Re: [Fallout Equestria] Setting discussions

[SilentCarto]

Hm.  Nice thoughts, I think.

By the way, while it's still pretty nebulous, the current idea for this universe is that Celestia and Luna were star-spirit-remnant-soul-things who descended from their respective celestial bodies and took on new, ponylike bodies to fight Discord, then stayed to rule Equestria afterwards.

Thanks!

That's about what I thought about C&L, though I'm still not sure whether they just appeared full-grown one day or if the spirits had to be born in order to incarnate. I kind of hope we get some of their backstory in S5.

[O. Hinds]

Well, the current timeline has the arrival of Discord, the arrival of the Princesses, the arrival (maybe? I'm not sure where they came from, exactly...) of the Elements, the defeat of Discord, and the beginning of the rule of the Princesses all in one year, which would seem to preclude them being born and growing up first. In this universe, at least. Then again, it is explicitly a rough timeline, even if we usually treat it as pretty solid, so... Eh.

[O. Hinds]

...Hm.  Stone, gems, and gold-looking metal...  I wonder, do you think that the diamond dogs might have had anything to do with the origins of the Elements?

[O. Hinds]

This might be a semi-relevant video.

[Harmony Ltd.]

I'll have to look at it later. Thanks for the link.

[O. Hinds]

You're welcome.

[Harmony Ltd.]

It just dawned on me that with their technology, the Enclave is doing literal Cloud Computing.

[O. Hinds]

:)

[O. Hinds]

I've been thinking about what the Alliance might be doing during the events in Hoofington right now. Obviously we don't yet have enough information to work it all out, but here's one thought:
It will take time for information about what's happening to filter to the Alliance and then more time to decide what to do about it. And by the time that decision is made, new information will be in that changes things, sometimes drastically. They'd have trouble getting a large force to Hoofington by land or air even without the GPE and/or remnants thereof causing trouble, that sort of mass strategic mobility on short notice being one of the things the Alliance military (even the Miliozi) is bad at (it's one of the things the Concerts are intended to more or less solve, but of course they're not in the picture at this point in the timeline). They could send in a small force, but a small force with such a rapidly changing situation and such bad intelligence would have difficulty doing much good and might even do more harm than good. By sea they can head around the peninsula and avoid trouble, but that's slower and, for a large force, would require a mass amphibious landing the Alliance isn't equipped for.

It seems to me not too unlikely that the Alliance's near-term (long-term changes in Alliance policy and the like are another matter) action might end up being just sending a freighter loaded with relief supplies and under military escort (by the way, I found an old document in which I said a few things about the Alliance navy and army which we seem to have both forgotten about, but, as I like the newer stuff more, I think that that's okay (though, on that note, I might not be using the old Miliozi emblem anymore; I'm not sure)) arriving just after PH ends, the idea being that, if Blackjack's forces win, there will be a lot of ponies wanting help but not wanting to fight (at least, not against what the Miliozi send as escort), and the mission can begin building influence and goodwill. If Cognitum wins, the relief won't be needed, but Elusive can use the mission to immediately open relations with his new fellow powerful-and-conquest-interested-AI. If Vitiosus wins, everyone's dead anyway. There may also have been some people sent to assassinate Vitiosus, but we could explain them not appearing in PH by Vitiosus doing a lot of offscreen fighting and by the attempt(s), obviously, failing.

Thoughts?

[Harmony Ltd.]

I don't see anything to say against it.

One question, though: why launch a humanitarian mission to Hoofington specifically, and not also toward, say, Manehatten; or launch a "Peacekeeping" force toward Fillydelphia?

Is it simply because it's:

1 - the biggest concentration of ponies and factions on the Peninsula
2 - Cognitum
3 - Hoofington and the symbolic it represents in general

Or are there other factors at play?

[O. Hinds]

Hm.  Good point.  What's the approximate status of the NCR at the moment?  Also, while the Bitter War timeline of course isn't finalised yet, do you think that the secession of Las Pegasus, the withdrawal of Alliance recognition of the GPE, and the Miliozi land seizure have already happened?

Mind you, it might still just be Hoofington, as the Alliance's resources, while great, are not unlimited, but...  Yeah, good point.
Oh, though symbolic value doesn't come into it much, given that the majority of the people in the Alliance who place particular symbolic value on Hoofington would place higher symbolic value on replacing Hoofington with a large crater (preferably after looting it first, of course).

[Harmony Ltd.]

I prefer to reserve my judgment on that at the moment. There's quite a number of factors at play; and while Las Pegasus may have already defected to the Alliance (doubtful as it would probably happen later as the GPE falls into civil war), the GPE itself is still at full strength and Operation Cauterize is, as far as I know, still going on.

Given the mentality of the Miliozi, I'm inclined to think they would prefer to wait for the GPE to fall into civil war before making their move.

[O. Hinds]

Hm, yes... Ah well. Another thing we'll need to wait for.

[Harmony Ltd.]

Because I was bored...

A non-exhaustive list of the Hoofball teams competing in the current Equestrian League:

Spoiler:

[O. Hinds]

...Okay then.  :D

edit: Though... The Timberwolves? With all those hellhounds? Must be some complex rules to stop them having an unfair advantage.

[Harmony Ltd.]

Well, first thing first, the reason why the NCR promotes (post-wasteland style, as opposed to pre-wasteland style) Hoofball as a popular sport:

Spoiler:

This being said, here are some rules I've come up so far:

- A fullsize game area is 150 meters long and 100 meters large. The terrain is cut in two equal part at mid-length, with one goal window at each extremities, 3 meters in heights and 7 meters in width. The Penalty Area is a semicircle extending 20 meters from the goal windows.
- The ball is round and 25 cm in diameter, and can be held or kicked with any limb or through telekinesis (though in the later case telekinesis cannot be used to grab the ball further than 1.5 meters from the caster).
- Each team is formed of 10 players on the field, one of them playing guardian, with up to 15 replacement players on the bench, with a number of player swaps limited to 5 per match. One team cannot count more than one Teleporter on the field, and teleporters cannot teleport while holding the ball. They can neither teleport inside the Penalty Zone. One team can have as many flyers as they like, they cannot however fly higher than 10 meters above the terrain, and cannot fly holding the ball. Flying over the Penalty Zone is authorized, however it is forbidden to land there.
- Tackling is authorized, but you cannot make an adversary who's holding the ball drop it. If a player holds the ball and doesn't move for more than 5 seconds, though, they have to drop the ball on the ground. Passing the ball is only done toward the back or to the side; with the exception of the Guardian who can kick / throw the ball forward.
- Hurting another player is against the rules, and means at the very least a penalty against your team, and possibly your exclusion from the match depending on the referee's decision, leaving your team with only 9 players on the field.
- Players can be of any species, they cannot however be more than 3.5 meters in height, length or width, and cannot weight more than 1 metric tons.
- Cybernetics and drugs are authorized but severely regulated.
- Limited illusion spells are authorized (making other balls appear is not authorized).

[O. Hinds]

I'm a bit tired at the moment, but that seems to make sense. Interesting.

[Harmony Ltd.]

Interesting architecture.

[O. Hinds]

Agreed! What is that?

[Harmony Ltd.]

I don't know. It's an unsourced pic from a Cyberpunk / Dystopian future aesthetic blog I follow.

A google reverse image search may give you an answer?

[Harmony Ltd.]

Found this: https://www.flickr.com/groups/kisyokurokawa/

[Harmony Ltd.]

By the way, given Elusive's personality, wouldn't the architecture of buildings in the Alliance make a heavy use of factory built elements assembled together?

[O. Hinds]

Neat. Thanks.

By the way, given Elusive's personality, wouldn't the architecture of buildings in the Alliance make a heavy use of factory built elements assembled together?

Not so much his personality as just efficiency, I expect. The Miliozi may well have started it, even.

[Harmony Ltd.]

Yeah, relative to what I was saying earlier, I think "neighborhood made of pre-fabricated elements starting to rot" is less an NCR aesthetic than an Alliance one. Port Maple and other Alliance colonies, maybe?

[Harmony Ltd.]

Haven't finished reading Ch. 73 yet, but from what I can read already, the Astrostable is another possible game changer.

They should have genetic samples of most pre-War species, the technology to restore them, AND mechasprites which could have them rival or even surpass Stalliongrad in term of manufacturing capabilities.

Plus, they're already space colonists with all the requisite colonization techs: give them spaceships, and that Star Trek future we were joking about might actually be quite possible.

[O. Hinds]

Yeah, relative to what I was saying earlier, I think "neighborhood made of pre-fabricated elements starting to rot" is less an NCR aesthetic than an Alliance one. Port Maple and other Alliance colonies, maybe?

Hm. I'm not sure about the "starting to rot" bit. What was your thinking behind that?

They should have genetic samples of most pre-War species, the technology to restore them, AND mechasprites which could have them rival or even surpass Stalliongrad in term of manufacturing capabilities.

Where are you getting the bit about genetic samples? Just an assumption?

Plus, they're already space colonists with all the requisite colonization techs: give them spaceships, and that Star Trek future we were joking about might actually be quite possible.

Hm. Maybe. There are many unknowns, though (particularly for you, since you don't even have the whole of the chapter yet).

[Harmony Ltd.]

Re rotting: that was about the NCR not having the resources to at the same time maintain their efforts to try to close the parity gap with the Alliance and properly inject all the necessary efforts to avoid their urban centers to decay after being rebuilt. Think USSR.
For the Alliance, maybe not all colonies in Zebrica have the chances of getting Elusive's full attention; and the Miliozi don't strike me to be the kind of people to attach much importance on keeping things looking pristine and clean as long as it isn't directly related to their interests in warfare.


Re genetic samples: I seem to remember quotes, either from Goldenblood or other characters, about the Astrostable being conceived as an Ark to rebuild the world after Horizon fires. Or was that the Redoubt?...


Edit: chapter finished btw.

[O. Hinds]

For the Alliance, maybe not all colonies in Zebrica have the chances of getting Elusive's full attention; and the Miliozi don't strike me to be the kind of people to attach much importance on keeping things looking pristine and clean as long as it isn't directly related to their interests in warfare.

It's still important, for both those groups, to keep things functional, though, and there's a lot the colonists could do by themselves. Though the latter I suppose you might count as rot, since it would probably often involve the same sorts of "Wasteland repairs" NCR citizens likely fall back on when the new, rebuilt, civilized repair systems are too slow. Though, interestingly, that sort of improvisation may still be something that the NCR is better at; most people in the Alliance have had proper manufactured goods and the like for generations now.

Re genetic samples: I seem to remember quotes, either from Goldenblood or other characters, about the Astrostable being conceived as an Ark to rebuild the world after Horizon fires. Or was that the Redoubt?...

That was the Redoubt.

I shivered as we trotted along. Behind glass walls were racks upon racks of boxes. “What is this place?” I muttered, levitating one box off its shelf. My magic brushed off the frost. ‘Seed stock AJ-2011-BM: Wheat’ was printed on its side, along with an expiration date almost three hundred years in the future!
“A storeroom. One of many. Some, like this one, hold seeds and spores. Others hold animal embryos.” I twitched at the word; I’d gotten a D in reproductive education, but I’d answered that one right on the multiple choice test. “Hundreds of different species.” There had to be enough seeds here to cover the Hoof in food. Or more. No telling how much of it might have spoiled, but still.
Tenebra added, “There’s a surprising amount of material for fabrication. Machine shops. Almost no weapons though. Curious, given the purpose of this place.”

Edit: chapter finished btw.

Any new thoughts?

[Harmony Ltd.]

Not anymore pertaining to the current discussion, only a reinforcement of my earlier statement about mechasprites:

These things are only a few steps removed from a harnessed Grey Goo swarm.

Do we know how long before the Days of Fire they were designed? I want to check up how they match-up versus Stalliongrad's timeline. The "molecular dissassembling" capabilities are an interesting parallel.


Though what Stalliongrad has would be less sophisticated or miniaturized, relying on static machineries. On the other hand these machineries are able to treat a lot of matter per time unit (dig galleries underground, drop the dug earth into the processors). Speed & reliability versus versatility tradeoff, or just a generationnal limitation (miniaturization)?

[O. Hinds]

Hm. I'm not sure how long it was, sorry. They were first presented at some point after Shadowbolt Tower became operational (at least, Rainbow Dash had reason to be there) and before Horse became Director of the O.I.A. That's still a pretty long time, though, and we don't, IIRC, know how long before then they spent being developed.

[Sponsored content]