The earth shook violently, debris flying in the air.
Cats wailed as their lives were destroyed before their very eyes.
They had failed. The Doomsday Clock had struck zero.
(And soon, it would be time for it to count down once more.)
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Welcome to The Doomsday Clock, a Warrior Cats inspired command game!
In command games, you put a command like "/hunt" in the comments with the name of your cat character in parenthesis afterwards. Later, I will respond to the command with something like "[Cat] went hunting and caught 3 prey!" For a better idea on how this works, I recommend looking at the chapters with "Moon [number]" in the name first (or another command game of mine if you're seeing this before the game has started).
There are certain mechanics that will be explained. Many of these are like normal command games, but it's always helpful to know the specifics of a command game.
There will also be a "twist" that will be explained at the very end of this chapter after basics are introduced.
Updates and Moons
Hopefully every day, a new moon will start. Every moon, energy will be refilled and one prey will be eaten by each cat. Every moon can also have an event.
Energy and Commands
Energy determines how many commands you can use each moon. Normally, you have three energy, but the number of energy changes depending on injuries, statuses, past commands, and age. Some commands may take different amounts of energy, but it usually takes one energy per command.
Ranks of Cats
Cats have different ranks. They are mostly similar, though some have different amounts of energy, different commands, and different things they can do.
The leader is the first in command of the clan. They finalize decisions for mentors, can make announcements on the clan news section, and decide on punishments, but otherwise, they are a normal warrior. They have 3 energy.
The deputy is the second in command of the clan. They help make decisions for mentors, can make announcements on the clan news section, and help decide on punishments. The deputy is chosen by a majority vote out of the warriors, and they become the leader when the leader dies, though they are a normal warrior otherwise. They have 3 energy.
The medicine cats are the healers of the clan. They use their foraging and healing skills to heal injuries and sicknesses. They have 3 energy.
The warriors are the hunters and fighters of the clan, using their hunting and fighting skills. They have 3 energy.
The apprentices are warriors and medicine cats in training. They get their names and rank at 16 moons if they have a combined skill total of at least 5, and they have mentors to help train them until then. They have 2 energy.
Kits are the youngest members of the clan. They can't do anything except play, but if they play at least 5 times before they become apprentices, they will be level 1 in all their skills instead of level 0. They become apprentices between the age of 6 moons. They have 1 energy.
Queens are cats who have recently given birth. They have kits in the nursery, which they can name with their partner if they have one. They have no energy.
Each rank has a special role in the clan.
Hunting, Prey, and Hunger
To last even a couple of moons, you need prey. Prey feeds cats so they don't go hungry.
After one day of no food, a cat is hungry. After two days, they are starving and one energy gets taken away. After three days, they die.
When a cat with hunting skill goes hunting, they bring back prey for the clan to eat. The eating order is starving, hungry, kits, queens, healers, warriors, healer apprentices, warrior apprentices, deputy, then leader.
Foraging, Herbs, and Healing
Herbs are used for healing. To heal a cat, it takes a certain amount of herbs and one of the healer's energy.
To get herbs, a cat with foraging skill goes foraging.
Gathering, Sticks, and Building
Sticks are used for building. If a cat doesn't have a den they can sleep in, they will be sleep deprived and have one less energy. Dens take a different amount of sticks to build depending on what rank they house.
Building a den takes at least 3 cats doing the action and the sticks required for the den. Sticks can be collected by gathering.
Training Your Cat
To be more effective at tasks, a cat should train with it's mentor, a cat leveled higher in that skill, or alone. If two cats train, the one at the lower level will gain 0.5 in the skill that is being trained. The max level for every skill is 5.
Cats have three skills that they have, and the skills are chosen by the player when they sign up on the forms page. The five skills are hunting, fighting, foraging, healing, and gathering. The three skills determine what actions cats can use. For example, cats without hunting skill can't go hunting, but cats with hunting skill can.
Events, Attacks, and Patrolling
Sometimes there are events like attacks, floods, or twoleg traps. Different events have different effects, but they will be explained when they happen.
Attacks are a type of event that happens when a wild animal or cat attacks the clan. Usually, cats use /defend to protect the clan in the comment thread made for the attack, which would allow them and the attacker to roll an attack score based on their fighting skill. Healers can also participate by using /heal, and it will heal cats by double the healer's healing skill and using a number of herbs that is equal to half of the health healed. All cats can also use /hide to not be injured if the threat isn't defeated, though they won't be able to help defeat the attackers and may end up injured regardless if the attacker isn't defeated by the end of the moon.
To stop most attacks, cats need to keep the border as high as possible. To do this, cats can use the command "/patrol", which will raise the border by 0.25 for each cat. Keep in mind though, attacks may still happen when the border's strength is high, although not as frequently. Patrolling when the clan's population is less than 10 will grant a small chance of finding rogues that can be accepted into the clan.
Injuries and Sicknesses
Injuries and sicknesses should be healed. If they aren't, injuries will get infected and sicknesses will develop, both of which will eventually kill the cat.
If a cat is slightly injured or has a cough, they lose one energy. If a cat is injured or has whitecough, they lose two energy. If they are severely injured or have greencough, they lose three energy. A cat will stay at one level of injury for one moon without healing before moving onto the next.
Seasons and Weather
Different seasons have different effects with different pros and cons. Each season consists of three moons or days so twelve days is a year.
In new-leaf, hunting and foraging starts getting easier. However, floods happen more frequently due to melting ice.
In green-leaf, you get +1 herbs when you forage and +1 prey when you hunt. Blizzards and frosts never happen. However, forest fires and heat waves occur more frequently. This is also the time twolegs come to the forest so expect some twoleg traps. Due to the absence of recently fallen branches, when you gather, you get -1 sticks.
In leaf-fall, hunting and foraging get a bit harder. Due to falling branches, when you gather sticks, you get a +1 sticks. There is also a small chance of getting injured by a falling branch.
In leaf-bare, when you hunt or forage, you get -1 prey or -1 herbs. As it is easy to see where the sticks are, when you gather, you get +1 sticks. Rouge attacks happen more due to starvation, and fires happen a bit more due to the dryness.
Weather can also have effects, all bad. (The original text read "both good and bad", but there's really nothing helpful to the clan.) Although weather itself is usually unimportant and doesn't affect the game, it's possible for it to cause weather-related events, which will matter.
Sunny weather in green-leaf can bring a heatwave or a fire. Heatwaves take away one of each cat's energy and cause each cat who hunts or forages to find one less prey or herb while fires require cats to evacuate the camp and may destroy dens and resources.
Cloudy weather can bring heavy fog whatever the season. Foggy weather clouds vision and can cause cats to waste energy and miss attacks in battle.
Windy weather in leaf-fall can bring tornados, which require cats to take cover in dens and can destroy dens and resources.
Rainy weather in new-leaf can cause floods, and rainy weather whenever can cause thunderstorms. Floods require cats to evacuate the camp and can destroy dens and resources while thunderstorms cause each cat who hunts to find one less prey and gives cats a small chance (1%) to be struck by lightning when using commands that require leaving camp, which results in an equal chance at death or becoming severely injured.
In leaf-bare, rainy weather is replaced by snowy weather, which can cause blizzards. Blizzards cause an increased chance of sickness, and cats can get lost (which is essentially death) if they do commands that require leaving camp and aren't in a group.
Bonding and Breeding
Two cats can bond to become closer friends, and once they've bonded enough to become best friends, they can become mates. Once they're mates they can breed together (or with a third party if their biological genders are the same) for kits.
Cats who are mates can also search for kits (though this has a 25% chance of not working) or ask another cat to help. Cats without mates may also do this, though they only have a 50% chance of finding kits.
Crimes and Punishment
Because this game isn't focused on crime, there won't be any treason commands available.
However, it is still possible for the leader and deputy to punish a cat for acts such as not doing a certain command, being inactive, prioritizing other things over the clan's wellbeing, and anything else they deem punishable.
This gives the leader and deputy a lot of power, although a cat who is not the leader or deputy can start a vote to get rid of the rule or punishment, and if half of the players that do not control the leader or deputy agree, the rule or punishment will be dismissed.
Death, Rejoining, and Leaving the Game
Sad as it may be, your cat will eventually die. Don't worry though, as you can rejoin the game by entering another form and going through the waiting list again.
If you wish to leave the game for any reason but your character is alive, feel free to tell me! I'll either kill off your cat or give them to another player on the waiting list- your choice. If you are only leaving temporarily, please say so on the current moon (so it's easier to keep track of) and whether you want your character paused (won't die but can't help/harm the clan) or for them to be temporarily controlled by someone else (can die but can help the clan- no treason and bonding related things can be done, however).
The Doomsday Clock
Starting at 100, the Doomsday Clock counts down to the end of this command game. Each moon, it will go down by 5, although it can be influenced by the actions of those in the clan.
Each moon, there will be a rewind command and a fast-forward command, both chosen randomly out of hunting, foraging, gathering, patrolling, and training. Each cat that uses the rewind command will bring the doomsday clock up by 1, and each cat that uses the fast-forward command will bring it down by 1.
What happens when the clock strikes zero? Well...we'll see.
Any guesses on when the clock will run out?
Any questions? Feel free to ask!