How do I change the tick speed on my Minecraft server?

The tick speed in Minecraft is really the random tick speed: how often per tick the game picks random blocks in a chunk to let them "grow" or change. Crops, trees, sugar cane, cacti, melting ice, spreading grass and fire burning out all depend on this rule. The default is 3. Set it higher and everything grows faster; set it to 0 and nothing grows any more.

From the panel console

1. Go to the game panel and click your server.
2. Open the Console tab.
3. Type gamerule randomTickSpeed 3 with the value you want instead of 3, and press Enter.
4. The console confirms the new value.

In-game the same command works with a slash, if you are OP. Gamerules apply per world; on a server with several worlds, run the command in the world it concerns.

Which value is sensible?

• 3 (default): the normal pace of survival.
• 5 to 10: noticeably faster farms without stressing the server. Pleasant on a small server where players do not want to wait hours for wheat.
• 20 to 50: crops grow in minutes; ice melts instantly in the sun and fire burns out in a flash. Meant for creative or event servers.
• 100 and up: for tests only. Every chunk near players then receives hundreds of random ticks per second, which can drag TPS down considerably.
• 0: nothing grows or changes any more; useful to "freeze" a build of leaves or grass.

What it costs in performance

Random ticks run in every loaded chunk around every player. With ten players and a view distance of 10, that is thousands of chunks per tick. A value of 10 is still fine there; above 50 you notice it in TPS on a busy server. If the server stutters after raising it, set the value back and read our article on TPS and MSPT to measure exactly where the time goes.

What tick speed does not affect

• The normal game speed: the game always runs at 20 ticks per second. Day and night, redstone, mobs and pistons do not change.
• Furnaces, brewing stands and hoppers: they work on fixed timers, not on random ticks.
• Animal growth and eggs hatching: those are entity timers, not block ticks.

If you want faster days, for example, that is a matter of setting the time or a plugin, not of tick speed.

Checking and resetting

Type gamerule randomTickSpeed without a value to see the current setting. The rule is saved in the world and remains after a restart; to go back to normal, set it to 3. A newly generated world starts at the default again.

If your crops still do not grow faster after raising it, check that they have light and water and that the chunk is loaded (crops far from every player do not grow). Still odd? Open a ticket.