Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion

[Kippershy]

@Tytan: (And C:O, regarding Kipper being house trained) Don't worry guys, I can break him in if needed.

Oh, you could house train me any time you like

[Ironmonger]

^I was wondering when one of you would pull that one.

[Kippershy]

-smiles- Whatever do you mean, my good sir?

[Ironmonger]

I'm pretty sure I had money on it too-*checks wallet*-YEP $50 missing.

[Kippershy]

Wait wait wait. Why on earth would you bet AGAINST me saying something like that to Kim?

[Ironmonger]

Hey I never said I bet on anyONE. Plus:

[Kippershy]

I don't even...

[Ironmonger]

I'm laughing my ass off at this. I think I have a new passtime: messing with people.

[Bootleg]

Gotta be careful with that pass-time. Some folks might take it as an invitation to take it up themselves... <.< >.> Don't look at me like that, I've no idea what you're talking about...

[Ironmonger]

There's a running joke among my friends that I'm a long lost relative of Discord's

Spoiler:

[Sindri]

Gotta be careful with that pass-time. Some folks might take it as an invitation to take it up themselves... <.< >.> Don't look at me like that, I've no idea what you're talking about...

You'd better start fast. All of us mess with all of us. All the time.

[Ironmonger]

*shoves a pie into everyonpony's faces* KTHNXPIE! *teleports away*

[Katarn]

[Ironmonger]

*teleports back and gives Twilight a hat, then proceeds to stand there with a triumphant grin*
sh:

[Formis_Fluttergod]

I haven't given you all some Blackjack for a while, so here's three times the fun!

Three times more Blackjack:

So, that also means three times more whining... We're doomed.

[Cptadder]

So that's your first assumption that those approving the project would instantly see the downside and not approve the project because of it.

Not instantly, but something so bleeding-edge and with this price tag isn't going to be approved instantly, either. The review process might be hastened by the war, but, if the two of us can think of it in less than a month of on-and-off idle speculation and discussion, I doubt that a dedicated military review board would completely overlook the idea.

I know about it because I've seen the first versions of this system in real life and the years I've spent in the Military industrial complex. In that sense it's like giving a Ford engineer credit for inventing the car if you threw him back in time to the 19th century. Could someone think of it? Yes, did anyone? As far as we know no one did.

Sometimes basic ideas escape a large number of people, look how long it took from the first gun to someone thinking "hey lets stick a bit of metal on the end so it can be used as a weapon when your reloading"

Eh… While I like this idea (and was quite keen on it before I thought about it more deeply), there are some problems. First, stealing the design would be difficult. Not that the Zebras couldn't do it, I expect, but there would be a delay between the time Equestria began production and the time the Zebras did. Second, Equestria can build these much more easily and cheaply than the Zebras can due to the gem components. The upshot is, I think, that Equestria would still take a quite significant quantity of strategic territory before an equilibrium with the new Zebra AA based on the stolen design was reached. That's a loss that the Zebras can ill afford, particularly since said territory would likely contain most or all of the land-based missile launch sites in range of Equestria. edit: Nevermind that last bit; it turns out that I misremembered some figures. However, while a SACII could in theory hit Canterlot if fired from Roam, both increased distance and the resultant increased travel time and decreased maneuvering time would increase the probability of a miss or interception.

Think is you don't need much because of casualty rates. Once you get a handful of these systems all you need to do is use them in one battle then not lose that battle to force the entire Pony airforce back to the drawing board to re do their causality rates and threat axis. After all if you lose a Thunderhead and it's entire wing to a ground based AA deathlaser that never seems to miss.

As for the land issue, I always figured that Zebra lands were in a Russia situation, they suffers setbacks but have such a large amount of land and resources even when they lose a million zebras killed or captured the ponies simply can't get to Roam fast enough for it to make a difference. In order to take Roam requires such a massive supply chain the Ponies never managed it. And the multiple tribes/clans nature of Zebras meant anytime the Ponies starting getting headway they would get a massive (seeming) attack thrown on a quieter sector in the war.

Hm? There's no superweapon design to fill the same niche, unfortunately, but filling that niche at all is risky unless it's filled well enough. The non-SS plan is "Well, we'll keep doing what we've been doing," ie lots of conventional fighters.

That makes more sense thank you, I was wondering what other superweapon design you were talking about. It makes perfect sense if pitched against losing lots of conventional warplane production for an SS inferior tech or no.

Perception 8 then argues that no, rather than being experienced with some kind of experienced veteran whose seen some shit and thus had something to weaken them, they're a small frame as it is. They rely on their keen perception to avoid being active prey by being out of the danger zone before they're even noticed.

Charisma 7 speaks to me of a smooth talking, good looking, somewhat intelligent person. Rather than getting into fights in the first place, this person is highly likely to talk their way out of them. They might offer something they have -- be it material or information, or they might offer their help to whomever may threaten them.

Intelligence 7 only confirms the previous thought about the charisma being reliant on intelligence too. Though they're very likeable by pure nature, they also have the intellect to come up with logical plans and again, will use this ability to avoid fights rather then win them.
"Why take down Goliath when you can simply skirt around him? There's a hidden path here and it'll mean that he wont see me, so it seems a good idea, as long as I'm quiet I wont get noticed!"

Who are they? Well, most likely, some form of merchant or in a job where speaking plays a large role. They're not the hardened merc and they never will be, but they're fine with that because that's not who they want to be anyway, even if they may have the occasional fantasy of being the saviour of all ponykind.

Ponies of note who these stats remind me of, would be P-21 (lowered strength & endurance from busted leg, heightened perception from living in a hostile environment all his life, his natural charisma is pretty strong -- perhaps why the Overmare chose him as her play toy in the first place, he's damn intelligent and understands a lot of things -- even if he doesn't talk in depth about them, agility 6 would suit his stealth capabilities, even with his busted leg. Luck 5 because while he WAS lucky to make it out of the Stable alive, he was unlucky in getting a harsh ride all the way through. Really, he gets moments of high and low luck in equal measure.)

Your guesses were very close on Kipper, minus the strength/endurance/agility to how I pictured them. How would your analysis change if I added two factors "This pony is a Pegasus" "This pony has no clue how to pick locks"

As for your analysis -- you hit the nail on the head, pretty much. Even to the wrestler part, something I was (and still am) considering making him in his free time. Would suit him just fine.

Naturally he'd be a heel, can't be a face with that level of Charisma. Even the Ultimate Warrior had at least a five in that and he was fucking insane.

The Mane Six are still ponies, they aren't any more powerful than any other pony, at the basest level. It's their personalities, traits, and talents that make them special, not their physical characteristics, which is what the SPECIAL stats represent. I based my assumptions on the show and the limits determined by the SPECIAL stat system.

Oh, and yeah, Rainbow's AG would be 10, if the system allowed it, but TS with INT 10? I have more doubts about that one. INT 10 is like, all-knowing, and Twi still has plenty to learn, and indeed, learns something new every week (though I wonder if she does between seasons...), so I think eight is a fair score. Nine might be pushing it.

Though, Rarity's would totally have CHR 10, easy, and Fluttershy's incredible empathy would easily afford her PER 10, as Pinkie--uh, what's Pinkie? Endurance, I'd guess, but Lil'Pip hasn't found her statuette up to where I've read. (PARTY HARD!) Her inexhaustible energy might warrant an END of 10. Though she'd be a candidate for PER just as easily due to Pinkie Sense. Applejack would most likely get END 10, that makes sense. But that leaves STR, and Fluts doesn't fit there, and Rainbow has AGI covered. So unless Applejack equals STR, Fluttershy equals PER, Pinkie equals END, Rarity equals CHR, Twi equals INT, and Rainbow equals AGL, I can't make sense of it. But neither system was meant to be compatible, SPECIAL or the Elements of Harmony, so... enh.

Strength = Applejack ("Be Strong!")
Perception = Pinkie Pie (I think hers was "Perception, it was under ___!" and I don't remember what the ___ was)
Endurance = Rarity ("Be Unrelenting!") Rarity doesn't give up. She will work day and night and give her all to a cause, even if she doesn't have any kind of physical endurance that can be attributed to hit points. She's persistent and, for her, endurance is a mental game. I think, in PH, it was even said at one point that she was the only one of the six that really controlled her ministry. She no doubt had high charisma as well but, more than anything, she always got her way.
Fluttershy = Charisma (remember how they said almost all of the ministry of peace would leave with her if she quit? Let alone how ponies are just inspired by her presence?)
Intelligence = Twilight Sparkle
Agility = Rainbow Dash

You got the rest right.

I second swicked analysis. Applejack is known for her strength, Pinkie is know for her crazy stalker powers and 4th wall breaking abilities, Rarity is nothing if not determined. Twilight Sparkle is all about the thinking and you need Agility to be the kind of flier that Dash is. And Fluttershy? When she tries she can bend all to her will.

[Admiral Stoic Rum]

... ironmonger. You have much to learn young padawan... when you break threads comeback and talk...

[Ketchup]

Looks like it's been an interesting night. Coffee, alcohol, tea, cheese, and a lurker.
RE:Coffee
I actually use espresso to wake up if I really need it, and mostly for the very strong taste, if I don't have any chocolate milk to mix with it.
I greatly enjoy coffee flavored things and the taste of straight up coffee isn't bad to me.
I've never actually tried tea. Eh. I ought to give it a try.

I only lurked these guys for a few weeks back at about chapter 30. Since chapter 5 is a very long lurk indeed.

[Cptadder]

Also IncoherentOrange, not all drugs make you happy.

Never said that. Ever. A compound fracture is something I'd rather not have the displeasure of having, but pain relief is a different matter than just using drugs for the hell of it. Somewhat, at least. Pain is a reaction to your body having something wrong with it. Now that we can remove that sensation to ease treatment and recovery of the thing that causes this pain, I don't see the purpose of not treating it with some nullifier. If the nullifier also makes you feel good, that's a side effect. I was once perscribed Tylenol-3, which contains codeine (as in, 30mg of it). Only ever took two of them. They did work, but I still felt like crap.

Did not mean to imply that InchorentOrange, what I meant to say was that people typically don't self medicate for no good reason. Thing is people take things like codeine to get over emotional problems not physical problems. But unless your plenty wealthy or just trying to experience it for the first time people don't go out there to the nicer section of town to find the nice young go-getting drug dealer to get their new fix from.

Thing is lots of drugs do alleviate the symptoms of various problems even if the problem itself is not fixed because the symptoms can be much more debilitating than the disease itself even if that's not exactly true. Being dumped by a girl tends to lead to drinking in lots of average people. Your not decreasing your emotional issues or just pushing them off for a few hours after you've sobered up and such like.

Now there are all sorts of drugs out there with various effects. For example InchorentOrange did you know there were for a long time rumors about Steve Jobs. Specifically that the guy started doing lots of cocaine in the weeks leading up to the launch of any new major Apple product. While distributors were sorting out delivery dates, assembly points and the entire supply chain, Steve would be running around with that endless energy to micromanage every little detail for 20 hours a day, pass out for four then be back at it for a month solid until everything was perfect the way he wanted it then he'd crash for a week then start doing the press circuit. Do you think less of him for that? Note the rumors are that he was doing those twenty hour days for a month solid on Cocaine not that he did them to begin with. The months leading up to a new Iphone release are always crazy.

I haven't given you all some Blackjack for a while, so here's three times the fun!

Three times more Blackjack:

So, that also means three times more whining... We're doomed.

Twice the whining, Mutant blackjack and Cyborg Blackjack have plenty to whine about, Stock Blackjack is more interested in just being Blackjack and shooting stuff. That looks like Pre Hush now quiet now Blackjack.

@Music
Lemme see, my Pandora station list is Daft Punk/Deadmau5, Phoenix/Ok Go, Coldplay/Moby, Paul Simon/Led Zeppelin, Barenaked Ladies/One Republic, Dave Matthews/Bob Marley, Blue Man Group/The Crystal Method. The /'s are for stations with multiple bands on the same station. Typically I just hit Shuffle and mix all the stations together. I shelled out for a Premium Pandora subscription each year because if you see me walking around I've got Pandora running on some device.

@The New guy
See I was a lurker as well but in my case it was because I started reading the story then started reading the comments, twenty thousand comments and forty chapters later I made my first post and de-lurked. Do you make the switch over to this forum with everyone else back during the 40s?

[Caoimhe]

Ooh, what'd I miss? A lot? OK.

I loves me some tea, specifically very dark smokey teas like lapsang souchong and whites like silver needle as well as some of the fruiter varieties. Teavana has this white pear tea that I have a huge canister of that has pear flowers in it that's sooo good.

Music? Well, music is an enourmous part of my work and non work life. It's cliched to say I listen to everything but I do, or try to. I really dig downtempo electronic, no wave post rock, 60s/70s Italian and French pop, Afrobeat, Australian country and most hiphop that isn't ironic or 'nerdcore' (I absolutely love a good dirty club banger crunk track, no matter how stupid it may be). It's hard to narrow down what I like the most but it depends on the band, although I absolutely loathe metal (except occasional hair metal for nostalgia) and dubstep. Dubstep needs to stop, like right now. I also refuse to listen to guitar comedy or comic musicians. Comedy is great and you can tell a joke if you want, but don't stretch a joke out over 3 minutes over simple acoustic chords and call yourself a musician.

[CamoBadger]

Ooh, what'd I miss? A lot? OK.

I loves me some tea, specifically very dark smokey teas like lapsang souchong and whites like silver needle as well as some of the fruiter varieties. Teavana has this white pear tea that I have a huge canister of that has pear flowers in it that's sooo good.

Music? Well, music is an enourmous part of my work and non work life. It's cliched to say I listen to everything but I do, or try to. I really dig downtempo electronic, no wave post rock, 60s/70s Italian and French pop, Afrobeat, Australian country and most hiphop that isn't ironic or 'nerdcore' (I absolutely love a good dirty club banger crunk track, no matter how stupid it may be). It's hard to narrow down what I like the most but it depends on the band, although I absolutely loathe metal (except occasional hair metal for nostalgia) and dubstep. Dubstep needs to stop, like right now. I also refuse to listen to guitar comedy or comic musicians. Comedy is great and you can tell a joke if you want, but don't stretch a joke out over 3 minutes over simple acoustic chords and call yourself a musician.

I'm sorry, but now I have to, because it makes me laugh every time.

Show Them to Me:

[tylertoon2]

Rock is my thing. Mostly the Classics, Beatles, Stones, Led Zeppelin, Sabbath, Queen ect. Also some newer stuff like Black Keys and Clutch.

I do try and Branch out a bit, I love Gorrilaz and Deadmau5, I've found I really like electroswing. Ponystep I can dig, though I haven't found any dubstep or electronic group I really like outside of ponies.

[IncoherentOrange]

Also IncoherentOrange, not all drugs make you happy.

Never said that. Ever. A compound fracture is something I'd rather not have the displeasure of having, but pain relief is a different matter than just using drugs for the hell of it. Somewhat, at least. Pain is a reaction to your body having something wrong with it. Now that we can remove that sensation to ease treatment and recovery of the thing that causes this pain, I don't see the purpose of not treating it with some nullifier. If the nullifier also makes you feel good, that's a side effect. I was once perscribed Tylenol-3, which contains codeine (as in, 30mg of it). Only ever took two of them. They did work, but I still felt like crap.

Did not mean to imply that InchorentOrange...
*snip for length*

I may have heard the rumors about Jobs, but I didn't look into it; wasn't relevant to my interests, and I don't go looking for people to sneer at, nor do I ever put stake in rumors. I should have elaborated further, that those that do self-medicate, or drink, or whatever, at the slightest provocation, because they can't cope with some stress, seem like weak people to me. Not that I really care for perceptions of weakness, since I fall under most criteria for 'weak', myself. It's a classification I have a nasty habit of assigning, but it doesn't affect how I treat people. 'That guy uses weed. What an idiot,' is a thought process that occurs often for me, no matter how good of a person they might be. But I don't mock them, nor do I attack them, at least not personally. But there are plenty of people who are smart and use weed, and it's a choice, like just about all the drugs out there. I am all for choices; everyone should have choices. Again, I'll admit, I have a nasty habit of judging people, and it's a flaw I should try to rectify if I want to be someone others would consider a good person.

...You can call me Inco or Orange, you know. I don't want to be a stranger. That way, you can't misspell my name, either. I used to be called Plague on Starcraft 1, and people would call me Plauge. Funny story, Starcraft 1 was where I learned to practice good grammar out of habit.

Elaborating further on music, I enjoy most anything that suits what I'm doing.

[tylertoon2]

Also IncoherentOrange, not all drugs make you happy.

Never said that. Ever. A compound fracture is something I'd rather not have the displeasure of having, but pain relief is a different matter than just using drugs for the hell of it. Somewhat, at least. Pain is a reaction to your body having something wrong with it. Now that we can remove that sensation to ease treatment and recovery of the thing that causes this pain, I don't see the purpose of not treating it with some nullifier. If the nullifier also makes you feel good, that's a side effect. I was once perscribed Tylenol-3, which contains codeine (as in, 30mg of it). Only ever took two of them. They did work, but I still felt like crap.

Did not mean to imply that InchorentOrange...
*snip for length*

I may have heard the rumors about Jobs, but I didn't look into it; wasn't relevant to my interests, and I don't go looking for people to sneer at, nor do I ever put stake in rumors. I should have elaborated further, that those that do self-medicate, or drink, or whatever, at the slightest provocation, because they can't cope with some stress, seem like weak people to me. Not that I really care for perceptions of weakness, since I fall under most criteria for 'weak', myself. It's a classification I have a nasty habit of assigning, but it doesn't affect how I treat people. 'That guy uses weed. What an idiot,' is a thought process that occurs often for me, no matter how good of a person they might be. But I don't mock them, nor do I attack them, at least not personally. But there are plenty of people who are smart and use weed, and it's a choice, like just about all the drugs out there. I am all for choices; everyone should have choices. Again, I'll admit, I have a nasty habit of judging people, and it's a flaw I should try to rectify if I want to be someone others would consider a good person.

...You can call me Inco or Orange, you know. I don't want to be a stranger. That way, you can't misspell my name, either. I used to be called Plague on Starcraft 1, and people would call me Plauge. Funny story, Starcraft 1 was where I learned to practice good grammar out of habit.

Elaborating further on music, I enjoy most anything that suits what I'm doing.

Incidentally look what cracked.com posted today. http://www.cracked.com/article_20023_5-illegal-drugs-with-surprisingly-wholesome-medical-uses.html?wa_user1=2&wa_user2=Science&wa_user3=article&wa_user4=feature_module

Coincidence? But No, I don't like using things that could damage me or drastically change my state of mind.

[FeatherDust]

I know the original post here was like two days ago. AND TEN PAGES BACK. How does this thread move so fast?!

Would you consider a Zebracornling, my OC, overpowered? (Zebra, Unicorn, Changeling.) I can provide a partial back-story if you want one.
[...]
See, that's where you're wrong. My OC lacks wings, the only trait inherited from the Changelings is the ability to alter one's appearance and when shifting, or using magic, his eyes take on a more changeling-esque appearance.

See, this is one of the common things I see when somebody proposes a bizarre character. They try to justify themself and nitpick any contrary argument to death. "Oh, no, no, this comment doesn't apply to MY OC because..."

And honestly I'm not trying to get down on you -- but don't dismiss what you're hearing. You're talking to people who will (hopefully) be part of your audience. You're getting a sample ahead of time here.

And it's not about "overpowered". It really isn't. Any character can be written as overpowered, and any character can be written as underpowered. I can write a story about an earth pony of such vast strength that he can crash through walls and stave in a suit of powered armor with a single buck. Power level is what you make of it.

So why do people hate alicorns? And more broadly, any mix-of-things character? Well, because there's an immediate perception -- it doesn't have to be the case with your precious OC, it's a perception -- that the author slapped on a bunch of bizarre traits because he didn't think he could make the character interesting though characterization and personality, and is using the traits as a bandage. Generally you can get away with one weird trait ("zebra hybrid", "is a wizard", "has a telepathic pet", "color-changing eyes", or what have you), but when you attach a second one, or (god help you) a third, the eyes will start to roll. It feels like you're trying to make the story be about what the character is rather than who the character is.

There's a reason the standard Hero's Journey type of story almost always starts with an average everyman. Farmboys are popular for this (Luke Skywalker, Rand Al'Thor, Tavi of Calderon, etc). They may have a power they do not, themselves, recognize; a secret heritage they don't know about; or some other such thing -- but they start the story just as normal as you or me. A mare in a dead-end job she hates and a nonexistent love life? I totally relate. A zebra-hybrid unicorn of vast, if untrained, magical power? Not so much.

Which is not to say you can't write a good story with an inherently powerful main character; a talented author can make almost any character interesting -- it's just that you're working against an automatic perception when you do it.

For example, the first Dresden Files book introduces us to Harry Dresden, private investigator wizard. But we don't open by hearing how awesome he is; we start out by seeing him laughed at for claiming to be a wizard, and then hear about his perennial financial woes. Even though he's technically a wizard, the first introduction we have is being mocked and down on his luck, which everyone can relate to. He doesn't even do any magic until chapter 3, and even then it's a soulgaze (a sort of innate, unintentional magic); the first actual spellcasting doesn't happen until chapter 6. So by the time he starts showing off his unique powers, we're well into the story and interested in the guy.

I did rather like the suggestion Caohime gave, of a story about an alicorn or similar oddity-character of whom great things are expected -- and who is totally incapable of producing great things. Even if he is no worse than your average unicorn, he's seen as less because the bar is set higher. But even if you don't do that, see if you can write, say, three chapters of your story without more than passing references to your character's unusual traits. If you can, and can make it interesting, there's a good chance that your character is worth the audience getting to know. If you find yourself struggling to get through a chapter without making it all about the character's powers and lineage, you probably have a problem and need to rethink the story.

[Stringtheory]

here's a reason the standard Hero's Journey type of story almost always starts with an average everyman. Farmboys are popular for this (Luke Skywalker, Rand Al'Thor, Tavi of Calderon, etc).

and if your writing modern day fantasy, the average high schooler (too many books and movies (mainly movies & TV shows) to count)

I did rather like the suggestion Caohime gave, of a story about an alicorn or similar oddity-character of whom great things are expected -- and who is totally incapable of producing great things.

then you should like this short story: The Saga of Dark Demon King Ravenblood Nightblade, Interior Design Alicorn

[O. Hinds]

So that's your first assumption that those approving the project would instantly see the downside and not approve the project because of it.

Not instantly, but something so bleeding-edge and with this price tag isn't going to be approved instantly, either. The review process might be hastened by the war, but, if the two of us can think of it in less than a month of on-and-off idle speculation and discussion, I doubt that a dedicated military review board would completely overlook the idea.

I know about it because I've seen the first versions of this system in real life and the years I've spent in the Military industrial complex. In that sense it's like giving a Ford engineer credit for inventing the car if you threw him back in time to the 19th century. Could someone think of it? Yes, did anyone? As far as we know no one did.

Sometimes basic ideas escape a large number of people, look how long it took from the first gun to someone thinking "hey lets stick a bit of metal on the end so it can be used as a weapon when your reloading"

Hm… Maybe. On the other hoof, it seems not all that unlikely that the Zebras already have some sort of radar-guided AAA. They could extrapolate. This would increase the time it took Equestria to implement the system, though...

Eh… While I like this idea (and was quite keen on it before I thought about it more deeply), there are some problems. First, stealing the design would be difficult. Not that the Zebras couldn't do it, I expect, but there would be a delay between the time Equestria began production and the time the Zebras did. Second, Equestria can build these much more easily and cheaply than the Zebras can due to the gem components. The upshot is, I think, that Equestria would still take a quite significant quantity of strategic territory before an equilibrium with the new Zebra AA based on the stolen design was reached. That's a loss that the Zebras can ill afford, particularly since said territory would likely contain most or all of the land-based missile launch sites in range of Equestria. edit: Nevermind that last bit; it turns out that I misremembered some figures. However, while a SACII could in theory hit Canterlot if fired from Roam, both increased distance and the resultant increased travel time and decreased maneuvering time would increase the probability of a miss or interception.

Think is you don't need much because of casualty rates. Once you get a handful of these systems all you need to do is use them in one battle then not lose that battle to force the entire Pony airforce back to the drawing board to re do their causality rates and threat axis. After all if you lose a Thunderhead and it's entire wing to a ground based AA deathlaser that never seems to miss.

Hm… And the SS itself could have a similar effect, assuming that Equestria didn't manage to kill it when it was vulnerable. After all, you may know that only bases A, B, and C have the weapons at the moment, but your opponent, even if they do know that you only have three (and that's not a given), is still never going to be quite sure that the base they're planning to attack isn't one of the three lucky ones. And given the building movement of pegasi resentment of the war already…
It's still a rather big gamble, but it's now one that I could see the ZHC maybe making.

[quote="Cptadder"]As for the land issue, I always figured that Zebra lands were in a Russia situation, they suffers setbacks but have such a large amount of land and resources even when they lose a million zebras killed or captured the ponies simply can't get to Roam fast enough for it to make a difference. In order to take Roam requires such a massive supply chain the Ponies never managed it. And the multiple tribes/clans nature of Zebras meant anytime the Ponies starting getting headway they would get a massive (seeming) attack thrown on a quieter sector in the war.[quote]
There is a lot of that, though the ability for Equestria to move massive amounts of supplies and troops by air to unimproved landing areas gives them an advantage not had by Napoleon or Hitler. That said, trying to fly a convoy of supply ships over terrain that your troops haven't even set foot in is just asking for a battery of concealed, remote-controlled, and disposable SAMs to fire at you.

By the way, have you seen the end of war zocs on my larger map (alpha version in my DA Scraps)? I'm wondering if you think that they make sense.

Hm? There's no superweapon design to fill the same niche, unfortunately, but filling that niche at all is risky unless it's filled well enough. The non-SS plan is "Well, we'll keep doing what we've been doing," ie lots of conventional fighters.

That makes more sense thank you, I was wondering what other superweapon design you were talking about. It makes perfect sense if pitched against losing lots of conventional warplane production for an SS inferior tech or no.

Yeah; it's a situation somewhat like that of the P1000, with the primary differences that the SS would actually be effective (and very so) but might be even more expensive.


I think that I'm starting to come around to your (originally my) position, but I'm still hovering. It's still a gamble with a pretty high minimum bet.

[O. Hinds]

Oh, for everyone in the US (or who owns a website that operates in the US):
http://www.internetvotes.org/

[Stringtheory]

Oh, for everyone in the US (or who owns a website that operates in the US):
http://www.internetvotes.org/

I would if I could, but I'm only 17, oh well...

[FeatherDust]

Meanwhile, in the MLP universe...
"Hey guys, my OC human is mixed-race black, white and asian. Is that OP?
"OH MY GOSH, ARE YOU KIDDING?! YES! >:o"

Taking seriously what is clearly meant in jest:

As I said in my post, overpowered isn't an inherent part of your species choice; it's all how you deal with your character.

But if you wrote a story where the main character's mixed race heritage is the focus of the story to the point that it drowns out actual characterization, yes, that would be a problem. Partly, ponies are more prone to it because things like "unicorn" or "changeling" have implied abilities and features that don't actually attach to real life races. But now let's say the asian father taught your OC all the skills of a ninja, and because of his bi-racial mother, he's six feet tall and heavily muscled, but also a scientific genius with PhD... are your eyes rolling yet?

(Please don't hit me for suggesting all Asians are ninjas, all Africans are huge, and all Caucasians are smart. I'm intentionally writing a bad character here.)

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