An introduction to Monolith Servers Dark RP
Monolith Servers is a fully custom GMOD Dark RP server where you can play as a Government employee (cop, medic, etc), Civilian employee (city worker, mono-eats driver, etc), Criminal (mugging, raiding, drug production, etc) and as a self-employed civilian (fishing, cooking, growing crops, etc). In this article, I will be reviewing the main parts of the server including the good and bad so you will have a full picture of what the server has to offer.
Server features and overall development
Monolith is completely custom, so it should come as no surprise when I tell you that it is an incredibly well-developed server. Some of the main custom features of Monolith are:
Fishing system
Drug manufacturing system
Cooking system
Farming system
Vehicles/garage system
Police gear/roles (including the undercover detective role)
Ems/revival system
Combat system
Org/gang turf system
Weapons/attachments as well as the weapon crafting system
Clothing
With all of these features, Monolith is easily one of the most well-developed GMOD servers out there.
Combat, police, and criminal roleplay
Combat on the server is unique. Unlike servers such as Perpheads which take a more realistic approach to combat where a headshot will kill someone instantly, on Monolith, players are somewhat like bullet sponges. 2-3 headshots can sometimes be required to do someone in, even with class 3s (full auto firearms). That being said this does make combat longer and more drawn out which some people may like however, it isn’t for everyone. In ways of healing, there are medkits, which can massively prolong combat if people are correctly taking cover and also armor.
Criminal roleplay is fairly enjoyable on Monolith with multiple possible raid locations including 2 banks, a jewelry store, and a gas station.
There is no shortage of guns to choose from on the server with a wide variety of attachments available for each one including handguns, submachine guns, machineguns, melee weapons, snipers, and shotguns.
Police gameplay on the server is meh. Players will shoot you over anything even something as simple as a routine traffic stop. They will also always flee, often in cars that reach speeds that far exceed what the PD has access to. The PD do get some interesting weaponry however such as the beanbag shotgun which will knock people out but not kill them and Swat gets grenades. The PD also gets access to a bunch of automatic rifles and handguns as well as medicine and armor.
The most fun I have had while playing as a cop on Monolith was in the detective role which allows you to carry a handgun and wear civilian clothes. However, you will be constantly gunned down by fellow PD members and will consistently lose gunfights due to you having only a handgun. The detective role also requires “Premium Membership” which is 10 USD monthly.
Making Money
It’s fairly easy to make money on Monolith in both illegal and legal ways. For the legal ways, you have all your jobs as well as farming, fishing, cooking, mining, gunsmithing, etc. For criminal ways, you have raiding, mugging, robberies (Banks, the jewelry store, and the gas station), and also drug manufacturing.
Cooking and farming are linked. You grow the required plants and then cook the recipe on a stove. For farming, you simply grow the highest level plant you possibly can and keep going until you reach the top (cocoa) and grow that and make a lot of money. You can also grow weed and coca (for cocaine).
Mining and gunsmithing are also linked. You go to the mine and mine whatever is required for the guns smelt the ores, and craft the guns with a factory conveyor. If you aren’t crafting guns you simply want to mine titanium for its high sell price. If you are not at a high enough level for titanium then mine the highest level ore you can. The best place for titanium mining is in the secret spot which is located under the city draw bridge and then go to the side that’s opposite the pd and swim to the right until you see a hole. You might want to buy a diving mask for your first time doing this in case you mess up and drown. You can buy diving masks from the hardware store. Once you find the mine entrance you want to take the first left. There is also another mine in l2.
For fishing you head on down to the docks and buy bait and cast your rod. As you level up and unlock new baits you can get bigger fish. Cooking the fish increase the sell price to the NPC (located at the docks).
For robberies I don’t have the most expertise however this is what I know. You can rob the gas station (Layer 1) and the jewelry store and the bank (l2) with a drill, lockpick and a bag. All of these can be purchased from the contraband dealer which is located behind the gas station on l2 and in an alley behind the PD in layer one. For the bank (L1), you must first rob the jewelry store to acquire a keycard.
For mugging/robbing player houses you need a lockpick and zip ties (which you can buy at the contraband dealer). Mugging is no longer viable due to the removal of “fear rp” meaning your victim doesn’t have to comply and therefore never will. Robbing involves lockpicking into player houses and taking everything and shooting anyone who is armed. Both are more for fun than money.
Producing drugs is the most profitable criminal activity. Everything you need can be purchased from the contraband dealer/drug dealer. The drug dealer can spawn in a few locations, once is behind the pd under the draw bridge and the other is in the subway out the front of casino. There are others but I don’t know them. You can make LSD right away however the downside to LSD is that it can blow up at random (even if you follow all the steps correctly). Once you are a high enough level you can make cocaine which involves farming coca and turning it into cocaine. A guide for how to make all drugs including meth, weed, cocaine, and LSD can be found below:
LSD Guide, Cocaine Guide, Meth Guide, and Weed Guide.
Server admins, upper management, and player base
Monolith server’s player base
If I was to sum up the monolith player base in one word it would be “Awful”. Essentially everyone on Monolith is there to have an ego contest. There is no Roleplay like you would find on Perheads it’s essentially a non-stop fragging simulator. If you play for more than 10 minutes you will understand what I am saying here.
Monolith server’s admins and upper management
The server used to be owned by a guy called “Gura” and was recently sold to a guy called “Sushi”. Under Gura, the server slowly started to die due to the problems with the player base, but most importantly the incompetency of the staff team and their blatant corruption. When Sushi took over players were excited to see if this would change but unfortunately, this hasn’t. The staff team is untrained, aggressive, and downright corrupt. Almost every staff member has their own interpretation of the “rules” which makes it hard to consistently be on the right side of them and you will constantly be in admin sits where staff members won’t listen to you or berate you. If you decide you have had enough and wish to report it on the forums your report will be mishandled and neglected as you can see from my report where the staff member who handled it didn’t address my main point: My admin report. Over all the admin team is very poor and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better.
Conclusion
Overall monolith is a highly developed server with an awful staff team and toxic player base. It’s a shame really as this server has a lot of potential due to its unique experience but as of right now, it is an absolute mess. Also, the premium subscription which is 10 dollars a month is fairly pay to win as certain jobs are completely unavailable without it as well as a lot of cool perks and clothes. Thanks for reading and check out my other game guides and reviews!