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OVERVIEW

N-Day is an opportunity for nations to come together and exchange nuclear weapons in a fiery Armageddon of mutually assured destruction.

To Participate

1. Once registration opens, you can create or join a Faction. Nations outside a Faction can't attack or be attacked. You can join a Faction when you're ready and leave when you're not (to stay safe).

2. When the event begins, nations will be assigned a random Specialty and begin to accumulate Production. You will now be able to spend Production, fire nukes and deploy shields.

3. Watch your nation automatically generate Production at a rate of 1 every 2 minutes. Use it to build Nukes and Shield.

4. Launch Nukes at other nations and use Shield to shoot down Nukes that are launched at you.
   

Tactics

The simplest way to play N-Day is to join whichever Faction seems most fun and start targeting Nukes at its enemies while shooting down anything incoming. Your Faction page's icon bar shows everything you need to know, including who's targeting anyone in your Faction, and who your fellow Faction members are targeting.

Attacking: Step by Step

1. On your Production screen, spend some of your Production to build Nukes. These go into your Stockpile.

2. On another nation's Nuke page, click/tap the TARGET button and select the number of Nukes to use.

3. Once Targeted, it takes 10 minutes for your Nukes to reach a READY state (3 for Intel Specialists). Note that your Targeted page is public: All nations can see who is targeting whom.

4. When your Targeted Nukes are ready, click/tap LAUNCH.

5. Your Nukes are now categorized as Launches for you and Incoming for your target. Launched Nukes take 3-5 minutes to reach their target. When they do, they earn Strikes for you and inflict Radiation on the target, which reduces their rate of Production. This also earns Score for your Faction and reduces the enemy Faction's Score.

Defending: Step by Step

1. On the Production screen, spend Production to build Shield.

2. Find Launched Nukes to destroy. Your top priority is any Incoming Nukes launched at you. Secondarily, you may wish to target Incoming Nukes on anyone in your Faction (see your Faction's Incoming page), and also keep an eye on Targeted Nukes that may threaten you or your Faction in the near future.

3. Click/tap DESTROY to deploy 1 Shield per Nuke.

Strategy

Strategically, it may be wise to avoid attacks on nations or Factions until you are confident of obliterating them, since this eliminates the possibility of counter-attack. Smaller-scale attacks, which damage but don't destroy an enemy, can lead to an escalating series of grudge-related nuclear exchanges.

On the other hand, targeting an enemy can be an effective warning. And it takes Nukes 10 minutes to be ready to launch, so you can't leave it too late.

Scoring

Each Nuke that reaches a target causes Radiation damage, which reduces the target's rate of Production generation and counts as a Strike for the attacker.

A Faction's Score is Strikes minus Radiation.

Duration

N-Day lasts for 24 hours, after which point, an Arms Control Agreement means that no Nukes can be launched. (In-flight nukes can still land, however.)

The "winner" is the Faction with the highest score; if, that is, nuclear war can be said to have a winner. Which we say it can. It's the Faction with the highest score.

FACTIONS

Once registration opens, Factions can be founded by a Regional Officer of any region. Any and all Regional Officers of that region can update the Faction's official text to issue instructions to Faction members.

Factions can be made open to all members, or restricted to the region's members only.

You can leave your Faction, which is a good way to stay safe if you're signing off for the night. However, you can only do this if you're not engaged with the enemy! That means:

• You must not have any nukes targeted or launched at another nation; and

• No nukes can be targeted or incoming on you.

Note that in practice, this can make it challenging to leave a Faction, since you may be frequently targeted.

While outside a Faction, you cannot be targeted, and do not generate any Production.

Before joining, it's worth making sure a Faction isn't currently under mass bombardment.

SPECIALTIES

Nations are randomly assigned a specialty.

Military Specialists build Nukes faster: They receive 50% more Nukes when converting Production.

Strategic Specialists build Shield faster: They receive 50% more Shield when converting Production.

Economic Specialists can accumulate more Production: Their production cap is four times larger than the other specialties.

Intel Specialists can finalize targets faster: Their targetted nukes reach READY in 3 minutes instead of 10. They have no Production advantages.

PRODUCTION
Non-WA nations automatically generate Production at a rate of 1 Production per 2 minutes, up to a maximum of 50 (200 for Econ Specialists).
WA nations automatically generate Production at a rate of 10 Production per 2 minutes, up to a maximum of 150 (600 for Econ Specialists).

Production can be spent on Nukes or Shield.

WA NATIONS
World Assembly members will accumulate Production 10x faster than non-WA members, and have their Production limits increased by 3x.
It is allowed to switch WA membership to receive this benefit for different nations, but (as per regular site rules) you are only allowed to have one nation in the WA at a time.
Keep in mind that if your Production is over the non-WA limit when you resign membership on a nation, the Production on that nation will decrease down to the limit (i.e. if you resign with 75 Production on a non-Econ nation, the Production will drop to 50).

We ask that you refrain from switching WA for N-Day purposes more than once every two minutes. You will not be punished for this, but it is against the spirit of this change to the event mechanics.

NUKES

Nukes are purchased with Production, kept in stockpile until ready, then targeted and launched at an enemy nation.

Launched Nukes take 3-5 minutes to reach their target. While in-flight, they can be shot down by any nation using Shield. If they're not, each Nuke generates 1% of Radiation in the target and earns 1 Strike for the attacker.

SHIELD

Shield can be used to knock out Launched Nukes. You can shoot down any in-flight Nukes regardless of who they are aimed at.

Locate in-flight Nukes under Launches or Incoming, and use the DESTROY button to eliminate them at a rate of 1 Shield per Nuke.

It is possible to waste Shield if multiple nations deploy Shield simultaneously to knock out the same Nukes.

TARGETING

Target a nation by viewing their Nuke page and clicking/tapping TARGET. You may then select how many Nukes to target from your Stockpile.

It takes a short time for a Targeted Nuke to reach a READY state, after which it may be launched. This is normally 10 minutes, but Intel Specialists are faster, finalizing targets in only 3 minutes.

If not launched after 1 hour, Targeted Nukes automatically return to your Stockpile.

RADIATION

Radiation is generated in a nation when it is struck by a Nuke.

Radiation proportionately reduces a nation's Production generation rate. For example, 20% Radiation reduces Production generation by 20%.

When a nation is 100% Radiated, it is destroyed and no longer able to launch any Nukes nor use any Shield.

Radiation is irreversible.

You can leave a Faction when irradiated, but this does not affect your Faction's score.

SCORE

A Faction's score measures strikes and radiation that occurred while those nations were a member. It is unaffected by nations joining or leaving the Faction.

GLOSSARY

If you feel a piece of information should be here and it isn't, let Yenikader know and he'll credit you for it!

There are plenty of Z-Day Guides out there, but none of them have gained any of the widespread attraction like the N-Day Guide. Either because it's poorly made, information is missing, or it's more of a propaganda tool by a certain region. This Z-Day Guide will attempt to solve all those issues and make the community involved. More details are in the credits section.

Z-Day is an annual event on NationStates that takes place around Halloween._{More info in section 3.}
It's the time of year where the zombies rise from the rise to wreak havoc on all regions! There is no opt-out for Z-Day, unlike N-Day.
However, just like N-Day, the effects are only temporary, and after the event is over, it's like it never happened. Except for a news post after the event. That happens.
Regions may fall or thrive in this unique environment, depending on numerous factors.
The zombies make up most of the world population before they inevitably rot away, either from zombie starvation or human intervention, taking around 70%^[1] of the world's population with them.

Z-Day has its origins as an April Fools Day event, which has been a tradition of NationStates since 2004 when every nation's population count went down to 5 million. These events have gotten a lot more complicated (and less mean) than 17 years ago, and have changed NationStates in a number of ways. Many game mechanics/events have been introduced in these, including the World Assembly (2008)^[2], N-Day (2017), Trading Cards (2018), and finally, Z-Day, which debuted in 2013. Over the years, some obstacles have been introduced to make the game harder for those already experienced, but in general, it's still the same basic formula.


Okay, but how does it work?

I'm glad you asked.

When Z-Day begins, a tab on your nation's profile opens up called Zombie Control. From there, a special issue comes up with one of three options that looks something like this..

The population of your nation is split into three tabs: Alive/People, Zombies, and Dead. Everyone starts out Alive, but they will slowly turn into Zombies as the event progresses, in an S curve.^[3]
Eventually, the Zombies will starve and turn Dead. Once again, this happens on an S curve basis, mainly because zombies starve at mostly the same rate.

Choosing the Exterminate Zombies option will make superweapons that turn Zombies into Dead. This is generally faster but decreases the number of people that are alive.

Choosing the Research Cure option will make superweapons that turn Zombies into People. This is generally slower but keeps people alive.

Choosing the Embrace Zombies option will make superweapons that turn People into Zombies. This isn't for everyone, but there's always someone.

You can change your decision at any time provided you weren't turned into a zombie producer, and all your superweapon work gets saved.

Wait, superweapons? That's right.
After choosing one of the three options, the Superweapons tab opens up. This is most of the entire game in this single tab.
Superweapons take time to complete, but once they're done, you can use them as many times as you like.
This only applies to Extermination and Research, for Zombificiation is entirely dependent on how many zombies are in your nation.^[4]
Superweapons can be used every 20 seconds, except if you were struck by one, in which you can't use one for 2 minutes.
Trying to use a superweapon before the 20 seconds are up will reset the timer.
The higher the level of a superweapon, the more powerful it is, and bigger nations' superweapons are more effective than nations that are smaller.

What about if you get turned into a "zombie producer", like I've been mentioning?
If a zombie producer with a high enough superweapon hits you enough times, they can turn you into a zombie producer.
Turning nations into zombie producers freezes any progress they've made on extermination/curing, instead making new zombie progress.
Conversely, if a curer/exterminator hits a converted zombie producer enough times, they can reverse the zombie producer back to what they were previously.

Since you can't use superweapons on yourself, you have to use it on your regionmates. Likewise, they can use their superweapons on you.
You can also move regions, provided they are either free to enter or you can get through their barriers to entry.
In addition, a Founder or an executive WA Delegate can kick other members out of their region even during Z-Day.
But let's be honest. Doing that isn't really fun.


I'm hooked! When is Z-Day so I can participate?

Z-Day is a little inconsistent when it comes to timing. You won't always get the same time, or even a time at all.^[5]
With that said, in recent years, the time seems to be October 30th at 8:00pm UTC.^[6]
That doesn't mean it will always occur at that time! Always refer to the what the News says, and if it refuses to tell you, then probably nobody knows.
That just means you have to be constantly aware, or a friend will tell you, if you have any.



How do I play?


How do I get started?

It's somewhat simple to get started, really. The hard part is surviving.
Like I said earlier, when Z-Day starts, all nations that currently exist get a prompt on your Zombie Control asking them to either kill the undead, cure them, or become one. This includes you.
Exterminating is quick to produce superweapons for, but has the intended side-effect of killing the undead that was once people.
Curing is slow to produce superweapons for, and you may be overwhelmed by zombies before you can do so, but if you are able to, you can turn the undead back into regular people again.
Embracing zombies is entirely dependent on your zombie supply, and you may get destroyed before you get a chance, but you can wreak havoc on regions if you're strong enough.

Z-Day is not just about deciding what to do with the undead, it's also about regions. You can only interact with people in your region.
You can, however, move regions as many times as you wish.
However, unless you were in the region before Z-Day,^{[citation needed]} you cannot enter regions that are passcode protected without the correct passcode.
In many ways, you are at the mercy of either your region's executive WA's delegate, Founder, or both.
They can kick you out, kick others out, install a passcode, or let other nations come in.


What should I expect?

You can expect a few things. That you'll pick one of three options, as well as what you've come to expect from whoever's in your region.

DON'T LET YOUR GUARD DOWN
Zombies spread to nations in the same region. This means you always have to be aware of your region mates.
In addition, sometimes the game may itself change. In Z-Day 9, regions were plagued with an unknown start time and two interventions.
You must prepare for anything and everything to go wrong, because the zombie apocalypse is not your friend.

COMMUNICATION
If you have a particularly small and yet well-communicated region, you can use communication to your advantage.
Recommended programs to use include Skype and Discord. Others can be used, but you may experience problems in communication.
Use programs to tell where your superweapons need to strike, about any new threats, etc.
The larger the region, the less effective this becomes, as the more people you try to coordinate the same plan to, the more likely someone's going to mess something up. It doesn't mean it's impossible though.

RAIDING AND DEFENDING DURING Z-DAY
A similar thing to the cycle of raiding and defending happens during Z-Day as well.
If you're a particularly large zombie producer, and you enter into a weak unlocked region, you can effectively take over the region with zombies.
For regions that are vulnerable to large zombie producers, there's a simple fix. Just lock your region to outsiders.
It's not quite that easy, though. You need to make it so your password can't be guessed easily by raiders

PRO TIPS
The apocalypse usually lasts between 24-48 hours. (I can't remember how long exactly..)
Have a great timezone spread. Make it at least 1-2 people are online for every hour of the day. The more, the better. If you have a weak spot in your timezone spread, someone can exploit that.

CREDITS
Hoster: Yenikader
Inspiration: Frisbeeteria
Dispatch used for info: Greater hunnia
Minor Help: Borovan entered the region as he

FOOTNOTES

1. It depends on the year.

2. Except, this was the only one that wasn't a prank.. this actually happened.

3. The best way to see this is by seeing the overall Z-Day Tally.

4. Extermination/Research also partially depends on how many Dead/Alive people are in your nation, respectively.

5. This happened in Z-Day 1 (April 2013) and Z-Day 9 (2020), both for different reasons.

6. You're actually going to have to use a timezone converter for this one. It's so easy though, you can do it, I believe in you!

Fun Fact: The font family used for Z-Day is IM Fell English SC, and the font is Serif. However, I can't quite get it to display.