the power is greater then the amount of lands claimed, Faction A is still safe. Lets say Person B also dies once. Now his power is also 7. With 6 powers less then before, Faction A now has 14 power. Because now Faction A has 1 less power then the amount of lands claimed, the faction is vulnerable to having his lands being claimed. If Faction D comes and tries to claim and steal land, they can only take 1 piece of land.
This is why when you raid and steal from a faction, the first thing you must to is to kill the members of the enemy, so they can lose power, and so you can take the lands. The lowest power a person can have is -10, meaning its enough to take another person's power down too. Watch your power at all times.

Relationships

So, there are going to be more then one faction, and you are going to sooner or later meet them, whether in a war or in an alliance. First, as you should know, /f ally, /f neutral and /f enemy can set a relationship. When one faction asks for an alliance, the other faction has to accept the request. Once allies, any faction can break the alliance with /f neutral. When allies, both factions cannot harm the other and attempt to claim land from one another. However allies still cannot use things such as doors and chests, and build or break blocks on claimed land. Allies will be displayed in purple.
When one faction declares another as an enemy, both will be set as enemies. If only one faction declares war, that faction can turn neutral again if they want to, without the consent of the other faction. However, if one faction declares war, and the other faction also types /f enemy, both faction has to accept and agree on an /f neutral request.
Once enemies, both factions can harm the other on even the enemy's claimed lands, but with a reduced damage. You still, however, cannot build or destroy blocks, or use doors and chests etc. on the enemy's claimed lands. /f enemy is usually the only way you can raid or steal from a faction. Enemy factions are displayed in red.

Creating a faction

To create a faction, type /f create <faction's name>. Sometimes, a server may also require you to have money to create a faction. Once you created a faction, you may change the description of your faction with /f desc <description here>. You may open or close your faction with /f open, which will toggle your faction open and close. If your faction is open, anyone can join your faction if they wish to. If your faction is closed, they may only join if you or a faction mod gives them an invitation with /f invite <player's name>.

The Base

Now that you have a faction, you must now set a good spot for your base. While it is better to build further away from the server's spawn, it may be harder to get to if your faction's home is ever to be claimed by an enemy. Always claim, then build. You can save a lot of power this way. When building, think more about the defenses, then how it would look. How can an enemy faction get into your base? For starters, while they cannot just go in and destroy your blocks, they can use many other tools, such as a flint and steel which can burn down wooden bases, a TNT cannon which can blow up your base from far away, or even Endermen who can tear holes in your base. Unless your server disabled them, those are the first things to watch for. Second, people can use Enderpearls, teleporting over the highest walls or the most dangerous traps, safely transporting themselves into your base. Finally, they can even use nether portals, whether from those you have built inside your base, or one created through traveling in the Nether.
So, first we need a place to build our base. In the middle of an ocean is one of the best spots to build, as swimming is slow, TNT Cannons are hard to build, and not many people actually would really go search for factions in the middle of a wide, blank ocean. There is also the Nether and the End. The Nether is treacherous, but can actually be a safe spot for a faction, as not many people would actually go search there. However, they CAN use Ghasts to blow up holes into your base, and there are many, many things that you can only do/have in the Overworld, such as water. The End is actually the most safest spot. Once you kill the Enderdragon, you are safe. Just claim the obsidian platform you spawn in from the portal, lock it in, set a faction home, and no-one can actually get you. But again, like the Nether, there are many restrictions.
If you are going to build underground, avoid big caverns, and try to build as deep as you can. This way, faction hunters cannot see the name tags as you are too far underground, although there is the annoying void fog to watch out for. Another good place to build is building a base floating in the sky. The only way someone can get to it is through an Enderpearl, or pillaring. Where ever you choose, remember, think about how an enemy can infiltrate.
Now that you found a nice spot, it is time to build. The first thing, as I said before, is claiming. When you claim, you need to watch for your power. Try to use as low power as you can. Remember, while every person in the faction adds 10 power, every person can also take away 20 from the faction, from the 10 they add to, and the -10 power minimum. This you need to keep in mind. 2nd, look at your faction members, and the amount of land you are claiming. Can your faction support your land? Are you totally relying on your members, and betting that they won't leave, betray, or die multiple times? For me, members are not to have extra lands for your base. For me, more members are to make it harder to raid my faction, to making the enemy have to kill more before they can lower my power enough. If your faction has 5 members, and you claim 40 lands, all it takes is for 1 member to leave, or about 3-4 deaths before your lands can be claimed. So, bear this in mind before you start building big cities. The less lands claimed, the better. Now, why do you have to claim lands first, then build? This is to make your base "Chunk-aligned". When a base is chunk aligned, it will fully utilize your land to the 100%. If, you are to build a base first, then claim, you may find that you are actually using up more claims to claim something that may only require one claim. Chunks are to coordinates. You do not set the boundaries yourself. If you claim first, you know where your land's boundaries are, and where you can build, and how big your base can be. Set up the boundaries of your claimed chunks with some blocks, and then build. To find the boundaries, type /f map, and just walk until the map says "Wilderness". This is your boundary. Find all 4 sides of a piece of land, and it should be 16 blocks on each side. Finally, the last thing to remember: The shape of your base. Since enemies have to start from the edge to claim, as they cannot claim chunks surrounded by other claimed chunks, it is better to put your land in a diamond shape, with the most important chunk (the faction home/storage) in the middle. Do NOT put your chunks in a straight line or anything where all the chunks are touching wilderness, or the enemy can claim any chunk they wish.

Now that you have found your boundaries, you have to build a wall. One very common mistake to avoid, is to build on CLAIMED LAND. Many factions I have raided, has carelessly built their walls on the wilderness, where it can be easily destroyed and broken into. Check with your faction map, or see your chat to see what land you are currently on. If building underground, dig until you reach wilderness. When placing the walls of your underground base, remember to put on the sides of your claimed chunk, on CLAIMED LAND. So, you are really actually using a 14x14 chunk instead of the full 16x16, as part of it will be your walls.
Even before building your walls, you should set a faction home with /f sethome, so you can teleport back to it, if you were to die or get lost.
Lastly, even if you are not building underground, have a roof. It may not look good if you want a city, but trust me. A roof is the only way to hold back an Enderpearl, or someone pillaring.
Now that you have gotten your base set up, it is time to build on the inside. First, is your faction home. What I recommend, is that it is a one way access. Build it on a high platform with a pool on the bottom, build it with a one way Iron door, whatever so that no-one can go back to the faction home without typing /f home. The only opening in the room is an Exit, no Entrance. This way, if your base is under attack, they can't get to your faction home and spawnkill you over and over again. Another thing to have in your faction home room is some sort of chest, stocked up with food and weapons. Room, not chunk. A chest where you can easily open before going out to your other chunks. This way, you can kill the attackers in your base. The faction home may even be your storage.
Remember, less chunks are better. So it is recommended to actually build rooms on the faction home chunk, instead of on new claimed chunks. These rooms are generally required: A storeroom, a food farm, and  a water and lava source. Those are basically it. I do not recommend putting a mine near your base, or on your base. Mines may be big, and may connect to caverns. Someone can easily go into the wilderness parts of your mines and infiltrate your base.
The last thing I recommend about your base, is doors and trapdoors. Try to put them everywhere. This can make it hard for the attacker to move around, as they cannot open them. Put them in anywhere you can. For doors going out your base and going out of your faction home room, put pressure plates so you and your faction members don't have to worry about closing them, as they will close on their own.
Remember, to defend your faction, think about how they can infiltrate. Remember, that they cannot break or place blocks inside claimed land, nor use chests, doors and containers. They can, however use pressure plates, levers and buttons.

Expanding your faction

Now that you got a base, you are ready to start recruiting. I never recommend you to leave the faction to open, as anyone can join, spy on your coordinates, and betray you. Instead, look and see which people you think you might trust, and may fit your faction's style. People generally join the biggest faction or the most powerful, so a reputation may help.
There will be a time when you, the faction's admin cannot be there to lead the faction. This is when you need to appoint faction moderators. Here are a few things Moderators (And admins too) can do:
Set the faction home
Claim and unclaim land
Kick normal members
Set Faction's relationships with other Factions
Change Tag/Name
Change Description
Appoint titles
These are  the things only the Admin can do:
Promote/demote Mods
Hand over Adminship
Set ownership of claimed lands
Kick Mods
Disband the faction
Be careful with moderators, even one untrustworthy moderators can destroy your faction, with unclaiming and inviting enemies. Also, remember your power. While one new member adds another 10 power, one new member can take 20 away too.

Raiding

Now, you are feeling confident with your faction. First, what is your reason for raiding? Do you wish for some more resources, perhaps getting some more diamonds? Did the faction or their people anger you in some way? Did they attack or declare war on you? Or are you just wishing to have bloodshed? Most Faction battles follow these steps:
They attack each other, try to infiltrate the other's base, kill each other, claim land,  and steal. However, your reason may determine how the war will end and how you will win. If you are just raiding for more goods, your goal is to just get that chest, steal, and leave, perhaps returning their land and tools to them, so you can re-farm them again later. If you are waging a total war, you may end up griefing, keeping land, or even utterly destroying the enemy faction.
First, a war starts with a target. If you are raiding for resources, obviously you should go search for a faction that is rich, and easy to attack. /f list is a most useful tool for all attackers. If an enemy has a lot of people, but less land, obviously they will be an extremely hard faction to kill. You even need a majority of their members to be on, just so you can kill enough people to lower enough power. What you should search for, is a faction with reputation, and with a lot of lands claimed. One thing I extremely recommend, is stalk other faction's information. Use /f list and /f show regularly on factions, especially potential raiding targets. Not only does it show their claimed lands and their power, it can also allow you to see when a faction is vulnerable to claiming. Use /f show all the time. Use it before raiding, and during raiding to see when you have killed enough people so you can start stealing land.
There are 3 numbers in /f list. Like I shown before, it would be something like 4/10/10. When the 2nd digit is lower then the 1st digit, they are vulnerable to claiming. You might even just win a raid without killing their people, by just checking the /f list and seeing their power drops. Not many people realize that they are dying multiple times and that their power is actually getting low.
Now that you have a target, you have to find their base to attack. The best thing to do is just wander around, with /f map on, until you find some claimed land on the map, or try to deceive them or someone else into giving you the coordinates. Once you got the coordinates, remember them, write them down somewhere. The 2nd step is to get into the base and start your kills. The one thing I do not recommend, is to declare your faction as an enemy until right before you jump down and start your kill. Keep your faction neutral, so you do not provoke your enemy and alert them. Like I said before, there are many ways to get in a base. All bases have flaws, no matter how defensive it is or how impenetrable they claim. Leap over walls with an Enderpearl. If their walls are near the wilderness, pillar up and jump over them. If TNT and Fire is enabled, blast open a hole or burn them down by placing nearby wood. Alternatively, you can look down at the ground and see if you can find any name tags walking around. It could probably be their mines, which you can break into from the wilderness and sneak up into their base. The main thing, is remember to sneak and press shift at ALL TIMES. Last thing, however you break in, remember to try not to let the enemy know. This way, they won't seal it up. And if you find multiple flaws, alternate between them. Flee/exit with teleportation (/f home, /spawn, etc.), not back through your hole if you can. Just dig around the wilderness around their base, and you may eventually find a tunnel or a careless mistake. Lastly, if they got a Nether portal, it's bound to be the one first created near their area. Just create another Nether portal, go into the Nether, go back through the portal, and (hopefully) you are in their base.
Now that you find your flaw, it is time to attack. Remember, the only way to capture land is to kill. It is always good to attack at a time when the enemy is least prepared, such as when they are mining, and when a lot of their members are on. Remember, sneak before attacking. Also, remember, remain in a neutral relationship. Once you are ready to leap down and attack, quickly switch to /f enemy. Make sure you faction is an enemy, or you won't be able to damage them, and you may lose your element of surprise. For more tips on PVPing, go here.
Now, the main goal when attacking is to kill your enemy. But also remember, you cannot open doors, containers, or build and destroy blocks, and your damage is reduced by 30%.

Tips

1. Deceive your enemies with tricks. Maybe offer an alliance and then offer to go to their base.
2. If being attacked, and only you declared war with /f enemy, you can quickly /f neutral the attacker so that they can't damage you, allowing you to get an easy kill.
3. Remember to stalk other factions. Type /f list and /f show routinely, so you can see if an opportunity arrises.
4. One of the best time to attack, is if your enemy has already died multiple times. This way, you will only have to kill less.
5. Remember, if you or your faction is low on power, avoid dying, so avoid doing dangerous activities until your power regenerates. Also, typing /spawn and /f home can help you escape getting killed. You cannot type /f home if you are on enemy territory and if their is an enemy nearby.
6. Take notice of your surroundings. Do you see any players or name tags moving? Use the enemy base's environment to your advantage. You can easily snipe enemies from high city walls.
7. Remember, you cannot open enemy doors. Many times careless factions may leave their doors open, allowing you to walk in.
8. Likewise, remember to close doors and trapdoors in your own base. Add pressure plates for automatic closing on one way exits.
9. To make it extra hard for an enemy to navigate around, put as many one way exits as you can, such as dropping into a pool of water instead of ladders.
10. Put doors around your Nether portal so enemies cannot use it to get into your base.
11. When stealing land from enemies, you cannot claim chunks that have 4 other chunks surrounding it. The border chunks must be claimed first. 

Minecraft Essentials

USER[white names in game] and above:
/help - displays the help menu for commands in game (this actually works now)
/me [message] - displays a message as an emote
/spawn - Teleports you to spawn
/mail [read|clear|send] [to] [message] - read your in game mail, clear your inbox, send an in-game mail to a player
/motd - displays the logon message
/afk - sets you into afk mode
/kill - kill yourself
/msg || /tell || /m [player] [message] - sends a private message to another logged-on player
/rules - display the basic server rules
/ping - PONG!
/compass - displays your current bearing
/depth - in game altimeter
/getpos - display your exact position on the map
/realname - if you have been assigned a nickname, it will display your real logon name
/helpop - sends a query to all online ops (I wouldn't recommend using this, you'll get a faster response via any other medium)
--teleportation--
/tp [Player] - Teleports to player
/tptoggle - enables/disables other players from teleporting to you (can be overridden by admins)
/tpa - request a teleport to a player
/tpaccept - accept a pending teleport request
/tpdeny - deny a pending teleport request
/list || /who || /L - lists all connected players
--home commands--
/home - Teleports you home
/home set - Sets your home to your current position
/home delete - become homeless
/home [playername] - teleports you to said player's home (if you are invited)
/home list - show all homes you are allowed to go to
/home ilist - show all players invited to your home
/home invite [player] - invite [player] to your home
/home uninvite [player] - and STAY out!
/home public - invite everyone to your home
/home private - get some privacy
/home point - displays the direction to home (broken atm)
--block protection--
(works on: Chests, Dispensers, Furnaces, Doors, Signs)
This part can get really complicated, so I'll just leave this here.
However, the most common uses are:
/cprivate - make the next block you click private
/cpublic - make the next block you click public
/cpassword <password> - creates a passworded block
/cunlock <Password> - unlock a block with the correct password
--Economy--
(Keep in mind that names are case-sensitive for the economy commands)
/money - shows you how much money you currently have
/money rank (player) - Show the economic ranking of yourself (or other player)
/money top (amount) - who has the most minecash?
/money pay <player> <amount> - give money to another player
/gsworth || /gsprice - display the current selling price for gold

DEPUTY(3) and above:
/kick [player] <reason> - kick said player, with a reason if desired
/nick <target> [nickname] - set nickname for said player
/tphere <player name> - teleport said player to your location
/whois [player] - display detailed information about a player
/burn <player> <duration> - ignites the specified player for x seconds
/ext <player> - extinguish flames on said player
/kill <player> - slay the specified player
/togglejail || /tjail [player] [jailname] - sends or removes said player from the specified jail point

ADMIN(4) and above:
/clearinventory <player> - clears your inventory or the inventory of the specified player
/banip [Player] - Bans the player's IP
/unbanip [IP] - Unbans the IP
/ban [Player] <Reason> - Bans the player
/unban [Player] - Unbans the player
/time [Time|day|night] - Changes time
/plugin <list> [enable|disable|reload] <plugin name> - actions for plugin states
/essentials - reloads essentials configuration
/reloadall || /rel - reloads all plugins
/spawnmob [mobname] <amount> - works for hostile and peaceful creatures, also, creature names are case sensitive (e.g. Creeper)
/whitelist [operation (add or remove)/toggle] [player]
/tpo <player> - force teleport to player (ignores tp status)
/tpohere <player> - force player to tp to your location (ignores tp status)
/tppos <x> <y> <x> - teleport to a specific location
/broadcast <message> - broadcast a message to all online players
--Economy--
/money grant <player> <amount> - Give said player some minecash (use negative amount to take away funds)
/money set <player> <amount> - Forcefully sets a player's account balance to the specified value
/money hide <player> <true/false> - Toggle the visibility of an account
/money create <player> - Create a player's account
/money remove <player> - Delete a player's account
/money reset <player> - Resets a player's account
/money stats - shows a general overview of economic statistics
/gsreset || /gsclear - resets the worth of gold to it's base value (does nothing on our server, which has static pricing)
--griefer control--
(again, this part is a little complicated, so i'll link you to the command guide)
some basic examples:
/bb here <username> <range>- show recent activity within your current area, [range] can increase the default radius, you can also filter out only changes made by a particular player
/bb rollback <player> - undo all modifications said player has done to the envirionment

ROOT(5) commands:
(EVERY command is available to root/ops, I can't remember them all but here are some root only commands)
/item [ID] [Amount] <Player> - Gives items to you or others
/give [player] [item|item:damage value] <amount> - give a player an item
/setspawn - Sets the spawn point to your position.
/setjail [jailname] - creates a jail at your current location
/gc - display chunk, memory, and world info
/antioch - blow up that thing you're pointing at
/god - toggle god mode
/heal <player >- heal yourself or other player
/jump - teleport to your crosshair's location