My Little Pony LXVI: What Would Celestia Not Think?!

[Trixie]

http://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-AO0OEH62MqU/UaiJ2vmbNfI/AAAAAAAACl4/zHNdZqXRXGc/s410/bb.png

Trixie's Great and Powerful Guide v1.9965
Thinking Edition

Brief Introduction

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is a reboot of the MLP franchise by Powerpuff Girls artist Lauren Faust, currently viewed by (almost) the entire Internet, not only the intended audience. Here is a place where we discuss the joy of friendship.

> My Little Pony? Seriously?

It's a clever show. It has excellent writing, character dynamics, humor, animation, and generally treats kids seriously rather than condescending to them. It has every right to be a 20 minute corporate committee designed infomercial, but it's not.

> Isn't this a show for little girls?

Pixar technically makes shows for little boys, and produce some of the best animation in the world.

> Okay, fine. I'll give it a try. Where do I start?

No Brony could ask for more. I recommend watching the episodes in order. They're all up on Youtube. Unusually, Hasbro seems fine with having the entire series up in public because they've made no move to bring down any of the episodes. Search for "Friendship is Magic Episode 1" and you should find the series pretty easily... Or search for "Sharing is Magic" Google Doc. That is all.

> Okay, I'm going to watch it but this had better live up to the hype!

Whoa, calm down there. The show is light hearted, optimistic fun but it's not for everyone. It's good fun, the community is good fun, and everyone can do with a reminder that friendship is magic but if it doesn't gel for you we'll love and tolerate you anyway. Plus, you might hit the wrong episode. Ask first?

> Iron Hoof/Fan Theories/Shipping/Binding

All in good fun! If it's not your cup of tea, skim it, but this show has triggered a great creative outpouring from the Internet. Pony themed fan-art is abundant and often excellent. See below for some examples.

> Derpy Hooves/Doctor Whoof

Two minor background characters who were adopted as emblems of 4chan. Derpy Hooves is so named due to an animation error in the first episode that had her eyes facing in different directions; 4chan has assigned her the role of Ponyville's mailpony, and her only line so far has been "Muffins". The show's animators are aware of Derpy's popularity and she's shown up a few times recently with her eyes obviously derped. Currently made canon in Feeling Pinkie Keen and in Faust's picture showcased below, Derpy was deemed important enough to appear in storyboards for Season II.

Dr. Whoof is a pony with an hourglass cutie mark; he and his kin save time and space very quietly off camera.


***

General Resources

Fan Fiction and News: Equestria Daily (http://www.equestriadaily.com/)
Discussion Image Forum: Ponychan (http://www.ponychan.net/chan/)
Pony Emotes: FiM Emotes (http://kefkafloyd.imgur.com/J8S59)
More Emotes: MC's Emotes (http://gitpmcerberus.imgur.com/ponymote)
Also Emotes: GD's Emotes (http://gadora.imgur.com/seekret_pony_projekt_1/1)
Pony Images: Ponibooru (http://ponibooru.413chan.net/post/list)
More Images: 20% Cooler (http://twentypercentcooler.net/)
Know Your Meme: Ponies! (http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic)
Allspark MLP Discussion Thread (http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=76678&st=0&start=0)

Art Resources


OC Pony Creation Guide:

>How to make OC Pony (http://ponibooru.413chan.net/_images/048648773b808749ecbcd93b7825d545/22629%20-%20original_character_tutorial%20tutorial.png)<
>How to clothe a Pony (http://img.ponibooru.org/_images/10448a8bf5139a93e47ee0ab2185d577/23650%20-%20Touhou%20artist%3Awhy485%20drawing_guide%20fash ion%20guide%20pony%20tutorial.png)<

Deviant Art Links:

Lauren Faust (http://fyre-flye.deviantart.com/)

14 Bis (http://14-bis.deviantart.com/)
ButterSS (http://buttersc0tchsundae.deviantart.com/)
Csimadmax (http://csimadmax.deviantart.com/)
DonKoRR (http://don-komandorr.deviantart.com/)
Irving Zero (http://irving-zero.deviantart.com/)
Johnjoseco (http://johnjoseco.deviantart.com/)
Kloudmutt (http://kloudmutt.deviantart.com/)
Palestorm (http://palestorm.deviantart.com/)
Shinepaw (http://shinepawpony.deviantart.com/)

>Awesome Great and Powerful Trixie (http://kp-shadowsquirrel.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d49ccgo)<

Tutorials:

How to Draw Luna (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1YoOgNwPp4)
MLP Art Guides (http://s1208.photobucket.com/albums/cc361/DJPon-3/)
MLP Colour Guides (http://kefkafloyd.deviantart.com/)

Kloud TV (http://www.livestream.com/kloudmutt)

Concepts:

On the Design of the Mane Cast (http://sucs.org/~drspangle/Ponibooru-All-Safe/122%20-%20Posey%20g1_sparkler%20artist_Lauren_Faust%20twi light_sparkle%20g3_to_g4%20rarity%20lauren_faust%2 0rainbow_dash%20fluttershy%20pinkie_pie%20Firefly% 20g1_to_g4%20applejack%20Surprise.jpg)

Concept art by L. Faust:

AJ/AJ (http://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_THRVNyZ8xf0/TZPZtv1PUCI/AAAAAAAABPg/aTDHM_vJ3Ek/Applejack-08.jpg)
Pinkie/Surprise (http://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_THRVNyZ8xf0/TZPZtjpEWrI/AAAAAAAABPc/vlcKpVmK1FY/Pinkie_08.jpg)
Rarity/Sparkler (http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_THRVNyZ8xf0/TZPZuba65VI/AAAAAAAABPo/o7oJ1OI4bcE/Rarity_08.jpg)
Twilight/Twinkle (http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_THRVNyZ8xf0/TZPZuS8XZtI/AAAAAAAABPs/9CPSE6Je1Y0/Twilight_08.jpg)
Derpy/Ditzy (http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_THRVNyZ8xf0/TZPZtusFdII/AAAAAAAABPk/4VbhxajIt1o/Derpy_11.jpg)

Group Shot (https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zPGxLKSxqsI/Tet-724kmrI/AAAAAAAABoc/74J43JjtvVc/mlplegroupruff.jpg)

5 Best Pictures [IMHO]:

TG&P Trixie 1 (http://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_THRVNyZ8xf0/TYlPoSj31bI/AAAAAAAABKc/yhAESX1bWDU/129879022202-fim_thebestmagic2.png) 2a (http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_THRVNyZ8xf0/TYevesc6Z3I/AAAAAAAABJE/wqYR1YU8-xM/129878791125-Magic_for_Friendship.png) 2b (http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_THRVNyZ8xf0/TYlPoV0tFSI/AAAAAAAABKg/UIrpK2_XUDk/345%20-%20filly%20flower%20Magic%20noel%20Trixie.jpg) 3 (http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_THRVNyZ8xf0/TYevn1UZNyI/AAAAAAAABJI/JQaTPZ7u9kk/1295392718493.png)
Twilight Sparkle 1 (http://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_THRVNyZ8xf0/TYlQKpEFW1I/AAAAAAAABKo/PJmzRBt_g0o/twilight-%28n1298746506900%29.jpg) 2 (http://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_THRVNyZ8xf0/TYgEWabUv0I/AAAAAAAABJg/S1emWO9FjbE/1297919269027.png) 3 (http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_THRVNyZ8xf0/TYlQAwKvFvI/AAAAAAAABKk/08Q9f1BaGa0/1298478186234.png)
Rainbow Dash 1 (http://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_THRVNyZ8xf0/TY-tuXX0V5I/AAAAAAAABOE/vPLwNGpCsU8/rainbows_are_awesome_by_adamrbi-d3awtkv.jpg) 2 (http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_THRVNyZ8xf0/TY-tugAF4JI/AAAAAAAABOI/RYGrQCZySJo/1298478713223.jpg) 3 (http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_THRVNyZ8xf0/TY-tutzFrYI/AAAAAAAABOM/QP22FdlygtA/1299129766866.png) 3.6 (http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_THRVNyZ8xf0/TY-vxE-8GgI/AAAAAAAABOY/ktOwjPQ3eiI/130057856759.png)
Fluttershy 1 (http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_THRVNyZ8xf0/TZPZiSMaDSI/AAAAAAAABPQ/FNLXj6WE0ss/yofluttershybyarborishd.png) 2 (http://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_THRVNyZ8xf0/TZPZiUXQlvI/AAAAAAAABPU/SCs7qzer-6E/129860262040.png) 3 (http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_THRVNyZ8xf0/TZPZiWhyIWI/AAAAAAAABPY/r6ClIhygmw0/1297113141466.png)

Pony Games

The most recent one. (http://www.yoyogames.com/games/168448-mlp-fim-the-way-home#)
Pacderpy (http://www.derpyhooves.com/games/pacderpy.html)
Two very similar dash based (http://www.derpyhooves.com/games/dashattack.html) cloud gathering sidescrollers (http://www.derpyhooves.com/games/rainbowdashmini.html)
Pony generator I (http://www.derpyhooves.com/games/custompony.html)
Pony generator II (http://derpyhooves.com/games.php?id=3)
Pony generator III (http://generalzoi.deviantart.com/art/MLP-FiM-Pony-Creator-Beta-210228500)

New: Pinkie licks cupcakes. (http://yeaka.deviantart.com/art/MLP-FiM-Flash-Game-202202384?q=boost%3Apopular%20max_age%3A8h%20frien dship%20is%20magic&qo=22) And a playthrough for it, too. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUy1UtuNet0)
Collect Cupcakes, Lick Ponies! 2.0 (http://yeaka.deviantart.com/art/MLP-FiM-Flash-Game-TWO-202342576)

Nice Fanwork


5AMVs:5Always (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhgzpnTYCXQ)Communism is Magic (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJHZ4E9tRHM)Derpy Cardcaptor (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWG0KLSJi8g)[BR]Freeze Ray (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMXhEXQSXSw)[BR]I can go the distance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYonN9in668)[BR]Last Unicorn (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwT7V_LsRQo)[BR]Lunasong (Not Your Night) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krcJa44GWq8)[BR]Muffins & Bubbles (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR_y8uRYI8Y)[BR]Pinkie's Brew (EE) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=682pneYoP0c)[BR]PonyCraft 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJbAT1wzS8U)[BR]Still Alive (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za9f1c93FHY)[BR]The Stars Will Aid In Her Escape (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV_0n5gp1fE)[BR]The G&P Heretic (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4szgPK9Rufw)1Ponies (That are British) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOi3StWmG7A)1[B]Equestria Girls EE! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTPqjKk_xCo)[BR]Hub Summer Promo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKjBViIt-y8)[BR]Hop-Skip-Jump [original] (http://soundcloud.com/dannyimusic/mlp1-hop-skip-jump-song)[BR]Smile, Smile, Smile! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFf_rGavnFk)1Old Pony Songs 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHLqc8BSQMg) & 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCpBYLHIEuI)[BR]Ponies! (http://ponyvspony.com/)[BR]5[B]Comics:5The Damn Best Comic (http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/359/5/9/pinkiedeadpool_by_csimadmax-d35ms08.jpg). Ever.And The Prequel (http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/107/1/f/pinkiedeadpool_origins_by_csimadmax-d3e936w.png).[BR]And part two (http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/147/8/b/battle_for_equestria_02_by_csimadmax-d3hdr5c.png).[BR]And three (http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/154/2/1/battle_for_equestria_03_by_csimadmax-d3hz63e.png).[BR]And four (http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/160/a/f/battle_for_equestria_04_by_csimadmax-d3iighp.png).[BR]And five (http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/168/4/0/battle_for_equestria_05_by_csimadmax-d3j5nlu.png).[BR]Six (http://www.deviantart.com/download/256435109/battle_for_equestria_06_by_csimadmax-d48oalh.png) / Seven (http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/252/7/6/battle_for_equestria_07_by_csimadmax-d49cgt7.png) / Eight (http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/252/0/7/battle_for_equestria_08_by_csimadmax-d49dpsp.png).1Metaponies (http://gavalanche.deviantart.com/gallery/29877487).[BR]5[B]ED Fics:5Twilight Sky Over Canterlot (http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/04/story-twilight-sky-over-canterlot.html)Sidelines / Midnight's Tale (http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/04/conversion-bureau-compilation.html)[BR]World Without Rainbows (http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/05/story-world-without-rainbows.html)[BR]Luxury Lotus Spa Follies (http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/04/story-luxury-lotus-spa-follies.html)[BR]How Lyra Met Bon-Bon (http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/02/story-how-lyra-met-bon-bon.html)[BR]Letters from Bubbly (http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/01/story-letters-from-bubbly-1-10.html)[BR]Swayback Mountain (http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/01/story-swayback-mountain.html)[BR]And Life Goes On (http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/01/story-your-greatest-fan.html)[BR]The Three Notes (http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/03/story-three-notes.html)[BR]TGaP Trixie (http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/04/story-great-and-powerful-trixie.html)[BR]Antipodes (http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/03/story-antipodes.html)[BR]Progress (http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/05/story-progress-luna-versus-microwave.html)[BR]Bubbles (http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/03/story-bubbles.html)1Pony Drinking Game (http://buttersc0tchsundae.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d3cng5n)[BR]|
5[B](Other) Songs:5At The Gala / FR (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQSmihuY5ms)Fluttershy's Lullaby / FR (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmDxuMvnehs)[BR]So Many Wonders / FR (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tbt-Z2RwfM)[BR][BR]The French and Powerful Trixie (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcpeVg7yMv8)[BR][BR]At The Gala / PL (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlVRN-qePmA)[BR]Art of the Dress / PL (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clm3GjqncJs)[BR]Winter Wrap Up / PL (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfqIEGb2s5w)5[B]GitP Fics:5AmishPirate (http://www.equestriadaily.com/search/label/Author%3A%20TheAmishPirate)1Darth BC (http://www.equestriadaily.com/search/label/Author%3A%20Bobcat)1Deadly (http://www.equestriadaily.com/search/label/Author%3A%20Adcoon):[BR][BR]Trollestia 1 (http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/200/0/b/trickster_goddess_nr_1_by_adcoon-d40tt3d.png) 2 (http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/201/a/4/trickster_goddess_nr_2_by_adcoon-d414fzw.png) 3 (http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/214/1/3/trickster_goddess_nr_3_by_adcoon-d42h2hx.png) 4 (http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/229/0/d/trickster_goddess_nr_4_by_adcoon-d46vksj.png).1EsperDerek (http://www.equestriadaily.com/search/label/Author%3A%20EsperDerek)1Grif (http://www.fimfiction.net/user/Grif)1PhantomFox (http://www.equestriadaily.com/search/label/Author%3A%20PhantomFox):[BR][BR]Pride Goes Before a Folly (http://phantomfox7.deviantart.com/art/Pride-Goes-Before-A-Folly-211724143)1PhoeKun (http://www.equestriadaily.com/search/label/Author%3A%20Phoe)1Raz Fox (http://www.equestriadaily.com/search/label/Author%3A%20Raz_Fox)1Thanqol (http://www.equestriadaily.com/search/label/Author%3A%20Thanqol)[BR]

Same Old Ponymotes:

Original Batch
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MCerberus
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http://i.imgur.com/Z2C9W.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/Z2C9W.png
http://i.imgur.com/Z4XPE.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/Z4XPE.png
http://i.imgur.com/ZLzTn.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/ZLzTn.png
http://i.imgur.com/zFwEx.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/zFwEx.png

Crazy!Twi
http://i.imgur.com/r63WE.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/r63WE.png
http://i.imgur.com/PDKIo.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/PDKIo.png
http://i.imgur.com/viCkZ.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/viCkZ.png
http://i.imgur.com/tuSLw.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/tuSLw.png
http://i.imgur.com/U8SiV.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/U8SiV.png
http://i.imgur.com/ZiOZ1.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/ZiOZ1.png
http://i.imgur.com/xrtxn.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/xrtxn.png
http://i.imgur.com/WcmCY.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/WcmCY.png
http://i.imgur.com/TzVou.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/TzVou.png
http://i.imgur.com/Sy0s7.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/Sy0s7.png
http://i.imgur.com/uvyb4.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/uvyb4.png
http://i.imgur.com/tudfp.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/tudfp.png
http://i.imgur.com/Siwuj.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/Siwuj.png
http://i.imgur.com/sp5Tb.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/sp5Tb.png
http://i.imgur.com/vlJi6.gifhttp://i.imgur.com/vlJi6.gif

Kyouhen Series feat. Ninja Pinkie!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Balthasar_Gelt/th_NinjaPinkie.pnghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Balthasar_Gelt/th_NinjaPinkie.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Balthasar_Gelt/NinjaSurprise.pnghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Balthasar_Gelt/NinjaSurprise.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Balthasar_Gelt/PinkieSwear.pnghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Balthasar_Gelt/PinkieSwear.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Balthasar_Gelt/trollestia2.pnghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Balthasar_Gelt/trollestia2.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Balthasar_Gelt/trollestia.pnghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Balthasar_Gelt/trollestia.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Balthasar_Gelt/Gummicle.pnghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Balthasar_Gelt/Gummicle.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Balthasar_Gelt/Gildicle.pnghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Balthasar_Gelt/alfalficon1.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Balthasar_Gelt/alfalficon2.pnghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Balthasar_Gelt/alfalficon2.png

Misc:

http://i.imgur.com/rs4hd.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/rs4hd.png
http://i.imgur.com/PBYX5.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/PBYX5.png
http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/272/4/b/liarjack_da_avatar_by_metalbeersolid-d4bc9sj.gifhttp://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/272/4/b/liarjack_da_avatar_by_metalbeersolid-d4bc9sj.gif
http://image.spreadshirt.com/image-server/v1/designs/11497743,width=100,height=100/Brony-Brohoof-v3.pnghttp://image.spreadshirt.com/image-server/v1/designs/11497743,width=100,height=100/Brony-Brohoof-v3.png

Seekrit Pony Projekt
1-20
http://i.imgur.com/03Pwr.png[noparse]http://i.imgur.com/03Pwr.png
http://i.imgur.com/0Mw2v.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/0Mw2v.png
http://i.imgur.com/2u0gC.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/2u0gC.png
http://i.imgur.com/3JXCg.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/3JXCg.png
http://i.imgur.com/3q7O2.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/3q7O2.png
http://i.imgur.com/459jt.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/459jt.png
http://i.imgur.com/4ii5U.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/4ii5U.png
http://i.imgur.com/4XyuH.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/4XyuH.png
http://i.imgur.com/4zrN3.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/4zrN3.png
http://i.imgur.com/6SgQp.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/6SgQp.png
http://i.imgur.com/74j15.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/74j15.png
http://i.imgur.com/7Yvwk.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/7Yvwk.png
http://i.imgur.com/8u4Rl.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/8u4Rl.png
http://i.imgur.com/9SkHu.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/9SkHu.png
http://i.imgur.com/AKUeV.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/AKUeV.png
http://i.imgur.com/Ala5e.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/Ala5e.png
http://i.imgur.com/AruGN.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/AruGN.png
http://i.imgur.com/BgqS5.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/BgqS5.png
http://i.imgur.com/b5xPJ.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/b5xPJ.png
http://i.imgur.com/CEUYj.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/CEUYj.png

21-40
http://i.imgur.com/D4C8X.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/D4C8X.png
http://i.imgur.com/DrSYq.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/DrSYq.png
http://i.imgur.com/dDGKR.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/dDGKR.png
http://i.imgur.com/eCLn3.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/eCLn3.png
http://i.imgur.com/ecXwG.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/ecXwG.png
http://i.imgur.com/erYVj.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/erYVj.png
http://i.imgur.com/ev5Dd.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/ev5Dd.png
http://i.imgur.com/f2s0G.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/f2s0G.png
http://i.imgur.com/G1lsp.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/G1lsp.png
http://i.imgur.com/G5T9W.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/G5T9W.png
http://i.imgur.com/G8QfD.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/G8QfD.png
http://i.imgur.com/GOn25.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/GOn25.png
http://i.imgur.com/g0EB2.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/g0EB2.png
http://i.imgur.com/HKmyu.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/HKmyu.png
http://i.imgur.com/h4OtT.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/h4OtT.png
http://i.imgur.com/hdG5a.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/hdG5a.png
http://i.imgur.com/hdXfp.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/hdXfp.png
http://i.imgur.com/hfXmw.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/hfXmw.png
http://i.imgur.com/hleys.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/hleys.png
http://i.imgur.com/I0AiJ.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/I0AiJ.png
41-60
http://i.imgur.com/iSsYc.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/iSsYc.png
http://i.imgur.com/JBZDO.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/JBZDO.png
http://i.imgur.com/Ji01D.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/Ji01D.png
http://i.imgur.com/jDb4v.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/jDb4v.png
http://i.imgur.com/jhfF7.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/jhfF7.png
http://i.imgur.com/jq6VL.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/jq6VL.png
http://i.imgur.com/KLXX3.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/KLXX3.png
http://i.imgur.com/k7yr1.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/k7yr1.png
http://i.imgur.com/kETPz.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/kETPz.png
http://i.imgur.com/LIUMV.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/LIUMV.png
http://i.imgur.com/LKAKZ.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/LKAKZ.png
http://i.imgur.com/Lz5uj.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/Lz5uj.png
http://i.imgur.com/l6Dif.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/l6Dif.png
http://i.imgur.com/ldfV9.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/ldfV9.png
http://i.imgur.com/lPGoS.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/lPGoS.png
http://i.imgur.com/lT2IO.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/lT2IO.png
http://i.imgur.com/mssk8.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/mssk8.png
http://i.imgur.com/NInKh.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/NInKh.png
http://i.imgur.com/O73if.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/O73if.png
http://i.imgur.com/OPCUO.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/OPCUO.png

61-80
http://i.imgur.com/o1ROT.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/o1ROT.png
http://i.imgur.com/o3OrQ.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/o3OrQ.png
http://i.imgur.com/PgZ79.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/PgZ79.png
http://i.imgur.com/p0HjG.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/p0HjG.png
http://i.imgur.com/pKw2V.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/pKw2V.png
http://i.imgur.com/Qd0KM.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/Qd0KM.png
http://i.imgur.com/QLOYp.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/QLOYp.png
http://i.imgur.com/qxCE8.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/qxCE8.png
http://i.imgur.com/rytqf.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/rytqf.png
http://i.imgur.com/SSEx1.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/SSEx1.png
http://i.imgur.com/s1GzN.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/s1GzN.png
http://i.imgur.com/tFh1l.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/tFh1l.png
http://i.imgur.com/tVg4z.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/tVg4z.png
http://i.imgur.com/twJKI.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/twJKI.png
http://i.imgur.com/us0sn.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/us0sn.png
http://i.imgur.com/uwvgS.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/uwvgS.png
http://i.imgur.com/VgP1Y.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/VgP1Y.png
http://i.imgur.com/VlAck.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/VlAck.png
http://i.imgur.com/VNjBL.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/VNjBL.png
http://i.imgur.com/Vthb5.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/Vthb5.png

81-100
http://i.imgur.com/VYSqq.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/VYSqq.png
http://i.imgur.com/vbM5o.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/vbM5o.png
http://i.imgur.com/W0vnZ.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/W0vnZ.png
http://i.imgur.com/w4Pts.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/w4Pts.png
http://i.imgur.com/RYTpi.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/RYTpi.png
http://i.imgur.com/wQyc8.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/wQyc8.png
http://i.imgur.com/X0pML.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/X0pML.png
http://i.imgur.com/XCdKc.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/XCdKc.png
http://i.imgur.com/XiHdB.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/XiHdB.png
http://i.imgur.com/XzZ1f.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/XzZ1f.png
http://i.imgur.com/xl9dK.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/xl9dK.png
http://i.imgur.com/YecKj.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/YecKj.png
http://i.imgur.com/YWDIv.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/YWDIv.png
http://i.imgur.com/y50oz.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/y50oz.png
http://i.imgur.com/yW4zF.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/yW4zF.png
http://i.imgur.com/ZHvPK.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/ZHvPK.png
http://i.imgur.com/ZOCXB.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/ZOCXB.png
http://i.imgur.com/zhFvk.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/zhFvk.png
http://i.imgur.com/zRC21.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/zRC21.png
http://i.imgur.com/zw5OF.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/zw5OF.png

101-112
http://i.imgur.com/Tqo43.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/Tqo43.png
http://i.imgur.com/MPjbO.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/MPjbO.png
http://i.imgur.com/shj2N.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/shj2N.png
http://i.imgur.com/1h9Zx.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/1h9Zx.png
http://i.imgur.com/EK1lN.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/EK1lN.png
http://i.imgur.com/qW2jc.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/qW2jc.png
http://i.imgur.com/NcSma.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/NcSma.png
http://i.imgur.com/JpnZc.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/JpnZc.png
http://i.imgur.com/fsqkv.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/fsqkv.png
http://i.imgur.com/CgffQ.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/CgffQ.png
http://i.imgur.com/VwCqN.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/VwCqN.png
http://i.imgur.com/hwHGZ.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/hwHGZ.png

113-124 (Luna Series)

http://i.imgur.com/Mm1dn.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/Mm1dn.png
http://i.imgur.com/gN9Ou.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/gN9Ou.png
http://i.imgur.com/rW0xK.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/rW0xK.png
http://i.imgur.com/rzrj5.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/rzrj5.png
http://i.imgur.com/s8D5o.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/s8D5o.png
http://i.imgur.com/lEtTg.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/lEtTg.png
http://i.imgur.com/KXIJq.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/KXIJq.png
http://i.imgur.com/oRdYJ.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/oRdYJ.png
http://i.imgur.com/hNTy5.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/hNTy5.png
http://i.imgur.com/KyWk8.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/KyWk8.png
http://i.imgur.com/ZeYyu.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/ZeYyu.png
http://i.imgur.com/L3ZSw.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/L3ZSw.png
125-136 (Sweetie Series)
http://i.imgur.com/Jg8wb.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/Jg8wb.png
http://i.imgur.com/9KKKz.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/9KKKz.png
http://i.imgur.com/KjRiq.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/KjRiq.png
http://i.imgur.com/pteUs.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/pteUs.png
http://i.imgur.com/o0V8z.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/o0V8z.png
http://i.imgur.com/mUwFV.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/mUwFV.png
http://i.imgur.com/T9hVn.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/T9hVn.png
http://i.imgur.com/EkuTB.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/EkuTB.png
http://i.imgur.com/lVPd8.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/lVPd8.png
http://i.imgur.com/0GUM4.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/0GUM4.png
http://i.imgur.com/cCNvw.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/cCNvw.png
http://i.imgur.com/4mTcY.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/4mTcY.png


Deadly's Ironically Presented Anti-Spoiler Measures

DO YOU HATE SPOILER TAGS?

Well, Deadly's here to help you get rid of them... with a vengeance! Create a new bookmark in your browser and copy the code below as the link/url of said bookmark. Name it something helpful, like "Spoilers B GONE!" or whatever. Then whenever you view a thread here on GitP you just hit the bookmark and BAM! no more spoilers.

You won't even see the boxes, just the bare innards in all their gory glory.

It also makes sure that no image is wider than 600px, to avoid stretching pages, and will attempt to "intelligently" remove repeated images except avatars. Neat, huh? Sadly that last part means stuff like pony emotes may get lost but the forum doesn't make it easy for me to single out images in quotes as I'd have liked... that's an open problem, I guess.

Tested in Firefox, Chrome and Opera. Should work in any modern browser, but you never know with these things.


javascript:(function() { var a = document.getElementsByTagName('div'); for (var i = 0 ; i < a.length ; i++) { if (a[i].className == 'spoiler') { a[i].style.display = 'block'; a[i].className = ''; } else if (a[i].className == 'pre-spoiler') { a[i].style.display = 'none'; }} var ims = new Array(); var tmp; a = document.getElementsByTagName('img'); for (i = 0 ; i < a.length ; i++) { tmp = a[i].parentNode.className ; if (ims.indexOf(a[i].getAttribute('src')) == -1) { ims.push(a[i].getAttribute('src')); a[i].style.maxWidth = '600px'; } else if (tmp != 'avataroverflow' && tmp != 'alt2') { a[i].style.display = 'none' ; }}})();

If you don't mind repeated images, here's a version that leaves them be.

javascript:(function() { var a = document.getElementsByTagName('div'); for (var i = 0 ; i < a.length ; i++) { if (a[i].className == 'spoiler') { a[i].style.display = 'block'; a[i].className = ''; } else if (a[i].className == 'pre-spoiler') { a[i].style.display = 'none'; }} a = document.getElementsByTagName('img'); for (i = 0 ; i < a.length ; i++) { a[i].style.maxWidth = '600px'; }})();

Past Threads:

Thread I - Because Friendship Is Magic
Thread II - Now About 20% Cooler
Thread III - The Great & Powerful Thread
Thread IV - Friendship is Sufficiently Advanced Technology
Thread V - Art of the Thread
Thread VI - MUFFINS!
Thread VII - The Grand Galloping Thread
Thread VIII - Friendship is Music
Thread IX - The Best Thread Ever
Thread X - We Trot 'til We Drop
Thread XI - "Mmph!"
Thread XII - No One Can Groove Like the Girls with the Hooves
Thread XIII - Fast/Fine/Fierce Thread
Thread XIV - Boots on Hooves / Bikinis on Top
Thread XV - The Greater and Powerful-er Thread
Thread XVI - There's a Pony for That!
Thread XVII - Call Upon the Thread Ponies!
Thread XVIII - Perfect Isn't Easy
Thread XIX - I Emptied Your Thread
Thread XX & Thread XX - Appletastic Treats
Thread XXI - A Very Minty Thread
Thread XXII - Surprise!
Thread XXIII - It. Is. ON!
Thread XXIV - Now About 200% Longer Than Firefly
Thread XXV - Au Contraire, Mon Ami!
Thread XXVI - Applebloom to Zecora!
Thread XXVII - Eternal Chaos comes with Chocolate Rain
Thread XXVIII - In the Crazy of 40.000 Posts, There is Only Pony!
Thread XXIX - The Spoilers have been DOUBLED!
Thread XXX - Trixie Treats!
Thread XXXI - The Great and Powerful XXXie!
Thread XXXII - Find a Ponythread, and Soarin' the heck out of it!
Thread XXXIII - Happy Birthday Pony(thread)!
Thread XXXIV - There is Pony of it, no exceptions!
Thread XXXV - The Thread Everypony Should Know
Thread XXXVI - Superponies Everywhere!
Thread XXXVII - We Should Have Learned [Something] By Now!
Thread XXXVIII - Nopony Expects Sponish Pinquisition!
Thread XXXIX - There is no Pegasus Mafia!
Thread XL - The Plot Thickens!
Thread XLI - Riots, Riots Everywhere!
Thread XLII - Life, the Universe and Ponies
Thread XLIII - Season II Ruined My Fanon!
Thread XLIV - This Thread is Going to be Perfect!
Thread XLV - Reign Of Terror
Thread XLVI - *ROBOT TAKEOVER*
Thread XLVII - Ponibooru, We Hardly Knew Ye...
Thread XLVIII - I say Ol' Chap, how about those Equestrians?
Thread XLIX - I Have Done Nothing Productive All Day!
Thread L - The L is for Love!
Thread LI - FE
Thread LII - 525.600 Ponies!
Thread LIII - Stashing Ponythreads Around in Case of Ponymergency!
Thread LIV-E Long and Pony!
Thread LV:55 Ponythread learns Agility!
Thread LVI:S Has Left the Playground!
Thread LVII - You Must Construct Additional Pinkies!
Thread LVIII - Ponythread does not trust Wheels!
Thread LIX - Is Very Proud Of You
Thread LX - 60 Ponythreads? That's an Academy record!
Thread LXI - Discord's Thread For Reformed Spoilers
Thread LXII - Friendship Gives you Wiings!
Thread LXIII - R63? We Have NO IDEA What That Is...Thread LXIV - Haute Couture and Huge Crustaceans!
Thread LXV - Stand Back, I'm a Registered Princess!
Thread LXVI - What Would Celestia Not Think?!


Want to have Pony Avatar?
Want to Draw? Ponies will help!
Want to RP? MLP: FiM RP Recruitment!
Want to join the list of GitP Bronies (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApgaWduo83XldFhETWUtWm96b1BFS1dHOF84dTBGM lE&hl=en_US#gid=0)?
Want to join Steam GitP MLP Group (http://steamcommunity.com/groups/GitPony
)?

Archived:
Pony Week | Old Avatar Requests

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Hmmm, that new thread smell.

Repost:


Sad human Dashie in the rain, anypony? (big)
http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/151/2/c/a_dash_of_rain___bow_by_quizzicalkisses-d678xbz.jpg (http://quizzicalkisses.deviantart.com/art/A-Dash-of-Rain-bow-374970815)

So not what I was expecting from the description. Damn fine picture, that. Probably one of the best humanised Dashes I've seen, if nothing else for the body type.

[Deadly]

Perfect header image, Trixie :smallbiggrin:


So not what I was expecting from the description. Damn fine picture, that. Probably one of the best humanised Dashes I've seen, if nothing else for the body type.

Aye to that! :smallsmile:




The comma is unnecessary.

No comma after poet.

Is it a title or a line from the album?

End with a period, since you follow it with an action tag.

Of the hope.

Sweeping legends. I knew a janitor once who had a lot of those.

Got if you're going for her old stories, gets if you're referring to new stories.

I don't really like this sentence in general. I'm not quite sure why, but my best guess is that it feels a lot like telling rather than showing. I feel like you as the author are saying think this now, and Bonbon doesn't feel like a character so much as a mouthpiece. Reading further, the problem is mostly with the train scenes. You show Bonbon asking questions, but she leaves it at that and never tries to figure out an answer. The effect of this is that Bonbon comes across as kind of stupid, and instead of being a character she's directly stating the questions you want the audience to have. You can try to lead the readers down a certain thought path, but you have to be far more subtle about it. Though it is possible that's just all my opinion and no one else was bothered by it.

Double use of the word 'salad'.

Sank where? I didn't think she was flying.

Comma after shot.

Ditch the comma.

And embroidered. You have an extra space in there as well.

Seems like a poor defence to me. If somepony wasn't curious about the book before, they sure would be now. They'd probably use a stick or something to touch it instead, but they'd still go after it. It would help if she at least hadn't been able to open the book.

I've only ever heard of 'a firmness in her voice that surprised Bonbon or something to that effect.

Eh? You're trying to cram too much into that sentence and it loses coherency because of it.

Double coffee.

An answer if it's a specific, answers for multiple.

You switch from plural 'roofs' to singular 'rooftop'. Also, it's good to see that the royal guard will never be competent.

Either remove the comma after well, or just change it to one action. Also, leapt.

Into.

Semicolon.

Charging.

Nopony.

The pace.



Bonbon's got one foul mouth on her hasn't she...

Um... Is there something you need to tell us about Bonbon?

I have only the vaguest of ideas of what you mean by 'hiring a private pony'.
Your style is very comma heavy, I think cutting back would be helpful.



Thanks, I'll have a look at what you found, although I'm kinda busy lately. I'll keep it in mind though.

Grammar stuff, appropriate of the new thread, I suppose
As for commas, I try hard to add all the commas that the EqD prereaders always bug me about :smalltongue: I do however tend to drop or leave out commas rather than adding commas whenever I'm in doubt. I think if you use all the commas that are strictly required (and which the prereaders are very keen on), you tend to get more than most people are used to. Still, I'll certainly look at the ones you pointed out, because commas continue to confound me.

I do want to note that I try to remember not to use "nopony" over "no pony" because the equivalents are "no one" and "nobody", but "nobody" is mostly UK English while US English (which I try to stick to) apparently favors "no one". The variant "noone" not only looks bad, it is also apparently quite rare in both US and UK English. So I try to follow the convention that "nopony" is technically incorrect and should always be "no pony".

[Trixie]

Source of the pic is Ask Blueblood Blog, btw http://i.imgur.com/N2nfK.jpg

As for the Dash pic, I don't know. Trying to ride cutter bike in this outfit works only if you really hate your skin and/or like big hospital bills. Besides that, nice, if not for that one detail.

[DigoDragon]

Perfect header image, Trixie :smallbiggrin:

I agree. :smallbiggrin:



Grammar stuff, appropriate of the new thread, I suppose...

Yeah, commas are like... my current arch nemesis. I suppose on the plus side, it's really isn't so bad if that is the one big grammar issue I have with my writing. I just have to go back and proofread the Cheerilee out of my first Outlaw Mares story before I send it to EqD.

As for "Nopony vs. No pony", I do use the latter, but at times I'll even just go with "no one" as well. I've noticed that I dropped a lot of ponified grammar conventions in favor of just getting the words right.
So far no pony seems to mind. :smallwink:



On a side note, what kind of conventions would they have in Equestria?

There is definitely a case for science fiction. We've seen a filly dressed as an astronaut and a pony with a robot cutie mark. I'd imagine the content of the convention would be Jules Verne-esque in style.
And that would be awesome.

[meto30]

Ah, new thread. Delightful. I agree on the header image being perfect as well. What would Twilight be thinking now that Celestia has made her self present? XD

I've begun coloring my Mane Six group hug picture, but so far all I can see is that my coloring skills are as of yet still atrocious.

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/151/9/f/mane_six_and_spike_colour_version_wip_by_meto30-d679f5t.jpg

I'm going to add shading once I've finished with the outlines and the base colors.

Dr. Anarion, in case you skipped thread without seeing my picture of your OC, here it is:
http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/151/b/3/judge_anarion_by_meto30-d6793ep.jpg

[Kurgan]

There is definitely a case for science fiction. We've seen a filly dressed as an astronaut and a pony with a robot cutie mark. I'd imagine the content of the convention would be Jules Verne-esque in style.
And that would be awesome.

Cantercon XXI - Airship Wars and Shipping Contests Unite!

Special Guests:

Spitfire, back from her Trottingwood debut film Daring Doo, the Origins will be appearing at the con for a Q and A and booksigning.

Shining Armor and Princess Cadence will be showcasing their new system: Changeling, where any pony might be a changeling! No worries though, should the worst happen, Friend Princess will be there to being you back!

The Great and Powerful Trixie will be doing an Illusionary Magic for Beginners course on Days 1 and 3 of the convention, visit the ticket master for details! Free fake horns for the Pegasus and Earth Ponies who want to join the fun!

[MLai]

but "nobody" is mostly UK English while US English (which I try to stick to) apparently favors "no one".
Americans say "nobody" all the time. They're interchangeable. I suppose "nobody" is more colloquial, but outside of a speech nobody really cares. I don't think anybody writes "noone." It's always "no one."

I've begun coloring my Mane Six group hug picture, but so far all I can see is that my coloring skills are as of yet still atrocious.
Uh-oh, Pinkie's mane is suffering from the dreaded Bucket Fill color gap! :smallwink:
Use layers! That's the cure!

[zimmerwald1915]

Americans say "nobody" all the time. They're interchangeable. I suppose "nobody" is more colloquial, but outside of a speech nobody really cares. I don't think anybody writes "noone." It's always "no one."
Or if you want to deliberately invoke an archaism, "no-one". "Noone" is never anything but a misspelling.

EDIT: oh, and "US English" has...political connotations. :smalleek:

[meto30]

Americans say "nobody" all the time. They're interchangeable. I suppose "nobody" is more colloquial, but outside of a speech nobody really cares. I don't think anybody writes "noone." It's always "no one."

Uh-oh, Pinkie's mane is suffering from the dreaded Bucket Fill color gap! :smallwink:
Use layers! That's the cure!

I'm already using layers, but I forgot to expand my wand selections before using the bucket. Should be fixed by the next check-up.

Any other suggestions?

[thubby]

Or if you want to deliberately invoke an archaism, "no-one". "Noone" is never anything but a misspelling.

not in the US it isn't.
http://th06.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2011/310/b/c/sweetie_belle_dictionary_by_esipode-d4fbx0b.png

[Soras Teva Gee]

Ahhh fresh ponythread.

[Deadly]

Americans say "nobody" all the time. They're interchangeable. I suppose "nobody" is more colloquial, but outside of a speech nobody really cares. I don't think anybody writes "noone." It's always "no one."

According to the ever-trustworthy wiktionary (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/no_one#Pronoun), American users apparently favor "no one" over "nobody" slightly. That's not to say they don't use both, of course. Also my super quick search didn't come up with anything more authoritative at a glance.

In any case, I tend to favor "no pony" unless I'm being deliberately informal or something.

[Kd7sov]

Re: the header pic: It occurs to me that this is a question Celestia would be unable to answer, and possibly unable to learn the answer to.


I've begun coloring my Mane Six group hug picture, but so far all I can see is that my coloring skills are as of yet still atrocious.

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/151/9/f/mane_six_and_spike_colour_version_wip_by_meto30-d679f5t.jpg

You have an odd definition of "atrocious". Yes, there are bits where the colors don't go all the way to the lines, but I see worse every week in the funny pages.


EDIT: oh, and "US English" has...political connotations. :smalleek:

*blank* Political connotations? How would it be other than a descriptive term, like "UK English" or "Australian English" or "Canadian English" or even "Japanese English"? Admittedly, some of these are uncommon or not very differentiated, but they're still all of a kind.


not in the US it isn't.
http://th06.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2011/310/b/c/sweetie_belle_dictionary_by_esipode-d4fbx0b.png

Can you back that up? Because as a lifelong USAian, I find Zimmerwald's claim matches my experience better.

[zimmerwald1915]

*blank* Political connotations? How would it be other than a descriptive term, like "UK English" or "Australian English" or "Canadian English" or even "Japanese English"? Admittedly, some of these are uncommon or not very differentiated, but they're still all of a kind.
PM'd. fillerfiller

[meto30]

PM'd. fillerfiller

Can you send that PM to me as well? I never knew such connotations existed with the term, and I'd like to know the details :)

[thubby]

Can you back that up? Because as a lifelong USAian, I find Zimmerwald's claim matches my experience better.

a 30something year-old webster dictionary


Can you send that PM to me as well? I never knew such connotations existed with the term, and I'd like to know the details :)
ditto

[Trixie]

Can you send that PM to me as well? I never knew such connotations existed with the term, and I'd like to know the details :)

Eh, I'd ask for PM too except please use 'mail' function, not PM http://i.imgur.com/N2nfK.jpg

[zimmerwald1915]

Eh, I'd ask for PM too except please use 'mail' function, not PM http://i.imgur.com/N2nfK.jpg
Hmm...I think I did it right...:smallconfused:

[Balmas]

Yeah, commas are like... my current arch nemesis. I suppose on the plus side, it's really isn't so bad if that is the one big grammar issue I have with my writing. I just have to go back and proofread the Cheerilee out of my first Outlaw Mares story before I send it to EqD.
If there's a problem that I have with grammar, it's a tendency to to overuse the semicolon. I tend to put it in where I could really get away with just a period.


There is definitely a case for science fiction. We've seen a filly dressed as an astronaut and a pony with a robot cutie mark. I'd imagine the content of the convention would be Jules Verne-esque in style.
And that would be awesome.

Burned Jewels, Prance's most famous Scifi writer.

[Anarion]

Finished reviewing end of the last thread. Regarding job advice, it is appreciated. My issue is that I actually wanted to do good in the world with a law degree rather than attempt to make a lot of money (haha, silly pony, I know), so after I found myself unhappy with my one summer at a law firm, I chose to pursue a government and public interest route, rather than apply to a lot of firms. I may end up working at a firm if I continue to be unable to find other stuff through the summer, at least to get experience for a couple years. I'm also considering volunteering for a bit though with a non-profit or in government and trying to develop that into a job.



Thanks, I'll have a look at what you found, although I'm kinda busy lately. I'll keep it in mind though.

Grammar stuff, appropriate of the new thread, I suppose
As for commas, I try hard to add all the commas that the EqD prereaders always bug me about :smalltongue: I do however tend to drop or leave out commas rather than adding commas whenever I'm in doubt. I think if you use all the commas that are strictly required (and which the prereaders are very keen on), you tend to get more than most people are used to. Still, I'll certainly look at the ones you pointed out, because commas continue to confound me.

I do want to note that I try to remember not to use "nopony" over "no pony" because the equivalents are "no one" and "nobody", but "nobody" is mostly UK English while US English (which I try to stick to) apparently favors "no one". The variant "noone" not only looks bad, it is also apparently quite rare in both US and UK English. So I try to follow the convention that "nopony" is technically incorrect and should always be "no pony".

For commas, I suggest reading it out loud and listening to when you take a breath. It's not perfect, but you'll probably notice a lot of commas that you miss when writing. Your brain reads differently than you talk, and talking almost auto-inserts the commas.

I'm a fan of "nobody" myself and tend to prefer nopony as a result, with the assumption that "pony" can map to words other than "one" when replacing general expressions.


Ah, new thread. Delightful. I agree on the header image being perfect as well. What would Twilight be thinking now that Celestia has made her self present? XD

I've begun coloring my Mane Six group hug picture, but so far all I can see is that my coloring skills are as of yet still atrocious.

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/151/9/f/mane_six_and_spike_colour_version_wip_by_meto30-d679f5t.jpg

I'm going to add shading once I've finished with the outlines and the base colors.

Dr. Anarion, in case you skipped thread without seeing my picture of your OC, here it is:
http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/151/b/3/judge_anarion_by_meto30-d6793ep.jpg

I did see it, and it's quite awesome. Thank you very much.


PM'd. fillerfiller

Pardon, but the superior filler is some variation of "pony, poni, pon, pony"

edit: or like "Twilight Sparkle is best pony" in white text or something.

[Crimson Doom]

Can you send that PM to me as well? I never knew such connotations existed with the term, and I'd like to know the details :)

I wouldn't mind that PM myself. It's good to know I'm not the only one confused, but now I'm curious as to what weird political implications go with such a simple term as "US English". One would think it would be a simple descriptive term, to distinguish from British English and Australian English.


not in the US it isn't.
http://th06.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2011/310/b/c/sweetie_belle_dictionary_by_esipode-d4fbx0b.png

http://www.daily-comix.com/image/comic/small/1305/hahaha-nope-pony-celestia-comic-hahaha-comic-1367744639.jpg

I'm pretty sure "noone" would simply make people think you had misspelled either "no one" or "noon". If you were referring to the archaic nature of no-one instead, I have to refute that as well; the hyphen, far from being commonly used, actually appears to be vanishing from the language at an alarming rate (to the point that at least one person with a hyphen in their name was unable to communicate over the phone how his name was spelled, because no one on the other end understood the concept of a hyphen).

Tl;dr, noone has never been used to my knowledge, and no-one is archaic and outdated, based on my experience living in the US and having a grammar freak for a grandmother.

[Beacon of Chaos]

Good luck!

Good luck!
Thanks guys, it went really well. I've got a trial day on Monday, and if all goes well, I will once again be able to enter the land of employment!

[Balmas]

Oh. My. Gosh.

The Seattleite in me is squeeing so hard right now.
http://25.media.tumblr.com/f4b44dba74d5da7b8a6a7a1fe12897ce/tumblr_mnna7kqmYn1qkdrvbo1_1280.jpg

[DigoDragon]

I've begun coloring my Mane Six group hug picture, but so far all I can see is that my coloring skills are as of yet still atrocious.

I will disagree. You got a good thing going with Rarity's hair gradient. :smallsmile:



Cantercon XXI - Airship Wars and Shipping Contests Unite!

Hee hee, nice setup. I'd totally grab Trixie's panel by the horn and attend. :smallwink:

I'm imagining Lyra working the "Artist Alley", doing saucy human artwork for bits.
"And look at how the fingers bend to accomplish this pose!"



Americans say "nobody" all the time.

American users apparently favor "no one" over "nobody" slightly.

I'm a fan of "nobody" myself

I've got nobody...
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IQ2PrQXKDME/UKRK8KlrDzI/AAAAAAAAN9Q/e5VOWdwhzic/s1600/Igor-Singing-young-frankenstein-26789799-500-247.gif

Great movie.



ditto

Yeah, can I get a PM too, please? Now I'm curious. :smallsmile:

[DigoDragon]

Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb gift card.
I hadn't spent any of the gift cards I got from my past birthday, so I decided to go on amazon and make several small purchases with them. One of the things I wanted to buy was Pony Season 2 on DVD.

It seems amazon pulled it off the shelf due to a problem with "The Last Roundup Episode" (that being it is the edited version and the box didn't state that).

Soooo, my wife made an observation that some of my gift cards are for Amazon and that I can combine them as credit in my account (huh, I didn't know that!). I did so, and then registered a Visa gift card so that I can use it online and viola! I purchased RPG Maker VX Pro (which happened to be on sale too).

Maybe I will make that Pony RPG idea after all...



If there's a problem that I have with grammar, it's a tendency to to overuse the semicolon. I tend to put it in where I could really get away with just a period.

I think I've only used a semicolon for a winking smiley in the past... like 6 months. :smalleek: I can never find a good time to use one of those semicolons for their intended purpose.



Oh. My. Gosh.
The Seattleite in me is squeeing so hard right now.

That looks cool, but the Floridian in me has no idea what it is. Well, other than the kinda aztec-ish design.

[One Tin Soldier]

Sad human Dashie in the rain, anypony? (big)
http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/151/2/c/a_dash_of_rain___bow_by_quizzicalkisses-d678xbz.jpg (http://quizzicalkisses.deviantart.com/art/A-Dash-of-Rain-bow-374970815)

Cool cool cool


Ah, new thread. Delightful. I agree on the header image being perfect as well. What would Twilight be thinking now that Celestia has made her self present? XD

I've begun coloring my Mane Six group hug picture, but so far all I can see is that my coloring skills are as of yet still atrocious.


EDIT: oh, and "US English" has...political connotations. :smalleek:

I, like many others here, are confused. I've seen a bunch of discussions on these boards about the differences between different types of English without anyone even mentioning political stuff. It's not like the mods are jumping on the "aluminium" guys. (Protip: "Aluminum" is also a proper spelling, and Americans are not wrong to pronounce it as such.)


Can you send that PM to me as well? I never knew such connotations existed with the term, and I'd like to know the details :)

So yeah, I would appreciate that PM as well.


Oh. My. Gosh.

The Seattleite in me is squeeing so hard right now.
[SPOILER]http://25.media.tumblr.com/f4b44dba74d5da7b8a6a7a1fe12897ce/tumblr_mnna7kqmYn1qkdrvbo1_1280.jpg

See the above: Cool cool cool
EDIT: ^Digo: it's in the style of art by Native Americans from the Pacific Northwest.

[Gamerlord]

Oh. My. Gosh.

The Seattleite in me is squeeing so hard right now.
http://25.media.tumblr.com/f4b44dba74d5da7b8a6a7a1fe12897ce/tumblr_mnna7kqmYn1qkdrvbo1_1280.jpg
......Well, it looks cool, but I have no idea what it is. :smalltongue:



I've begun coloring my Mane Six group hug picture, but so far all I can see is that my coloring skills are as of yet still atrocious.

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/151/9/f/mane_six_and_spike_colour_version_wip_by_meto30-d679f5t.jpg

You're being too hard on yourself, it looks pretty decent so far.



I do want to note that I try to remember not to use "nopony" over "no pony" because the equivalents are "no one" and "nobody", but "nobody" is mostly UK English while US English (which I try to stick to) apparently favors "no one". The variant "noone" not only looks bad, it is also apparently quite rare in both US and UK English. So I try to follow the convention that "nopony" is technically incorrect and should always be "no pony".
Huh. I always prefered "nobody".



As for the art: This is Celestia, reimagined after the art style of Pacific Northwest native Americans.

Examples of that kind of art:
http://typophile.com/files/223_6365.jpg
http://www.pathgallery.com/pageimages/Hunt%20Tony%20Raven%20250.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2577/4073410469_8c7c6d2894.jpg
Oh, interesting.

[Balmas]

Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb gift card.
I hadn't spent any of the gift cards I got from my past birthday, so I decided to go on amazon and make several small purchases with them. One of the things I wanted to buy was Pony Season 2 on DVD.

It seems amazon pulled it off the shelf due to a problem with "The Last Roundup Episode" (that being it is the edited version and the box didn't state that).

Soooo, my wife made an observation that some of my gift cards are for Amazon and that I can combine them as credit in my account (huh, I didn't know that!). I did so, and then registered a Visa gift card so that I can use it online and viola! I purchased RPG Maker VX Pro (which happened to be on sale too).

Maybe I will make that Pony RPG idea after all...

That looks cool, but the Floridian in me has no idea what it is. Well, other than the kinda aztec-ish design.

Congrats on the possibly pony RPG!

As for the art: This is Celestia, reimagined after the art style of Pacific Northwest native Americans.

Examples of that kind of art:
http://typophile.com/files/223_6365.jpg
http://www.pathgallery.com/pageimages/Hunt%20Tony%20Raven%20250.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2577/4073410469_8c7c6d2894.jpg

[meto30]

Quick question:

Would it be a violation of copywright, trademark, or some other law if I added the official MLP:FiM logo into a fan art? By adding, I mean actually copy-pasting the logo picture.

[zimmerwald1915]

As for the art: This is Celestia, reimagined after the art style of Pacific Northwest native Americans.

Examples of that kind of art:
http://typophile.com/files/223_6365.jpg
http://www.pathgallery.com/pageimages/Hunt%20Tony%20Raven%20250.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2577/4073410469_8c7c6d2894.jpg
That depiction of the raven is particularly famous.


Quick question:

Would it be a violation of copywright, trademark, or some other law if I added the official MLP:FiM logo into a fan art? By adding, I mean actually copy-pasting the logo picture.
If you have to ask, it's probably not wise to go through with it, particularly as the legal advice tap is turned off.

[meto30]

If you have to ask, it's probably not wise to go through with it, particularly as the legal advice tap is turned off.

I guess the logo is not going on the picture then.

[Madcrafter]

I think whoever did the Celestia didn't manage to get it quite right (mainly in the head area), but it is still pretty good. I always like the 3D stuff better though.

Also, if I could get that PM about the political implications too, that'd be neat.

[meto30]

The base colors are done. Now onto shading.

Here's how the Mane Six and Spike group hug picture looks like now:
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/151/b/c/mane_six_and_spike_colour_version_wip_2_by_meto30-d67a8iu.jpg

[Trixie]

On a side note, what kind of conventions would they have in Equestria? Perhaps it is where all the Warhoof/Hoofhammer players meet up?

Quasi-military conventions where grumpy 'recreationist' pegasi dress in old Pegasopolis armours and lament how doggy modern society with all the love and tolerance and no glorious bombardments of surfacers who failed to cough up complimentary free food is? :smalltongue:


Quick question:

Would it be a violation of copywright, trademark, or some other law if I added the official MLP:FiM logo into a fan art? By adding, I mean actually copy-pasting the logo picture.

Just saying, copyright has exactly zero application here - it only applies to content of author's work and right to reproduce it. However, as an identifying logo it's registered trademark, something that is actually actively protected from infringements, and it's best not to touch it, even for non-commercial use.

Fan works generally get away with it if it's an obvious re-imagined parody or if you live somewhere it's not protected (doubtful, Hasbro registered it everywhere they could). Regardless, you'd need to do required research of local laws yourself.

[meto30]

Just saying, copyright has exactly zero application here - it only applies to content of author's work and right to reproduce it. However, as an identifying logo it's registered trademark, something that is actually actively protected from infringements, and it's best not to touch it, even for non-commercial use.

Fan works generally get away with it if it's an obvious re-imagined parody or if you live somewhere it's not protected (doubtful, Hasbro registered it everywhere they could). Regardless, you'd need to do required research of local laws yourself.

Thank you for your reply. I'll stay away from the logo then. I doubt Korean trademark laws are any weaker than the US'.

[DigoDragon]

Digo: it's in the style of art by Native Americans from the Pacific Northwest.

Ahhhh. Thank you for explaining it to me, I learned something new today!
(I also remembered that I did poorly in geography class)



The base colors are done. Now onto shading.


Great job with this! It looks delicious!
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m11ottA8E51r2bm13o1_500.png



Quasi-military conventions where grumpy 'recreationist' pegasi dress in old Pegasopolis armours and lament how doggy modern society with all the love and tolerance and no glorious bombardments of surfacers who failed to cough up complimentary free food is? :smalltongue:

Yeah, those conventions. :smallsmile:


Last night my wife came to me and asked if Pony ever did an origins episode for Winona, Gummy, Angel, and Opal. They didn't of course, but that got me curious to see one for Gummy. I'd like to know where Pinkie got a toothless alligator. :smallsmile:

[Metahuman1]

Ahhhh. Thank you for explaining it to me, I learned something new today!
(I also remembered that I did poorly in geography class)




Great job with this! It looks delicious!
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m11ottA8E51r2bm13o1_500.png




Yeah, those conventions. :smallsmile:


Last night my wife came to me and asked if Pony ever did an origins episode for Winona, Gummy, Angel, and Opal. They didn't of course, but that got me curious to see one for Gummy. I'd like to know where Pinkie got a toothless alligator. :smallsmile:


It's Pinkie Pie, do we really have to say it at this point?

[One Tin Soldier]

I think whoever did the Celestia didn't manage to get it quite right (mainly in the head area), but it is still pretty good. I always like the 3D stuff better though.

Also, if I could get that PM about the political implications too, that'd be neat.

Having received said PM, I think it would be useful to summarize it in a way that I hope is ok with board rules.

"US English" is the name of a group with political goals. I think this can be easily avoided by referring to the dialect as "American English."

[Anarion]

Quick question:

Would it be a violation of copywright, trademark, or some other law if I added the official MLP:FiM logo into a fan art? By adding, I mean actually copy-pasting the logo picture.

This is precisely the sort of question I can't answer. I also suggest that you don't rely on Trixie's legal analysis or anypony else in this thread who claims to know.

Steer clear of anything you're not sure about is reasonable advice though.


The base colors are done. Now onto shading.

Here's how the Mane Six and Spike group hug picture looks like now:
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/151/b/c/mane_six_and_spike_colour_version_wip_2_by_meto30-d67a8iu.jpg

That looks excellent.

[otakuryoga]

Evil EVIL Rarity (http://theburningdonut.deviantart.com/art/MLP-Adventure-Hour-3-374921813)

[Tvtyrant]

Evil EVIL Rarity (http://theburningdonut.deviantart.com/art/MLP-Adventure-Hour-3-374921813)

"Naughty naughty Zoot."

[DigoDragon]

It's Pinkie Pie, do we really have to say it at this point?

Um... yes?

I wanted to see some crazy strange backstory like out of Candyland where Pinkie finds Gummy after a run in with a strange gaggle of creatures with no name, but decent footwear.

If only because last time Pinkie did a backstory it had a rock farm which tirned out to be an actual place. :smallbiggrin:



Evil EVIL Rarity (http://theburningdonut.deviantart.com/art/MLP-Adventure-Hour-3-374921813)

Haha, that was fun. That's up there with the time Twilight fed Pinkie a monster energy drink.



"Naughty naughty Zoot."

MLP x Monty Python Image Dump Go!
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7bnarP8Om1rbyr12o1_500.png

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7bton6hvW1rbyr12o1_500.png

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md2t1qXUK11rd23b5o1_500.png

http://24.media.tumblr.com/851748b1a5ff060b3ac127d796f190c0/tumblr_mkpe381fau1ramnbqo1_500.png

There are some who call her...
http://cdn.derpiboo.ru/thumbs/1500/700/2013/02/12/13_32_32_716_241105__UNOPT__safe_trixie_parody_mon ty_python_and_the_holy_grail_artist_daniel_the_gre at_tim.jpeg.jpeg


I don't know, I just thought it was cute~
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/--tFOJLKTkvQ/TzQ1jrjPiPI/AAAAAAAACog/bAPQCvGUjK8/s1600/atticustrixie2.jpg

Yeah, you might want to put the chopsticks down...

[Forum Explorer]

signing in to mention how awesome ponies are. This has been a public service announcement sponsored by the Ministry of Awesome.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Just saying, copyright has exactly zero application here - it only applies to content of author's work and right to reproduce it. However, as an identifying logo it's registered trademark, something that is actually actively protected from infringements, and it's best not to touch it, even for non-commercial use.

Fan works generally get away with it if it's an obvious re-imagined parody or if you live somewhere it's not protected (doubtful, Hasbro registered it everywhere they could). Regardless, you'd need to do required research of local laws yourself.

Under the Berne Convention (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Literary_an d_Artistic_Works), which South Korea is a signatory to, copyright is automatic and does not require registration. Unlike trademark.

Thus both may apply.

I only found this also specifying (http://www.kipo.go.kr/kpo/user.tdf?a=user.english.html.HtmlApp&c=30103&catmenu=ek30103) that infringement carries civil and criminal penalties in South Korea for trademark violation.

How rigorous that all may be I suspect I'm searching in the wrong script to find.

[Anarion]

Evil EVIL Rarity (http://theburningdonut.deviantart.com/art/MLP-Adventure-Hour-3-374921813)

Bahaha. That was hilarious. Poor Scootaloo. There needs to be a traumatized by fashion recovery club. It probably involves rolling in mud, hardcore athletics, and dirt bikes. Maybe double dirt bikes.



MLP x Monty Python Image Dump Go!
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7bnarP8Om1rbyr12o1_500.png

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7bton6hvW1rbyr12o1_500.png

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_md2t1qXUK11rd23b5o1_500.png

http://24.media.tumblr.com/851748b1a5ff060b3ac127d796f190c0/tumblr_mkpe381fau1ramnbqo1_500.png

There are some who call her...
http://cdn.derpiboo.ru/thumbs/1500/700/2013/02/12/13_32_32_716_241105__UNOPT__safe_trixie_parody_mon ty_python_and_the_holy_grail_artist_daniel_the_gre at_tim.jpeg.jpeg


I don't know, I just thought it was cute~
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/--tFOJLKTkvQ/TzQ1jrjPiPI/AAAAAAAACog/bAPQCvGUjK8/s1600/atticustrixie2.jpg

Yeah, you might want to put the chopsticks down...

Mm, raw Trixie looks delicious. It probably tastes a bit like squid, only more marshmallowy and less rubbery.


Under the Berne Convention (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Literary_an d_Artistic_Works), which South Korea is a signatory to, copyright is automatic and does not require registration. Unlike trademark.

Thus both may apply.

I only found this also specifying (http://www.kipo.go.kr/kpo/user.tdf?a=user.english.html.HtmlApp&c=30103&catmenu=ek30103) that infringement carries civil and criminal penalties in South Korea for trademark violation.

How rigorous that all may be I suspect I'm searching in the wrong script to find.

*headdesk*

[Forum Explorer]

*headdesk*

Do it. I can feel your desire to give out legal advice from here. Fall to the dark side of lawyers and begin to give out random advice :smallwink:

[Anarion]

Do it. I can feel your desire to give out legal advice from here. Fall to the dark side of lawyers and begin to give out random advice :smallwink:

See, this forum has my back. Even if I weren't concerned about being disqualified from the profession and being kicked out of the bar before even entering it, I don't want to get a forum violation for breaking the rules. :smallcool:

Speaking of which: you all better hope the Penguin doesn't check out the thread for a few pages.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Wouldn't be the first time this topic came up....


.... So how 'bout that Earth pony magic:
http://horsepower.emeraldcoastcomics.net/uploads/comics/032%20-%20A%20Muggle%20In%20Hogwarts.png (http://horsepower.emeraldcoastcomics.net/32)

[TheAmishPirate]

.... So how 'bout that Earth pony magic:
http://horsepower.emeraldcoastcomics.net/uploads/comics/032%20-%20A%20Muggle%20In%20Hogwarts.png (http://horsepower.emeraldcoastcomics.net/32)

The real kicker is that she was the lunch-lady. Never seen a pony have so much trouble with a hairnet before...

[BlasTech]

PICS!

Story time with AJ
http://th02.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2013/046/3/2/story_time_with_applejack_by_ctb_36-d5uuz6s.png

Mane6
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/117/c/0/mane_six_by_sokolas-d636g6b.png


Dash with bucket
http://th07.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2013/111/d/b/dash_buckethead_by_sokolas-d62ji52.png

Snug as a Bug
http://th06.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2013/151/1/f/snug_as_a_bug_by_equestria_prevails-d679ezu.png

Don't look at this!
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Rwiyuu5wqFs/UakKxePRN8I/AAAAAAAAkmk/NbU5VUr3uZA/s1600/Fluttershyinabox.png

[Aotrs Commander]

um, Commodore, have you lost track of the Star Sergeant lately?
http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/150/b/1/commision__to_victory__by_artisticdoe-d675bxp.png

Eh, what she gets up to when she's off duty is not my problem...




On a side note, what kind of conventions would they have in Equestria? Perhaps it is where all the Warhoof/Hoofhammer players meet up?

I would like to think that place like Equestria would be sufficiently uptopian as to only have good wargames.

Zing!

I'm implying Warhammer isn't a good wargame.

In case that wasn't obvious.




Also, Star Trek Into Darkness is amazing and Darkspark will Thunderbolt with extreme prejudice anyone who says it isn't because of nitpicks.

[Forum Explorer]

Don't look at this!
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Rwiyuu5wqFs/UakKxePRN8I/AAAAAAAAkmk/NbU5VUr3uZA/s1600/Fluttershyinabox.png

Well stop being adorable!





I would like to think that place like Equestria would be sufficiently uptopian as to only have good wargames.

Zing!

I'm implying Warhammer isn't a good wargame.

In case that wasn't obvious.




Also, Star Trek Into Darkness is amazing and Darkspark will Thunderbolt with extreme prejudice anyone who says it isn't because of nitpicks.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. You have no idea how envious I am of you to actually have good wargames available plus people to play against. Warhammer is the most popular one over here and I still struggle to find opponents.

[Kurgan]

Hee hee, nice setup. I'd totally grab Trixie's panel by the horn and attend. :smallwink:

I'm imagining Lyra working the "Artist Alley", doing saucy human artwork for bits.
"And look at how the fingers bend to accomplish this pose!"



Come now, once Lyra gets famous enough for her My Somewhat-Large Human works, ponies will be asking her left and right to do ponified artwork of her characters.

That, or I picture her with drawings, artwork, and wooden models, like some sort of Leonardo da Vinci pony.




Quasi-military conventions where grumpy 'recreationist' pegasi dress in old Pegasopolis armours and lament how doggy modern society with all the love and tolerance and no glorious bombardments of surfacers who failed to cough up complimentary free food is? :smalltongue:


I am suddenly remembering my Gencon trips back in the day, and the stormtrooper brigades that would patrol about the con floor. Best part was that I swear most of them just randomly encountered each other and thought it would be cool to do a round with the guy dressed as an Imperial officer and Bobba Fett.






I would like to think that place like Equestria would be sufficiently uptopian as to only have good wargames.

Zing!

I'm implying Warhammer isn't a good wargame.

In case that wasn't obvious.


Come now, Warhammer is super expensive and stuff, so it must be good! That is how things work! More expensive = better! :smallbiggrin:

Though honestly, never played it, so cannot comment.




I've said it before and I'll say it again. You have no idea how envious I am of you to actually have good wargames available plus people to play against. Warhammer is the most popular one over here and I still struggle to find opponents.

I feel that way about adnd sometimes. I am the only one in my regular group who likes it, so we only play it when I DM.


And on a side note: got my first shiny pokemon a few days ago! Good old litwick. So huzzah on that!

[DigoDragon]

Mm, raw Trixie looks delicious. It probably tastes a bit like squid, only more marshmallowy and less rubbery.

King Sombra apparently agrees (http://bunnimation.deviantart.com/art/MLP-Villains-374532326).
I've had squid, but it was fried. I don't think I could eat it raw.



.... So how 'bout that Earth pony magic:
http://horsepower.emeraldcoastcomics.net/uploads/comics/032%20-%20A%20Muggle%20In%20Hogwarts.png (http://horsepower.emeraldcoastcomics.net/32)

Hahaha, oh Pinkie Pie...



Mane6
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/117/c/0/mane_six_by_sokolas-d636g6b.png


Something is missing...
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmtddoidrH1qkzvfvo1_250.jpg

[Aotrs Commander]

And on a side note: got my first shiny pokemon a few days ago! Good old litwick. So huzzah on that!

Huzzah!



First Litwick I caught happened to have maximum special attack. Not realising, I then spent ages trying to get a better one (no basis for comparison, you see) until I actully crunched the IVs on Serebii and realised it...




I've said it before and I'll say it again. You have no idea how envious I am of you to actually have good wargames available plus people to play against. Warhammer is the most popular one over here and I still struggle to find opponents.

In seriousness, it is likely because all the wargamers in the US are few and far between (we have spoken to people who consider if they have had five or six games a year to be doing well) that the more popular wargames stateside tend to be... yeah. (40k is pretty meh, but at least it's no Rapid Fire or Ambush Alley...)

I think some of reason is that if people only game that infrequently, they don't really have time to learn the tactical or rules complexities of the above-one-braincell rules (Manouvre Group, for example, is easy enough to grasp the rules inside the first game, but getting your head around the tactics and decision-making requires a lot more games). I suspect there is an element that if you only play so occasionally, you'd rather just play a game, even if it's basically rolling some dice and moving your toys around a bit, than a game that requires a few games to get good at.



Of course, the solution is obvious: move to the UK...

[zimmerwald1915]

Something is missing...
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmtddoidrH1qkzvfvo1_250.jpg
Hat guy reacts how I would to this image (http://xkcd.com/455/).

[Forum Explorer]

In seriousness, it is likely because all the wargamers in the US are few and far between (we have spoken to people who consider if they have had five or six games a year to be doing well) that the more popular wargames stateside tend to be... yeah. (40k is pretty meh, but at least it's no Rapid Fire or Ambush Alley...)

I think some of reason is that if people only game that infrequently, they don't really have time to learn the tactical or rules complexities of the above-one-braincell rules (Manouvre Group, for example, is easy enough to grasp the rules inside the first game, but getting your head around the tactics and decision-making requires a lot more games). I suspect there is an element that if you only play so occasionally, you'd rather just play a game, even if it's basically rolling some dice and moving your toys around a bit, than a game that requires a few games to get good at.



Of course, the solution is obvious: move to the UK...

Yeah and I'm in Canada so we've got an even smaller population to deal with scattered over a much larger area.

Perhaps. I think it's because 40K really is the only one that advertises over here. They also tend to get people young. I mean I don't recognize any of those games you mentioned. Hobby store don't tend to carry any sort of wargame so who have to be looking online.

That's the boring answer, I'd much rather take over the UK turn it into a flying fortress and park it somewhere nearby so I can walk over whenever I feel like playing.

In all seriousness I might end up moving to the UK. Basically I'll end up moving anywhere that I can find work as a Biologist.

[Trixie]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. You have no idea how envious I am of you to actually have good wargames available plus people to play against. Warhammer is the most popular one over here and I still struggle to find opponents.

Did you try Vassal? :smallconfused:

Sure, it's not 'real' wargaming, but it has a lot going for it, and it was only practical option for people who move a lot.


I'm implying Warhammer isn't a good wargame.

In case that wasn't obvious.

Eh, Warhammer, IMHO, is a lot better decoupled from expensive minis, need to paint and move them, as above. When you can build army without taking costs into account, game is suddenly both more free and allows you to do things not really practical in tabletop.

Of course, I didn't ever try games you mention, even on my stay in UK (wargaming club in third largest Scottish university only playing WH40K and Fantasy...) but at some point, making complexity just for the sake of complexity even if rules are 'simple' is just a designer's crutch, IMHO.


This is precisely the sort of question I can't answer. I also suggest that you don't rely on Trixie's legal analysis or anypony else in this thread who claims to know.

Wait, stating copyright is by definition of the word not applicable to logos and telling askee to research relevant local laws is legal analysis and/or advice now? :smallconfused:

Or did you just say it's about the average level of legal analysis of typical US law company these days? :smallamused::smalltongue:

[Kurgan]

Huzzah!



First Litwick I caught happened to have maximum special attack. Not realising, I then spent ages trying to get a better one (no basis for comparison, you see) until I actully crunched the IVs on Serebii and realised it...


To check for IVs I always go here (http://www.serebii.net/games/iv-calcdp.shtml). The lower the level the less accurate it is, but it will give you a decent idea at least. Though you will need to know the EVs on the pokemon for an accurate measurement.

[ICN]

As for commas, I try hard to add all the commas that the EqD prereaders always bug me about :smalltongue: I do however tend to drop or leave out commas rather than adding commas whenever I'm in doubt. I think if you use all the commas that are strictly required (and which the prereaders are very keen on), you tend to get more than most people are used to. Still, I'll certainly look at the ones you pointed out, because commas continue to confound me.


Commas are tricky because they're used for everything. I might make a post detailing the more common uses later when I have more time.


Can you send that PM to me as well? I never knew such connotations existed with the term, and I'd like to know the details :)

Same here. On a side note, I do think that this is the longest ponythread discussion I've ever prompted, even it was purely by accident.


Wargames and stuff.

Oh yeah, that reminds me. I remembered a game the other day that I think you might like; It's called Battle for Wesnoth (found here (http://www.wesnoth.org/)), and I think it's at least vaguely similar to the wargames you play. It's free at any rate, and while it's fantasy rather than sci-fi based it does have liches.

And now to keep this post at least somewhat pony related, here's a picture of Rainbow Dash.
-------
Get it?! I'll go get my coat.

[Aotrs Commander]

First: more Winningverse (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/107124/the-incredibly-infuriating-coworker-of-blossomforth).




Of course, I didn't ever try games you mention, even on my stay in UK (wargaming club in third largest Scottish university only playing WH40K and Fantasy...) but at some point, making complexity just for the sake of complexity even if rules are 'simple' is just a designer's crutch, IMHO.

And conversely making simple rules for the sake of simplicity does not a good set of rules make. Decent rules do neither. Good rules-writing is the art of taking simple rules whose interaction makes for complex results (and also knowing exactly what you want those results to be before you start making game mechanics.)



MG, for example, was designed to simulate to as reasonable a degree of practicality, real-world tactics and strategy, via terrain, command & control and awareness (i.e. you can't see everywhere at once) via the minimum amount of rules required, with the weapon factors being tertiary. (That said, even that was researched out to a reasonable degree of accuracy, which is what happens when you put a miliatary expert and a professional numerical modeller on the same team.) It does exactly that - but for the people who don't want to have to think that hard (and believe me, it IS hard thinking) it isn't going to be their sort of set of rules. (Or for the rivet counters, either.)

One of these days, I'm gonna have to post up an MG scenario map, assign ponythread an equivilent force of ponies (armed with appropriate weapons-grade pastries and party artillery) and say "right, ponythread, deploy to defend that against the Cusith invasion," just for a bit of a giggle.)




To check for IVs I always go here (http://www.serebii.net/games/iv-calcdp.shtml). The lower the level the less accurate it is, but it will give you a decent idea at least. Though you will need to know the EVs on the pokemon for an accurate measurement.

Yeah, that's what I use normally. I just did not, at the time consider that I would be astonishingly fortunate enough to actually catch something that good first time. (Which is why I remember it so well...!) I think the only other time I got that lucky was with my max SpA Dialga. I normally don't make legendaries part of a primary team, but it would have been rude not to...

Right, meditation time...

[Silfir]

Battle for Wesnoth is good fun. Just a word of caution; in this game's combat system, everyone uses Focus Blast.

[Madcrafter]

Yeah and I'm in Canada so we've got an even smaller population to deal with scattered over a much larger area.

Perhaps. I think it's because 40K really is the only one that advertises over here. They also tend to get people young. I mean I don't recognize any of those games you mentioned. Hobby store don't tend to carry any sort of wargame so who have to be looking online.

That's the boring answer, I'd much rather take over the UK turn it into a flying fortress and park it somewhere nearby so I can walk over whenever I feel like playing.

In all seriousness I might end up moving to the UK. Basically I'll end up moving anywhere that I can find work as a Biologist.

I haven't really seen much in the way of Warhammer around here. Warmachine seems to be popular though, but I can't judge for actual number of opponents since I don't really frequent any shops.
I'd second Trixie's suggestion of Vassal. It isn't the same as actual models, but if you really want to play I think it would work ok.

[ZMiles]

So, I'm looking for a few good Octavia stories! Anyone got some good recommendations?

The reason for this is that I'm currently writing an AU story in which Cadance is the princess and Octavia her student (which I'm calling The Music of Ponyville (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/98989/the-music-of-ponyville)). I wanted to do this because I really love music, so I thought it'd be neat to make an AU where the six Elements are all musicians. They wound up being Octavia (cello), Lyra, Vinyl Scratch, Fluttershy (who uses her birds to make music), Medley (a background pony from the show), and Bluenote (the tuba player from the Gala episode). I'd enjoyed writing some music fics for the Lunaverse, a shared universe AU (such as here (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/67936/the-court-musician-of-equestria) and here (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/40225/symphony-for-moon-and-sun)), and people told me that they liked how I put music into words, so I thought it'd be cool to make the story).
(Side note: it's been a lot of fun making the AU. :smallsmile: I loved creating monsters for the Everfree that the future Bearers need to get past on the way to the castle, and writing out how the musicians all get along with the other ponies in Ponyville, and working out the songs and musical content. Plus, I get to research all kinds of musical instruments I'm not familiar with, such as the kora {Zecora's instrument, a cross between guitar, harp, and lute} and the aeolian harp {Medley's instrument, a harp played by the breeze). Writing fic is fun!)

Anyway, for inspiration I've also been trying to read as many other Octavia fics as I can. I'm really enjoying Exit Through Canterlot (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/58321/exit-through-canterlot)(in which Octavia is a graffiti artist a la Banksy, and Blueblood is a hidebound reactionary that vows to unmask her), and I've liked most of John Perry's 'Mission: Improbable (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/44000/mission-implausible)' series in which Vinyl and Tavi are secret agents investigating baked goods smuggling rings (run by the infamous Con Mane), changeling invasions, Wild West hijinks, and more. From Scratch (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/15161/from-scratch), which is about Octavia trying to restart her career after Pinkie totaled it at the Gala, and winding up working for Vinyl, is also pretty good. Lastly, I've just started The Dancer (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/60483/the-dancer), which looks like it has good potential.

Anyone else have any other Octavia recommendations?

[Kurgan]

One of these days, I'm gonna have to post up an MG scenario map, assign ponythread an equivilent force of ponies (armed with appropriate weapons-grade pastries and party artillery) and say "right, ponythread, deploy to defend that against the Cusith invasion," just for a bit of a giggle.)


Obviously I send my Pastry Knights on a full charge, while my Par-tillary fires wildly into the fray. It is the only way to win. :smallbiggrin:



Yeah, that's what I use normally. I just did not, at the time consider that I would be astonishingly fortunate enough to actually catch something that good first time. (Which is why I remember it so well...!) I think the only other time I got that lucky was with my max SpA Dialga. I normally don't make legendaries part of a primary team, but it would have been rude not to...


Yeah, my luckiest is my Abomasnow, which I need to get back from my friends game [he is holding onto it since I restarted my White game].

IVs: 31 Atk, 31 Def, 31 Special Atk, and a decent nature to boot. While defense isn't quite Abomasnow's forte, it is still nice that I have so many great IVs on one pokemon. Albeit it is a female so it requires a few breedings to carry it over to a new species.

I should point out that it took about 20 attempts at breeding to get that, but it was worth it. :smallbiggrin:

[meto30]

Great job with this! It looks delicious!

Thank you! I fear though that by the time shading is done it would be damaged beyond repair...


This is precisely the sort of question I can't answer. I also suggest that you don't rely on Trixie's legal analysis or anypony else in this thread who claims to know. Steer clear of anything you're not sure about is reasonable advice though.

That looks excellent.

I understand. I believe I could go to the DCinside law sub-forum to ask instead, but I'd rather not visit that hellhole of a forum for any reason, so I'll refrain and just not use the logo.

Thank you for the commendation, by the way!



Under the Berne Convention (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Literary_an d_Artistic_Works), which South Korea is a signatory to, copyright is automatic and does not require registration. Unlike trademark.

Thus both may apply.

I only found this also specifying (http://www.kipo.go.kr/kpo/user.tdf?a=user.english.html.HtmlApp&c=30103&catmenu=ek30103) that infringement carries civil and criminal penalties in South Korea for trademark violation.

How rigorous that all may be I suspect I'm searching in the wrong script to find.


*headdesk*

I'm aware of forum rules on disallowing professional help, so Soras and Anarion, please do not bash yourselves anymore on my account. I now believe the logo question is best left undisturbed.

[BlasTech]

So, I'm looking for a few good Octavia stories! Anyone got some good recommendations?


Hmm. I can't recall the content of the story, but I remember the Sound of Sunlight (http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/07/story-sound-of-sunlight.html?m=1) when thinking of Octavia stories.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Some excellent Rainbow Dash art for you all:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/8a90d9134c66b9411c01aba76e3716c2/tumblr_mno93mUSEH1qhv8w1o1_1280.jpg (http://gomigomipomi.tumblr.com/post/51811633646/this-was-originally-drawn-for-a-project-from-last)

[HamHam]

So, I'm looking for a few good Octavia stories! Anyone got some good recommendations?

The reason for this is that I'm currently writing an AU story in which Cadance is the princess and Octavia her student (which I'm calling The Music of Ponyville (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/98989/the-music-of-ponyville)). I wanted to do this because I really love music, so I thought it'd be neat to make an AU where the six Elements are all musicians. They wound up being Octavia (cello), Lyra, Vinyl Scratch, Fluttershy (who uses her birds to make music), Medley (a background pony from the show), and Bluenote (the tuba player from the Gala episode). I'd enjoyed writing some music fics for the Lunaverse, a shared universe AU (such as here (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/67936/the-court-musician-of-equestria) and here (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/40225/symphony-for-moon-and-sun)), and people told me that they liked how I put music into words, so I thought it'd be cool to make the story).
(Side note: it's been a lot of fun making the AU. :smallsmile: I loved creating monsters for the Everfree that the future Bearers need to get past on the way to the castle, and writing out how the musicians all get along with the other ponies in Ponyville, and working out the songs and musical content. Plus, I get to research all kinds of musical instruments I'm not familiar with, such as the kora {Zecora's instrument, a cross between guitar, harp, and lute} and the aeolian harp {Medley's instrument, a harp played by the breeze). Writing fic is fun!)

Anyway, for inspiration I've also been trying to read as many other Octavia fics as I can. I'm really enjoying Exit Through Canterlot (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/58321/exit-through-canterlot)(in which Octavia is a graffiti artist a la Banksy, and Blueblood is a hidebound reactionary that vows to unmask her), and I've liked most of John Perry's 'Mission: Improbable (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/44000/mission-implausible)' series in which Vinyl and Tavi are secret agents investigating baked goods smuggling rings (run by the infamous Con Mane), changeling invasions, Wild West hijinks, and more. From Scratch (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/15161/from-scratch), which is about Octavia trying to restart her career after Pinkie totaled it at the Gala, and winding up working for Vinyl, is also pretty good. Lastly, I've just started The Dancer (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/60483/the-dancer), which looks like it has good potential.

Anyone else have any other Octavia recommendations?

University days
The Eternal Song although Vinyl is viewpoint character and rather hogs the spotlight

Um... that's kind of it actually. Maybe Octavia's Lunaverse appearances? See actually gets a couple stories focusing on her.

Tons of short Octavia-Vinyl ship fics out there as well.

[Kindablue]

Pictures of ponies:
http://th06.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2013/151/1/f/snug_as_a_bug_by_equestria_prevails-d679ezu.png

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/151/1/9/mlp_spaponies_by_alienfirst-d6790b8.png

http://th00.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2013/027/3/d/captain_monarch_and_princess_girlfriend_by_derkraz ykraut-d5szyk6.png

[Forum Explorer]

One of these days, I'm gonna have to post up an MG scenario map, assign ponythread an equivilent force of ponies (armed with appropriate weapons-grade pastries and party artillery) and say "right, ponythread, deploy to defend that against the Cusith invasion," just for a bit of a giggle.)




Oh please do. That would be wonderful.

[meto30]

Now, the Mane Six and Spike picture is shaded.

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/151/b/8/mane_six_and_spike_colour_version_wip_3_by_meto30-d67cfux.jpg
It might be the laziness in me speaking, but I'm not sure if I want to do highlighting on this picture. Would this need highlighting?

[Spamotron]

Now, the Mane Six and Spike picture is shaded.

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/151/b/8/mane_six_and_spike_colour_version_wip_3_by_meto30-d67cfux.jpg
It might be the laziness in me speaking, but I'm not sure if I want to do highlighting on this picture. Would this need highlighting?

Maybe, maybe not. But, as I understand it you are doing these pictures as a "Study." IIRC one of the purposes of a study is to practice your drawing skills for practice's sake. By that standard doing the highlights would be more useful practice.

[Madcrafter]

Pictures of ponies:

http://th00.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2013/027/3/d/captain_monarch_and_princess_girlfriend_by_derkraz ykraut-d5szyk6.png


And now I won't be able to hear Cadence without converting it to Dr. Girlfriend. Wonderful.

[MLai]

See, this forum has my back. Even if I weren't concerned about being disqualified from the profession and being kicked out of the bar before even entering it...
You're just new. Become a grognard at your profession and you won't give a dang about giving out random advice to friends and relatives, or doing random noncommital favors for that matter.
There are still lines but you'll know where to draw 'em and where to stretch 'em. :smallwink:
LOL I sound so corrupt.

@ Princess Cadence's name:
Why do ppl insist on calling her Cadance? I don't care if it's official, it's a deliberate misspelling and I *HATE* names that work on deliberate misspells. Also it's inconsistent with the naming conventions of Equestria -- everypony uses correctly spelled nouns/phrases as their names, why not Cadence? Is she just illiterate? Does she think it's cool to name herself using 90's comics conventions?

@ Celestial Princesses origins:
What's the most popular fanon out there regarding where Celestia/Luna come from? Who are their most popular fanon parents/ relatives/ other immortals? Or is it all over the place and it's every headcanon for itself?

I'd rather like to imagine that they're born from a normal earth pony mother who was impregnated by an absentee celestial stallion. To not make too much of a villain out of the father, he subsequently perished protecting the realm from invading forces of chaos (the monstrous draconequus pantheon, who don't all look like Discord as they all have randomized body parts, but are all in the general shape of a dragon-horse). This then gives me free rein to heap trials and tribulations onto the mother of the 2 baby alicorns, a mortal mare trying to shelter her children from the scattered minions of draconequi (who have mostly perished, except for 1 surviving child), and power-hungry ponies of the 3 vying kingdoms.

[zimmerwald1915]

@ Princess Cadence's name:
Why do ppl insist on calling her Cadance? I don't care if it's official, it's a deliberate misspelling and I *HATE* names that work on deliberate misspells. Also it's inconsistent with the naming conventions of Equestria -- everypony uses correctly spelled nouns/phrases as their names, why not Cadence? Is she just illiterate? Does she think it's cool to name herself using 90's comics conventions?
"One is my name. The other is not."

[Gamerlord]

Oh yeah, that reminds me. I remembered a game the other day that I think you might like; It's called Battle for Wesnoth (found here (http://www.wesnoth.org/)), and I think it's at least vaguely similar to the wargames you play. It's free at any rate, and while it's fantasy rather than sci-fi based it does have liches.

And now to keep this post at least somewhat pony related, here's a picture of Rainbow Dash.
-------
Get it?! I'll go get my coat.

Battle for Wesnoth is good fun. Just a word of caution; in this game's combat system, everyone uses Focus Blast.
I can throw in a recommendation for Battle for Wesnoth as well. Although admittedly it's been awhile since I last played it, so I can't really offer any advice.
You know, while we're on the subject of games and the lich: AOTRS, out of curiousity, have you ever tried out the Space Empires franchise? I've never seen you mention them, but they seem like something you would enjoy.


One of these days, I'm gonna have to post up an MG scenario map, assign ponythread an equivilent force of ponies (armed with appropriate weapons-grade pastries and party artillery) and say "right, ponythread, deploy to defend that against the Cusith invasion," just for a bit of a giggle.)

I'll just pick the strongest-looking point in their lines and send every single soldier to that location. There is no way they could predict a tactic that stupid, so victory is guaranteed. :tongue:

Now, the Mane Six and Spike picture is shaded.

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/151/b/8/mane_six_and_spike_colour_version_wip_3_by_meto30-d67cfux.jpg
It might be the laziness in me speaking, but I'm not sure if I want to do highlighting on this picture. Would this need highlighting?
Personally, I would say it looks fine as is, but if you want the practice you might as well give it a try.

[Crimson Doom]

@ Princess Cadence's name:
Why do ppl insist on calling her Cadance? I don't care if it's official, it's a deliberate misspelling and I *HATE* names that work on deliberate misspells. Also it's inconsistent with the naming conventions of Equestria -- everypony uses correctly spelled nouns/phrases as their names, why not Cadence? Is she just illiterate? Does she think it's cool to name herself using 90's comics conventions?

I could ask much the same thing about people like you who use the "correct" spelling rather than the official spelling. If it's deliberate, it's canon, misspelling or not, and I feel people have a responsibility to abide by it. As for the inconsistency... maybe the person filling out her birth certificate typo-ed, and it didn't get noticed until the certificate was official. But then, one would think the parents would have renamed her (that's right, the parents, because I kinda doubt she named herself).


@ Celestial Princesses origins:
What's the most popular fanon out there regarding where Celestia/Luna come from? Who are their most popular fanon parents/ relatives/ other immortals? Or is it all over the place and it's every headcanon for itself?


I tend to run across a lot of fanon involving alicorn parents that had the same jobs but perished or ascended or something. Usually the father is night and the mother is day. But I don't think there's anything nearly as solid as, say, Lyra liking hands or Dinky being Derpy's child.

[Forum Explorer]

You're just new. Become a grognard at your profession and you won't give a dang about giving out random advice to friends and relatives, or doing random noncommital favors for that matter.
There are still lines but you'll know where to draw 'em and where to stretch 'em. :smallwink:
LOL I sound so corrupt.

@ Princess Cadence's name:
Why do ppl insist on calling her Cadance? I don't care if it's official, it's a deliberate misspelling and I *HATE* names that work on deliberate misspells. Also it's inconsistent with the naming conventions of Equestria -- everypony uses correctly spelled nouns/phrases as their names, why not Cadence? Is she just illiterate? Does she think it's cool to name herself using 90's comics conventions?

@ Celestial Princesses origins:
What's the most popular fanon out there regarding where Celestia/Luna come from? Who are their most popular fanon parents/ relatives/ other immortals? Or is it all over the place and it's every headcanon for itself?

I'd rather like to imagine that they're born from a normal earth pony mother who was impregnated by an absentee celestial stallion. To not make too much of a villain out of the father, he subsequently perished protecting the realm from invading forces of chaos (the monstrous draconequus pantheon, who don't all look like Discord as they all have randomized body parts, but are all in the general shape of a dragon-horse). This then gives me free rein to heap trials and tribulations onto the mother of the 2 baby alicorns, a mortal mare trying to shelter her children from the scattered minions of draconequi (who have mostly perished, except for 1 surviving child), and power-hungry ponies of the 3 vying kingdoms.


Princess Cadence's Name

Read A Princess By Any Other Name (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/101102/a-princess-by-any-other-name) and you shall learn my headcanon on the matter.

Celestial princess orgins

There's been a lot and a popular fanon is that they are the children of the Fausticorn.

My headcanon is that Discord created them. They were two foals who thought they were heroes and attacked Discord. He was greatly amused and granted them incredible power. They fought again and Discord smacked them down and left laughing. Then they found the Elements of Harmony and won round three.

[meto30]

@ Celestial Princesses origins:
What's the most popular fanon out there regarding where Celestia/Luna come from? Who are their most popular fanon parents/ relatives/ other immortals? Or is it all over the place and it's every headcanon for itself?

I'd rather like to imagine that they're born from a normal earth pony mother who was impregnated by an absentee celestial stallion. To not make too much of a villain out of the father, he subsequently perished protecting the realm from invading forces of chaos (the monstrous draconequus pantheon, who don't all look like Discord as they all have randomized body parts, but are all in the general shape of a dragon-horse). This then gives me free rein to heap trials and tribulations onto the mother of the 2 baby alicorns, a mortal mare trying to shelter her children from the scattered minions of draconequi (who have mostly perished, except for 1 surviving child), and power-hungry ponies of the 3 vying kingdoms.

Faust's comments on the matter seems to indicate that they were born and went through fillihood, not created as they are. She also stated that the abandoned castle in the Everfree Forest was where they 'grew up'. Her comments imply (IMO) that they had parents, but this hasn't been confirmed to the extent of my knowledge.

[Anarion]

Wait, stating copyright is by definition of the word not applicable to logos and telling askee to research relevant local laws is legal analysis and/or advice now? :smallconfused:

Or did you just say it's about the average level of legal analysis of typical US law company these days? :smallamused::smalltongue:

Telling anyone something that might cause them to take action that could expose them to liability, including erroneously or correctly telling them that copyright does or does not apply to a particular thing, is legal advice.

Here's the publicly available actual statute, for anyone that is too lazy to google it themselves.

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/102

Edit: Also I'm not going to reply to this any further, it's getting too serious. Joking about it is fine, but assume anything that anyone else says with even a hint of seriousness about this stuff is wrong and never trust it unless you actually pay a lawyer to research the issue for you. That includes me. I know some cases and generalities. If somebody asked me about a particular logo or design or whatever, I'd need to research comparable cases to give an accurate answer.


So, I'm looking for a few good Octavia stories! Anyone got some good recommendations?

The reason for this is that I'm currently writing an AU story in which Cadance is the princess and Octavia her student (which I'm calling The Music of Ponyville (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/98989/the-music-of-ponyville)). I wanted to do this because I really love music, so I thought it'd be neat to make an AU where the six Elements are all musicians. They wound up being Octavia (cello), Lyra, Vinyl Scratch, Fluttershy (who uses her birds to make music), Medley (a background pony from the show), and Bluenote (the tuba player from the Gala episode). I'd enjoyed writing some music fics for the Lunaverse, a shared universe AU (such as here (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/67936/the-court-musician-of-equestria) and here (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/40225/symphony-for-moon-and-sun)), and people told me that they liked how I put music into words, so I thought it'd be cool to make the story).
(Side note: it's been a lot of fun making the AU. :smallsmile: I loved creating monsters for the Everfree that the future Bearers need to get past on the way to the castle, and writing out how the musicians all get along with the other ponies in Ponyville, and working out the songs and musical content. Plus, I get to research all kinds of musical instruments I'm not familiar with, such as the kora {Zecora's instrument, a cross between guitar, harp, and lute} and the aeolian harp {Medley's instrument, a harp played by the breeze). Writing fic is fun!)

Anyway, for inspiration I've also been trying to read as many other Octavia fics as I can. I'm really enjoying Exit Through Canterlot (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/58321/exit-through-canterlot)(in which Octavia is a graffiti artist a la Banksy, and Blueblood is a hidebound reactionary that vows to unmask her), and I've liked most of John Perry's 'Mission: Improbable (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/44000/mission-implausible)' series in which Vinyl and Tavi are secret agents investigating baked goods smuggling rings (run by the infamous Con Mane), changeling invasions, Wild West hijinks, and more. From Scratch (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/15161/from-scratch), which is about Octavia trying to restart her career after Pinkie totaled it at the Gala, and winding up working for Vinyl, is also pretty good. Lastly, I've just started The Dancer (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/60483/the-dancer), which looks like it has good potential.

Anyone else have any other Octavia recommendations?

I'm trying and failing to remember the name, but maybe somepony else can fill it in for me. There's one where Octavia and Lyra are both competing for fine music positions and auditioning against each other, and Octavia is also starting to live with Vinyl, who is supporting her. It was good when I read it, had an excellent Octavia+Vinyl night on the town scene, but I have no idea what the title was. It's probably one of the more well-known ones, as I don't generally seek out fanfic and only read stuff on strong community recommendation.


Some excellent Rainbow Dash art for you all:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/8a90d9134c66b9411c01aba76e3716c2/tumblr_mno93mUSEH1qhv8w1o1_1280.jpg (http://gomigomipomi.tumblr.com/post/51811633646/this-was-originally-drawn-for-a-project-from-last)

That is really good.




@ Princess Cadence's name:
Why do ppl insist on calling her Cadance? I don't care if it's official, it's a deliberate misspelling and I *HATE* names that work on deliberate misspells. Also it's inconsistent with the naming conventions of Equestria -- everypony uses correctly spelled nouns/phrases as their names, why not Cadence? Is she just illiterate? Does she think it's cool to name herself using 90's comics conventions?


It's her name. By definition it's spelled however she spells it (or however her parents spelled it on the birth certificate). It's like how a lot of people from China who are named Chan, Chen, and Chin are all actually from the same clan origins, but were subject to luck of the draw when telling their names to US custom agents.



@ Celestial Princesses origins:
What's the most popular fanon out there regarding where Celestia/Luna come from? Who are their most popular fanon parents/ relatives/ other immortals? Or is it all over the place and it's every headcanon for itself?

I'd rather like to imagine that they're born from a normal earth pony mother who was impregnated by an absentee celestial stallion. To not make too much of a villain out of the father, he subsequently perished protecting the realm from invading forces of chaos (the monstrous draconequus pantheon, who don't all look like Discord as they all have randomized body parts, but are all in the general shape of a dragon-horse). This then gives me free rein to heap trials and tribulations onto the mother of the 2 baby alicorns, a mortal mare trying to shelter her children from the scattered minions of draconequi (who have mostly perished, except for 1 surviving child), and power-hungry ponies of the 3 vying kingdoms.

I don't think it's been universally addressed, so there's no collective agreement. I've seen fanart that shows their parents as alicorns that are associated with stuff like black holes, stars, or galaxies, but none of that is really consistent. I'd like to think they were born to normal parents though, since it saves the trouble of explaining the disappearance of other divinity type characters.

[meto30]

On highlighting my picture: The real trouble is that I have zero idea how to proceed with highlighting. Should I add white bubbles on their fur? Should I mimic the sheen of horse fur? Should I add reflected light? How does highlighting work at all? My entire history of drawing things was almost entirely in line sketches, and thus I have no idea what to do. :smallfrown:

[t209]

Which Pony would you bring along for Colonization (based on Minecraft, Sid Meier Colonization and Dwarf Fortress)?
I would bring
- Applejack (Farmer and Brewer)
- Rarity (Mining Gems and Metals)
- Shining Armor (Guard)
- Big Mac (Guard and Farmer)
- Pinkie Pie (with Apple Ciders and Beer barrels)
P.S- Have Fun.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Which Pony would you bring along for Colonization (based on Minecraft, Sid Meier Colonization and Dwarf Fortress)?
I would bring
- Applejack (Farmer and Brewer)


If you want something done right you ask AJ.

[HamHam]

Which Pony would you bring along for Colonization (based on Minecraft, Sid Meier Colonization and Dwarf Fortress)?
I would bring
- Applejack (Farmer and Brewer)
- Rarity (Mining Gems and Metals)
- Shining Armor (Guard)
- Big Mac (Guard and Farmer)
- Pinkie Pie (with Apple Ciders and Beer barrels)
P.S- Have Fun.

Twilight to plan out the optimal fortress
Applejack and Applebloom to actually build it
Cloud Kicker for Guard and "morale" (say no more say no more)
Blossomforth cause apparently her special talent is adapting so she can cover all the odd jobs left over

Rarity does seem like she has a useful ability, but I'd be worried she would spend all of her time locked in the tailor's workshop in a strange mood demanding increasingly obscure materials.

EDIT:

This seriously gives me an idea though. Is there a way to put in a custom name file in DF? Might be better to just rename them during play actually, since that way you can make sure the names fit. Hm...

[thubby]

Which Pony would you bring along for Colonization (based on Minecraft, Sid Meier Colonization and Dwarf Fortress)?


twilight (all purpose mage on top of great planning and organization)
AJ (keep twilight sane in addition to being knowledgeable in everything we need)
rainbow dash (weather control, surveying, and also good for physical work)
spike (for coms)

[meto30]

Which Pony would you bring along for Colonization (based on Minecraft, Sid Meier Colonization and Dwarf Fortress)?


Derpy Hooves
Diamond Tiara
Silver Spoon
Twist
Prince Blueblood
Jet Set
Upper Crust


Arrive with just one pick, some supplies to last a year for one pony, and an anvil. Dig enough room for one pony. Assign Derpy to said room. Seal doors, and begin the one pony challenge. Leave the rest outside to starve and die.

What? I'm an avid fan of the Dwarf Fortress forum. What would you expect from such a fan? XD

EDIT: Besides, if Derpy ever hits a mood, we now have a handy source of bones and other pony materials.

[OracleofWuffing]

Hm... As much as I'd like to hang out with other ponies, I think Luna would be the safest bet. I mean, she lived on the moon all by herself for crying out loud, she's got to know something about staying alive. Ah ha ha ha, staying aliiiiive!

[Crimson Doom]

Y'all are limiting your thinking. I'd take all the Gary Stus and Mary Sues in the fandom and colonize with them. Imagine, a nigh-perfect race with a tendency to mate like rabbits... I imagine we'd have a galaxy-wide empire going within a generation or so. :smalltongue:

[Forum Explorer]

Which Pony would you bring along for Colonization (based on Minecraft, Sid Meier Colonization and Dwarf Fortress)?
I would bring
- Applejack (Farmer and Brewer)
- Rarity (Mining Gems and Metals)
- Shining Armor (Guard)
- Big Mac (Guard and Farmer)
- Pinkie Pie (with Apple Ciders and Beer barrels)
P.S- Have Fun.

I would bring:

Fluttershy: Monster & Animal control, sewing, ranching, basic medical care, emergency weather work

Rainbow Dash: Weather control, Protection, Minor Leadership, Search and Rescue, Police Work

Applejack: Farming, Cooking, Diplomacy, Advice

Princess Twilight Sparkle: Leadership, Massive Magic, Problem Solving, Army in One Pony, Diplomacy,

[Topaz]

Topaz' Traditionally Tardy List of Pony tabletop RPGs:

Pony Tales: Aspirations of Harmony (Homebrew, d20 meets Final Fantasy style) (http://ponytales.forumotion.com/)
Ponies & Parasprites, Season Two (https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3c5FOJEDIrxd1hTRzdMVUFPcFk/edit?pli=1) (Homebrew) (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ponies-Parasprites/210068732375744)
My Little Pony: Roleplaying is Magic, Season Three (http://www.mlprim.com/) (Homebrew - New Season Three Mechanics!)
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, The Roleplaying Game (https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2zrjqXYhlMcN2Q0M2VmNmMtY2I4Mi00YjA1LTg3NDctYzQ2Z GZiMDQ3ZGFk/edit?hl=en_US&pli=1) (Homebrew)
Pony Tales the RPG (http://catspaw-dtp-services.deviantart.com/gallery/39628312) (D6 system based)
Friendship is FATE (https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1PX7R81aQyH_HoJ7_tfOMhivgoh5T3tOgzgSXyZMWlQ g) (FATE system)
The Mane Six for FATE Accelerated (http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?692218-%28FAE%29-Pimp-My-Our-FAE-Characters!&p=16879846#post16879846) (RPGnet forum post)
The Savage World of My Little Pony (http://giftkrieg23.deviantart.com/gallery/30436047) (Savage Worlds)
My Little Legend (http://www.ruleofcool.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/My-Little-Legend.pdf) (Ponies using the Legend RPG (https://s3.amazonaws.com/det_1/Legend.pdf) from Rule of Cool RPGs)
Puzzles and Ponies (http://puzzlesandponies.deviantart.com/) (Homebrew)
Ponycraft (http://ponycraft.org/rpg/) (3D6 Homebrew)
Friendship is Magic, the Tabletop RPG (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192468) (Homebrew, these forums)
Ponies: The Roleplaying Game (http://msfhwraith.deviantart.com/art/Pony-RPG-First-Draft-289542812) (Homebrew)
Sereg's Pony RPG (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KyPWVXT93Zz8LiZawFxl6kUy0OrdlQYcBBXo-Sv6GKw/edit?pli=1) (D10 Homebrew)
Unknown Ponies: Failure is Awesome (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3207923/Unknown%20Ponies%20Failure%20is%20Awesome.pdf) (Unknown Armies)
Ponies for Oz (http://fdouglaswall.blogspot.com/2013/04/adventures-in-equestria.html) (Adventures in Oz: Fantasy Roleplaying Beyond the Yellow Brick Road)
Don't Rest Your Hooves (http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Don%27t_Rest_Your_Hooves) (Don't Rest Your Head)
Don't Hate Your Friends (http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?648876-DRYH-My-Little-Pony-FIM-Don-t-Hate-Your-Friends) (Don't Rest Your Head hack, under discussion)
Courage is Magic (http://littlelunamoonmatron.deviantart.com/art/Courage-is-Magic-1-14-MLP-Tabletop-Game-379531007) (Very Heavily Modified D&D4 based)
Ponies! My Little Pony: D20 adaptation (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=12296.0)
Pony Races for D&D 3.5 (These forums) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=182994)
Pony Races for Pathfinder (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MTe-vJ44LNepZAT3Eqta5qkxntS8nefLDBpNAf4lFMI/edit)
Ponies for D&D 4e (http://tradwiki.foxxtrot.net/index.php?title=Pony)
Ponyfinder thread on Paizo forum (http://paizo.com/forums/dmtz52pj?Prisons-and-PoniesPonyfinder-Feedback-needed#41)
Storyteller based Pony RPG tumblr (http://tabletop-friendship.tumblr.com/)
The Conversion Bureau (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XTIaphB0TEF-lqfJpNpPv_-aJ2Al-GErMtVEKEX8FxQ/edit?pli=1) (Microlite 20)
Fallout: Equestria (https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AcokIqzJW7QSZGYzdzdjY2pfMGRubXd6amY4) (Fallout Tabletop d100 project from [email protected] )
Fallout: Equestria PNP (Revised) (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fsNLwKTWEt0pawFWLRzBtEPfvDQGitGPh8NN3Zk0xo4/edit?pli=1) (Homebrew, unrelated; forum here (http://forum.fallout-equestria.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=394))

Further contributions and updates welcome!

[Silfir]

Applejack is going to be our Expert Farmer on the ploughed wheat plains, Rainbow Dash is the Explorer looking for treasure and aggravating the natives, Twilight can be the Elder Statesman, Pinkie Pie is going to be missionary, hopefully fixing some of the damage Rainbow Dash has done (though probably not), Rarity is our Expert Silver Miner so we actually get dubloons from somewhere (sorry about the dirt, Rares, just bear with it until we find someone to plant cotton and make cloth out of it - oh, I guess Cloth already is the refined trade good, and dresses aren't exactly within the scope of the game. Erm. Look, we need money. Just take the pick and go). Drawing a bit of a blank on Fluttershy. She probably has the theoretical knowledge needed to be a Master Fur Trapper, but I don't think she'd be up for it. I guess I'll hand her a musket and have her be our Soldier; she is fearsome when her friends are in danger. Does being a Pony make them automatic dragoons? Is "Horses" even a trade good in Coponization? I guess we'd trade humans instead. So would Fluttershy have to ride a human to be a dragoon? Which human we know would make the perfect steed for Fluttershy to ride on?

I'm not even on drugs. What's wrong with me?

[meto30]

Highlighting is complete. And looking at the results, I hate myself.

Here (http://meto30.deviantart.com/art/Mane-Six-and-Spike-group-shot-colour-version-375156733)'s how the picture looks now.

EDIT: I noticed the picture was too big. I changed the post to a link to compensate.

[HamHam]

Highlighting is complete. And looking at the results, I hate myself.

Here (http://meto30.deviantart.com/art/Mane-Six-and-Spike-group-shot-colour-version-375156733)'s how the picture looks now.

EDIT: I noticed the picture was too big. I changed the post to a link to compensate.

That looks pretty great.

And because I completely forgot before:

The first book of Vision is done! The last chapter was just perfect. I'd been saying that the story was starting to drag, but man this pay off was totally worth. Siren Song has a very particular set of skills acquired over a long career as Celestia's student... and frankly almost none of them are actually all that useful. Good thing we got plasmids that can give you a new special talent, am I right?

Also wanted to drop a mention of Outside the Reaching Sky (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/43509/outside-the-reaching-sky). Really like the world that is constructed, and future Equestria is something we rarely get to see. Also the group dynamics of the Mane 6 when faced with the challenge of space exploration and everything is really well done IMHO.

[Aotrs Commander]

"One is my name. The other is not."

I am deeply ashamed I actually had to think for half-second before I remembered who said that.




You know, while we're on the subject of games and the lich: AOTRS, out of curiousity, have you ever tried out the Space Empires franchise? I've never seen you mention them, but they seem like something you would enjoy.

Heard it mentioned a few times, but never looked into it.

(As there area quite a few 4X games of that sort of type floating around and I have several. So far the best I've encountered is Sword of the Stars, though GalCiv II is reasonable and I actually didn't dislike Moo3 (presumably as I have no basis for comparison...)


I'll just pick the strongest-looking point in their lines and send every single soldier to that location. There is no way they could predict a tactic that stupid, so victory is guaranteed. :tongue:

Lines? Lines? What makes you think you know what the enemy deployment would be? (Aside from, "they're coming from this direction?") I'mma talkin' essentially modern pony warfare, here...

Also, you spelled "defeat" without managing to get any of the letters right!

[MLai]

Princess Cadence's Name
Read A Princess By Any Other Name (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/101102/a-princess-by-any-other-name) and you shall learn my headcanon on the matter.
1. That's the most irresistable sell anyone has ever slung against me. I had no choice but to read the fic. Which was good.
2. Seeing as how Cadance always reminded me of Paris Hilton, this fic is now my headcanon as well. Bravo, sir.

Celestial princess orgins
My headcanon is that Discord created them. They were two foals who thought they were heroes and attacked Discord. He was greatly amused and granted them incredible power. They fought again and Discord smacked them down and left laughing. Then they found the Elements of Harmony and won round three.
I can point out a fault to this one. If Discord created Celestia and Luna, that means alicorns do not exist naturally? That goes against Cadance coming into existence during the time Discord is petrified. And also Discord's apparent lack of involvement with Twi's alicornification.

[meto30]

That looks pretty great.

No opinions on how the picture can be improved? :smallfrown: /puppyeyes

[MLai]

No opinions on how the picture can be improved? :smallfrown: /puppyeyes
Use (way) thicker lines for future pics. If you don't want to, then just stick with black lines.
Because fine lines with light colors are pretty hard to see.

[SiuiS]

Soooo... I'm too lazy to trawl through ten pages of ponythread. Tell me what I missed?

I'll let you know when I'm done slogging through about forty :smalltongue:

This last week or two, ladies, has been crap. X_X

[meto30]

Use (way) thicker lines for future pics. If you don't want to, then just stick with black lines.
Because fine lines with light colors are pretty hard to see.

Roger that. As a test I'll turn all the inked lines in that picture black and see how it looks.

[Forum Explorer]

1. That's the most irresistable sell anyone has ever slung against me. I had no choice but to read the fic. Which was good.
2. Seeing as how Cadance always reminded me of Paris Hilton, this fic is now my headcanon as well. Bravo, sir.

I can point out a fault to this one. If Discord created Celestia and Luna, that means alicorns do not exist naturally? That goes against Cadance coming into existence during the time Discord is petrified. And also Discord's apparent lack of involvement with Twi's alicornification.

1. Glad to hear you enjoyed it. If you liked Dotted Line I highly recommend Whom the Princesses Would Destroy (http://www.fimfiction.net/story/54117/whom-the-princesses-would-destroy)

2. :smallbiggrin:


Kinda yeah. It means that no alicorn is born an alicorn. However as Twilight proves, it doesn't require Discord's personal intervention to create an alicorn. Just incredibly rare conditions and lots of power. However it is possible that Cadence is related to Celestia (or perhaps Luna though to mean the color scheme suggests Celestia) and due to luck she was simply born an alicorn.



I'll let you know when I'm done slogging through about forty :smalltongue:

This last week or two, ladies, has been crap. X_X

Sorry to hear that, but I'm glad to see your still sticking around.

[Trixie]

I can point out a fault to this one. If Discord created Celestia and Luna, that means alicorns do not exist naturally? That goes against Cadance coming into existence during the time Discord is petrified. And also Discord's apparent lack of involvement with Twi's alicornification.

Yup, pretty much, all four are artificial. Cadance...

according to her origin story was born a pegasus and was granted magic horn for defeating no-name villain no one heard of. Same with Luna/Celestia being named unicorns in first MLP episode - it's pretty safe bet they weren't at first winged unicorns, or even first ones, either, if HWE flag can be trusted.

[MLai]

However it is possible that Cadence is related to Celestia (or perhaps Luna though to mean the color scheme suggests Celestia) and due to luck she was simply born an alicorn..
The MLP wiki says Celestia merely adopted Cadance as her "niece." They're not biologically related.
I can actually see that happening since Celestia probably knew Cadance is of the royal line of the crystal kingdom, but the time hadn't come yet to let Cadance know about it or announce it to the kingdom... yet Celestia couldn't just let a Crystal Royal live as a commoner when her kingdom might be revived in the future... so she adopted Cadance into the Canterlot royalty for the time being.

[meto30]

MLai, here (http://meto30.deviantart.com/art/Mane-Six-and-Spike-black-lines-and-colours-version-375198808)'s the picture with the ink lines rendered black instead of the original show colors. As always, the size of the picture means that you might need to use DeviantART's zoom feature too see its details.

[Thanqol]

Now, the Mane Six and Spike picture is shaded.

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/151/b/8/mane_six_and_spike_colour_version_wip_3_by_meto30-d67cfux.jpg
It might be the laziness in me speaking, but I'm not sure if I want to do highlighting on this picture. Would this need highlighting?

Hey, you'll probably get more/better responses if you post your pony pictures with requests for feeback in the drawthread (www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=269108)that was set up for this exact purpose.

But yeah, while the basics are good - Rainbow Dash and Twilight are very well done - this picture suffers from the eternal pony picture problem of line width. Getting line width right in coloured ponies is a surprisingly difficult task and it makes pictures look strange if it's not done right. This is because the lines in show-ponies are very thick and dark and the complete impression lowers the colour depth of the picture akin to shading. When you make those lines thinner the ponies look really light as a result. Fluttershy and Applejack suffer from a bit of this in this picture.

There are some nitpicks. Pinkie's expression looks not quite right, doing some more exaggerated faces would be a good plan (I need to do this myself!). There is a point between Applejack's flank and her elbow where I have no idea what is going on. Fluttershy looks a bit cross-eyed. You've drawn all the pony ears a bit smaller and pointier than they should be, this isn't a problem except on Rarity where the framing shape it gives to her head is really weird. Finally, I think this could generally do with more shading, what little you have is very light.

Special bonus note that black lines frequently look atrocious on pony unless you make them very thick and distinct.

That's all I got! Hope it helped!

[Forum Explorer]

The MLP wiki says Celestia merely adopted Cadance as her "niece." They're not biologically related.
I can actually see that happening since Celestia probably knew Cadance is of the royal line of the crystal kingdom, but the time hadn't come yet to let Cadance know about it or announce it to the kingdom... yet Celestia couldn't just let a Crystal Royal live as a commoner when her kingdom might be revived in the future... so she adopted Cadance into the Canterlot royalty for the time being.

MLP Wiki doesn't really have a source since it's never been addressed in the show. That said that is a reasonable assumption. My assumption is that there is a family relation between the two, but it's incredibly distant, which means Auntie is more of a nickname then a strict indication of lineage.

[meto30]

MLP Wiki doesn't really have a source since it's never been addressed in the show. That said that is a reasonable assumption. My assumption is that there is a family relation between the two, but it's incredibly distant, which means Auntie is more of a nickname then a strict indication of lineage.

I thought the source was a certain children's book featuring Cadance and Twilight?


Hey, you'll probably get more/better responses if you post your pony pictures with requests for feeback in the drawthread (www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=269108)that was set up for this exact purpose.

~edited for conciseness~

That's all I got! Hope it helped!

Thank you for your feedback, and the link! I've noted the problems you've pointed out regarding Rarity's ears and Fluttershy's eyes; I will be on the watch for the issue on my next pony picture. I'm not sure what you meant about AJ's left side, and I presume you were mentioning her muscles; I will see what I can do. I'm not sure I see any problem with Pinkie's face. I am very happy that Twilight and RD turned out better than the others; RD is hard to draw! I'll experiment with darker colors next time, to see if color depth improves that way.

[MLai]

Same with Luna/Celestia being named unicorns in first MLP episode - it's pretty safe bet they weren't at first winged unicorns, or even first ones, either, if HWE flag can be trusted.
What? But Faust tweeted she conceptualized the sisters as born alicorns. Why would the question even pop up if the show says (which I do not recall hearing) that they were born unicorns?

MLai, here (http://meto30.deviantart.com/art/Mane-Six-and-Spike-black-lines-and-colours-version-375198808)'s the picture with the ink lines rendered black instead of the original show colors. As always, the size of the picture means that you might need to use DeviantART's zoom feature too see its details.
Yup, with your fine lines it definitely looks better as all-black.

That said that is a reasonable assumption. My assumption is that there is a family relation between the two.
Considering that I consider her to be a ponification of Paris Hilton, I certainly hope not.

[Trixie]

@ Princess Cadence's name:
Why do ppl insist on calling her Cadance? I don't care if it's official, it's a deliberate misspelling and I *HATE* names that work on deliberate misspells. Also it's inconsistent with the naming conventions of Equestria -- everypony uses correctly spelled nouns/phrases as their names, why not Cadence? Is she just illiterate? Does she think it's cool to name herself using 90's comics conventions?

The problem is, it's not a name. Like Pinkie, she doesn't use her real name (Mi Amore Cadenza) and Cadance/Cadence is at best a nickname. It's possible it comes from another dialect, hence the "misspelling".

Which is incidentally why I don't like name 'lyra', it's spelled 'lira' in non-Germanic Europe and just sounds really wrong to me :smallsigh:


@ Celestial Princesses origins:
What's the most popular fanon out there regarding where Celestia/Luna come from? Who are their most popular fanon parents/ relatives/ other immortals? Or is it all over the place and it's every headcanon for itself?

I'd rather like to imagine that they're born from a normal earth pony mother who was impregnated by an absentee celestial stallion. To not make too much of a villain out of the father, he subsequently perished protecting the realm from invading forces of chaos (the monstrous draconequus pantheon, who don't all look like Discord as they all have randomized body parts, but are all in the general shape of a dragon-horse). This then gives me free rein to heap trials and tribulations onto the mother of the 2 baby alicorns, a mortal mare trying to shelter her children from the scattered minions of draconequi (who have mostly perished, except for 1 surviving child), and power-hungry ponies of the 3 vying kingdoms.

I'd say they are just unicorns who acquired their powers later. If you want some continuity along above lines, there is popular theory about lovers mentioned in Valentine episode. They failed to stop the 'dragon' which resulted in 'chaos reigning' due to love potion curse. Since what looks like their child is shown as winged unicorn, maybe Luna/Celestia are their children who stopped dragon's (Discord) long reign and freed their parents when they grown up?

Which also would be why their origins are so full of omissions and why there are so little details about their birth :smallwink:

[Forum Explorer]

What? But Faust tweeted she conceptualized the sisters as born alicorns. Why would the question even pop up if the show says (which I do not recall hearing) that they were born unicorns?

Yup, with your fine lines it definitely looks better as all-black.

Considering that I consider her to be a ponification of Paris Hilton, I certainly hope not.

Yes but Faust has also said that her word doesn't matter much since she doesn't have much input if any to the show these days. Since their origins haven't been addressed it's really a matter of headcanon.


Why? I mean I effectively know nothing about Paris Hilton (besides that there was a sex scandal way back and she's had some crappy TV shows.) but regardless of if Cadence acts like Paris or not, it's not like that has an impact on Celestia and Luna.

[MLai]

Yes but Faust has also said that her word doesn't matter much since she doesn't have much input if any to the show these days. Since their origins haven't been addressed it's really a matter of headcanon.
It doesn't matter if Faust's word doesn't matter nowadays. We're talking about Season 01 Episode 01.

Why? I mean I effectively know nothing about Paris Hilton (besides that there was a sex scandal way back and she's had some crappy TV shows.) but regardless of if Cadence acts like Paris or not, it's not like that has an impact on Celestia and Luna.
Any inkling of genetic relationship has an impact, when we're talking about the Incarnation of Worthless Celebrity. I'd rather they're related to Discord.

[OracleofWuffing]

Imagine, a neigh-perfect race with a tendency to mate like rabbits...
Let's take that idea and run with it. :smallamused:


Drawing a bit of a blank on Fluttershy. She probably has the theoretical knowledge needed to be a Master Fur Trapper, but I don't think she'd be up for it.
Protection from Bears, Manticores, and Cockatrices is the way I see it. All at the cost of all your pancreas.

[Forum Explorer]

It doesn't matter if Faust's word doesn't matter nowadays. We're talking about Season 01 Episode 01.



Well episode 1 didn't really address that so it's a moot point. I mean she didn't even say that she ever intended to address the subject herself, just that her own headcanon was that they were born that way (or something. I don't know what she actually said.)

[DigoDragon]

Hat guy reacts how I would to this image (http://xkcd.com/455/).

And I would so wear double hats just for that reaction from people. :smallbiggrin:



Some excellent Rainbow Dash art for you all:


Human RD makes pretty much any jacket look good on her. The snow goggles are a nice added touch. Good find!



Pictures of ponies:
http://th06.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2013/151/1/f/snug_as_a_bug_by_equestria_prevails-d679ezu.png

Something I noticed about the majority of changelings that aren't part of the hive~ the changeling is against the hive and left to be on their own or join some other faction.



@ Princess Cadence's name:
Why do ppl insist on calling her Cadance?

My spellchecker says "Cadance" is incorrect and "Cadence" is. What I go by is whatever the show officially called her which is...
...wait, which is it? **Checks**

Oh, the show credits officially used both. :smallconfused:
Cadance for Crystal Empire and Cadence for Games Ponies Play. I guess if "Cadance" came first it would hold more credit?


Finally, a good Trixie Google logo (http://viperdash-gts-r.deviantart.com/art/Trixie-Google-Logo-375188569) I can install! :smallbiggrin:

[Soras Teva Gee]

Yup, pretty much, all four are artificial. Cadance...

according to her origin story was born a pegasus and was granted magic horn for defeating no-name villain no one heard of. Same with Luna/Celestia being named unicorns in first MLP episode - it's pretty safe bet they weren't at first winged unicorns, or even first ones, either, if HWE flag can be trusted.

If you meant the opening narration that's not technically accurate. We first see them in the mural as alicorns and they use their "unicorn powers" to raise the sun and moon.

While unicorns would probably be second to natural alicorns in fandom popularity of ideas we can't confirm that anymore then we could the term alicorn before the Se3 finale.

If we grant the idea that they can come from any of the pony breeds and do not just occur then the only evidence of Celestia/Luna's original pony type would be the implication of their cutie marks plus the knowledge that is a traditional unicorn task.

[zimmerwald1915]

I am deeply ashamed I actually had to think for half-second before I remembered who said that.
It'll be okay.

*gives Lich a comradely pat on the back*

*Con-drained*


Well episode 1 didn't really address that so it's a moot point. I mean she didn't even say that she ever intended to address the subject herself, just that her own headcanon was that they were born that way (or something. I don't know what she actually said.)
Trouble is, while it's weak evidence, there isn't any better evidence out there. Unless and until the show actually addresses the issue (c'mon...season four...) following Faust is as reasonable a choice as any, and more reasonable than most.

[Aotrs Commander]

Right then, ponythread!

Exercise time, as promised/threatened.

Time to get your "oh frag my brain is bleeding" hats on.



Twilight flies out of Canterlot, following her coronation.

"Everything's gonna be just fine!"

Forty-five seconds later:

Twilight is wearing a tin helmet with three stars on it and being bundled into a train by a cheerfully beaming Princess Celestia and and equally happy Luna.

"But I don't wanna be a general!" she wails and they telekinetically toss her luggage into the carriage, knocking Spike flat as he tries to catch it. The second the doors close, the train sets off.

"Good luck, my faithful student!" Celestia calls brightly as they wave goodbye, Twilight wailing into the distance.

"Sister, do you not think it is a tad unfair to send off your faithful student like that?"

"Well, I wasn't gonna do it. I'm not missing Shortcake Sunday for anything!"



Princess General Twilight Sparkle has been - rather unwillingly - sent out to take command of the Equestrian Army out in the protectorate of the Uneighted Kindom1.

Specifically, she has been placed in charge of defending the strategically important2 village of Canterberry from the encroaching horde of the Evil Pleezies.

As Twilight has no idea how to deploy a military force, it is ponythread's mission (should you choose to accept it - and at least one of you had better, since I spent bloody ages on this) to help Twilight is deploying to defend the unfortunate town from the ravages of the Evil Pleezy army.

There are no games rules as such (aside from using Manouvre Group's spotting and firing arcs as they are a good approximation of the real-world ones (if anything, tankies of my Dad's acquintance have said they are over-generous...!); this is a purely tactical exercise, illustraive of what you do in MG. (This is a fairly easy map as well!)

As such, I've basically told you what the battlefield looks like, what you've got and what it can see: the rest is up to you!



Map of the battlefield:
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u172/AotrsCommander/CanterberryMap_zps2005a355.png

(Note that this image is the one you probably want to copy to mark deployment on.)

That is a standard 6x4 board (so the grid is square feet). As with all games, the ground and figure scale is artificially distorted; the ground scale is be 1" to 10m, though really, that's not particularly important to this exercise. Measurements are provided for important things, but only as a rough guide and approximation (as obviously in this format it is not practical to do otherwise!)


The predicted invasion path is on the extreme south edge of town (i.e. the bottom of the map), up past the major's mansion (left) and the old watermill (left, by stream). On the right is the hill on which the old barn stands (it is unknown whether the barn is racist.)

As a picture is worth any amount of my description, here is a crude 3D image of the area, which includes important things like relative heights and number of windows in the buildings.

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u172/AotrsCommander/Canterberry3D_zps7e7f2ece.png

Unfortunately, you only get the one angle, as the building detail is literally just copy-pasted from the fold-flat buildings, and the line are visible through 3D geometry. To make it fully 3D, I'd have have rendered to whole lot, which is rather more time than I care to spend on a giggle like this...)


Forces:
Due to an unfortunate mishap involving the Royal Air Guard, a medium-sized canteloupe, a rabid aarvark and Derpy, the entire Airbourne Division has been sent off to Manechester - meaning Twilight is going to have to deal with the problem strictly dealing with ground-pounders3.

On the upside, Twilight has access to the latest Equestrian tank, the Battenburg class Armour Fighting Cart. A fully enclosed armoured vehicle, the Battenburg runs smoothly on it's two-horse-power engine4. It has a full turret with a commander's independant sight and a pintle-mounted fully-automatic machine scone. The main gun is the new 120mm tart cannon (Armour-Piercing, Fin Stabilised, Discarding Sabot (Depleted Sugar)) and a co-axial machine scone.

Line of Battle:
Company Commander
1x Princess General Twilight Sparkle with No1 Assistant Communications System (i.e. Spike)

Tank Platoon

1x Platoon Commander Captain Whitemane in CAK3 Battenburg AFV

2x CAK3 Battenburg AFV

Infantry Platoon

1x Platoon Commander Jolly Goodshow with 1x Infantry Squad of 6 ponies consisting of:

2x Fire Teams of 2 ponies each with 1x Bakewell Fully-Automatic Squad Assault Pastry team of 2 ponies


1x Fire Team of 2 ponies: 1x Kipling Unicorn-Guided Anti-Tank Muffin Team of two ponies

2x Infantry Squad (LD 5) of 7 ponies in


1x Fire Team of 3 ponies: 1x fully automatic P1E Apple Catapult, 1x Pecan Light Support Pastry, 1x Eccles Anti-Armour High-Velocity Cake Dispenser


1x Fire Team of 4 ponies: fully automatic P1E Apple Catapult, 1x Pecan Light Support Pastry

Sustained Fire Machine Scones
2x SFMS fire teams of 1x two-pony heavy machine scone. (Thusly:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7CxLyBTBPLM/UBWIpjeOOnI/AAAAAAAAA6c/MF2hy14raww/s1600/mlfw2206-covering_fire_by_paper_pony-d4m290k.gif)


All ponies have radios, assuming they can get the blasted things to work with hooves.


Twilight doesn't have much time before the Evil Pleezies attack, so she do any significiant engineering5, other than to establish basic fighting positions for infantry and/or locate hull-down positions for the AFCs.

Twilight does not know what forces the Evil Pleezies might possess (or, for that matter, even what an Evil Pleezy is - feel free to speculate6), but the limited intelligence brought by the scouts suggest at least a company of troops and armour.

Tactical Notes:

Infantry visibilty is +-90º of their facing for one or two pony teams and 360º for larger groups. Firearcs are only +45º of the fire team's current facing.

You can only get one pony firing from any given window or door. (For the purposes of this exercise, we will assume all infantry weapons are safe to fire indoors.)



The Battenburgs may be deployed in hull-down positions (which basically means with just the turret poking up, giving them a roughly 30% greater chance of not being hit), at the cost of limiting both visibilty and fire arcs. You can go into a hull-down position anywhere, but while hul-down you can't see anything any lower than you are (see note on dead ground).

The Battenburgs may be either unbuttoned (that is, the unicorn command has her head out) or buttoned-up. The latter grants +-90º of the turret facing visibilty (or +-60º if hull-down), but obviously, with her head stuck out, the command is more prone to getting a pie in the face. Buttoned-up, the fire arc is only +-30º of the turret facing (+-22.5º of the turret facing if hull-down). The drivers may only see down a line directly in front of the vehicle and only see things that are blatently obvious unless stationary.



Dead ground: When you are standing on top of a hill or a higher level of a building, you can't see (and therefore can't shoot into) parts of the slopes or the bottom of the building. This is dead ground. For the purposes of this exercise, you can consider dead ground to be 6" (half a square) per story of a building (the big hill counts as two stories), as measured from the bottom of the buidling or hill (Edit:) or other intervening terrain. (This is important because if you can't see it, you can't do anything to it.)

Further, if you are not on the ridgeline of the hill, you can't see below the level of the hill (and obviously, nor can you be seen).



For the purposes of this excercise, the ranges of the infantry apple launchers can be considered to be about three feet (i.e. three squares on the grid) and all other weapons to be "in range" (with the AFV guns, penetration is likely to be better at closer ranges, obviously). This is only important in this context so as to give you a clue about how far you can place the infantry before they can't support each other.


You may, of course, ask some intelligent questions in case I've missed something or you want clarifications or simply sit there with your brains leaking out of your ears, either way is fine...



1So called because of the number of kindreds of equines that, well, united under Celestia's rule.

2Strategically important because it's where they grow all the strawberries for Princess Celestia's favourite strawberry ice-cream cake.

3Because trying to put air-units in the mix will make your heads explode.

4By which I mean: it is carted about by two Earth Ponies under the armour.

5You are so not ready for engineering tasks. Hell, I'M so not ready for engineering tasks. Heck, even my Dad and his mate are still westling with it...! That's practically a whole other game all by itself (in both figurative and literal sense.)

6Fun Fact: When I saw the first adverts for Transformers when I was about four or five, I misheard and completely mistranslated Optimus Prime's name as being Evil Please-y. Which, even at the time, I thought at the time seemed a bit of an odd name for the leader of the good guys. Why I recalled this fact as I was thinking about this scenario last night is a mystery better left unsolved...

[Soras Teva Gee]

Princess General Twilight Sparkle has been - rather unwillingly - sent out to take command of the Equestrian Army out in the protectorate of the Uneighted Kindom1.


Come now Lich that's just bad form. Princess isn't a military rank!

[Crimson Doom]

Don't we get Spike as an asset? :P

[Aotrs Commander]

Come now Lich that's just bad form. Princess isn't a military rank!

Princess General is!

It's like brigadier general or something only higher up!


Don't we get Spike as an asset? :P

See "No1 Assistant Communications System."

[Soras Teva Gee]

Princess General is!

It's like brigadier general or something only higher up!


Nonsense then she'd be outranked by a General. And since you're not in the states there are no higher Generals. You become a marshal!

Not to mention you'd inevitably have such things as His Grace Random Whim, Duke of Highhoof, Princess General of the Equestrian Army.

[zimmerwald1915]

Not to mention you'd inevitably have such things as His Grace Random Whim, Duke of Highhoof, Princess General of the Equestrian Army.
What, pray tell, is the matter with that?

[Kd7sov]

Not to mention you'd inevitably have such things as His Grace Random Whim, Duke of Highhoof, Princess General of the Equestrian Army.

Depends on the prereqs for Princess General. If you have to be a princess first...

[zimmerwald1915]

Oh Bleakbane, what do the symbols "G", "S", "TR" and "IND" on the 2D map signify?

[Kd7sov]

Oh Bleakbane, what do the symbols "G", "S", "TR" and "IND" on the 2D map signify?

"Gold", "silver", "trail", "indigenous ponies".

(I kid; I'm not Bleakbane, nor do I have any experience with wargaming unless Risk counts. But I like backronyming.)

[Soras Teva Gee]

Depends on the prereqs for Princess General. If you have to be a princess first...

And Equestria went with a hole right in the middle of its flag officer corps for the best part of a thousand years... or Celestia was outranked in her own armed forces.

That's silly!

[Aotrs Commander]

Oh Bleakbane, what do the symbols "G", "S", "TR" and "IND" on the 2D map signify?

Just the symbols for the buildings (governer's house, semi, town residence, industrial complex); nothing important, since you've got the 3D map. (But kind of important when using a 2D map to set out the terrain on the table...!)


Nonsense then she'd be outranked by a General. And since you're not in the states there are no higher Generals. ]


Considering as we have no knowledge of Equestrian military ranks (like at all), you can't rightly say what Equestria does or does not use for it's scheme of ranking (also, given I was referencing a tin hat with stars on it - a deliberate nod to the M1 helmet infamously worn by General Patton in the film of the same name - I was absolutely thinking US military) I think Princess Celestia came make up whatever the heck ranks she likes.

I mean, come on, this is solid Trollestia in this instance. Twilight is a Princess General because it sounds funny.



If you want to be really pedantic - and I know you do - then you could say that Princess General is an equivilent to General of the Army (5 stars) or possibly even General of the Armies (6 stars, if it had ever been introduced in WW2 and which was used only twice in US history prior to that).

Or, for that matter, Grand General (or High Command, i.e. Lord) in the Aotrs.

And that's about as much time I'm going to devote to what was essentially a throw-away gag.

[DigoDragon]

You may, of course, ask some intelligent questions in case I've missed something or you want clarifications or simply sit there with your brains leaking out of your ears, either way is fine...

Number of forces and type (You said no pegasi, but do we have unicorns)?

Armament for ground troops?

Do we have artillery?

What are those houses made of?

[zimmerwald1915]

Considering as we have no knowledge of Equestrian military ranks (like at all)
Ehh...kinda. We know "Commander" was used as a title in the pre-unification pegasus military, and was used by a high-ranking officer. We also know "Captain" is the highest rank in the quasi-military Wonderbolts. Both "Captain" and "Commander" are fairly high naval ranks, but it doesn't seem right to apply that service's terminology to all services, particularly when we know Equestria has ports (Manehattan, Baltimare, Fillydelphia...)and thus may have a navy. Equestrian titles might work like contemporary US Army/Air Force titles, where the person in charge of a given unit is called "Commander" whatever their actual rank, so Spitfire for instance has the rank of "Captain" and can be addressed as "Commander" in field situations.

[Madcrafter]

I think Princess General sounds excellent as a title. Or just separate them, and have her be a Princess, and a General, a la HRH TS, Princess of Equestria, General of the 3rd Equestrian Royal Army.

And it does have some precedent in the real world. I found a book about a Prince General Pyotr Bagration. And plenty of other princes have been generals, even if they don't get called Prince General.

[Aotrs Commander]

Number of forces and type (You said no pegasi, but do we have unicorns)?

Armament for ground troops?

Do we have artillery?

What are those houses made of?

If one consults one's brief, one will find one's line of battle in the big spoiler that tells what exactly one has to hand...

No artillery; if this was more than an exercise, there would be some artillery off-board and you would told how much you have available. (Mind you, artillery does probably not do what you think it does - real artillery doesn't act like it does in RTS games, it's really there for the purpose of keeping the enermy infantry's heads down while you move up, and keeping enermy vehicles buttoned up. Actually causing damage with artillery uses vast amounts of ammunition and requires the enemy to not move. Again, it's probably a bit too much complexity at this level.)

Whatever pony houses are made of. (For the purposes of this exercise, we will discount pony super-strength - as regular infantry would not be able to demolish houses - and assume that the buildings are only destructible with designated demolitons weapons - which the ponies don't have.)

(Bare in mind despite the pony flavour, this is essentially a tactical deployment exercise, not a creative use of magical talents exercise. Stuff like shield barriers and such would probably fall under the perview of rules mechanics and anything more extensive than digging a few quick trenches for the AFVs or the infantry falls under the general purview of engineering tasks, something Canterbury doesn't have time for.)

[Soras Teva Gee]

I mean, come on, this is solid Trollestia in this instance. Twilight is a Princess General because it sounds funny.

Oh Lich these are affairs when you make up your own titles everyone snickers at you. And now you've given them permission.

For shame!


If you want to be really pedantic - and I know you do - then you could say that Princess General is an equivilent to General of the Army (5 stars) or possibly even General of the Armies (6 stars, if it had ever been introduced in WW2 and which was used only twice in US history prior to that).

Nonsense General of the Army only exists so we didn't have Marshal Marshall. (Eat your heart out Keller!)

And the Six star only exists out of a weird kerfluffle between WWI and WWII then backed to ensure Washington is always the highest ranked officier Of All Time in America!

:smalltongue:

[otakuryoga]

2Strategically important because it's where they grow all the strawberries for Princess Celestia's favourite strawberry ice-cream cake.


was it even really necessary to mention that?

a) we all know it is the "Strawberry Capitol of Equestria"
b) we all know how Celestia feels about cake
c) anyone who can't put 2 & 2 together shouldn't be trying their hand at this anyway

[Tiki Snakes]

You're all missing the obvious, it seems. Princess General rather than Princess Specific (ie, of the Sun, of the Moon). :smallwink:
After all, she is now a fully registered princess...

Also two points; Firstly, its not like there are rules for this. There are rules for each individual army in the real world, but none for armies in general. Secondly, we have no idea how many Princesses Equestria has at any one point, so we can't claim that if Princess General was a high ranking military that it would automatically have been vacant to now.

[Aotrs Commander]

You're all missing the obvious, it seems. Princess General rather than Princess Specific (ie, of the Sun, of the Moon). :smallwink:

And that is why when first considered General Princess, I discarded it in favour of Princess General, to make that microcosmically less obvious...



Seriously, though, it was a Humorous Title in the vein of Auntie Princess in Mourning Sickness.

And there was me expecting that there would be likely be more discussion generated on what the Evil Pleezies were than on the battle.

Or at least some groans on the names of the munitions or something...

[ICN]

You may, of course, ask some intelligent questions in case I've missed something or you want clarifications or simply sit there with your brains leaking out of your ears, either way is fine...


Princess General Twilight: Since you said this is not an exercise in magical creativity, we'll keep it simple. Is she forbidden from entering combat based on the Blueblood Disaster of 997? If she can fight, is her weapon just her beam spell thingy? Is that armor piercing? Is teleportation out of the question?

Are there any advantages gained from moving up to a higher story in a building? At the moment, you just give yourself deadground. Also, can units in your deadground fire at you?

Are we allowed to redeploy our units, or is it set them up once and leave them?

Are infantry weapons only effective against armor and tank units if specifically noted? I've never tried this before, and can't make sense of your silly weapons.

Where are the strawberries for the cake? Can I threaten to blow them up to goad Celestia into coming?

[HamHam]

[snip]

I've watched Girls and Panzer. That clearly grants me the needed tactical knowledge to handle this.

Hide one tank in the barn, one between the houses on the road to the mill, and one in the Mansion's fenced yard (hopefully the fence is high enough to obscure the tank, if not we may need to dig a hole). The infantry spreads out and hides in the mansion, the mill, and the various houses. When the enemy clears the woods, the tank in the yard breaks cover and fires, then high tails it up the main road into town. With any luck, some or all of the enemy will pursue, and walk right into a crossfire in the middle of town.

If they don't take the bait, our infantry will still be in defensible position while the enemy has to advance over open ground and the tanks can pop out to take pot shots.

[Balmas]

Obviously the answer is to give all the unicorns machine guns and go to WAAAGH on the opposing force.

[Anarion]

Princess General Twilight: Since you said this is not an exercise in magical creativity, we'll keep it simple. Is she forbidden from entering combat based on the Blueblood Disaster of 997? If she can fight, is her weapon just her beam spell thingy? Is that armor piercing? Is teleportation out of the question?

Are there any advantages gained from moving up to a higher story in a building? At the moment, you just give yourself deadground. Also, can units in your deadground fire at you?

Are we allowed to redeploy our units, or is it set them up once and leave them?

Are infantry weapons only effective against armor and tank units if specifically noted? I've never tried this before, and can't make sense of your silly weapons.

Where are the strawberries for the cake? Can I threaten to blow them up to goad Celestia into coming?


I reiterate these questions and have a few more.

1. What is the depth of vision into and out of woods and how badly do they hamper firing and movement?

2. While we don't know the nature of the enemy, can we assume their vision is roughly the same capabilities as a pony?

3. Can ponies climb trees?

Edit: one more. Are any of the infantry adequately fast that they could do recon and make it back quick enough to modify deployment in response to enemy capabilities?

[BlasTech]

Well, I've totes played Red Alert, so I'm good too! (Now where are my attack bears?)

I have no idea of the specific range or deployment mechanics of this game, so I'm just going to wing it.

Anywhoo, looking at the map, that little hill zone in the SE looks temptingly dominating for the town, it also looks rather easy to capture from the south, assuming the enemies can deploy in the SE wood zone. Area between hill and town is a big kill zone, particularly if you can flank from the E woods to flush em out of the hills when they get there.

Im tempted to leave a smaller delay force of an infantry squad in the SE woods, backed up by a AFC in the hill zone. Stick the AT squad in the woods to the East and the second AT equipped infantry team in the woods to the SW. MG teams starting in the governor's house (to retreat to the one immediately N of it if pressed), and the N-most Semi. Not deploying anyone in the big building in the north, I expect it to eat an enemy shell a few minutes into the game.

Another AFT (Prob commanders), unbuttoned just south of the industrial zone, so it can fire over the buildings to cover the road. Another in amongst the buildings , maybe hull down somewhere so it can have cover, as well as cover the road to the south.

*checks notes*

Yeah, I can see so much that goes wrong with this, hope the game mechanics allow for infantry in the woods to retreat under covering fire of the MG's. If they can build trenches, having one line in between the E-woods and the industrial zone would be great for the infantry there to retreat to.

Hope the southern AFC can also retreat thataways if the SE woods squad is hammered hard. They're mostly there to draw folks in and to pick off anyone dumb enough to drive up the road.

EDIT: Just updated because I didn't read the hull-down mechanics.

[Forum Explorer]

Let's take that idea and run with it. :smallamused:


Protection from Bears, Manticores, and Cockatrices is the way I see it. All at the cost of all your pancreas.

Fluttershy is a prerequisite before you can train Bear Calvary.



Trouble is, while it's weak evidence, there isn't any better evidence out there. Unless and until the show actually addresses the issue (c'mon...season four...) following Faust is as reasonable a choice as any, and more reasonable than most.

Well I consider everything outside the show itself (and one notable episode) to be non-canon. So sure it's reasonable, but it's not a good basis for an argument. Basically it's headcanon one way or the other til the show talks about it. (Which I really hope they do. I want me a Princess Poker Night Episode!)



Right then, ponythread!

Exercise time, as promised/threatened.

Time to get your "oh frag my brain is bleeding" hats on.



Twilight flies out of Canterlot, following her coronation.

"Everything's gonna be just fine!"

Forty-five seconds later:

Twilight is wearing a tin helmet with three stars on it and being bundled into a train by a cheerfully beaming Princess Celestia and and equally happy Luna.

"But I don't wanna be a general!" she wails and they telekinetically toss her luggage into the carriage, knocking Spike flat as he tries to catch it. The second the doors close, the train sets off.

"Good luck, my faithful student!" Celestia calls brightly as they wave goodbye, Twilight wailing into the distance.

"Sister, do you not think it is a tad unfair to send off your faithful student like that?"

"Well, I wasn't gonna do it. I'm not missing Shortcake Sunday for anything!"



Princess General Twilight Sparkle has been - rather unwillingly - sent out to take command of the Equestrian Army out in the protectorate of the Uneighted Kindom1.

Specifically, she has been placed in charge of defending the strategically important2 village of Canterberry from the encroaching horde of the Evil Pleezies.

As Twilight has no idea how to deploy a military force, it is ponythread's mission (should you choose to accept it - and at least one of you had better, since I spent bloody ages on this) to help Twilight is deploying to defend the unfortunate town from the ravages of the Evil Pleezy army.

There are no games rules as such (aside from using Manouvre Group's spotting and firing arcs as they are a good approximation of the real-world ones (if anything, tankies of my Dad's acquintance have said they are over-generous...!); this is a purely tactical exercise, illustraive of what you do in MG. (This is a fairly easy map as well!)

As such, I've basically told you what the battlefield looks like, what you've got and what it can see: the rest is up to you!



Map of the battlefield:
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u172/AotrsCommander/CanterberryMap_zps2005a355.png

(Note that this image is the one you probably want to copy to mark deployment on.)

That is a standard 6x4 board (so the grid is square feet). As with all games, the ground and figure scale is artificially distorted; the ground scale is be 1" to 10m, though really, that's not particularly important to this exercise. Measurements are provided for important things, but only as a rough guide and approximation (as obviously in this format it is not practical to do otherwise!)


The predicted invasion path is on the extreme south edge of town (i.e. the bottom of the map), up past the major's mansion (left) and the old watermill (left, by stream). On the right is the hill on which the old barn stands (it is unknown whether the barn is racist.)

As a picture is worth any amount of my description, here is a crude 3D image of the area, which includes important things like relative heights and number of windows in the buildings.

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u172/AotrsCommander/Canterberry3D_zps7e7f2ece.png

Unfortunately, you only get the one angle, as the building detail is literally just copy-pasted from the fold-flat buildings, and the line are visible through 3D geometry. To make it fully 3D, I'd have have rendered to whole lot, which is rather more time than I care to spend on a giggle like this...)


Forces:
Due to an unfortunate mishap involving the Royal Air Guard, a medium-sized canteloupe, a rabid aarvark and Derpy, the entire Airbourne Division has been sent off to Manechester - meaning Twilight is going to have to deal with the problem strictly dealing with ground-pounders3.

On the upside, Twilight has access to the latest Equestrian tank, the Battenburg class Armour Fighting Cart. A fully enclosed armoured vehicle, the Battenburg runs smoothly on it's two-horse-power engine4. It has a full turret with a commander's independant sight and a pintle-mounted fully-automatic machine scone. The main gun is the new 120mm tart cannon (Armour-Piercing, Fin Stabilised, Discarding Sabot (Depleted Sugar)) and a co-axial machine scone.

Line of Battle:
Company Commander
1x Princess General Twilight Sparkle with No1 Assistant Communications System (i.e. Spike)

Tank Platoon

1x Platoon Commander Captain Whitemane in CAK3 Battenburg AFV

2x CAK3 Battenburg AFV

Infantry Platoon

1x Platoon Commander Jolly Goodshow with 1x Infantry Squad of 6 ponies consisting of:

2x Fire Teams of 2 ponies each with 1x Bakewell Fully-Automatic Squad Assault Pastry team of 2 ponies


1x Fire Team of 2 ponies: 1x Kipling Unicorn-Guided Anti-Tank Muffin Team of two ponies

2x Infantry Squad (LD 5) of 7 ponies in


1x Fire Team of 3 ponies: 1x fully automatic P1E Apple Catapult, 1x Pecan Light Support Pastry, 1x Eccles Anti-Armour High-Velocity Cake Dispenser


1x Fire Team of 4 ponies: fully automatic P1E Apple Catapult, 1x Pecan Light Support Pastry

Sustained Fire Machine Scones
2x SFMS fire teams of 1x two-pony heavy machine scone. (Thusly:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7CxLyBTBPLM/UBWIpjeOOnI/AAAAAAAAA6c/MF2hy14raww/s1600/mlfw2206-covering_fire_by_paper_pony-d4m290k.gif)


All ponies have radios, assuming they can get the blasted things to work with hooves.


Twilight doesn't have much time before the Evil Pleezies attack, so she do any significiant engineering5, other than to establish basic fighting positions for infantry and/or locate hull-down positions for the AFCs.

Twilight does not know what forces the Evil Pleezies might possess (or, for that matter, even what an Evil Pleezy is - feel free to speculate6), but the limited intelligence brought by the scouts suggest at least a company of troops and armour.

Tactical Notes:

Infantry visibilty is +-90º of their facing for one or two pony teams and 360º for larger groups. Firearcs are only +45º of the fire team's current facing.

You can only get one pony firing from any given window or door. (For the purposes of this exercise, we will assume all infantry weapons are safe to fire indoors.)



The Battenburgs may be deployed in hull-down positions (which basically means with just the turret poking up, giving them a roughly 30% greater chance of not being hit), at the cost of limiting both visibilty and fire arcs. You can go into a hull-down position anywhere, but while hul-down you can't see anything any lower than you are (see note on dead ground).

The Battenburgs may be either unbuttoned (that is, the unicorn command has her head out) or buttoned-up. The latter grants +-90º of the turret facing visibilty (or +-60º if hull-down), but obviously, with her head stuck out, the command is more prone to getting a pie in the face. Buttoned-up, the fire arc is only +-30º of the turret facing (+-22.5º of the turret facing if hull-down). The drivers may only see down a line directly in front of the vehicle and only see things that are blatently obvious unless stationary.



Dead ground: When you are standing on top of a hill or a higher level of a building, you can't see (and therefore can't shoot into) parts of the slopes or the bottom of the building. This is dead ground. For the purposes of this exercise, you can consider dead ground to be 6" (half a square) per story of a building (the big hill counts as two stories), as measured from the bottom of the buidling or hill (Edit:) or other intervening terrain. (This is important because if you can't see it, you can't do anything to it.)

Further, if you are not on the ridgeline of the hill, you can't see below the level of the hill (and obviously, nor can you be seen).



For the purposes of this excercise, the ranges of the infantry apple launchers can be considered to be about three feet (i.e. three squares on the grid) and all other weapons to be "in range" (with the AFV guns, penetration is likely to be better at closer ranges, obviously). This is only important in this context so as to give you a clue about how far you can place the infantry before they can't support each other.


You may, of course, ask some intelligent questions in case I've missed something or you want clarifications or simply sit there with your brains leaking out of your ears, either way is fine...


I have waited so long for this day.

Alright we'll put Jolly Goodshow in those woods down bottom right and his ponies to hide there. They'll ambush the enemy from the rear.

Our Anti-Tank Muffin team will hide in the Racist Barn. They'll take a shot of opportunity on any tanks and fall back to the town.

The rest of the Infantry will hole up in the buildings for cover with the tank on the road between the buildings. Twilight Sparkle will give a speech then teleport forward to act as a scout. She'll teleport back when she spots the enemy (Which by the way are clearly savage yaks, the natural enemy of all things strawberry)


Come now Lich that's just bad form. Princess isn't a military rank!

But's she's a Registered Princess! She's studied for things like this. :smallwink:


Ehh...kinda. We know "Commander" was used as a title in the pre-unification pegasus military, and was used by a high-ranking officer. We also know "Captain" is the highest rank in the quasi-military Wonderbolts. Both "Captain" and "Commander" are fairly high naval ranks, but it doesn't seem right to apply that service's terminology to all services, particularly when we know Equestria has ports (Manehattan, Baltimare, Fillydelphia...)and thus may have a navy. Equestrian titles might work like contemporary US Army/Air Force titles, where the person in charge of a given unit is called "Commander" whatever their actual rank, so Spitfire for instance has the rank of "Captain" and can be addressed as "Commander" in field situations.

We also know that the Captain of the Royal Guard is their leader. So I think Captain might be general leader of a particular group with Commander being the highest rank.

[Thanqol]

@ Princess General Twilight's Predicament:

My only recommendation is that she must send a single infantry team forwards under the cover of a flag of truce to see if the situation can reach a peaceful resolution. She is a pony, after all, and it would be remiss of her not to give the enemy at least the option of surrender.

Operation Sacrificial Lamb also carries the advantage of providing scouting information of the enemy fire lines and ambush zones.

[BlasTech]

And just since the lich put so much effort into it, here's my basic plan for the battle.


If they approach up the road, AFC in hill zone is to attack and try to knock out their lead vehicles.
This will cause enemy attack towards the hills from the SW.
Infantry team in the woods to the SW can open fire at this point with flanking fire, allowing the AFC and infantry in the SE to retreat N towards the woods.
Enemy is likely to push to hill zone and SW wood zone to clear them. Infantry in SW woods can retreat past mayor's house under cover of MG team and regroup at the town.
Once infantry are clear, MG team redeploys to mill.
Enemy is likely to then push the E woods.
Depending on strength, forces can attempt a counterattack to flank anyone in the hill zone and push them N towards the road.
If enemy strong, then fall back to prepared positions in field south of barn. Commander and infantry there can stem a fairly determined push from the woods, forcing the enemy to approach town from S or SW.
MG in mill, remaining AFC and infantry in town can redeploy to hit amongst the houses or as they cross road falling back towards big building in stages if necessary.
Worst comes to worst, regroup at E of big building and retreat to the N under cover of commander's AFC.
Activate Elements of Harmony. Win the day.

[Topaz]

meto30 made the Drawfriend! #59! Yay!

http://www.equestriadaily.com/2013/06/drawfriend-stuff-821.html

[BlasTech]

meto30 made the Drawfriend! #59! Yay!

http://www.equestriadaily.com/2013/06/drawfriend-stuff-821.html

Gah, Pinkie'd. I was just about to post that! D:

Have a dashie instead.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-IkfpBJNr75s/Uapo5O5KXcI/AAAAAAAAktU/Gl_KXLCJ5Ow/s1600/Dashandredheart.png

[Aotrs Commander]

Wow, you guys were posting faster than I could write up my responces!

SiuiS-like quote post incoming!




meto30 made the Drawfriend! #59! Yay!

http://www.equestriadaily.com/2013/06/drawfriend-stuff-821.html

Well done!




Princess General Twilight: Since you said this is not an exercise in magical creativity, we'll keep it simple. Is she forbidden from entering combat based on the Blueblood Disaster of 997?

Given that she's supposed to be commanding the army, not really. Remember, her job is not to be Shounen Hero today, it's to basically be Winter-Wrap-Up Co-ordinator.

(Snark aside, Twilight probably wouldn't be a bad general, or at least a general's aide.)


Are there any advantages gained from moving up to a higher story in a building? At the moment, you just give yourself deadground. Also, can units in your deadground fire at you?

Why do you normally go to the higher story of a building? It's the same thing. Dead ground is not a rules construction, it's a function of the real world.

(Go stand in your second-story window and look out. Now take a couple of paces back and imagine you've got a rifle, and then see how much of the ground below you can see without having to go right up to the window or leen out (which is otherwise know as "asking to get get your head shot off a pie to the face.") The same applies to a hill. Most hills are convex not concave, so when you're standing at the top, you can't see the bottom usually, and only a bit of the slope nearby.)

Generally, if you can't see the enemy because of terrain they can't see you either. The danger of dead ground is that some snotty little Evil Pleezy can out-manouver you and come up behind you.


Are we allowed to redeploy our units, or is it set them up once and leave them?

I'm not planning to go as far as trying to play an actual attack (that, much as I would like to try playing an actual wargame over teh internets, would be impractical without more time than I am prepared to sink in to it. Though the experience would be very like a real general, since you could't actually see the battle field fully like you can in a wargame!)

But in the real world you would be able to actively redeploy your units (indeed, a proper defense is not static anyway.)



Are infantry weapons only effective against armor and tank units if specifically noted? I've never tried this before, and can't make sense of your silly weapons.

Infantry weapons are generally ineffective against anything but unarmoured vehicles (unless they are specifically anti-tank weapons).

(If you are struggling, replace "pastry" with "weapon" and you'll basically be looking at real-world terminology. I've basically patterned Twilight's infantry platoon on the infantry of a Royal Army Warrior platoon.)

...

Actually, I guess light support weapon and squad assualt weapon may still be a bit too far technical. Machine gun and bigger machine gun.




Where are the strawberries for the cake? Can I threaten to blow them up to goad Celestia into coming?

In the fields to the north of the city and by the time Twilight has done that, not only will she have failed her mission (which is like failing a test but worse) AND upset her beloved mentor, but the Evil Pleezies will have overrun Canterberry and done whatever (possibly permenant) damage it is Evil Pleezies do...




I've watched Girls and Panzer. That clearly grants me the needed tactical knowledge to handle this.

Hide one tank in the barn, one between the houses on the road to the mill, and one in the Mansion's fenced yard (hopefully the fence is high enough to obscure the tank, if not we may need to dig a hole). The infantry spreads out and hides in the mansion, the mill, and the various houses. When the enemy clears the woods, the tank in the yard breaks cover and fires, then high tails it up the main road into town. With any luck, some or all of the enemy will pursue, and walk right into a crossfire in the middle of town.

If they don't take the bait, our infantry will still be in defensible position while the enemy has to advance over open ground and the tanks can pop out to take pot shots.

Right. Now we can start to illustrate the tactics.

The first point is the tank in the barn is completely useless. It can't see anything (like at all) and it has nowhere to if it all goes pear-shaped. There aren't even any windows on the south side of the barn (not that it would realisitically be able to shoot out of them anyway...) so it basically has a nice view of the three story building across the road.

It isn't a bad thought, but your basic plan is going to fall apart when the enemy uses reconnaissence (contrary to Hollywood, you do not launch an attack if you don't know where the enemy is). Nor will the enemy ever advance over open ground, because that tactic died in WW1. (If the enemy vehicles have smoke dischargers - which they may well do (the Battenburgs will as well, actually, that is a point I missed mentioning) - they could pop smoke to allow the infantry to get closer.)

Also, the more you spread out your infantry, the more vulnerable to both ranged fire and more decisively, close assaults they become and the harder they are to control. (Because you basically have to tell each lot what to do and you can only do so much with "everybody do this.")

So placing your infantry in the right houses is important, because you can't put someone on every level of every building (you ain't got enough ponies).

One of the things they are likely to do is send infantry into the left-hand woods, which could cause problems for you tank there, as depending on where it is exactly placed in the walled garden, it either can't see them or is exposing it's side. (But the infantry in the mansion would be able to cover it, of course.)

It also might not be able to easily back out to get away - I'll give you you would be able to knock down some walls to get into position pre-engagement (giving you one way out), but trying to James Bond through a brick wall runs the risk of throwing a track out. (This happens to real tanks quite frequently in reality. The Battenburg really, really, really doesn't want to drive up the main road to retreat in any case unless there are no enemies that can see it, as an armoured vehicle's rear is the absolute best place to hit it.

The enemy will probably form up behind that left-hand bottom wood, because you can't see or shoot at them there, and then they would be able to creep out and put fire in the bottom right house (which has it's narrow edge with only two windows) so won't have much fire to throw back).

Infantry will be able to cross from the bottom right forest to the first of those ridges because of the dead ground of the ridge: clarification I added to the main post, because I forgot earlier - you also get dead ground from any intervening terrain.

(If you think about it, you can't see past a tall wall at ground level, and you can't see some distance behind it even when you're higher up. In the real world, the dead ground increases the further away you are looking from (because viewing angle is shallower)).



(You will note I'm deliberately trying to avoid using any game mechanics - this is about illustrating the tactical thinking.)




I reiterate these questions and have a few more.

1. What is the depth of vision into and out of woods and how badly do they hamper firing and movement?

Ah. Now you're starting to think!

In the real world, this would of course vary on wood density (have a look when you're next out in a forest and you'll be surprised how short a distance you can see). For the purposes of this exercise, we'll use MG's abstraction, which is to say that any line of sight (and therefore fire) that originates or passes through a wood is limited to 80m (8" in this case, or two-thirds of a square) from the point it enters the wood (even if 80m takes you out of the wood). (Unless you are standing on the edge of the wood (defined as 2" from the border, looking out.)

(This is, in fact a bit high, but you have to make allowances for the ground scale distortion so that you can do things like see to the other side of the road!)

What that means is, for example, in that bottom left wood, you can only see just out the other side from, say, the mansion.


2. While we don't know the nature of the enemy, can we assume their vision is roughly the same capabilities as a pony?

Yes, absolutely.


3. Can ponies climb trees?

Probably not easily, you can't easily fight from a tree and you really, really don't want to be stuck up a tree if the other guy shoots back. Snipers can do it, but they work on one shot hit-and-run tactics, moving from position to position, worked out in advance.


Edit: one more. Are any of the infantry adequately fast that they could do recon and make it back quick enough to modify deployment in response to enemy capabilities?

You say "do recon" like it's easy! (It isn't. Dad and his mate have spent months trying to work out how recon really works!)

Real warfare is ALL about finding the enemy, finding or making a blind spot and pushing through. So in a broad sense, that's like the entire battle. (And bear in mind that the enemy is not going to be static, they're going to roll onto the board and take up positions.)

Infantry aren't generally fast enough to do much running around like that (that's what light recon vehicles (or pegasi!) are generally for); your recon troops will be basically up a tree or something somewhere - probably because they're pegasi - with binoculars, counting supply carts. If they're on form, they'll be able to tell you the numbers of what's coming (via those radios or maybe even Spike - recon tends to be high-quality troops, so they'd probably have magical communication), but that's about it since the enemy will be moving around and the real world is full of trees, hills, and other inconvienant things that wargamers often forget! (Heck, many historical gamers are worse at it than sci-fi; even 40K boards have a fair amount of terrain on 'em...!)

(Bare in mind that this is a really GOOD defensive position and you can actually see loads by comparion!)




I have waited so long for this day.

Alright we'll put Jolly Goodshow in those woods down bottom right and his ponies to hide there. They'll ambush the enemy from the rear.

Very good.

First rule: don't always think about facing the enemy head on, always think about how to get him in the sides or rear. As nobody can see everywhere (and typically the defenders would be hidden and the attackers not), snotty little infantry hiding the reverse edge of woods or on a reverse slope can really ruin your day. (See: report from last wargames convention.)


Our Anti-Tank Muffin team will hide in the Racist Barn. They'll take a shot of opportunity on any tanks and fall back to the town.

As there aren't any windows in that side of the barn, they'd have to either stick by the door (poor arcs of fire) or go up and go in position on the ridgeline, but fundementally good idea.


The rest of the Infantry will hole up in the buildings for cover with the tank on the road between the buildings. Twilight Sparkle will give a speech then teleport forward to act as a scout. She'll teleport back when she spots the enemy (Which by the way are clearly savage yaks, the natural enemy of all things strawberry)

And then there is that. Using the CO as recon is not a good idea, because if she gets it wrong and gets plastered with... whatever the maybe-Yak Evil Pleezies use for weapons, not only have you lost your commander (to say nothing of a princess and naitonal hero!), which is bad for morale, it also costs you time while someone else has to take over.

If she's in a position to see a lot of the enemy, she's also dangerously exposed if someone spots her in return ('cos you know all the fire that can be brought to bare would be.)

Now, given the Twilight is not in a command vehicle, is a Hero and can teleport and fly this would be reasonably feasible to attempt. But it's a bit risky, so say the least.


@ Princess General Twilight's Predicament:

My only recommendation is that she must send a single infantry team forwards under the cover of a flag of truce to see if the situation can reach a peaceful resolution. She is a pony, after all, and it would be remiss of her not to give the enemy at least the option of surrender.

Operation Sacrificial Lamb also carries the advantage of providing scouting information of the enemy fire lines and ambush zones.

Again, same problem as Forum Explorer: the enemy is attacking YOU, so they aren't going to be sitting in ambush or in a static position, but moving. And if they decide they don't want to negotiate, you run the risk of losing the battle before it begins if one of 'em whumps Twilight upside the head with a whatever appendage, possibly yak-hoof the Evil Pleezies have...




Well, I've totes played Red Alert, so I'm good too! (Now where are my attack bears?)

I have no idea of the specific range or deployment mechanics of this game, so I'm just going to wing it.

Anywhoo, looking at the map, that little hill zone in the SE looks temptingly dominating for the town, it also looks rather easy to capture from the south, assuming the enemies can deploy in the SE wood zone. Area between hill and town is a big kill zone, particularly if you can flank from the E woods to flush em out of the hills when they get there.

Im tempted to leave a smaller delay force of an infantry squad in the SE woods, backed up by a AFC in the hill zone. Stick the AT squad in the woods to the East and the second AT equipped infantry team in the woods to the SW. MG teams starting in the governor's house (to retreat to the one immediately N of it if pressed), and the N-most Semi. Not deploying anyone in the big building in the north, I expect it to eat an enemy shell a few minutes into the game.

Another AFT (Prob commanders), unbuttoned just south of the industrial zone, so it can fire over the buildings to cover the road. Another in amongst the buildings , maybe hull down somewhere so it can have cover, as well as cover the road to the south.

*checks notes*

Yeah, I can see so much that goes wrong with this, hope the game mechanics allow for infantry in the woods to retreat under covering fire of the MG's. If they can build trenches, having one line in between the E-woods and the industrial zone would be great for the infantry there to retreat to.

Hope the southern AFC can also retreat thataways if the SE woods squad is hammered hard. They're mostly there to draw folks in and to pick off anyone dumb enough to drive up the road.

EDIT: Just updated because I didn't read the hull-down mechanics.


And just since the lich put so much effort into it, here's my basic plan for the battle.


If they approach up the road, AFC in hill zone is to attack and try to knock out their lead vehicles.
This will cause enemy attack towards the hills from the SW.
Infantry team in the woods to the SW can open fire at this point with flanking fire, allowing the AFC and infantry in the SE to retreat N towards the woods.
Enemy is likely to push to hill zone and SW wood zone to clear them. Infantry in SW woods can retreat past mayor's house under cover of MG team and regroup at the town.
Once infantry are clear, MG team redeploys to mill.
Enemy is likely to then push the E woods.
Depending on strength, forces can attempt a counterattack to flank anyone in the hill zone and push them N towards the road.
If enemy strong, then fall back to prepared positions in field south of barn. Commander and infantry there can stem a fairly determined push from the woods, forcing the enemy to approach town from S or SW.
MG in mill, remaining AFC and infantry in town can redeploy to hit amongst the houses or as they cross road falling back towards big building in stages if necessary.
Worst comes to worst, regroup at E of big building and retreat to the N under cover of commander's AFC.
Activate Elements of Harmony. Win the day.


*clap clap clap*

Very nice. Well done, that pony!

This, ladies and gentleponies, is what is called "defense in depth."

(In a real game, the enemy would have had a safe deployment zone so they could at least get on the table without a fight!)

If you were playing Manouvre Group, as in the real world, you would indeed be able to retreat while the machine scones plastered the area with culinary death, so that plan is going to seriously inconvienace the Evil Pleezies; they would probably have to rely on weight of numbers to shift you (as you would expect an attacking force to out-number you) but that's costly.



I will, of course, give a "professional" answer (and even my answer, which won't be!) in due course, but that will have to wait until tomorrow now!

[Thanqol]

Again, same problem as Forum Explorer: the enemy is attacking YOU, so they aren't going to be sitting in ambush or in a static position, but moving. And if they decide they don't want to negotiate, you run the risk of losing the battle before it begins if one of 'em whumps Twilight upside the head with a whatever appendage, possibly yak-hoof the Evil Pleezies have...

Oh, Twilight isn't going in with the negotiation team. Twilight is smart.

[Aotrs Commander]

Oh, Twilight isn't going in with the negotiation team. Twilight is smart.

Oh, fair enough then!



In that case, Corporal 3rd class Scarlett Vest is probably wishing he hadn't made that crack about dragons in his Princess General's earshot...!

[Forum Explorer]

And then there is that. Using the CO as recon is not a good idea, because if she gets it wrong and gets plastered with... whatever the maybe-Yak Evil Pleezies use for weapons, not only have you lost your commander (to say nothing of a princess and naitonal hero!), which is bad for morale, it also costs you time while someone else has to take over.

If she's in a position to see a lot of the enemy, she's also dangerously exposed if someone spots her in return ('cos you know all the fire that can be brought to bare would be.)

Now, given the Twilight is not in a command vehicle, is a Hero and can teleport and fly this would be reasonably feasible to attempt. But it's a bit risky, so say the least.


Ah you beat my justification to the punch. Yeah between Twilight's flight, pony durability, teleportation, magic, and shield spells I'm pretty sure she's the most durable unit I've got. So I think she's got pretty good odds of reporting the enemies advance and teleporting to safety. Also I don't think she'd give anypony else that job since it'd be a suicide mission for anypony else.

[HamHam]

Right. Now we can start to illustrate the tactics.

The first point is the tank in the barn is completely useless. It can't see anything (like at all) and it has nowhere to if it all goes pear-shaped. There aren't even any windows on the south side of the barn (not that it would realisitically be able to shoot out of them anyway...) so it basically has a nice view of the three story building across the road.

It's use is that it can drive out the door and from that hill fire on most of the town. And the enemy won't know that it can do that.


It isn't a bad thought, but your basic plan is going to fall apart when the enemy uses reconnaissence (contrary to Hollywood, you do not launch an attack if you don't know where the enemy is).

That's why everything is positioned so that it is hidden from the approaching side. They would have to sneak a scouting party all the way up the right hand side, but the odds of them being undetected should be slim since you just stick Twilight and any other command staff in the tall building in the back and they have a pretty clear view of the whole battlefield. If they have aerial reconnaissance... well that's a unique problem that should be mentioned up front. Since we don't have pegasi, I'm assuming the same holds for them.


Nor will the enemy ever advance over open ground, because that tactic died in WW1. (If the enemy vehicles have smoke dischargers - which they may well do (the Battenburgs will as well, actually, that is a point I missed mentioning) - they could pop smoke to allow the infantry to get closer.)

If they have anything like that. Twilight has demonstrated the ability to conjure wind though, IIRC, so arguably we can counter any such attempt. That leaves them with shelling the town from range. If they have artillery that can level the town from outside the defined battlefield, that's just game right there. So assuming they don't, they are going to have to get close enough with their vehicles to hit the buildings, and that's the chance for our tanks to pop out and disable said artillery.


It also might not be able to easily back out to get away - I'll give you you would be able to knock down some walls to get into position pre-engagement (giving you one way out), but trying to James Bond through a brick wall runs the risk of throwing a track out. (This happens to real tanks quite frequently in reality.

I interpreted that as a wooden fence. If it's stone than I'd modify it to putting the tank behind the mansion itself.


The Battenburg really, really, really doesn't want to drive up the main road to retreat in any case unless there are no enemies that can see it, as an armoured vehicle's rear is the absolute best place to hit it.

It's a risk but they will be surprised and shooting at a moving target.[/QUOTE]

[MLai]

I would have loved to see the Evil Pleezies run roughshod over Twilight's army while they're all too busy arguing over whether a Princess General is a Princess or a General, where strawberries are for the cake, what those house are made of, and if anypony can climb a tree. That'd have been hilarious.

That would be what happens when you have unicorns and earth ponies orchestrating a military maneuver. Take note.

[meto30]

meto30 made the Drawfriend! #59! Yay!

http://www.equestriadaily.com/2013/06/drawfriend-stuff-821.html


Wow, you guys were posting faster than I could write up my responces!

Yay! Good job, me! And thank you, Topaz!

I'm in a similar situation with our dear Lord Lich here, only I have zero idea what's going on. I'll get to reading the entire thread piece by piece once I get done sorting through the mail!

[Anarion]

Okay, the ability to have teleportation is too good not to use, so I'm going to respond to Bleakbane's scenario with two plans: the yes teleporting is fine plan and the no magic plan.

So first off, as I look at this map, I think to myself "gee, I wish the enemy would be so nice as to move into the road and the southeast area. It's like a massive open fire zone in which I could shoot pastry them."

I then assume that if they're thinking at all, they realize the same thing and don't move that way. I also figure the river is at least competent at holding my West flank, but we're going to come back to that.

Both plans

I'm going to put a tank behind the east wood covering the road. Unicorn head up and ideally in a position to be able to fire either down the road or at the edge of the right wood. I'm looking at another one, maybe both of the remainders just west of the road by the edge of the houses, hull down and covering the open approaches. The plan being, if the enemy is coming that way, they're going to get shot by tanks.

Twilight is going to position herself in an upper story window. I don't much care which one, wherever there's the best line of sight to the battlefield so she can communicate and maneuver people.

Command team with Jolly Goodshow is going to be based in the brown house just west of the road and furthest south. They've got the anti-tank stuff and need the broad field of fire there.

With teleport

With a teleport, I feel that I can afford to do something brave stupid. So we're going to deploy MG team forward in the green roof house near a corner so they can cover more or less the whole south approach and make the exit to the southwest woods a murder zone. Then we're going to station both infantry squads in the far southeast woods that go off the map, deployed and prepared for an ambush. When the enemy approaches, they open fire, moving towards the Southeast and then teleporting out to join MG squad, who will in turn fire upon advancing enemy exiting the woods until numbers are too superior and then teleport out again.

Their secondary position would be deployed amongst the houses, supporting the tanks and making the alleys and road into dangerous territory.

This plan hinges on a teleport because I don't think falling back from the southeast woods is realistic without magic, since the enemy will probably have you flanked in short order.

No teleport

We're basically going to back everything up one stage. MG team deploys in one of the brown houses overlooking both west and east forest exits. Infantry squads deploy near the back of the southwest forest and make that area a nightmare to take, falling back to the houses under MG fire if enemy numbers prove too great.

If the enemy chooses to ignore the SW woods and advance up the east side, infantry and MG also fall back to the houses and tanks fall back to the barn, covering the exit to the east wood and the road.


Sigh, I hate committing to plans, I always feel like I'm overlooking something. Like with this one, if the enemy can split its forces into an elite team that can overwhelm a tank and MG support (and Twilight) on the East while still bogging everyone down in the Southwest, we're pretty screwed.

[DigoDragon]

If one consults one's brief, one will find one's line of battle in the big spoiler that tells what exactly one has to hand...

Oh, I thought that was just for feeding the troops.
Okay, so multi-purpose food. Cool.



(Mind you, artillery does probably not do what you think it does

I'm here right now with an ex-naval sergeant and a former commander crew chief of Marine-One. I learned quite some time ago from them that real artillery won't work like RTS artillery. :smallbiggrin:

Okay, apparently the first idea we have is to turn those forward homes into scone machine-gun nests. :smalltongue:

Catapults maybe centered in town?



Have a dashie instead.

Yay, Redheart! I like her



I'm in a similar situation with our dear Lord Lich here, only I have zero idea what's going on.

Yeah, I'm having to reread a lot. It's easier in person when you can walk around a table map to see how the plans can be made. :smallbiggrin: My two ex-military friends know more about this stuff so I'd probably hand this over to them if it weren't the fact that "pony" confuses them tactically. XD

[Anarion]

Yeah, I'm having to reread a lot. It's easier in person when you can walk around a table map to see how the plans can be made. :smallbiggrin: My two ex-military friends know more about this stuff so I'd probably hand this over to them if it weren't the fact that "pony" confuses them tactically. XD

I opened it up in a second window and kept referring back. There's still a couple things I'm not sure about though. Like how easily the enemy can flank past the right wood, and how long a squad or tank would take to reposition if the enemy were seen advancing up one side or the other.

[DigoDragon]

I opened it up in a second window and kept referring back. There's still a couple things I'm not sure about though. Like how easily the enemy can flank past the right wood, and how long a squad or tank would take to reposition if the enemy were seen advancing up one side or the other.

I think I'd benefit from a second monitor for stuff like this. I love tactics even if I'm very inexperienced at it.


Fluffle Pony Human? Okay that's... cute.
http://th00.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2013/152/3/1/types__fluffy_pony_by_shepherd0821-d67gbcn.jpg

Though Shall Not Take Trixie For Granite!
http://th05.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2013/152/8/a/trixie_do_not_like_a_stone__by_mi0724go-d67ej83.png


Have You Always Been A Good Friend (http://mao-ookaneko.deviantart.com/art/Have-you-always-been-a-good-friend-EN-375305715)?

[MLai]

Have You Always Been A Good Friend (http://mao-ookaneko.deviantart.com/art/Have-you-always-been-a-good-friend-EN-375305715)?
Those are the scariest and saddest ponies I've seen this month.

[meto30]

I'm afraid I'll have to stay out of this particular RP discussion, as my familiarity with tactics ends with the advent of the machine gun. XD Looking at the discussed points thus far I believe the situation is too modern for me to join in!

[Anarion]

I'm afraid I'll have to stay out of this particular RP discussion, as my familiarity with tactics ends with the advent of the machine gun. XD Looking at the discussed points thus far I believe the situation is too modern for me to join in!

Actually, although some of us have some wargaming experience, the basic thing here isn't the guns: it's terrain and line of sight. Guns just mean it's a lot more dangerous to poke your head out in the wrong spot than it was when the other guy had nothing but a longbow. But the top two priorities (I'm not sure how to order them) are being able to see the other guy and being able to move around as quickly and safely as possible.

[Metahuman1]

So, I leave the discussion for a few days cause doing stuff, come back, skip to last page, and as near as I can tell, were planning either the invasion or defense from invasion of Ponyville?

... ... ...

What the heck happened?

[Gamerlord]

So, I leave the discussion for a few days cause doing stuff, come back, skip to last page, and as near as I can tell, were planning either the invasion or defense from invasion of Ponyville?

... ... ...

What the heck happened?
A: It's Canterberry, not Ponyville.
B: Lich got bored I guess. :smalltongue:

EDIT: Well THAT certainly isn't a ship I have seen before *Cover for Issue Nine of the comics, probably spoilers of some sort, click at your own risk*
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6tRYgaH8ayc/UapcIkWyzoI/AAAAAAABa88/Cq6TKx0zxq8/s1600/976929_669455059736993_1471536097_o.jpg

[meto30]

Actually, although some of us have some wargaming experience, the basic thing here isn't the guns: it's terrain and line of sight. Guns just mean it's a lot more dangerous to poke your head out in the wrong spot than it was when the other guy had nothing but a longbow. But the top two priorities (I'm not sure how to order them) are being able to see the other guy and being able to move around as quickly and safely as possible.

I'm more familiar with the days when you had full knowledge of the other side's location, probable numbers, and whether they were moving or not long before forces came into contact. I'm also more used to having a choice when or when not to engage, because neither side could advance quickly enough to force a battle unless one side made a big mistake. So.... yeah.

So basically, the maxims of Sun Tzu still stand?

When moving, be swift as the wind,
when stationary, be silent as the forest,
when attacking, be fierce as fire
when defending, be sturdy as a mountain
when advancing, be precise as a lightning
when planning, be unknowable as the darkness.

[Soras Teva Gee]

So basically, the maxims of Sun Tzu still stand?


They're so generic how could they ever NOT still stand?

[meto30]

They're so generic how could they ever NOT still stand?

Dunno, though in the modern age I expected the lines about defending and staying still to change. Are you even allowed to stay still in modern warfare? My experience with modern tactics comes mostly from my days in mandatory military service, and from what I learned it seems the basic tactic of the Korean Army is to apply overwhelming firepower to any situation and never allowing the infantry to stop advancing.

And is it just me or is the forum responding a bit sluggishly right now? :smallconfused:

[BlasTech]

*clap clap clap*

Very nice. Well done, that pony!

This, ladies and gentleponies, is what is called "defense in depth."

(In a real game, the enemy would have had a safe deployment zone so they could at least get on the table without a fight!)

If you were playing Manouvre Group, as in the real world, you would indeed be able to retreat while the machine scones plastered the area with culinary death, so that plan is going to seriously inconvienace the Evil Pleezies; they would probably have to rely on weight of numbers to shift you (as you would expect an attacking force to out-number you) but that's costly.

Woo! Achievement unlocked: Armchair Princess-General! :smallbiggrin:

Do I get a muffin? (Or a guided AT muffin launcher?)




So basically, the maxims of Sun Tzu still stand?

When moving, be swift as the wind,
when stationary, be silent as the forest,
when attacking, be fierce as fire
when defending, be sturdy as a mountain
when advancing, be precise as a lightning
when planning, be unknowable as the darkness.


Heh, yeah, I figure some of those have changed. You don't want to be as sturdy as a mountain when artillery can level them in ten seconds flat.

To be honest about my earlier posts, I did tell a small lie - my experience in this didn't come from red alert, but Company of Heroes. :smalltongue:

Fields of fire, facing and cover are all very core parts of that game. That, and an atrociously high casualty rate for infantry.

Unrelated pic
http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/152/1/0/don_t_stop_believin__by_equestria_prevails-d67gu99.png

That awkward moment when you zoom in on the text bubble ...

[meto30]

How I miss the days when one could just form up the men in single line and have them bash swords against shields to intimidate the enemy while telling the knights for the umpteeth time they're not to charge until the horn sounds. XD

[Soras Teva Gee]

Dunno, though in the modern age I expected the lines about defending and staying still to change. Are you even allowed to stay still in modern warfare?

How else is that sniper supposed to do their work?


Heh, yeah, I figure some of those have changed. You don't want to be as sturdy as a mountain when artillery can level them in ten seconds flat.


Tell that to Cheyenne Mountain.

Though even more to the point you want your say Iron Dome or AEGIS Destroyer to provide a sturdy defense against those super missiles of doom. Along with effective ECM if you can swing it.

Oh sure some proportions and methods may shift but all that advice translates to "when you do something, do it well" which is nice and all but very very fortune cookie generic.

[BlasTech]

Tell that to Cheyenne Mountain.

Well, you can stay there if you want, I'll just take over the rest of the world mmkay? :smalltongue:

[meto30]

How else is that sniper supposed to do their work?

I was under the notion that the answer to a sniper was artillery barrage, and thus snipers had to be constantly on the move to survive?


BTW, how I felt after finishing the Mane Six and Spike group hug picture:
http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/152/4/f/aftermath_of_the_mane_six_and_spike_group_picture_ by_meto30-d67hpeo.jpg

[Soras Teva Gee]

Well, you can stay there if you want, I'll just take over the rest of the world mmkay? :smalltongue:

Given what that place is. Why not both?


I was under the notion that the answer to a sniper was artillery barrage, and thus snipers had to be constantly on the move to survive?


I'm given to understand that Simo Haya had artillery barrages called in against him. They did not work. It was a soldier that finally managed to take him out of the war by shooting him in the jaw. (He survived)

Obviously a sniper cannot remain in a single position over the long term. Once pinpointed they can be successfully counterattacked. Be it by infantry or heavy weapons their advantage is concealment to maximize the force of one soldier. Once that is lost you are dead. Ideally you complete your attack and slip away unnoticed for another time

Of course this is no real change of modern warfare, you have never been able to attack and remain silent and still. It is advice only for the setting up of ambushes or evading an opponent you do not wish to fight at this time. Once you begun a fight you are no longer stationary anyways.

You can have stationary conflict in a castle siege I suppose but that's hardly staying quiet. And that more a specific result of defensive building technologies outstripping the attacking one.

All strategies have to be based on which ones you can carry out most effectively.

[MLai]

Of course this is no real change of modern warfare, you have never been able to attack and remain silent and still. It is advice only for the setting up of ambushes or evading an opponent you do not wish to fight at this time. Once you begun a fight you are no longer stationary anyways.
You can have stationary conflict in a castle siege I suppose but that's hardly staying quiet. And that more a specific result of defensive building technologies outstripping the attacking one.
All strategies have to be based on which ones you can carry out most effectively.
Well sir, that sure sounds like what Sun Tzu already said, y'know, 2000+ years ago. Except he used less words and sounded more poetic.

[meto30]

Given what that place is. Why not both?



I'm given to understand that Simo Haya had artillery barrages called in against him. They did not work. It was a soldier that finally managed to take him out of the war by shooting him in the jaw. (He survived)

Obviously a sniper cannot remain in a single position over the long term. Once pinpointed they can be successfully counterattacked. Be it by infantry or heavy weapons their advantage is concealment to maximize the force of one soldier. Once that is lost you are dead. Ideally you complete your attack and slip away unnoticed for another time

Of course this is no real change of modern warfare, you have never been able to attack and remain silent and still. It is advice only for the setting up of ambushes or evading an opponent you do not wish to fight at this time. Once you begun a fight you are no longer stationary anyways.

You can have stationary conflict in a castle siege I suppose but that's hardly staying quiet. And that more a specific result of defensive building technologies outstripping the attacking one.

All strategies have to be based on which ones you can carry out most effectively.

I see! Well that teaches me how little I know about modern warfare I guess.

[BlasTech]

Strategies may morph over time.

But war ... war never changes.

(Large pics)
http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/071/3/5/fallout_equestria_movie_poster_concept__wallpaper_ _by_yamamoto114-d4shtm9.png

Ooh, found a Rarity one.

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/075/5/0/fallout_equestria_rarity_wallpaper_by_xmiradox-d5y8x78.png

[thubby]

I think I'd benefit from a second monitor for stuff like this. I love tactics even if I'm very inexperienced at it.


Fluffle Pony Human? Okay that's... cute.
http://th00.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2013/152/3/1/types__fluffy_pony_by_shepherd0821-d67gbcn.jpg

Though Shall Not Take Trixie For Granite!
http://th05.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2013/152/8/a/trixie_do_not_like_a_stone__by_mi0724go-d67ej83.png


Have You Always Been A Good Friend (http://mao-ookaneko.deviantart.com/art/Have-you-always-been-a-good-friend-EN-375305715)?

the wording on the fluttershy panel has me confused :smallconfused:

[HamHam]

Strategies may morph over time.

But war ... war never changes.

(Large pics)
http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/071/3/5/fallout_equestria_movie_poster_concept__wallpaper_ _by_yamamoto114-d4shtm9.png

Ooh, found a Rarity one.

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/075/5/0/fallout_equestria_rarity_wallpaper_by_xmiradox-d5y8x78.png

Confused, I recognize Littlepip but who is that... other mare with her?

[t209]

Applejack is going to be our Expert Farmer on the ploughed wheat plains, Rainbow Dash is the Explorer looking for treasure and aggravating the natives, Twilight can be the Elder Statesman, Pinkie Pie is going to be missionary, hopefully fixing some of the damage Rainbow Dash has done (though probably not), Rarity is our Expert Silver Miner so we actually get dubloons from somewhere (sorry about the dirt, Rares, just bear with it until we find someone to plant cotton and make cloth out of it - oh, I guess Cloth already is the refined trade good, and dresses aren't exactly within the scope of the game. Erm. Look, we need money. Just take the pick and go). Drawing a bit of a blank on Fluttershy. She probably has the theoretical knowledge needed to be a Master Fur Trapper, but I don't think she'd be up for it. I guess I'll hand her a musket and have her be our Soldier; she is fearsome when her friends are in danger. Does being a Pony make them automatic dragoons? Is "Horses" even a trade good in Coponization? I guess we'd trade humans instead. So would Fluttershy have to ride a human to be a dragoon? Which human we know would make the perfect steed for Fluttershy to ride on?

I'm not even on drugs. What's wrong with me?
How about sentient Bikes or cows? Since you said humans, I think you made how Sid Meier's Colonization would be if it was realistic (Loads of Slaves for plantation in South). Also you can mix in with elements from Minecraft and Dwarf Fortress.

[BlasTech]

Confused, I recognize Littlepip but who is that... other mare with her?

Not certain, but judging by the cutie mark I'd say that would be Blackjack from FO:E Project Horizons, a spin off that I haven't read.

[Thanqol]

Welp.

It's time for the Increasingly Deranged and Intimidating Adventures of Comet Kicker!

This week opened off with a minor scuffle against Manticores. Nothing we couldn't handle, but things got a little uncomfortable when Comet tracked down their nest post-fight. It had three more Manticores inside, to which Comet Kicker's answer was to detonate the rooftop, trigger a cave in, and bury the Manticores alive.

The omens were thus not good as we walked into Nowhere, largest slaver city in the Canterbury region.

Nowhere was a slaver town. Everypony had slaves. You could get a young, fit Earth Pony for as little as 200 caps, and a mechanically inclined Unicorn with Slave Collar for 550. Slaves were abundant, and so were slavers. Comet Kicker had a moment of stillness when she realised just how many living, breathing ponies she could purchase in exchange for the pocket change she'd acquired in the two weeks she'd been down on the surface.

Comet Kicker and her team went in wearing their dark black, full-body riot armour, posing as a team of badass mercenaries in the market for slaves. In order to gather knowledge on the town and the slave operating procedure we purchased two slaves (aforementioned unicorn and earth pony) and grilled them for information. The Unicorn seemed surprised that we wanted to abolish slavery in the town, having voluntarily sold himself into the occupation and holding it up as one of the few places in the wasteland where a pony could get clean food, water and safety.

The earth pony gave a grunt and a dead eyed stare. That was the one that convinced Comet.

With a cold, meticulous efficiency, Comet Kicker put together a plan. Step one, sow some chaos in the town and create the impression that slaving operations were being sabotaged by a group of abolitionists from down south. Step two, go to the mayor as the black-armoured mercenaries and state that we'd been tracking those abolitionists and we could uncover them so long as we got all the important citizens of the town in a room together. Step three, detonate as much C4 as it took to end the entire town's leadership, whereupon we declared ourselves the banana kings and took over by force.

Dr. Fasanoma repeatedly stated that something didn't feel right about this plan, to which Comet Kicker's response was, "This is an institutional problem. It will never change through peaceful methods. There will never be a vote to abolish slavery, like there would be in the Enclave. This system is going to keep going until it ends in violence. In the absence of an army to instil order in the streets by force, we must do so with terror alone."

Comet Kicker was giving a thousand-mile stare as she gave this speech. The last institutional change she'd been a part of had ended with everypony dead instead of achieving freedom. Comet Kicker's mind was rating an outcome of anything less than 100% casualties as a victory. Sadly, nopony felt inclined to snap her out of it.

This was because Poppyfields was a former slave herself and wanted to burn the place to the ground out of traumatised vengeance. Rock Solid was just in it for the violence. Comet Kicker was running on cold, analytical, murderous logic as she put together the pieces to destroy a town.

You know that adventure in Fallout: Equestria where Lil'Pip meets the town full of cannibals? It was like that, but deliberately planned.

So step one was to sow some chaos and pin the blame on a group of fictional abolitionists. We had a list of bounties on evil ponies from the griffons, some of whom were in town, so that seemed like a great two-for-one deal - rub out our bounty targets and make it seem like these abolitionists did it. Rock Solid and Poppyfields were sent into a bar to make the hit while Comet, Fasanoma and our Earth Pony slave decked out in our black riot gear and went shopping. By being seen on the other side of town, we had the perfect alibi for when crap went down.

And crap did go down. Rock Solid and Poppyfields are great ponies but they had some abysmal luck. They found their target drunk and tried to invite him back home for a business deal. This failed. Poppyfields tried then to spike the guy's drink with sleep powder. Critical failure! He spotted her. "Hey, you're trying to poison my drink!" he roared.

"No she's not," said Rock Solid. "It's perfectly safe." He then drank the shot to prove that it was indeed safe.

Rock Solid is, well, rock solid. He has Endurance 9. The only way he could fail the check to avoid passing out was to...

You guessed it. Critical failure! He passed out in a heap.

Things were looking bad for Poppyfields. With her last chance, she fell back on trying to seduce the guy, batting her eyelids and suggesting they might be able to work something o - Critical failure!

Shots were exchanged.

Poppyfields won, but when the guy was going down he dropped a plasma grenade. Plasma grenades are 50% nastier than regular grenades, which are themselves pretty nasty. Luckily, Poppyfields had the Spirit of Wind buff up which let her hurtle herself out the front door and out of lethal range!

Unfortunately, Rock Solid was still asleep.

The bar blew up. Everything inside died.

And a cybernetic, partly skeletal Rock Solid clawed his way out of the rubble, Terminator style.

So while that had been a horrifying fiasco of an assassination, as far as Comet Kicker was concerned it was a perfectly valid step one. Abolitionist terrorists destroy slaver bar. Things were still going according to plan so she approached the mayor and gave her pitch: Gather all the town's leadership together and Comet's company would root out the traitors.

"Fine," snarled the mayor. "But my men will run security! Wouldn't want anypony sneaking a bag of explosives into the meeting."

We regrouped at the camp. On the plus side, the meeting was happening - on the minus side, sneaking a big box of C4 past security was going to be an issue. A lot of possible venues were bandied about, but eventually Comet came up with an inspired idea.

Rock Solid was seen escaping as a cyber-pony, correct? So the abolitionists all clearly had advanced cybernetic implants. A clear enough conclusion. So she could bring in a bunch of anti-matrix (EMP) grenades under the story that they would be used to root out the traitors. Those anti-matrix grenades would actually be filled with C4. The perfect plan.

Meeting day. C4 got past the guards just fine. Mayor let Comet Kicker take the stage.

"Gentlecolts," said Comet Kicker. "You are all businessmen, correct? Believers in the fine traditions of slavery? All well and good - except some ponies want to undercut us. In this very crowd are abolitionists - and these abolitionists have cybernetic implants. With this anti-matrix grenade bundle I will root out these traitors. Those of you who are legitimate should only experience a mild buzzing."

At this point the mayor cut back in.

"Do you think I'm stupid? That I'd buy some story about a bunch of abolitionists from down south? No, you are the traitors, and I'm going to kill you for it. And in case you have any cute ideas about blowing me up -"

He pulled back the curtain to reveal a line of slaves he had chained up on the stage. Well within the blast radius of any potential bomb.

Now, in this situation, Comet Kicker had two options. One was to realise she'd been outmanoeuvred and flee at top speed. The other option was to double down.

"Ah," she said. "It's you, isn't it? You're the traitor. I should have known. Why else would you be afraid of the anti-matrix bomb?"

"I'm not the traitor!" yelled the Mayor. He proved his point by shooting one of the slaves, but there was doubt in the crowd, and everypony was on edge.

At this point, Poppyfields dosed up on drugs and opened fire into the crowd with two light machine guns.

And all hell broke loose.

Everypony was shooting at everypony else. Poppyfields was firing wildly into the crowd with machine guns. The crowd was shooting at itself. Comet Kicker withdrew rapidly into the sky, dropping a fog bank on the area which just added to the chaos.

Then she took a moment to think about the number 40 - her current kill total - before she dropped C4 into a crowded, intense, close-quarters firefight.

There was a combat. It was bloody. Poppyfields walked through the crowd, laughing her head off and firing her machine guns on full auto. Poppyfields' player mused, "If this is how Poppy dies it's a good ending for the character. It's how she'd want to go out - gunning down slavers."

During the chaos, Comet Kicker assassinated the mayor but nearly died herself. Fasanoma fled the fighting at top speed. Rock Solid had to sit mournfully outside the city because his cover had been previously blown.

And when the dust settled, virtually all the slavers were dead and we were all still standing. The town was done though. Half the population was dead in what would be later called the Nowhere Massacre. The other half was packing their stuff and departing.

Comet Kicker flew down in her black riot gear to each departing group. "This happened because you were slavers," she told each one. "Think about that when you start your new lives."


And so Comet Kicker hovered above the town of Nowhere, wondering how many bodies she should add to her kill count. After a while she just wrote the word Nowhere on her notebook.

The words "Corrupted Optimism" were raised.


Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I learned that the Enclave might be right.

[Balmas]

Not certain, but judging by the cutie mark I'd say that would be Blackjack from FO:E Project Horizons, a spin off that I haven't read.

Yup, that's Blackjack. Glowing yellow eyes, black and red mane, two card cutie mark? That's her.

Why she's standing next to Littlepip is a different question, though.

[OracleofWuffing]

So basically, the maxims of Sun Tzu still stand?
Depends on what he said about eating. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Balthasar_Gelt/alfalficon2.png

[Aotrs Commander]

It's use is that it can drive out the door and from that hill fire on most of the town. And the enemy won't know that it can do that.

Nope. Unless it's on the hill crest, it won't be able to see anything below the level of the hill (so the tops of the roofs of the houses and the tops of the trees) not for a long distance (certainly not on the table top). On the crest, it has dead ground to worry about, as well as the intervening buildings, but will be able to see the south end of the board, which is what it should be looking at. As long as it stays in the barn, it means that it's not supporting the other tanks, meaning it's much easier to gang up on them for the enemy.


That's why everything is positioned so that it is hidden from the approaching side.

Which is good.


They would have to sneak a scouting party all the way up the right hand side, but the odds of them being undetected should be slim since you just stick Twilight and any other command staff in the tall building in the back and they have a pretty clear view of the whole battlefield. If they have aerial reconnaissance... well that's a unique problem that should be mentioned up front. Since we don't have pegasi, I'm assuming the same holds for them.

Again, this doesn't account for dead ground. You can't actually see too much from the top of the town residence (it's actually a bit of a trap) and the other danger is if you can see the enemy, the enemy can see you. The enemy doesn't need to do much other can keep Twilight's head down with suppressive fire1so she can't do her job and they automatically gain the advantage.

If you put anyone up there, you'd put an infantry team (probably and anti-tank team) which could do the same job (as spotting comes down to the mark one eyeball).


If they have anything like that. Twilight has demonstrated the ability to conjure wind though, IIRC, so arguably we can counter any such attempt. That leaves them with shelling the town from range. If they have artillery that can level the town from outside the defined battlefield, that's just game right there. So assuming they don't, they are going to have to get close enough with their vehicles to hit the buildings, and that's the chance for our tanks to pop out and disable said artillery.

Buildings do not break that easily. Vehicles, unless they have a dedicated demolitions gun, are not going to knock them down.

Artillery wouldn't even be on the board - and if they did have it, that would be what they would use to keep the infantry in the buildings while their guys come up to prepare to close assault (not too close of course!) That is what artillery is really primarily used for - pinning the enemy down so you can roll up and attack. (Though of course if you have enough artillery, you can certainly knobble infantry with it. In a skirmish like this, you probably wouldn't have enough to do that, though.)




It's a risk but they will be surprised and shooting at a moving target.

They won't be, in the first count, not for the length of time it matters and in the second that doesn't necessarily help - the tank will either be going not fast enough to avoid more than one shot (tanks are not noted for the acceleration), or it's going flat out, which means - rather like taking a Run action in D&D - it's got to be a mostly straight line and is actually much easier to predict.

If you were in a position where you were crossing an enemy position into and out of sight, then it's worth a risk, because at that point, speed does matter. However, presenting your rear to a watching enemy is never a good idea.

(And the enemy will almost certainly be watching that road to stop you doing exactly that.)



Right, I'll have to do responces to everyone else (and spell-check) later, as I'm off out.



1If she uses a shielding spell... Well, shielding spells are big and glowy, so all that will accomplish is her getting the combined fire from the enemy's entire force.

[MLai]

The town was done though. Half the population was dead in what would be later called the Nowhere Massacre. The other half was packing their stuff and departing.
Comet Kicker flew down in her black riot gear to each departing group. "This happened because you were slavers," she told each one. "Think about that when you start your new lives."
"Thanks, Comet Kicker! Now we know!"

[Thanqol]

"Thanks, Comet Kicker! Now we know!"

Comet Kicker may be going insane with alarming speed.

[t209]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6tRYgaH8ayc/UapcIkWyzoI/AAAAAAABa88/Cq6TKx0zxq8/s1600/976929_669455059736993_1471536097_o.jpg
Now it's Big Mac and Fleetfoot shipping.

[BlasTech]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6tRYgaH8ayc/UapcIkWyzoI/AAAAAAABa88/Cq6TKx0zxq8/s1600/976929_669455059736993_1471536097_o.jpg
Now it's Big Mac and Fleetfoot shipping.

Big Mac gets all the mares.

[SiuiS]

Hey ponythread.
Depression has struck with its void-like nihilistic hammer, and I'm at work so I can't drink. Any cures?

[BlasTech]

Hey ponythread.
Depression has struck with its void-like nihilistic hammer, and I'm at work so I can't drink. Any cures?

*Looks around his desktop*.

Hmm, sorry. All I have right now are these pictures of ponies experimenting with mane styles.

(large)
http://th00.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2013/077/7/e/flutterbraids_by_austiniousi-d5yftim.png
http://th03.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2013/152/4/2/raridash_by_austiniousi-d66vy5r.png
http://th08.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2013/055/1/4/cozy_flutters_by_austiniousi-d5w1h6l.png
http://th04.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2013/140/b/5/dash_hair_swap_by_austiniousi-d65wz1n.png
http://th08.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2012/268/7/9/the_book_strikes_again__by_austiniousi-d5fpn2l.png

Hope those helped! *hugs*

[HamHam]

Dr. Fasanoma repeatedly stated that something didn't feel right about this plan, to which Comet Kicker's response was, "This is an institutional problem. It will never change through peaceful methods. There will never be a vote to abolish slavery, like there would be in the Enclave. This system is going to keep going until it ends in violence. In the absence of an army to instil order in the streets by force, we must do so with terror alone."

Comet Kicker was giving a thousand-mile stare as she gave this speech. The last institutional change she'd been a part of had ended with everypony dead instead of achieving freedom. Comet Kicker's mind was rating an outcome of anything less than 100% casualties as a victory. Sadly, nopony felt inclined to snap her out of it.

This was because Poppyfields was a former slave herself and wanted to burn the place to the ground out of traumatised vengeance. Rock Solid was just in it for the violence. Comet Kicker was running on cold, analytical, murderous logic as she put together the pieces to destroy a town.

You know that adventure in Fallout: Equestria where Lil'Pip meets the town full of cannibals? It was like that, but deliberately planned.

I never understood why everyone made such a big deal about that. It's the Wasteland. The only law is the law of the gun, and someone has to be the gun.

I know I just walked into Paradise Falls and killed every slaver there, and got positive Karma for doing so.

[BlasTech]

Dash Academy Comic.

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/117/6/c/dash_academy_5__old_friends__new_friends_10_by_sor cerushorserus-d638zby.png


http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/144/8/8/dash_academy_5__old_friends__new_friends_11_by_sor cerushorserus-d66fxrj.png

[Thanqol]

I never understood why everyone made such a big deal about that. It's the Wasteland. The only law is the law of the gun, and someone has to be the gun.

I know I just walked into Paradise Falls and killed every slaver there, and got positive Karma for doing so.

Well, Comet Kicker's little event had a lot more collateral damage than is possible in Fallout 3. There was a lot of crossfire.

Like, if she did it any other way than the way she did it the bodycount would have been much higher! "Spared half the town's population" is a remarkable achievement when explosive slave collars and stuff are factored in. But the fact that Comet Kicker has started to think in terms of 'acceptable levels of collateral damage' and 'maybe if I kill everything bad then good will be left' when two weeks ago she'd never so much as punched a guy - it's a transition.

I personally think Comet made the right moral move. There are no options for peacefully transitioning out of entrenched slavery in a town like that, and some collateral damage is acceptable if it roots out a horrible ideology forever. It had to be done. It's just that Comet Kicker wasn't expecting to be the one holding the grenade launcher.

[HamHam]

Well, Comet Kicker's little event had a lot more collateral damage than is possible in Fallout 3. There was a lot of crossfire.

Like, if she did it any other way than the way she did it the bodycount would have been much higher! "Spared half the town's population" is a remarkable achievement when explosive slave collars and stuff are factored in. But the fact that Comet Kicker has started to think in terms of 'acceptable levels of collateral damage' and 'maybe if I kill everything bad then good will be left' when two weeks ago she'd never so much as punched a guy - it's a transition.

I personally think Comet made the right moral move. There are no options for peacefully transitioning out of entrenched slavery in a town like that, and some collateral damage is acceptable if it roots out a horrible ideology forever. It had to be done. It's just that Comet Kicker wasn't expecting to be the one holding the grenade launcher.

A transition that proves she has what it takes to survive and thrive in the Wasteland.

I'm more so gripping about how much time Littlepip spends going on about becoming a monster and all that jazz. The greatest virtue in the Wasteland is the willingness to take responsibility. Playing judge, jury, and executioner is inevitable because there is no one else.

[Thanqol]

A transition that proves she has what it takes to survive and thrive in the Wasteland.

I'm more so gripping about how much time Littlepip spends going on about becoming a monster and all that jazz. The greatest virtue in the Wasteland is the willingness to take responsibility. Playing judge, jury, and executioner is inevitable because there is no one else.

"There's the Pegasus Enclave!" says Comet Kicker, faint twitch in her eye. "But I don't want them down here. I would spare them this. And so, in the absence of an army, terror shall have to suffice."

But thanks for the endorsement. In roleplaying games I've killed larger numbers of people and aliens before, and done more horrible things, but I don't feel like I've done anything as violent as this FoE game.

[HamHam]

"There's the Pegasus Enclave!" says Comet Kicker, faint twitch in her eye. "But I don't want them down here. I would spare them this. And so, in the absence of an army, terror shall have to suffice."

But thanks for the endorsement. In roleplaying games I've killed larger numbers of people and aliens before, and done more horrible things, but I don't feel like I've done anything as violent as this FoE game.

Not realizing how nutters the Enclave really is is a whole separate issue. :smallwink:

[Thanqol]

Not realizing how nutters the Enclave really is is a whole separate issue. :smallwink:

The Enclave is great! It's a modern democracy with the rule of law and peaceful governance for the past 200 years. There is literally no government on the planet as peaceful, secure and stable as the Enclave.

I mean, it'd take something truly horrific, like some nutter killing a group of Enclave ambassadors with a nuclear weapon, for the Enclave to respond violently.

[HamHam]

The Enclave is great! It's a modern democracy with the rule of law and peaceful governance for the past 200 years. There is literally no government on the planet as peaceful, secure and stable as the Enclave.

I mean, it'd take something truly horrific, like some nutter killing a group of Enclave ambassadors with a nuclear weapon, for the Enclave to respond violently.

When you send ambassadors to sell everypony else out to a mad psychic gestalt demigod, well... you get what's coming to you, is what I'm sayin'.

[Thanqol]

When you send ambassadors to sell everypony else out to a mad psychic gestalt demigod, well... you get what's coming to you, is what I'm sayin'.

Oh come on. Who the hell are the Enclave supposed to negotiate with? Red Eye? The Steel Rangers? For what?

The Enclave took a perfectly reasonable political step to sign a non-aggression treaty with the Goddess. The Goddess, due to alicorn flight power, was the only faction who's sphere even remotely crossed the Enclave. The Enclave refusing to intervene in a political situation so violent that it makes the Middle East's problems look like a slightly heated European Union trade negotiation does not justify the use of thermonuclear force against their ambassadors.

That they retaliated to this certainly doesn't make them nutters.

[meto30]

OK, I think I need to fume a bit. Urggh.

I had joined a Korean pony community a few days ago. I checked the rules article before doing anything, as Korean communities tend to have a very stern outlook regarding those breaking rules. Then I posted all my pictures until now into one big thread.

Then I got temporarily banned.

Whoa? Was the article too long? I didn't think there was anything in the rules against posting 30 pictures at once, was there? I check rules, and voila! I was apparently caught red-handed posting pictures of OCs!

....Huh?

Okay, I now understand why I've been temp-banned. However, the justification behind the rule - that OCs are only good for sowing malcontent among community members - was what ticked me off. One other thing that ticked me off was that the particular rule was in a separate article, with a non-suggestive title, so I did not think of checking it. And I had problems with it. Hay, more than half of my pictures feature at least one OC, namely, me; so there was no way I was going to continue in this place without either grumbling by myself the entire time or getting temp-banned all the time! So I told the staff I understood their rules but Hay No I wasn't going to abide by it, and then left the community. Their loss, I'd say.

Urrrgghhh, I need a good way to blow off steam. Big time.

[DigoDragon]

Yup, still gets covered in tree sap (It's tree sap, trust me)~
http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/152/0/0/scootastuck_by_madhotaru-d67ft5i.png

Luna's own little chaos (comic, the funny is in the detail)~
http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/151/5/1/huh__by_bakki-d67c0ye.jpg


If you don't keep up with the "Dan vs Friendship is Magic" Tumblr, then these two videos are pretty funny to see:
"Kiss kiss (http://youtu.be/L9LCLktP_g4)" and "House call (http://youtu.be/JK6zxE1GJqQ)"

How I'd love to see an official Dan x Pony crossover...



What the heck happened?

Ponies! That's what happened.



EDIT: Well THAT certainly isn't a ship I have seen before

Wait, what? :smalltongue: Heh, that is a pretty interesting piece of work! I suspect it's the pegasus doing the imagining for it, given the newspaper article. Rarity still at it I see.



So basically, the maxims of Sun Tzu still stand?


"Sun Tzu said a lot of things, backtalk wasn't one of them!" -Twilight Sparkle, soldier



But war ... war never changes.
(Large pics)

Ooh, found a Rarity one.

I like the movie poster design. Not bad. Are they making an actual animation short of that? Rarity is cute in that outfit. The grit matches the dust. :smallbiggrin:



the wording on the fluttershy panel has me confused :smallconfused:

I think... the meaning is that when you do something nice for a friend, are you doing it solely for their benefit or are you getting something out of it for yourself?



Today I learned that the Enclave might be right.

Um, wow. :smallbiggrin:
Love the exploding bar part. That is *SO* how things end with my group. The added terminator exiting the rubble was a nice touch.

Comet Kicker's brain must be like microwaved jellybeans by now with all that's been happening to her. She's doing good, but man with the way things die, catch fire, or die while exploding in fire... I'd imagine she needs a vacation. :smallsmile:



Dash Academy Comic.


The second is the PERFECT resolution for what position Derpy should play as. Brilliant move that.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Strategies may morph over time.

But war ... war never changes.

Also relevant:

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/107/5/d/clay_pony_by_katvangent-d3e70vp.png (http://katvangent.deviantart.com/art/Clay-Pony-205240885)

[HamHam]

Oh come on. Who the hell are the Enclave supposed to negotiate with? Red Eye? The Steel Rangers? For what?

The Enclave took a perfectly reasonable political step to sign a non-aggression treaty with the Goddess. The Goddess, due to alicorn flight power, was the only faction who's sphere even remotely crossed the Enclave. The Enclave refusing to intervene in a political situation so violent that it makes the Middle East's problems look like a slightly heated European Union trade negotiation does not justify the use of thermonuclear force against their ambassadors.

That they retaliated to this certainly doesn't make them nutters.

They were nutters before that. The entire thing is built on lies. The Enclave were up to all kinds of questionable secret projects even before Maripony. Their deal with the Goddess was entirely in their own self interest and screw everypony else. And that's not to even mention the basic fact that they are a bunch of cowards and traitors.

[Brazen Shield]

Hello all. :) Long time no see.

I'm gonna be sticking around for a bit, I'll just slide into coversations after a bit. Just wanted y'all to know I was gonna be floating about.

.. SiuiS? Depressed?
WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?

[Aotrs Commander]

Hello all. :) Long time no see.

I'm gonna be sticking around for a bit, I'll just slide into coversations after a bit. Just wanted y'all to know I was gonna be floating about.

.. SiuiS? Depressed?
WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?

Hi Braz! Long time no see!

I'mma just edumakatin' ponythread on tactics...




I'm here right now with an ex-naval sergeant and a former commander crew chief of Marine-One. I learned quite some time ago from them that real artillery won't work like RTS artillery. :smallbiggrin:

Ah. Fair enough!

The way they do it in Manouvre Group is to give you it in a "stonk" (which is at 25mm deliberately designated as an area the size of a piece of A4 paper). You'd get a number of stonks (which you can layer on top of each other) basically as part of your army list. It takes x number of concurrent stonks to combat neutralise infantry (where x is defined by what sort of cover the infantry is, in the open being 1 stonk, at it takes four - the maximum to knobble infantry (in fighting positions or buildings) - to potetally damage AFVs. (It's not very good at that, as MG assumes a direct hit is outside of the 5% chance (so not worth bothering with in a D20 based system), but of course it makes sure they stay buttoned up.)

In a proper game, the attacker would probably have some artillery, on the basis that attacking Canterberry is not going' to be flippin' easy!




Okay, apparently the first idea we have is to turn those forward homes into scone machine-gun scone nests. :smalltongue:

Fixed that for you...


Catapults maybe centered in town?

By catapult, I meant rather the Y-shaped stick seen in comics and cartoons, rather than the siege engine (basically instead of a rifle),


My two ex-military friends know more about this stuff so I'd probably hand this over to them if it weren't the fact that "pony" confuses them tactically. XD

You can replace "pony" with "unmechanised British Infantry" and "Battenburg" with "Challenger 2", since that was what I was going off. (Though Chans come in fours, not threes, but there wasn't so much space on the map for tanks.)



Actually, although some of us have some wargaming experience, the basic thing here isn't the guns: it's terrain and line of sight. Guns just mean it's a lot more dangerous to poke your head out in the wrong spot than it was when the other guy had nothing but a longbow. But the top two priorities (I'm not sure how to order them) are being able to see the other guy and being able to move around as quickly and safely as possible.

Exactly.


Okay, the ability to have teleportation is too good not to use, so I'm going to respond to Bleakbane's scenario with two plans: the yes teleporting is fine plan and the no magic plan.

So first off, as I look at this map, I think to myself "gee, I wish the enemy would be so nice as to move into the road and the southeast area. It's like a massive open fire zone in which I could shoot pastry them."

I then assume that if they're thinking at all, they realize the same thing and don't move that way. I also figure the river is at least competent at holding my West flank, but we're going to come back to that.

Both plans

I'm going to put a tank behind the east wood covering the road. Unicorn head up and ideally in a position to be able to fire either down the road or at the edge of the right wood. I'm looking at another one, maybe both of the remainders just west of the road by the edge of the houses, hull down and covering the open approaches. The plan being, if the enemy is coming that way, they're going to get shot by tanks.

Twilight is going to position herself in an upper story window. I don't much care which one, wherever there's the best line of sight to the battlefield so she can communicate and maneuver people.

Command team with Jolly Goodshow is going to be based in the brown house just west of the road and furthest south. They've got the anti-tank stuff and need the broad field of fire there.

With teleport

With a teleport, I feel that I can afford to do something brave stupid. So we're going to deploy MG team forward in the green roof house near a corner so they can cover more or less the whole south approach and make the exit to the southwest woods a murder zone. Then we're going to station both infantry squads in the far southeast woods that go off the map, deployed and prepared for an ambush. When the enemy approaches, they open fire, moving towards the Southeast and then teleporting out to join MG squad, who will in turn fire upon advancing enemy exiting the woods until numbers are too superior and then teleport out again.

Their secondary position would be deployed amongst the houses, supporting the tanks and making the alleys and road into dangerous territory.

This plan hinges on a teleport because I don't think falling back from the southeast woods is realistic without magic, since the enemy will probably have you flanked in short order.

No teleport

We're basically going to back everything up one stage. MG team deploys in one of the brown houses overlooking both west and east forest exits. Infantry squads deploy near the back of the southwest forest and make that area a nightmare to take, falling back to the houses under MG fire if enemy numbers prove too great.

If the enemy chooses to ignore the SW woods and advance up the east side, infantry and MG also fall back to the houses and tanks fall back to the barn, covering the exit to the east wood and the road.


Sigh, I hate committing to plans, I always feel like I'm overlooking something. Like with this one, if the enemy can split its forces into an elite team that can overwhelm a tank and MG support (and Twilight) on the East while still bogging everyone down in the Southwest, we're pretty screwed.

That's a pretty good plan (both versions) as well. Particular bonus for tank placement, as it's not far off where I'd put mine.



Speaking of, putting money where mouth was:

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u172/AotrsCommander/CanterberryPlan_zps38c12552.png

The battenburgs are placed hull-down so as to catch the enemy in the side and placed such if they get out-numbered, they can roll back a bit before having to redeploy. I'd have the west and south east one buttoned up and the north east one (the platoon commander) unbuttoned. (This is something of a guess, as I'm used to sci-fi, where everything is has scanners and so is treated as head-out most of the time anyway!)

The two sustained fire machine scones are placed to fire down the fixed lines indicated. The south one is to provive cover for crossing between the wood and the mayor's mansion, and the second one to prove a second line if the troops have to fall back to the north end of town.

The guard the south SFMS, a full squad is deployed in the wood (a full squad is better to resist a close assault. The squad's AT cake dispenser is covering the gap between the woods. A fire team with a squad assault pastry is in the edge of the woods claiming masking terrain (by which they will have found a hollow or a rock or something which prevents them from being fired at from the south edge of the wood, and looking down to the south edge of the SW woods.

This covers the other squad's AT team, set for shooting the rear of any armour that passes. The rest of the squad is occupying the mansion to provide them with a fall-back point and aslo to cover the flank of the AFC.

The other squad assault weapon is in the mill and watching the south edge of the SE woods (to hopefully break-up any close assaults).

The AT muffin team is sat in position on the hill crest, giving them visibilty into the gap between the woods (as indicated, the dotted portion being dead ground).

Twilight is safely out of the way at the back, behind a hedge, but near the twon residence is she needs to pop up to have a look. Though as you point out, she can probably react -teleport out of harm's way if she get into trouble.


Now, I won't say that my plan is nessesarily better than, say, Digo's (I am still very much a beginner myself, especially with this sort of army!) but that is what I'd do.

I'll try and persuade the masters to give us what they would do at some point, so we can compare.




Woo! Achievement unlocked: Armchair Princess-General! :smallbiggrin:

Do I get a muffin? (Or a guided AT muffin launcher?)

Well, the Star-Sergeant has been working on the latter, so yeah, sure!

Gate XXV.

*tosses you a modifed older Snake Launcher refitted for anti-tank guided muffins*




Hey ponythread.
Depression has struck with its void-like nihilistic hammer, and I'm at work so I can't drink. Any cures?

Plasma cannons?

Concentrating so hard on working out tactics for the battle of Canterberry (see last pages if by some miracle you missed it) that you forget everything else? Oh, wait, at work. Nevermind.

Orbital bombardment?

Dance a merry jig?

[SiuiS]

Hello all. :) Long time no see.

I'm gonna be sticking around for a bit, I'll just slide into coversations after a bit. Just wanted y'all to know I was gonna be floating about.

.. SiuiS? Depressed?
WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?

Because you wake up when I'm going to bed and you had work in three hours D:

[Aotrs Commander]

Okay. This is the expert opinion:

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u172/AotrsCommander/CanterberryPlan2_zps1ab6d449.png

(I got it about half right, meself then!)

SFMS cover the second line of houses, each with a squad to cover them. (Hedges along line of fire cleared to allow unobsturcted view along those lines.) One squad's LSP goes in the house behind, to be brought up if nessecary (the appleponies are mostly the to absorb close assaults).

The Battenburgs and AT Muffin team are placed to cover the cross fire (the Muffin team and the northmost tank will find masking terrain to thier south and suth east respectively). The tank on the top is likely to have to fire and then make itself scarce, popping down the hill, but this isn't a good battlefield for armour so the better options are more limited.

The squad assault pastries are set up watching down the indicated directions: while they can't be set to fixed line (you need a tripod for that), they can do the next best thing and again, hedges are cleared along the initial mline of fire. (The SAPs are also much more mobile than the SFMS, which use sufficient ammunition (see that Lyra and Bonbon image again!) that they aren't especially portable, so they can be easily moved to cover when it's required.)

[otakuryoga]

ok..let me just go on record as saying toothaches SUCK
--lost a crown/cap/filling(whatever) a while ago..hurt for a couple days then was fine(didnt get to the dentist right away cause of moving) but its been getting worse..
spent last 3 hours of my friday shift in the ER(well..1 hour in the ER then 2 hours in the lounge waiting for pharmacy to bring me down some meds)((lortab5's--5mg hydrocodone/325 acetomeniphine)) (((sometimes its pretty convenient working in a hospital)))
last night got really bad though..an hour after taking one of my lortabs there was no effect so i asked my sis if she had anything and she gave me one of her lortab 7.5's(7.5mg hydrocodone/500 acetomeniphine) and an hour later still no effect..couldnt sleep so got up and went and sat to watch tv..it FINALLY started to dull my pain enough to get some sleep but i took another lortab5 before hitting the sack
now my tooth is hurting and the pain has given me a migraine as well..i can feel my head and tooth throbbing but there is a nice hydrocodone haze between the pain and myself atm
----------------------------
ooo, my plan for one of the AFV's(the west one) was endorsed by the pros



Ooh, found a Rarity one.

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/075/5/0/fallout_equestria_rarity_wallpaper_by_xmiradox-d5y8x78.png
pfft...as if Rarity would ever be so gauche as to mar the beautiful finish on her weapon just to "keep score"



By catapult, I meant rather the Y-shaped stick seen in comics and cartoons, rather than the siege engine (basically instead of a rifle),

the word you are looking for is "slingshot"

[Aotrs Commander]

the word you are looking for is "slingshot"

Not in the UK... (Or at least, not exclusively.)

[TheAmishPirate]

Hey ponythread.
Depression has struck with its void-like nihilistic hammer, and I'm at work so I can't drink. Any cures?

I don't suppose an old-fashioned Amish Hug Dump would help?


http://images.wikia.com/mlpfanart/images/a/ac/71131_-_artist-whitediamonds_cute_hugging_Pinkie_Pie_Rainbow_Dash .jpg

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/359/e/3/pony_hugs_by_dawnallies-d4k6kmz.png

http://images.wikia.com/mlp/images/3/3f/Fluttershy_hugs_the_CMC_S2E23.png

http://cdn.derpiboo.ru/media/BAhbBlsHOgZmSSJkMjAxMi8xMi8xNy8xMl8yMF81MV83NTRfMT g1MzUyX19VTk9QVF9fc2FmZV9yYWluYm93X2Rhc2hfZmlsbHlf Z2lsZGFfaHVnX2dyaWZmb25fYXJ0aXN0X3RleWdyaW0GOgZFVA/185352__safe_rainbow-dash_filly_gilda_hug_griffon_adorable_artist-teygrim.png

[DigoDragon]

Hello all. :) Long time no see.

'Sup? Pull up a chair and relax. We're discussing tactics and art. Together!
http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/192/5/b/bored_celestia_by_muffinsforever-d3loff5.jpg



Not in the UK... (Or at least, not exclusively.)

Well that certainly changes things. :smallbiggrin:

So what do you call the flinging siege engine?
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ma7ilketoz1qc5ffho1_500.jpg



Okay. This is the expert opinion:


Well, I guess my military friends got it... kinda close? From what I can read of their notes:
They had things grouped near the center buildings, though positions were somewhat mirrored for troops in the left and right buildings (Likely not as efficient). The lower-right battenburg was father to the left around the building's corner. Twilight was with a pie applepony in the center building.

The at muffin team was... way off from your map.
Like in... I can't find it. :smallredface:
http://24.media.tumblr.com/8d7907d20ba2f1da9f0a6a7472191d51/tumblr_mli9f9xBfg1rd23b5o1_500.jpg



ok..let me just go on record as saying toothaches SUCK

Condolences D:


Cute little song (Beep Beep) animated with the CMC (http://youtu.be/Hnqz9OdZjRQ).

[Aotrs Commander]

Well that certainly changes things. :smallbiggrin:

So what do you call the flinging siege engine?
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ma7ilketoz1qc5ffho1_500.jpg


Also a catapult... Context is everything...!

(Honestly, it had simply not occurred to me, after nearly twenty years of Dennis the Menace in the Beano, that "catapult" would be one of those UK/US divides...)




Well, I guess my military friends got it... kinda close? From what I can read of their notes:
They had things grouped near the center buildings, though positions were somewhat mirrored for troops in the left and right buildings (Likely not as efficient). The lower-right battenburg was father to the left around the building's corner. Twilight was with a pie applepony in the center building.

The at muffin team was... way off from your map.
Like in... I can't find it. :smallredface:
http://24.media.tumblr.com/8d7907d20ba2f1da9f0a6a7472191d51/tumblr_mli9f9xBfg1rd23b5o1_500.jpg

Well, there's no true "right" answer!



But it is interesting how many different answers we have got, and all without actually having to really touch any rules!



We might have to try this again another time. (And next time, I might make it harder - a larger map (6x4 is small for our 72nd games, we usually use a 8x6) or at 144...!)

[Brazen Shield]

Hi Braz! Long time no see!

I'mma just edumakatin' ponythread on tactics...


Edumakatin' ?

XD hhahahahahahahaha. Oh my goodness to hear that... Haha.. in your voice... XD
*dies*



Plasma cannons?

Concentrating so hard on working out tactics for the battle of Canterberry (see last pages if by some miracle you missed it) that you forget everything else? Oh, wait, at work. Nevermind.

Orbital bombardment?

Dance a merry jig?

Do it filly!

And then watch as your coworkers stare at you blankly when they watch the video recording afterwards~


Because you wake up when I'm going to bed and you had work in three hours D:

Wha...what if I promise to make it up to you later
:3?



'Sup? Pull up a chair and relax. We're discussing tactics and art. Together!
http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/192/5/b/bored_celestia_by_muffinsforever-d3loff5.jpg

Arts? Awesome!

Tactics.... :3 eheheheheh. On what? I'm very good at... Planing... Certain things.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Also a catapult... Context is everything...!

(Honestly, it had simply not occurred to me, after nearly twenty years of Dennis the Menace in the Beano, that "catapult" would be one of those UK/US divides...)

I suspect this all arises from use of the word as a verb.

Aircraft carriers have catapults, but they aren't siege engines.

[Deadly]

Weeee! It took more than a month of waiting, but I finally got a response from EqD on my Big Butterfly Brouhaha story, and they liked it and are going to post it (after I fix a few minor issues). That's gotta be the first time since Fillystata I've had a story accepted without any fuss (and back then they weren't exactly strict). I must admit, the unusual style of the story had me worried what they would think, but apparently all my hard work editing paid off ^^

[Brazen Shield]

Weeee! It took more than a month of waiting, but I finally got a response from EqD on my Big Butterfly Brouhaha story, and they liked it and are going to post it...

Yay!!! Congrats! :)

[TheAmishPirate]

Weeee! It took more than a month of waiting, but I finally got a response from EqD on my Big Butterfly Brouhaha story, and they liked it and are going to post it (after I fix a few minor issues). That's gotta be the first time since Fillystata I've had a story accepted without any fuss (and back then they weren't exactly strict). I must admit, the unusual style of the story had me worried what they would think, but apparently all my hard work editing paid off ^^

Good to hear!

Enjoy the massive flood of new readers when it gets posted! :smalltongue:

[Gamerlord]

Hello all. :) Long time no see.

I'm gonna be sticking around for a bit, I'll just slide into coversations after a bit. Just wanted y'all to know I was gonna be floating about.

.. SiuiS? Depressed?
WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?
Welcome back! :smallsmile:

Weeee! It took more than a month of waiting, but I finally got a response from EqD on my Big Butterfly Brouhaha story, and they liked it and are going to post it (after I fix a few minor issues). That's gotta be the first time since Fillystata I've had a story accepted without any fuss (and back then they weren't exactly strict). I must admit, the unusual style of the story had me worried what they would think, but apparently all my hard work editing paid off ^^
Wow, I had forgotten you sent it. Congratulations!

[Anarion]

Hey ponythread.
Depression has struck with its void-like nihilistic hammer, and I'm at work so I can't drink. Any cures?

All I seem to have are these cute humanized ponies
http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/152/4/0/40c793254b2ebab083c6e6e6ec01c72e-d3c1hjf.jpg

Oh, and this enchanted maybe a changeling Fluttershy
http://th04.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2011/178/a/5/my_little_pony___fluttershy_by_mylafox-d3k7dwj.jpg


Hello all. :) Long time no see.

I'm gonna be sticking around for a bit, I'll just slide into coversations after a bit. Just wanted y'all to know I was gonna be floating about.


Good to see you.


That's a pretty good plan (both versions) as well. Particular bonus for tank placement, as it's not far off where I'd put mine.



Image expresses my current feelings.
http://ponyfac.es/sites/pony/faces/3877cad8.gif


Okay. This is the expert opinion:

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u172/AotrsCommander/CanterberryPlan2_zps1ab6d449.png

(I got it about half right, meself then!)

SFMS cover the second line of houses, each with a squad to cover them. (Hedges along line of fire cleared to allow unobsturcted view along those lines.) One squad's LSP goes in the house behind, to be brought up if nessecary (the appleponies are mostly the to absorb close assaults).

The Battenburgs and AT Muffin team are placed to cover the cross fire (the Muffin team and the northmost tank will find masking terrain to thier south and suth east respectively). The tank on the top is likely to have to fire and then make itself scarce, popping down the hill, but this isn't a good battlefield for armour so the better options are more limited.

The squad assault pastries are set up watching down the indicated directions: while they can't be set to fixed line (you need a tripod for that), they can do the next best thing and again, hedges are cleared along the initial mline of fire. (The SAPs are also much more mobile than the SFMS, which use sufficient ammunition (see that Lyra and Bonbon image again!) that they aren't especially portable, so they can be easily moved to cover when it's required.)



Interesting. I guess some of us overthought the problem in a way. Even though you said artillery was out, it's so easy to think "oh, I shouldn't put everything together in the buildings, something will just blow all of them up" when, at least for this problem, just having a central area with a wide range of fire to cover the open approaches is apparently best.


Weeee! It took more than a month of waiting, but I finally got a response from EqD on my Big Butterfly Brouhaha story, and they liked it and are going to post it (after I fix a few minor issues). That's gotta be the first time since Fillystata I've had a story accepted without any fuss (and back then they weren't exactly strict). I must admit, the unusual style of the story had me worried what they would think, but apparently all my hard work editing paid off ^^

Congrats.

[Forum Explorer]

Hey ponythread.
Depression has struck with its void-like nihilistic hammer, and I'm at work so I can't drink. Any cures?

Start humming pony songs and quoting video games? For me I tend to hum Cupcakes and quote Portal 2 in order to destress in public.

Or if possible I can take a break, and I either nap or read a book.



Well, Comet Kicker's little event had a lot more collateral damage than is possible in Fallout 3. There was a lot of crossfire.

Like, if she did it any other way than the way she did it the bodycount would have been much higher! "Spared half the town's population" is a remarkable achievement when explosive slave collars and stuff are factored in. But the fact that Comet Kicker has started to think in terms of 'acceptable levels of collateral damage' and 'maybe if I kill everything bad then good will be left' when two weeks ago she'd never so much as punched a guy - it's a transition.

I personally think Comet made the right moral move. There are no options for peacefully transitioning out of entrenched slavery in a town like that, and some collateral damage is acceptable if it roots out a horrible ideology forever. It had to be done. It's just that Comet Kicker wasn't expecting to be the one holding the grenade launcher.

Nah, a good way to do it is to aim to take over the town. Then once you get control over the bomb collars you release them all. It's harder and slower though.



A transition that proves she has what it takes to survive and thrive in the Wasteland.

I'm more so gripping about how much time Littlepip spends going on about becoming a monster and all that jazz. The greatest virtue in the Wasteland is the willingness to take responsibility. Playing judge, jury, and executioner is inevitable because there is no one else.

I'm with Calamity on that argument actually, there is nothing inherently wrong with cannibalism. It's a very efficient method of survival, particularly when there isn't any other resources at hoof. Steelhooves made a good point as well, it's not so much that she did it that's the problem as is the emotional state that she did it in.

And yeah Littlepip played judge, jury, and executioner so many times in that story without (very much) guilt. Take Shattered Hoof for a good and early example of that.

[Deadly]

Yay!!! Congrats! :)


Good to hear!

Enjoy the massive flood of new readers when it gets posted! :smalltongue:


Wow, I had forgotten you sent it. Congratulations!


Congrats.

Thanks, everypony!

Oh, and welcome back, Brazen :smallsmile:

[Anarion]

I missed this from EQD yesterday, but it's hilarious.

Ponified Starfox 64 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdjgf0w4-8o&feature=player_embedded)

Best part is Sweetie Bot as Rob64.

[Pendulous]

Characters are small and far off, but this guy never ceases to make me hate myself.

http://th06.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2013/153/5/0/mlp___sleepless_in_ponyville_by_huussii-d67iunc.png

[Soras Teva Gee]

I missed this from EQD yesterday, but it's hilarious.

Ponified Starfox 64 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdjgf0w4-8o&feature=player_embedded)

Best part is Sweetie Bot as Rob64.

Arrrgh the nostalgia it burns! N64 best system of all time. Totally underrated.

And agreed on the best part.


Characters are small and far off, but this guy never ceases to make me hate myself.

http://th06.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2013/153/5/0/mlp___sleepless_in_ponyville_by_huussii-d67iunc.png

> Shares awesome art.

> Doesn't provide source (http://huussii.deviantart.com/art/MLP-Sleepless-in-Ponyville-375433896)

tsk tsk! :smalltongue:

[Beacon of Chaos]

Hello all. :) Long time no see.
Welcome back!


Let's have some pony headwear.
http://25.media.tumblr.com/8d06597860b669c91b61dedd9375417c/tumblr_mnp01j21r41spt5wao7_r1_1280.png

Human Vinyl Scratch
http://24.media.tumblr.com/9cc6288f59904df96b206f1b018acf32/tumblr_mmyj52gkWq1rm4b82o1_1280.png

Doctor Who spoilers
http://25.media.tumblr.com/d79ecb2b378ecc86c4cfc138335487ca/tumblr_mnol71P7v31r4bitko1_500.png
http://24.media.tumblr.com/f88ae910f7c477fc816ffbf1d3992a52/tumblr_mnol71P7v31r4bitko2_1280.png

[Forum Explorer]

I missed this from EQD yesterday, but it's hilarious.

Ponified Starfox 64 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdjgf0w4-8o&feature=player_embedded)

Best part is Sweetie Bot as Rob64.

That may be the most amazing thing I've seen all year. :smallbiggrin:

[otakuryoga]

Characters are small and far off, but this guy never ceases to make me hate myself.

http://th06.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2013/153/5/0/mlp___sleepless_in_ponyville_by_huussii-d67iunc.png

yeah..that is an extremely well done one

--i do not often find myself hitting the favorite button for a Celestia pic..but this one got a fave
http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/153/4/1/angerlestia_by_yakovlev_vad-d67immm.png

[DigoDragon]

Cute ponies after they donated blood (http://alasou.deviantart.com/art/Blood-Donation-375466159) (It's practically G rated).

Found an interesting comic ~ Mark of Chaos (http://stepandy.deviantart.com/art/Mark-of-Chaos-Page-1-344037913)
Celestia x Discord pairing, taking place during Return of Harmony and has an... interesting piece of head-canon. Nothing saucy until page 18 (it's the last page thus far).



Also a catapult... Context is everything...!

Timing is everything too. I found your answer really funny for some reason. Possible because I read it in John DeLancie's Discord voice.



Weeee! It took more than a month of waiting, but I finally got a response from EqD on my Big Butterfly Brouhaha story, and they liked it and are going to post it

Congrats! :smallbiggrin: Yay, lets celebrate!
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdajp8D9eZ1qc5ffho1_1280.png



Oh, and this enchanted maybe a changeling Fluttershy

That or the Lunesta butterfly is irradiating her face. :smalltongue:



Let's have some pony headwear.


Applejack's bandana reminded me of Dog the Bounty Hunter... and suddenly the idea of the Apples being bounty hunters seemed amusing in my head.



I missed this from EQD yesterday, but it's hilarious.
Ponified Starfox 64 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdjgf0w4-8o&feature=player_embedded)

Haha, this is great!

[Soras Teva Gee]

Found an interesting comic ~ Mark of Chaos (http://stepandy.deviantart.com/art/Mark-of-Chaos-Page-1-344037913)
Celestia x Discord pairing, taking place during Return of Harmony and has an... interesting piece of head-canon. Nothing saucy until page 18 (it's the last page thus far).

Interesting... is not the word I'd use.

Yeah that one is just a little too coercive.


Applejack's bandana reminded me of Dog the Bounty Hunter... and suddenly the idea of the Apples being bounty hunters seemed amusing in my head.

Fund it

[meto30]

Weeee! It took more than a month of waiting, but I finally got a response from EqD on my Big Butterfly Brouhaha story, and they liked it and are going to post it (after I fix a few minor issues). That's gotta be the first time since Fillystata I've had a story accepted without any fuss (and back then they weren't exactly strict). I must admit, the unusual style of the story had me worried what they would think, but apparently all my hard work editing paid off ^^

Congratulations, Mr. Deadly! :)

[HamHam]

I'm with Calamity on that argument actually, there is nothing inherently wrong with cannibalism. It's a very efficient method of survival, particularly when there isn't any other resources at hoof. Steelhooves made a good point as well, it's not so much that she did it that's the problem as is the emotional state that she did it in.

And yeah Littlepip played judge, jury, and executioner so many times in that story without (very much) guilt. Take Shattered Hoof for a good and early example of that.

Cannibalism creates what in economics we would call a perverse incentive. It's just one little step till you start killing people just to eat them and you may not even make the choice consciously. If the Wasteland is ever going to become civilized it's exactly the sort of thing that needs to be stamped out.

As for her emotional state, I think righteous fury is an appropriate response at times. No one can reign in their passions all the time.

By the end, Littlepip was on the verge of complete psychological breakdown and was doubting pretty much everything she ever did.

[Forum Explorer]

Cannibalism creates what in economics we would call a perverse incentive. It's just one little step till you start killing people just to eat them and you may not even make the choice consciously. If the Wasteland is ever going to become civilized it's exactly the sort of thing that needs to be stamped out.

As for her emotional state, I think righteous fury is an appropriate response at times. No one can reign in their passions all the time.

By the end, Littlepip was on the verge of complete psychological breakdown and was doubting pretty much everything she ever did.

But that argument doesn't hold true. There have been plenty of examples of people who have been forced to resort to cannibalism but have otherwise turned out fine (though admittedly I can't remember any off the top of my head that didn't result in the death of all parties regardless)

Anyways the point is that that argument is flawed. There isn't anything inherently uncivilized about cannibalism and it can be simply viewed as a part of the civilization itself. Or as a noble sacrifice to ensure the survival of others.

Now what Maripony was doing was horrible, but more because they were hunting/trapping and killing what were (relatively) innocent ponies.

Righteous Fury is a understandable response. Like you said you can't be expected to maintain control of your emotions at all times. However it could also lead to mistakes like killing innocents and likely prevents the opponent from surrendering.

I don't remembering it being that bad. It hurt her a lot because in her mind she failed. She had a lot of guilt because she was in a blind rage and completely destroyed their home. And she was tormented by the possibility that many of those ponies could have been saved, that they were just following along simply because that's what everypony else was doing. And this was added on to the guilt of slaughtering the Steel Rangers for the water talisman (and they truly didn't deserve that.)

[Thanqol]

Okay, I now understand why I've been temp-banned. However, the justification behind the rule - that OCs are only good for sowing malcontent among community members - was what ticked me off.

Some communities are like that, for reasons I cannot fathom.


Um, wow. :smallbiggrin:
Love the exploding bar part. That is *SO* how things end with my group. The added terminator exiting the rubble was a nice touch.

Comet Kicker's brain must be like microwaved jellybeans by now with all that's been happening to her. She's doing good, but man with the way things die, catch fire, or die while exploding in fire... I'd imagine she needs a vacation. :smallsmile:

Sure, she'll just go down to the coast and catch a few rays - oh wait, the Enclave blotted out the sun, didn't they? Damn.


They were nutters before that. The entire thing is built on lies. The Enclave were up to all kinds of questionable secret projects even before Maripony. Their deal with the Goddess was entirely in their own self interest and screw everypony else. And that's not to even mention the basic fact that they are a bunch of cowards and traitors.

There's very, very little of that in core FoE. Side stories may include such things but I think that they're drastically missing the point of the Pegasus Enclave. The Pegasus Enclave is nothing like the FO3 Enclave who are a bunch of nutters. The Pegasus Enclave is top to bottom a direct parallel of the United States and the war on terror, right down to the catchphrase "Shock and awe!"

And finally, the point was never to destroy the Enclave; the point was to convince them to help. You can't convince a bunch of nutters to help, you can convince a basically all right ponies who are caught up in a selfish political debate to help.

Also I think a little cowardice is justified when bravery resulted in an atomic war.


Nah, a good way to do it is to aim to take over the town. Then once you get control over the bomb collars you release them all. It's harder and slower though.

There wasn't a centralised autocratic government is the thing, that would have been an easy target. It was a trade post where individual slavers came from all over, all of them heavily armed and with their own slaves they'd abducted themselves. Nopony had centralised control over the collars. It wasn't possible to 'take over' the town because nopony was really in charge of the town. That is why I had to kill everypony.


I'm with Calamity on that argument actually, there is nothing inherently wrong with cannibalism. It's a very efficient method of survival, particularly when there isn't any other resources at hoof.

The act is fine, the institution is a spiral into darkness.

[Tiki Snakes]

Aren't the Enclave, by virtue of, you know, blotting out the sun, directly committing an act of ecological genocide on anything underneath? From what little I understand, that seems to very much be kind of a thing.

I mean, Fallout is a wasteland because of Radiation (and a pronounced misunderstanding of it's effect on plants, or something like that). I presumed that the Equestrian Wasteland was likewise at least in a large part because they turned off all the beneficial weather. Which has the benefit of making more sense than Fallout's usual ecology. (Unless we go by the explanation that the events in the Fallout games simply all take place in mundane deserts and the people trying to live there simply failed geography and haven't figured out they should just move north/south.)

[Thanqol]

Aren't the Enclave, by virtue of, you know, blotting out the sun, directly committing an act of ecological genocide on anything underneath? From what little I understand, that seems to very much be kind of a thing.

That is a very good point and one I have been totally disregarding in order to support my pro-Enclave propaganda.

On the other hoof, Comet Kicker has no dots in Science so I shall continue to do so.

[Kindablue]

Hello all. :) Long time no see.

I'm gonna be sticking around for a bit, I'll just slide into coversations after a bit. Just wanted y'all to know I was gonna be floating about.

.. SiuiS? Depressed?
WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?

Oh. Hi, Braz.

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/150/9/1/square_series___nurse_redheart_by_sophiecabra-d676n1i.jpg

How have you been?

[Tiki Snakes]

I can approve of that, entirely. Just nice to get clarity on the player level, so to speak.

I certainly enjoy the tales of Comet Kicker's descent too entertaining to seek to derail them. Though I must say I'm particularly interested in how she reacts to the equally inevitable (but quite possibly very far off) point of self-awareness. That moment when you look up and see nothing but slippery slope and that you are a long way down it. It might not be inevitable, but it feels like the kind of thing that is quite likely, and there are so many very different ways she could go from that kind of point.

If the whole party hasn't exploded already by then.

[Forum Explorer]

There's very, very little of that in core FoE. Side stories may include such things but I think that they're drastically missing the point of the Pegasus Enclave. The Pegasus Enclave is nothing like the FO3 Enclave who are a bunch of nutters. The Pegasus Enclave is top to bottom a direct parallel of the United States and the war on terror, right down to the catchphrase "Shock and awe!"

And finally, the point was never to destroy the Enclave; the point was to convince them to help. You can't convince a bunch of nutters to help, you can convince a basically all right ponies who are caught up in a selfish political debate to help.

Also I think a little cowardice is justified when bravery resulted in an atomic war.



There wasn't a centralised autocratic government is the thing, that would have been an easy target. It was a trade post where individual slavers came from all over, all of them heavily armed and with their own slaves they'd abducted themselves. Nopony had centralised control over the collars. It wasn't possible to 'take over' the town because nopony was really in charge of the town. That is why I had to kill everypony.



The act is fine, the institution is a spiral into darkness.

They aren't a bunch of nutters, but they are lying to the populace at large, deliberatly killing innocents, and in general planning on making sure that civilization cannot properly be rebuilt in the Wasteland.

Actually it was to destroy the Enclave. It wasn't to kill all the pegasi. I remember them repeatedly saying that removing the clouds would cause the Enclave to fall. While the Enclave existed the Wasteland couldn't truly be restored to a normal civilization. Both Red Eye and Little Pip knew this.

It wasn't bravery that resulted in atomic war, it was a simple mistake of not keeping the Mane 6 together. I've got a whole theory on what would have happened if they had been working together.



That's a problem. I guess the only way to not end up slaughtering everypony is to use enough force to basically make the slavers surrender. Like showing up with an army or something. Even then that might not work. And it certainly isn't available to Comet Kicker is it?


Well that's a whole debate there. I think it comes down to the attitude towards the 'food' in if it spirals into darkness or not.

[Thanqol]

They aren't a bunch of nutters, but they are lying to the populace at large, deliberatly killing innocents, and in general planning on making sure that civilization cannot properly be rebuilt in the Wasteland.

They're not lying to the populace at large! The ground is a hellhole that is just as bad or worse as the Enclave stories say! If Comet Kicker has learned one thing it's that they're right about that.

They don't 'deliberately kill innocents'. In fact, anypony who has a problem with their policy is free to either express their displeasure at the ballot box or just straight up leave. When in wartime they find themselves swamped by the reality of the political situation on the ground, which was basically inevitable and a really good reason for why they didn't do this before. And finally, you say 'ensuring civilisation cannot be rebuilt' and I say 'securing chemical, biological and nuclear WMD stockpiles'. They have a coherent foreign policy.

It's possible to argue that they're wrong, that they're selfish, that they're not trying hard enough. But arguing that the Enclave is insane or evil is simplistic and short sighted. It's also boring. They're not cackling villains. They're a very interesting question of selfishness and loyalty. The problem with the Enclave is essentially that they never go above and beyond the call of duty.


Actually it was to destroy the Enclave. It wasn't to kill all the pegasi. I remember them repeatedly saying that removing the clouds would cause the Enclave to fall. While the Enclave existed the Wasteland couldn't truly be restored to a normal civilization. Both Red Eye and Little Pip knew this.

I have my own ideas about what happens when 100% of the Enclave civilian population, many of which have never even seen a spider let alone a giant radscorpion, are dumped unceremoniously onto the ground after every house, farm and government office in their entire civilisation dissolves into mist. Imagine if you will teleporting the entire population of the United States of America into the middle of Syria. There will be an adjustment process.


It wasn't bravery that resulted in atomic war, it was a simple mistake of not keeping the Mane 6 together. I've got a whole theory on what would have happened if they had been working together.

From the perspective of the average pegasus, faultless heroic service and devotion had earned them a thermonuclear strike and not a lick of thanks. Deciding "Screw it" at that point is a perfectly reasonable course of action. Not the best course of action, but you can certainly see where they were coming from.


That's a problem. I guess the only way to not end up slaughtering everypony is to use enough force to basically make the slavers surrender. Like showing up with an army or something. Even then that might not work. And it certainly isn't available to Comet Kicker is it?

Comet Kicker raised that point. "If I had an army to instil order in the streets then this would be one matter. As it is just the four of us, subterfuge and terror shall have to suffice."

[One Tin Soldier]

Characters are small and far off, but this guy never ceases to make me hate myself.

http://th06.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2013/153/5/0/mlp___sleepless_in_ponyville_by_huussii-d67iunc.png


yeah..that is an extremely well done one

--i do not often find myself hitting the favorite button for a Celestia pic..but this one got a fave
http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/153/4/1/angerlestia_by_yakovlev_vad-d67immm.png

Man, what's with all the awesome pony arts here? *insta-saved*
And speaking of arts, congrats on getting into the drawfriend, meto!

I would definitely enjoy another round of ponythread tactics in the future. I missed the boat on this iteration, but it was still cool to watch.

[Tiki Snakes]

Comet Kicker raised that point. "If I had an army to instil order in the streets then this would be one matter. As it is just the four of us, subterfuge and terror shall have to suffice."

It's quite possible that the basic course of action was infact the only real option. It's certainly not the wrong one. Though, of course, Comet Kicker's increasing wibble factor is another issue, and it certainly wasn't the subtle way of doing it.

But I was wondering for a while what a character like Jack could even suggest in such a situation. I actually managed to figure something out that, if not a certainty of success, at least might stand a shot;
Admittedly, unavoidable first step is to establish you are a Big Dog and can't be ****ed with. Also preferably that you're no sissy. Step 2? Talk them out of it.

No, really.

By pointing out that unless the entire goal is to get slaves, then achieving their goals via slavery is strictly sub-optimal. If you want money, then every time you acquire stock you reduce your market (significantly). If you want power, then what you need is loyal motivated workers/soldiers, not drudges. If you want an easy life, the last thing you need is to be vastly outnumbered in your own stronghold by people who would desperately like to see you die a horrific death. There's a good chance that with a suitable chunk of lateral thinking, you could make a real argument that Slavery legitimately isn't in their best interest, that they should abandon it even just for purely selfish reasons. Work out a manageable transition plan with them and help them go through with it, prove it works better.

That could mean pointing them down the route of going from slavery to using indentured servitude (the idea that a slave can earn their way into the gang, that slaves have some measures of rights they can count on etc), to eventually move into something more closely resembling a basic Feudal structure over time (with the ruling class and their servant class tied together by a net of rights and responsibilities).

It could mean helping them set up a meth lab instead, but at least drug abuse is something that is mostly done to oneself, of your own free will. It's pretty abhorant, but by wasteland standards...

Of course, there's the catch that it's more fun to go with the low wisdom route then continue with the actual campaign, or that the Theoretical GM may just say that they don't listen because he'd kind of like a combat or something, or that they really are just too stupid to grasp the idea that there are better ways to become rich and powerful even with their existing resources, but at least it's a plan that could be attempted. Worthwhile mental exercise if nothing else.

[Thanqol]

It's quite possible that the basic course of action was infact the only real option. It's certainly not the wrong one. Though, of course, Comet Kicker's increasing wibble factor is another issue, and it certainly wasn't the subtle way of doing it.

But I was wondering for a while what a character like Jack could even suggest in such a situation. I actually managed to figure something out that, if not a certainty of success, at least might stand a shot;
Admittedly, unavoidable first step is to establish you are a Big Dog and can't be ****ed with. Also preferably that you're no sissy. Step 2? Talk them out of it.

No, really.

"Hey you guys should give up all your property that you've each paid several thousand caps for because the Economics degree I got from Enclave University says that you'll make more money doing something else. Trust me, I only arrived in town yesterday and I'm from the Enclave, but I know a thing or two about economics."

It didn't work on the Confederacy.

EDIT: And transitioning them into serfdom isn't really a 'win' here.

[Tiki Snakes]

Sure. I mean, it would take some reputation building beforehand and some very impressive convincing, but it's not impossible and that's really all I could hope for, going in to the little mental challenge.

I certainly couldn't comment on any kind of parallels, but I might say that there are key differences between a gang/couple of gangs being involved in such a trade and a larger organisation or country.

Also, yeah, you couldn't really phrase it in the sense of them giving up their property. That just straight up is a no-sale, you'd have to be hitting up the angle of their being better ways to use what they have now to get what they really want, whatever that is. This does translate to the goal having to be to mitigate and/or end the practice in the long-term, rather than holding out hope for freeing them all in the space of a couple of days/weeks.

[meto30]

And speaking of arts, congrats on getting into the drawfriend, meto!

Thank you, dear sir! I'm happy as I can be to have gotten onto the drawfriend.

Right now I'm working on a lot of sketches I delayed to work on the colored picture. Good that I have little else on the schedule for June other than the usual grind.

[Tiki Snakes]

Also, regarding the Edit - Todays Ex-Slaver Feudal serf town is tomorrows Grand and Enlightened Kingdom. Potential long-term epic-win. A long shot and a long-term gamble, but not one I'd rule out automatically.

[Thanqol]

Sure. I mean, it would take some reputation building beforehand and some very impressive convincing, but it's not impossible and that's really all I could hope for, going in to the little mental challenge.

I certainly couldn't comment on any kind of parallels, but I might say that there are key differences between a gang/couple of gangs being involved in such a trade and a larger organisation or country.

Also, yeah, you couldn't really phrase it in the sense of them giving up their property. That just straight up is a no-sale, you'd have to be hitting up the angle of their being better ways to use what they have now to get what they really want, whatever that is. This does translate to the goal having to be to mitigate and/or end the practice in the long-term, rather than holding out hope for freeing them all in the space of a couple of days/weeks.

I could turn the game from 'Comet Kicker's adventures in the Canterbury Wasteland' to 'Comet Kicker's long-term political scheming and coalition building to agitate for political change' but that's a tough enough transition in a democracy - it took like a hundred years in the States. We're talking about a tiny, powerless autocratic government in a town full of armed and armoured slavers who go out every day to abduct a bunch of refugees.

Like, step one is to get these ponies to accept the rule of law.

[Tiki Snakes]

Yeah, it's definately the wrong choice for Comet Kicker. I was mostly just trying to figure out how someone like Jack could even begin trying to deal with such a situation. How could someone even conceive of dealing with the situation other than the practical, pragmatic solution that Comet Kicker went with.

I mean, how do you even TRY to high wisdom a thing like that? The above was what occurred to me as something that could be attempted. That probably shouldn't be, because yeah, it basically requires spending probably months minimum of in-game time even to get the plan moving.

Also, worth noting, there being rumours that perfectly decent slaver-towns have a tendency to be blown up by crazy pegasi isn't necessarily a bad starting point for helping slavers reach the conclusion that there are safer industries.

[Thanqol]

Yeah, it's definately the wrong choice for Comet Kicker. I was mostly just trying to figure out how someone like Jack could even begin trying to deal with such a situation. How could someone even conceive of dealing with the situation other than the practical, pragmatic solution that Comet Kicker went with.

I mean, how do you even TRY to high wisdom a thing like that? The above was what occurred to me as something that could be attempted. That probably shouldn't be, because yeah, it basically requires spending probably months minimum of in-game time even to get the plan moving.

There is also the fact that for every week I delay setting the thing up is a week another refugee is kidnapped and forced into an unspeakable situation. Comet Kicker weighed the lives of those who would die or be permanently traumatised by that process against the lives of those doing the traumatising and her choice was pretty clear.

The choice got a bit more murky when a bunch of innocent slaves were added as collateral damage, but she had the determination to press ahead even though a lot of voices were telling her not to (not least her own).

Essentially, the moral standard for a powerful Mastigos who can literally create a self-replicating mental virus that makes all infected with it hate slavery is very different from a lone scared pony who's only option for engineering social change is 50KG of C4.


Also, worth noting, there being rumours that perfectly decent slaver-towns have a tendency to be blown up by crazy pegasi isn't necessarily a bad starting point for helping slavers reach the conclusion that there are safer industries.

That's the plan!

[Brazen Shield]

Oh. Hi, Braz.

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/150/9/1/square_series___nurse_redheart_by_sophiecabra-d676n1i.jpg

How have you been?

..... O//O'''''!

Is... That a nurse!pony snapping a glove at me Bloo?
*backs away slowly*
Si-SiuiS! Help!!

[Tiki Snakes]

Essentially, the moral standard for a powerful Mastigos who can literally create a self-replicating mental virus that makes all infected with it hate slavery is very different from a lone scared pony who's only option for engineering social change is 50KG of C4.

Conversely, when all you have is a hammer, all your problems start to look like nails. But really, that's half the fun, right? :smallsmile:

[Thanqol]

Conversely, when all you have is a hammer, all your problems start to look like nails. But really, that's half the fun, right? :smallsmile:

If there's one thing this experience has taught me, never offer your players 'unlimited' C4.

[Pendulous]

> Shares awesome art.

> Doesn't provide source (http://huussii.deviantart.com/art/MLP-Sleepless-in-Ponyville-375433896)

tsk tsk! :smalltongue:

I'm lazy. Proof

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/153/d/7/spitfire_by_high_roller2108-d67k91r.png