Adding CivBot to a server¶

A server admin adds CivBot to a Discord server: adds the bot and sets the game history channel, the game gathering channel and the moderator role. Then a moderator places the game panel and players create games.

What you need¶

The “Manage Server” permission — you need it to add the bot to the server and to run /guild config, which sets the channels and the moderator role.
The “Administrator” permission or the server's moderator role — you need one of the two to place the game panel with /moderator panel. The server owner has all Discord permissions automatically.
The CivBot invite link — you use it to add the bot to the server.
Two text channels — one for gathering cards, the other for game threads. You can create new ones or use existing ones.
Player access to the channels — players can see the channel with the game panel, the game gathering channel and the game history channel. In a game thread they post the Steam link and finish the game with /game finish. On a server that works with the CivBot site, a player in the game can also finish it on the site: see Finishing a game on the site. To write in a game thread, players need the “Send Messages in Threads” permission in the game history channel.

Bot permissions in channels¶

The bot works in several channels, and each one needs its own Discord permissions. Give them before the first game, in the channel settings on the permissions tab.

Channel	What the bot does there	Permissions the bot needs
Game gathering channel	Sends and updates gathering cards with nation emoji	“View Channel”, “Send Messages”, “Embed Links”, “Use External Emojis”
Game history channel	Creates a thread for each game, writes in it and removes the message with the Steam link	“View Channel”, “Create Public Threads”, “Send Messages in Threads”, “Embed Links”, “Read Message History”, “Manage Messages”, “Use External Emojis”
The channel with the game panel	Places the panel and updates the game list every 5 min	“View Channel”, “Send Messages”, “Read Message History”
The channel where you run `/guild config`	Updates the settings card fields after you pick an item in the menu	“View Channel”, “Embed Links”, “Read Message History”

Saves in the game thread are available on a server that works with the CivBot site: players drop a save file into the game thread, and the bot adds the reactions ⏳, then ✅ or ❌ under the message. For the reactions to appear, the bot also needs the “Add Reactions” permission in the game history channel. See Save in the game thread.

Steps¶

Add the bot to the server. Open the CivBot invite link and pick your server. The bot registers the server itself; there is no separate command for it. If the bot was removed earlier, it comes back with its previous settings, ratings and game numbering. Check: the bot appears in the server's member list.
Prepare two channels. The bot sends gathering cards to the game gathering channel. In the game history channel it creates a thread for each game after the start. Both must be regular text channels, because the settings menu offers only those. Give the bot the permissions from the table Bot permissions in channels. Check: in the permissions of both channels, everything listed in the table is turned on for the bot.
Open the settings card. Run /guild config in a text channel where the bot can view the channel and read the message history. The bot posts a card in English titled “Configure your server!” with a “Select what you want to configure ...” menu and a “Delete this message” button. The menu stops responding after 3 min without action; then run the command again. Check: the card shows your server's name at the top, and fields that are not set yet say “Not set”.
Set the game history channel. In the menu under the card, pick “Channels”. The bot privately sends a channel picker that disappears after 60 s. In the “History channel...” menu, pick the game history channel. Check: the “🏛️ Lobbies history channel:” field on the card shows the channel you picked.
Set the game gathering channel. In the same private message, in the “Active games channel...” menu, pick the game gathering channel. If the message is already gone, pick “Channels” under the card again. Check: the “🚀 Lobbies active games channel:” field shows the channel you picked.
Set the moderator role. In the menu under the card, pick “Roles”, then pick a role in the private “Moderator role ...” menu. This menu also disappears after 60 s. The bot treats the server owner, members with the “Administrator” permission and everyone who has this role as moderators. You give the role to members like any other Discord role. Check: the “Moderator:” field shows the role you picked.
Place the game panel. Run /moderator panel in the channel where players will create games. You need the “Administrator” permission or the moderator role for this. The bot posts a panel with the buttons “FFA”, “Duel”, “Player Stats” and “Info” and a list of recent games; the command gets no separate reply. See Game panel. Check: press “Info” on the panel, and the private card shows the lines “Games history channel: #…” and “Game collection channel: #…”. The bot writes this card in the language of your Discord client, so a client set to another language shows these lines in that language.
Create a trial gathering. Press “FFA” on the panel. In the private “Choose game type” message, press “Vanilla”, “Patch” or “KEK”. Check: a gathering card with the state “Gathering” appears in the game gathering channel, and you are the first player on it.
Cancel the trial gathering. Press 🗑️ on the gathering card: the gathering disappears and the game gets no number. Check: the gathering card is no longer in the game gathering channel.

What should be ready¶

The bot is among the server's members
The game gathering channel and the game history channel are text channels that players can see
The bot has the permissions from the “Bot permissions in channels” table in each of its channels
The /guild config card has the fields “🏛️ Lobbies history channel:”, “🚀 Lobbies active games channel:” and “Moderator:” filled in
The moderator role is given to those who will manage games
The game panel is in a channel that players can see
“Info” on the panel shows both channels
The trial gathering card appeared in the game gathering channel and then disappeared after 🗑️

What else you can set up¶

Leaderboard — a moderator runs /leaderboard show in the channel where the current season's leaderboard should stay. The bot updates it every hour, and a new command removes the previous leaderboard. In this channel the bot needs “View Channel”, “Send Messages”, “Embed Links”, “Read Message History” and “Use External Emojis”. Check: the bot replies “Leaderboard has been created!”, and a “Топ игроков” leaderboard appears in the channel. See Leaderboard.
Event log — a moderator runs /guild log_channel with the channel option, and the bot records gathering and game events there. The same command without the option turns the log off. In this channel the bot needs “Send Messages” and “Embed Links”, otherwise no entries arrive. Check: the bot replies “Log channel set to #… successfully.”, and when someone creates a game on the panel, the log shows an entry “🎮 Game Created”. See Event log.
Gathering notifications — so that game participants can call in new players with the “Notify gathering” button on a gathering card, a moderator runs /guild notifications configure with the channel option. You can also set: cooldown_minutes — the cooldown between notifications of one game, 3–60 min, 15 min by default; role — the role the bot mentions; restricted_role — a role whose members can't send notifications. Check: the bot replies “Gathering notifications configured.”, and /guild notifications status shows “Ready”. See Setting up gathering notifications.
Bot language — the bot writes gathering cards, the panel and the log in the server's primary language, which you change in the Discord server's community settings. Ukrainian, Russian and English are supported; for other languages the bot writes in English. The bot writes the game panel's private replies in the Discord client language of the person who pressed the button. The panel button labels stay in the language the server had when you ran /moderator panel, so place the panel again after changing the language. See Bot language.

Settings card fields¶

The fields “🏛️ Lobbies history channel:”, “🚀 Lobbies active games channel:” and “Moderator:” are set in steps 4–6. The table describes the other four fields on the card.

Field	What it shows	How to set it
«Steam Game (ID) for manage SteamLinks:»	A Steam game with its ID; Civilization V by default. The field doesn't change how the bot reads Steam links: it always accepts `steam://joinlobby/…` links of Civilization V	A moderator runs `/guild steam_game_id` with the `game_id` option; the bot replies “Done ✅” or “Failed ❌”
«🏆 Lobbies leaderboard channel:»	The leaderboard channel; “Not set” if no leaderboard was placed	The `/leaderboard show` command in the channel you want
«Autobans:»	A list of nations that the bot assigns to the server at registration; it doesn't affect bans in the server's games	The settings menu has no item for it
«Autobans count:»	A number from the server settings (2 by default); it doesn't affect the number of bans in a game	The settings menu has no item for it. Ban limits are set by the game type, see Creating a game

What can go wrong¶

“Info” on the panel replies “History channel is not set”. The server has no game history channel. Set it in /guild config → “Channels” → “History channel...”.
The /guild config card is titled “Guild not configured”. The bot hasn't registered the server yet. It does this when it is added, or on its next start if it wasn't running then. Wait a few minutes and run the command again.
/guild config replies “You don't have permissions to do that!”. This command needs the Discord “Manage Server” permission. The reply disappears after 3 s.
/moderator panel replies “Moderator role not set. Please contact server administrator.” or “You are not moderator.”. You have neither the “Administrator” permission nor the moderator role. Set the moderator role in /guild config and give it to the person who will place the panel.

This page was translated with AI and checked against the bot's terms.