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Dispatch → Meta → Reference
by 
The Incorporated States of Terrabod.
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905 reads.
Z-Day Survival Manual
Z-Day Survival Manual
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Zombies? In NationStates?
That's right - as with the brief exchange of nuclear weapons during the N-Day event in September, Z-Day is a NationStates minigame that takes place every year around Halloween (October 31st). The annual "zombie apocalypse" is influenced both by your actions as a member of Forest and by the actions of our region as a collective, so if you choose to take part it's important you listen to the coordinators' instructions and communicate well with your regionmates.
At the very beginning of the event, the number of zombies in your nation (and in the region) will rise rapidly, but if we all work together we have the ability to save all our citizens from joining the slobbering hordes of the undead. Our goal this year is to top the leaderboard for "Most Survivors + No Quarantine" (most living non-zombie citizens at the end of the event without Forest being password-protected during the event), an impressive feat that we achieved last year for the very first time.
The Horror! What Can I Do to Help?
If possible, try to be online when the event begins or soon after - this is a critical time for setting up our response to the disaster and starting to control the infection.
When the event starts, you'll be given three options: cure, embrace or kill.
Begin to research the cure straight away. You'll start stocking up "cure missiles" that, when launched at a friendly nation, will cure a portion of their zombies and turn those zombies back into happy, healthy citizens.
Do not try to kill the zombies, as unlike the cure this will just turn the target nation's zombies into dead people. Nations in Forest who start dispatching death squads will be ejected from the region until the event has ended.
Do not embrace the zombies, as this puts you and your fellow Forestians at risk of being totally overrun by the undead. Nations in Forest who embrace the zombies will be ejected from the region until the event has ended.
You can launch cure missiles, if you have them, at Forest nations with zombies only if those nations aren't currently doing anything. You should not launch cure missiles at Forestians who are currently trying to launch cure missiles of their own; being hit by cure missiles triggers a cooldown where the target cannot launch their own cure missiles.
Be sure to keep in contact with the coordinators and your regionmates! This is crucial if we want Forest to be at the top end of the leaderboard. It's best to communicate via the dedicated
Z-Day channel of our regional discord server, but if that's not possible you can remain in contact via the RMB. You should post:If you see a nation that's about to be overrun by zombies
If you find someone in Forest who has chosen to embrace the zombies or is dispatching death squads
If you need someone to fire cure missiles at your nation
To let others know you're trying to cure nation x
To let others know nation x has been cured
If you want someone to please just stop hitting you with missiles for one second please
Try also to keep an eye on the NationStates News Page - in the past, Max has sprung some rather unique surprises on us players during the event, so watch out for those. If you see something important, you should let the region know by notifying us on the
Z-Day discord channel and/or the RMB.
Useful Resources
🧟 LIST OF FOREST NATIONS WITH THE MOST ZOMBIES
🧟 LIST OF FOREST NATIONS WITH THE HIGHEST PROPORTION OF ZOMBIES
👁️ MULTI-PURPOSE TOOL FOR SPOTTING TRAITORS AND CURE-TARGETING
Other Common Questions
Do I need loads of puppets to join the Z-Day effort?
Nope. If, like me, you're not much of a "puppet person", you'll be glad to know that (unlike N-Day) during Z-Day the sheer number of nations we have isn't key to reaching the top of the leaderboard. Rather, regions with older, more populous nations do better (more citizens = more potential survivors) - in fact, more populous nations actually produce more potent cure missiles. In short, using one (or a few) older nations is infinitely more valuable than trying to manage dozens and dozens of puppets with only a few million citizens.
Of course, we have no rules against using puppets in Forest during Z-Day. If your puppets have considerably large populations, you could bring them in to bolster our population count. The benefit of bringing in hundreds of new puppets with only 10 million citizens is more questionable as these won't contribute much to our final rankings - and having to monitor and cure so many puppets could stretch our regional resources thin. I suppose the best advice is to do what you think is best and what you feel comfortable with.
Whuh? Dead people? How's that going to affect my nation after the event ends?
It won't. When Z-Day ends, the slate is wiped clean - everything will go back to normal as if you were waking from a bad dream. That means none of your stats, including population, will be affected.
Do I have to take part?
No, not if you don't want to. You have to opt-in to take part, so just ignore the event if you aren't interested. There might be some aesthetic changes to the site and to Forest, so just ignore those too. Last year a new way of hiding the event was introduced ("Settings -> No Zombies"), but it's impossible to tell if that mechanism will be brought back this time. It could be worth keeping an eye on the NationStates News Page, just in case.
The Coordinators
This year, coordinating will be done through a patchwork effort of ROs. Though not all ROs will be available at all times (and some may be totally unavailable), hopefully they'll be able to keep things moving and help you keep the outbreak at bay. It's their job to monitor incoming communication from participants, broadcast emergency announcements to aid the regional effort and, if necessary, use border control powers to protect the region. Feel free to get in touch with them during the event if you need assistance.
Jutsa (Supreme Commander)
The Cypher Nine (Vice Commander)
Verdant Haven (Chief of International Relations)
Terrabod (Chief Strategist)
Middle Barael (Chief of Propaganda)
Ownzone (Chief of Citizen Management)
Bananaistan (Chief Operational Executive)
Mount Seymour (Chief of Communications)
Daarwyrth (Chief of Information Containment)
Mozworld (Chief Director of Pretence)
Uan aa Boa (Exclusion Zone Enforcer)
Roless (Territorial Interdiction Enforcer)
Garbelia (Chief Casualty Counter)
Window Land (Chief Technology Officer)
Kepler-0085 (Chief of Fictitious Representation)
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