My Little Pony C: Friendship Carries On

[Rogar Demonblud]

Apparently, it got on the Naughty List in a bad way and Santa sent a black-ops elf to deal with the matter.

[Aotrs Commander]

Happy new year, pony thread, and let's hope that against all odds, this new year/decade proves to be a good one.



(I guess we'll know if we're still hear this time next year...)

[DigoDragon]

Happy new year!

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I'm hoping to be more art productive this year.

[Rater202]

Happy New Year!

Now, who wants to help me bring back The Charleston?

[Manga Shoggoth]

Happy new year, pony thread, and let's hope that against all odds, this new year/decade proves to be a good one.



(I guess we'll know if we're still hear this time next year...)

Been good so far, but work starts tomorrow (for context, my Christmas leave started on the 9th).

Now, who wants to help me bring back The Charleston?

It went away?

[Pi Pie]

Happy New Year.

Did anyone make any resolutions? I don't generally bother and only make resolutions or lifestyle changes when I think that I will keep them.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Same resolution I make each year, to spend as much time with my family as possible. I have a pretty good track record of pulling it off.

[DigoDragon]

(for context, my Christmas leave started on the 9th).

The important question: Was it a paid leave?

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Did anyone make any resolutions?

One of the art things I want to do is make videos regaling the tales of all the various RPG campaigns I've run or played in, in the same kind of format as people like Dingo Doodles and Puffin Forest do over on YouTube. I've been in the hobby for over two decades, so the hard part is... which story to tell first? I was thinking of a Shadowrun campaign I played in, as a dog shaman. Woof.

[Manga Shoggoth]

The important question: Was it a paid leave?

Ho yesss.... It doesn't get much better.

[Topaz]

Dropping in to link a pony-related Tumblr post, mostly because I figured it would amuse Commodore Bleakbane:

https://house-of-tykayl.tumblr.com/p...is-superpowers

[Adderbane]

Dropping in to link a pony-related Tumblr post, mostly because I figured it would amuse Commodore Bleakbane:

https://house-of-tykayl.tumblr.com/p...is-superpowers

That's adorable.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Is Raven supposed to be a ki-rin? It would befit her emotional issues.

[DigoDragon]

Is Raven supposed to be a ki-rin? It would befit her emotional issues.

Looks a bit like a batpony but with a unicorn horn instead of wings. Batcorn?

[Aotrs Commander]

Okay, I was just listening to epsiode 65 pof the Unexpectables (I am a loooooong way behind), which if you don't know is a D&D stream/podcast/Youtube thing that Takahata101 (of DBZ Abridged fame) does and I happened to glance at the side videos and saw this, My Little Pony: Dungeons & Friendship as a video from his channel, which turns about to be the lastest one released.

I am not listening to it right now (since, like, I have about forty more videoes of Unexpectables plus specials (one/two/tthree offs) - of which I assume this is - to listen to), but one I thing I can pretty much garentee it that it is likely to be hilarious and I felt I ought to bring it to ponythread's attention immediately.

[digiman619]

Okay, I was just listening to epsiode 65 pof the Unexpectables (I am a loooooong way behind), which if you don't know is a D&D stream/podcast/Youtube thing that Takahata101 (of DBZ Abridged fame) does and I happened to glance at the side videos and saw this, My Little Pony: Dungeons & Friendship as a video from his channel, which turns about to be the lastest one released.

I am not listening to it right now (since, like, I have about forty more videoes of Unexpectables plus specials (one/two/tthree offs) - of which I assume this is - to listen to), but one I thing I can pretty much garentee it that it is likely to be hilarious and I felt I ought to bring it to ponythread's attention immediately.

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Eh, I personally gave up on The Unexpectables after they did the whole vision quest thing and Borky learned the obviously wrong message. He's a half-orc who is constantly hyping up his orcish side and calling human things dumb, but we find out that not only is Borky not his real name (been years since I watched it, but it was a common human name), but he's a skilled pianist. He was greatly influenced by his late mother who wanted him to be kind, unlike his father. The whole vision quest ends as his mother dies due to a rampaging horde, and the lesson he takes from the proceedings is to accept that there was nothing he could have done to save his mother, not that he's a child of two worlds and ignoring his human half won't make it go away.

[Aotrs Commander]

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Eh, I personally gave up on The Unexpectables after they did the whole vision quest thing and Borky learned the obviously wrong message. He's a half-orc who is constantly hyping up his orcish side and calling human things dumb, but we find out that not only is Borky not his real name (been years since I watched it, but it was a common human name), but he's a skilled pianist. He was greatly influenced by his late mother who wanted him to be kind, unlike his father. The whole vision quest ends as his mother dies due to a rampaging horde, and the lesson he takes from the proceedings is to accept that there was nothing he could have done to save his mother, not that he's a child of two worlds and ignoring his human half won't make it go away.

I mean, first of all, spoilers, somepony else on ponythread might be or be starting to listen the Unexpectables.

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So, like about episode 20?

Err... He's a full orc, not a half-orc. His mother wasn't a human, she was an orc, just not a traditional one. Which sort of undermines your objection a bit.

(I also don't remember it being mentioned about his name, are you sure you're not confusing it with Panic, whom we did (part of) the birth name of) in that instance?)

[Adderbane]

One thing I love about this fandom is how it's everywhere. Been playing the HoI4 MLP mod, and it is incredibly fun.

[DigoDragon]

This little comic on Twilight pitches an episode got a laugh out of me. Yeah, Starlight is evil...

One thing I love about this fandom is how it's everywhere. Been playing the HoI4 MLP mod, and it is incredibly fun.

HoI4? Afraid I don't remember which game that abbreviation was for.


Also, why is 'abbreviation' always a long word?

[Manga Shoggoth]

Also, why is 'abbreviation' always a long word?

Because it has 12 letters, which rubbish for scrabble! And you can't use abbr. because you aren't allowed to use abbreviations either.

[Adderbane]

HoI4? Afraid I don't remember which game that abbreviation was for.

Hearts of Iron 4. It's a WW2-era strategy game. The MLP mod replaces all the nations and geography with roughly canon-compliant stuff. The "historical" mode is a Changeling invasion of Equestria, with the Crystal Empire, Yakyakistan, a separatist communist pony state, and others possibly becoming involved. It's interesting because you can veer your nation off in all sorts of interesting paths and alternate histories. For example, once war breaks out, Celestia has a stress meter that can cause her to become Daybreaker if it goes too high and transform Equestria into the Solar Empire. Right now I'm playing as rebel Changelings under Thorax, and attempting to forge a coalition with the other Harmonic nations to stamp out all fascist/communist governments.

[Aotrs Commander]

I must get around to trying that mod that one day.

I have never gotten through a complete playthrough of the base game, though...!

[DigoDragon]

Hearts of Iron 4. It's a WW2-era strategy game.

Ah, I heard of it. Thanks! I think the stress meter is a neat addition. Gotta keep your pony princess relaxed during trying times. :3


I did some art of Doc and Switch flirting nerdy with each other.

[Aotrs Commander]

Elf tank?

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Also, Enragers got a lot scarier.

Spoiler: Enrager Mk 2s

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With Mk 1s (froint) and a Bleakbane, for scale.)

Why bother with a light coldbeam cannon, when you can make the head a coldbeam cannon - Cyclops-style?

(And yes, that's rotary triple Snake Launcher on the back, with an ammo container.)

[Manga Shoggoth]

Elf tank?

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You Fool!!! You've weaponised Twisters!! The wrath of Pinkie shall be UNLEASHED!!!

Note to self: Stop reading Girl Genius for a while...

Spoiler: Enrager Mk 2s

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...

(And yes, that's rotary triple Snake Launcher on the back, with an ammo container.)

The two at the back looked like they had a rather unbalanced jet-pack until I realised that the left-hand cylinder was an undeployed rocket launcher. The ammo container is the cylinder in the middle?

[Aotrs Commander]

You Fool!!! You've weaponised Twisters!! The wrath of Pinkie shall be UNLEASHED!!!

Note to self: Stop reading Girl Genius for a while...

I mean, if anyone's going to do that, it'd be, like elves, right?



They do sometimes have, like, literal planting pots on the sides of their vehicles.

No, really. I'm not being facestious about it, for once.

I know, I know, haha the elves put pretty flowers on their tanks and don't at all use nature magic to grow specific planetary vegetation camoflage nets. As I've occasionally said before, if an elf is hugging a tree, it's actually likely only so that she can beat you death with it, because funnily the results of having a race with a long-lasting national prevalence for longbows does not, in fact, give you a bunch of limp-wristed weaklings, but the exact opposite.

The two at the back looked like they had a rather unbalanced jet-pack until I realised that the left-hand cylinder was an undeployed rocket launcher. The ammo container is the cylinder in the middle?

Yup. (And yes, of course, the model is meta-articulated such that it rotates in properly.) It doesn't need to go all the way, in by-the-by - that red stripe you can just see on the righthand side of the ammo canister? That's the reloading door, which accomodates a single tube of the launcher, which is reloaded, and then the launcher clicks round to load the next one from the loading carousel inside the amoo bin.

(On the real version, of course, the rails and carousel of the snake launcher itself are not as prononuced; they're thinner in pretty much all the dimensions, but of course 144th being what it is, minimum wall thicknesses.)

[Pi Pie]

Hearts of Iron 4. It's a WW2-era strategy game. The MLP mod replaces all the nations and geography with roughly canon-compliant stuff. The "historical" mode is a Changeling invasion of Equestria, with the Crystal Empire, Yakyakistan, a separatist communist pony state, and others possibly becoming involved. It's interesting because you can veer your nation off in all sorts of interesting paths and alternate histories. For example, once war breaks out, Celestia has a stress meter that can cause her to become Daybreaker if it goes too high and transform Equestria into the Solar Empire. Right now I'm playing as rebel Changelings under Thorax, and attempting to forge a coalition with the other Harmonic nations to stamp out all fascist/communist governments.

Any recommendations for getting into HOI4 with the MLP mod?

I have never played a Paradox game before, and the user interface does not seem obvious. Also the tutorial is lacking. Overall, it appears to be intimidating for someone new to their systems of games.

[Aotrs Commander]

Any recommendations for getting into HOI4 with the MLP mod?

I have never played a Paradox game before, and the user interface does not seem obvious. Also the tutorial is lacking. Overall, it appears to be intimidating for someone new to their systems of games.

There is no subsitute, I'm afraid, for reading the wiki, watching fan tutorial videos (the official tutorials in-game are almost unilaterally considered rubbish) and asking for help on their forums and just having to try until you get somewhere.

Fair warning, I found HoI4 PARTICULARLY hard to get somewhere with, it took SEVERAL tries, WITH their forum's help, on Easy, to actually make headway (and it wasn't as if I was doing anything egregiously wrong, I just found I Couldn't Warfare), and that was just playing vanilla.

PDX are sufficently complex that you will need to expect to sink a lot of hours into learning to play. I think HoIV might be the hardest to learn to start with, because of the much tighter sandbox to play in. With the other games, there are places you can start that don't chuck you into the deep end and you can work up to tacking the big stuff; HoIV, not so much; thought maybe the MLP mod is different in that regard I don't know. Stellaris and CK2 I had no problems with; bit of alearning chasm with EUIV, but that was the first I played (and it took me a good four hours of frustration (nearly a rage-quit) and a restart before I actually started to get my head around it.)

On the positive side, PDX grand strats have a LOT of hours for their pennies (I've only played two games of EUIV and got 400 hours out of it, and not even finished my Rome game in CK2 at 440), so once you get going, I find the endless planning and decision making to be very engaging.



For vanilla HoI4, I can only point you in the direction of my thread here, where their forum bent over backwards to get me SOMEWHERE.

[Adderbane]

Any recommendations for getting into HOI4 with the MLP mod?

I have never played a Paradox game before, and the user interface does not seem obvious. Also the tutorial is lacking. Overall, it appears to be intimidating for someone new to their systems of games.

I recommend starting as the Crystal Empire and doing the Cadance route. You have a powerful ally in Equestria, and don't have to worry about the naval part at all, just fighting the changelings. Honestly the best way to learn is just to play, click buttons, and familiarize yourself with the menus.

A few things I've learned.

- Civilian factories are really important, especially at the beginning. Each set of 15 will work on a new building.

- Industrial tech is super important. You should always do the tools, dispersed industry, and construction at minimum.

- Divisions should have either 10, 20, or 40 width. That way you can fit as many as possible into the 80 width battlefield.

- Superior Firepower is the best land doctrine, unless your tank-focused. Then it's tied for first with Mobile Warfare.

- The racial tech trees are pretty good. Keep an eye on them.

- Always give your divisions an Engineer support company. Huge defensive bonuses. Recon is good too. And the racial support unit.

- Light tanks are almost always better than Heavy, but make sure they have motorized or mechanized infantry that can keep up. (I'm experimenting with using Heavy/Superheavy with foot Infantry to toughen them up)

- If you surround enemy units they die instead of retreating. Light tanks are good for this.

- The most important thing your air force can do is air superiority in the areas you're fighting, which gives penalties to enemy movement.

- Researching Land Doctrine is rarely a waste of time.

[Aotrs Commander]

Version 0.9 Elf tank

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[Aotrs Commander]

Whelp, that's panto done for another year. Knackered. (May not be one next year, might not be enough folk, as about three of the cast won't be doing it for various reason,s.) Went pretty well, aside from the first nighr wherein in the idiots from the care home (who nearly were going to cancel at the cost of ten seats - out the forty or so, that's pretty significant - but came and then booked the taxis for half-past eight, right in the middle of the second half,m meaning that whle we were trying to do a damn show, they were carting out the poor old ladies and blocking the isles).

Sister also had a baby, though not during the performance, and not unexpectedly.



There is also a SHOCKING lack of Pony/Girls und Panzer fanart, which is a travesty that really ought to be remedied.



Additionaly, during the break, SFDebris did another couple of Pony reviews.