# Storm Hosting

> Small-scale, high-quality Minecraft hosting with real support from an experienced developer. Not a corporate hosting provider, but a personal side project focused on performance and expertise.

## 🎯 The Goal
Storm Hosting exists to provide a premium, low-friction experience for a handful of customers (6–10 total). The project is designed to cover the overhead of a high-end dedicated server while trading technical expertise for a small monthly fee.

## 🧠 Core Philosophy
- **Help is the Product**: You aren't just buying a server; you are buying the 7+ years of experience needed to fix crashes, optimize modpacks, and manage technical headaches.
- **Strictly Personal**: There are no support bots or offshore teams. Every interaction is handled personally by the developer, Astro.
- **Quality over Quantity**: By keeping the customer base tiny, the hardware remains unstressed and the support remains immediate.
- **No BS / No Fluff**: No hidden fees, no corporate terminology, and no overpromising. Just honest hosting for people who care about their world's performance.

## 💡 Positioning
Storm Hosting is for players who are tired of "cheap" hosts with overloaded hardware and robotic support. It is positioned as a small, efficient system that prioritizes technical stability and hands-on help.

## 🧱 The Infrastructure
- **Premium Hardware**: High-frequency i7-8700K processor and 32GB of RAM.
- **Reliability**: Daily automated backups and basic uptime monitoring.
- **Modern Management**: Full access to the Pelican panel, providing total control over the console and file manager.
- **Network**: Optimized US-East routing for North American communities.

## 💰 Hosting Plans
- **Small ($6/mo)**: 3GB RAM – Ideal for Vanilla or light modded play with up to 10 players.
- **Standard ($10/mo)**: 5GB RAM – Balanced for common modpacks and up to 25 players.
- **Modded ($15/mo)**: 8GB RAM – Built for large groups and heavy, complex modpacks.

## 🔄 How it Works (The Flow)
Storm Hosting uses a hybrid Discord-centric system to keep things simple:
1. **Request**: Select a plan and fill out the initial request on the site (including linking your Discord account via OAuth2).
2. **Submission**: Form data (Discord token, plan, server name) is sent via POST to `http://localhost:3002/api/submit`.
3. **Discord Link**: Join the Discord server and link your request to a private ticket channel.
3. **Consultation**: Discuss specific needs (mods, versions, subdomains) directly with Astro.
4. **Setup**: Once confirmed and paid (via Stripe), the server is provisioned manually within minutes.
5. **Support**: Continuous, direct access for troubleshooting and optimization.