# Clan Cats Gamemode

###### tags: `design-doc` `gooncode`

:::info
Feel free to make good-faith edits and comments to this design document as necessary.
:::

[toc]

## Introduction

### Pitch

Gangs can be plenty of fun. Team-based antagonist roles where multiple sides can slug it out makes for some fantastic experiences with the right combination of character drama and violent mechanics-based interactions.

One may notice a disturbing lack of kitty cat-based antagonists in our roster. Additionally, the principle author of this pitch has not been able to stop thinking about the absurdity in incorporating *Warrior Cats*, with its clan societies built on endless soap opera-like conflict and melodrama, into *Goonstation*.

There are sufficient numbers of *Warrior Cats* nerds in *Goonstation* to make this work.

### Goals

We intend to:

- Develop a *Warrior Cats*-inspired team-based gamemode for one-off events (eg. April Fools).

We do not intend to:

- Add such a gamemode to the permanent roster.
- Run this gamemode without some form of supervision for each round as an independently operable round mode would unacceptably expand the scope of the required changes.
- Guarantee ongoing support for the gamemode in the long term.

## Outline

### Mode conditions - Clan Cats

- The objective for a given clan is to seize and control the greatest amount of station territory and successfully defend it from their rivals.
- The round will play similarly to modes such as Revolutionary or Gangs, where there is still a population of regular crewmembers, command staff, etc.
- The number of antagonists selected would be roughly similar to the existing Gangs.
- Clan Cats should support more than two gangs to increase the potential for diplomacy and drama.
- Each Clan must have three members -- a leader, deputy, and warrior -- at the bare minimum. There must be at least six antagonists for a minimum of two clans.
- Cats are expected to obey a condensed, relevant version of the Warrior Code; a set of legal and moral principles guiding their behaviour, in a similar manner to a robot obeying their silicon laws. See [The Warrior Code.](#The-Warrior-code)
- Breaching the code in itself doesn't count as a rule break as it's a game mechanic.

### Roundstart

- At least two teams (henceforth Clans) of antagonists are selected, each with a single leader.
- No existing traits or Spacebux purchases will apply to cats.
- Each Clan name will be randomly generated with the suffix -clan.
- Each antagonist will be notified of their assigned Clan.
- Each antagonist spawns in Starclan; an off-station area where each player may design their own cat's appearance and a name.
- Appearances:
- Cats may choose their own pelt patterns, pelt colours, and eye colours; a lot like with human hair selection.
- Cats may incorporate a single accessory out of a limited range such as jingle collars (for kittypets since I think that's cute).
- Names:
- Cats may randomly roll (an unlimited number of times) a prefix and a suffix for their name in accordance to the *Warrior Cats* naming scheme (eg. Tigerclaw, Ashfur, Runningwind).
- Clan leaders are automatically given the suffix -star (eg. Bluestar, Jingostar, Horsestar).
- All of these may be randomised instead if a player doesn't really care.
- On confirmation of a leader's character appearance and name, I think it'd be really cute if the confirm button said "Grant \[cat\] \[their\] nine lives".
- Once finished with character customisation, the rest of the clan is informed of their new clan-mate's introduction. Each cat will emerge on the station level at some shared location for each Clan member.
- Cats will not start emerging until the leader finishes their character customisation or when some percentage of cats have already completed making their character.

### Clan goals

- The goal is to mark and control as much station territory as possible for as long as possible.
- Marking territory is an inherent ability and is associated with an actionbar and cooldown. Successfully marking an area will place it under a Clan's control.
- Territory may be contested by another Clan by marking it themselves.
- All mobs will passively emit a scent which will affect what Clan controls which areas. This includes twolegs and other non-cats; their scent will wipe away clan control from an area.
- Clan cat scent, and therefore territorial control, can be dispelled with the janitor's cleaning supplies.
- Clan-controlled territory will provide some sort of feedback whenever a mob steps into and out of it.
- Catching prey animals and gathering fresh-kill will contribute to a Clan's score by the end of the round.

### Clan management

- The Clan leader may designate some station area as their Clan's camp. A physical monument to the Clan such as a Highrock or Highmound will be spawned in said area to show its ownership by a Clan.
- Interacting with the Highrock/Highmound will bring up the Clan management UI, allowing for the leader to do several actions:
- View the extent of the Clan's territory and the size of the fresh-kill pile.
- Check the composition of their Clan and the standing of each cat.
- Recruit rogue cats or call to remove current Clan cats.
- Call for a Gathering, which calls the other leaders to vote at their camps.
- Other important areas will spawn somewhere in the same room, close to the Highrock/Highmound and on a turf without dense objects:
- The fresh-kill pile: prey can be deposited into the pile and later retrieved for consumption.
- The medicine den: herbs can be deposited into the pile and later retrieved.
- Cats may be removed from a Clan on the initiation of a vote by the leader.
- For non-codebreakers, three-quarters of cats must agree.
- For codebreakers, removal is at will. Cats which are removed from a clan will become rogues.
- Rogue cats are cats who have been ejected from their previous Clan, either for breaking the Warrior Code or because their clan has been destroyed.
- Rogue cats may be recruited by the remaining Clans with the approval of the leader, turning them into full members.

#### Fresh-kill

- The fresh-kill pile is a designated area of a Clan camp where caught prey can be gathered and therefore potentially stolen.
- Eating fresh kill will give temporary bonuses to a given cat while also diminishing the size of the pile.
- Prey animals will spawn with greater frequency around the station, including potentially dangerous critters like snakes.
- Rat leader.

#### Gatherings

- From time to time, a vote to call a Gathering of all Clans may be initiated by one of the Clan leaders. On a successful vote, a truce is declared (but not *enforced* by the server rules) and each Clan may send representatives (including their leaders) to a designated station area.
- Potentially Mining as it's the closest to Highstones in the Forest Territories or the Chapel.
- The Moonrock/Moonpool will arbitrarily spawn on the station as some unknown, indestructible artifact.
- It would be hilarious if the actual pool room acted as the Moonpool.
- Interactions between the Clan cats and humans, both peaceful and violent, are expected to foment around gatherings of cats as well as pitched battles. Security's role may be in suppressing cat fights and ensuring the safety of the station's crew.

### Cat combat

- Abilities:
- Lunge: Throws your body towards the target, knocking down and tossing small animals that are hit. Twolegs or other large mobs can't be thrown and silicons can't be stunned.
- Passively engaging in combat activities improves a cat's combat proficiency. This provides increases in damage resistance, dodge chance, and attack damage/stun duration.
- Once high enough, a cat will be given the title of Senior Warrior.

### Cat medicine

- Cats can gather medicinal herbs which grow in station areas, especially the maintenance tunnels. These herbs will help with one of the four main categories of damage **(OXY/TOX/BRT/BRN)**.

**Table: Damage types and associated herbs**

| Damage Type | Herbs |
| ----------- | -------------------------- |
| **BRT** | Comfrey |
| **BRN** | Marigold, dock/goldenrod |
| **TOX** | Yarrow, feverfew |
| **OXY** | Juniper berries, coltsfoot |

- Gathering herbs will passively improve a cat's medicine skills, increasing the potency of foraged herbs.
- One high enough, a cat will be given the title of Medicine Cat.

### The Warrior code

- A set of legal and moral rules governing aspects of Clan cat life. Some of these provisions may be tracked using in-game mechanics.

:::spoiler Revised Warrior Code
1. Defend your Clan, even with your life.
2. Prey is killed only to be eaten. Give thanks to StarClan for its life.
3. The deputy will become Clan leader when the leader dies.
4. After the death or promotion of the deputy, the new deputy must be chosen as soon as possible.
5. A Gathering of all Clans may be held from time to time during a truce that lasts for its duration.
6. Boundaries must be firmly maintained. Challenge all trespassing cats.
7. The word of the Clan leader is the Warrior Code.
8. If a Clan member believes that their leader is no longer leading with honor and integrity, they can challenge them. Three-quarters of the Clan members must agree. A successful challenge will demote the Clan leader to the status of a common warrior, replacing them with their deputy.^1^
9. An honorable warrior does not need to kill other cats to win their battles, unless it is necessary for self-defense.
10. A warrior rejects the soft life of a kittypet.

> Notes: This version of the code synthesises various provisions of the pre and post-Broken Code versions of the Warrior Code from the book series as well as amendments and re-orderings to better reflect the more relevant considerations for the game. [name=DisturbHerb]

> ^1^ These rules may be subject to change. [name=DisturbHerb]
:::

- A Clan cat's standing with StarClan is a hidden percentage value.
- Cats with 0% standing are considered codebreakers.
- Cats with 100% standing are in StarClan's good graces.
- Attaining and losing codebreaker status requires standing to be brought to 0% or 100% respectively.
- Standing will show as a status effect in increments of 25%.
- Some actions such as breaches the Warrior Code (the aspects which can be tracked mechanically) among others will negatively affect a cat's standing:
- Consumption of twoleg food.
- Receiving pats from twolegs.
- Having twoleg medical chems present in the bloodstream.
- Killing prey and not returning it to the fresh kill pile before eating it.
- Bringing an unsuccessful challenge against the Clan leader.
- Failure to choose a new deputy after the death or promotion of the previous deputy within a given time-frame.
- Recruiting codebreaker rogues as a leader.
- Attacking another Clan cat during a declared Gathering.
- Gatherings track when cats attack each other; a cat who has attacked first may be legally attacked by members of the victim's Clan. Killing the aggressor will be considered a breach of a truce unless the victim was killed or brought into crit.
- Designated codebreakers may be removed from the Clan by the leader's discretion, designating them as a rogue.
- StarClan may show its disapproval of a particularly codebreaking Clan (ie. a Clan where the majority of cats are codebreakers) by applying some penalties.
- Improving one's standing with StarClan may be done through:
- Being in the same room as the Moon(stone/pool) which passively improves standing.
- Being injured in combat by another Clan's cats, provided you didn't attack them first during a truce.

### End conditions

Clan Cats rounds proceed as per most other antagonist modes, ending when the Escape Shuttle returns to Central Command. The winning Clan is the one which occupies the greatest extent of territory for the greatest period of time, multiplied by some factor based on the size of the Clan's fresh-kill pile.

A Clan will be destroyed if all of its cats die or their camp is overrun and the Clan does not establish a new one in a given timeframe. StarClan will show its disapproval by dissolving the Clan and turning all of its living members into rogues.

On the destruction of a Clan camp, the Highrock/Highmound, fresh-kill pile, and medicine den are permanently unusable unless the original Clan manages to take over the old camp without establishing a new one.

## Appendix

### Clan cat accent

Clan cats speak in a special accent that replaces some of their twoleg vocabulary with applicable replacements. These tables contain a non-exhaustive list of substitutions.

**Table: General terminology**

| Human | Clan cat |
| - | - |
| Human | Twoleg |
| Man/Male | Tom |
| Woman/Female | Queen^1^|
| Stars | Silverpelt |
| Heaven | StarClan |
| God | StarClan |
| Food | Fresh-kill |
| Pod/Sub(marine)/Car/Truck | Monster |
| Toilet/Bathroom | Dirtplace |

> ^1^ The term used in the *Warrior Cats* franchise is usually She-cat, but as there are no Queens (the series' term for cats who are pregnant/have given birth) to speak of, I think this is fine. [name=DisturbHerb]

**Table: Insults**

| Human | Clan cat |
| - | - |
| Idiot | (Mouse/Fuzz/Bee)brain |
| Shit/Poop | Dirt |
| Shitting/Pooping | Making dirt |

**Table: Station departments**

| Human | Clan cat |
| - | - |
| Station | Twolegplace |
| Belt hell | Thunderpath |
| Chapel | Highstones |
| Dorm | Twoleg nest |
| Medbay | Twoleg medicine den |

**Table: Station roles**

| Human | Clan cat |
| - | - |
| Human | Clan cat |
| Captain | Twoleg leader |
| Head of Personnel/HoP (case-sensitive) | Twoleg deputy |
| Head of Security/HoS/(Sec)urity (Officer)/Secoff | Twoleg warrior |
| Medical Director/Doctor/Geneticist | Twoleg medicine cat |
| Roboticist | Cutter |