[GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion

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Welcome to the Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion Thread!
This is the place to discuss Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons, a Fallout/MLP:FiM crossover fic by Somber. Story discussion is on the left, group therapy to the right. Please try to schedule your emotional breakdowns when they don't conflict with anyone else's.

Rules
We have just a few simple rules here.

1. Don't put down Somber.
   
2. Project Horizons is a grimdark fic which deals with adult topics, so we might discuss subjects that some readers may find uncomfortable. Be mature about it.
   
3. If Somber or a member of the editing team says to end a discussion, please do so.
   
4. Spoilers abound. If you're not current on the fic, we recommend that you catch up before you read on.
   
5. Expect random discussions that may or may not have anything to do with the story.
   
6. Have fun!

People You Should Know
Somber: The author of Project Horizons, creator of Blackjack, maker of awesomeness, is a small gray mare who lives in the head of a guy named David. Ignore her claims of suckage.
Bronode, O. Hinds, and Snipehamster: Your editing team, presented in alphabetical order. They make awesome writing look all shiny and pretty.
Kkat: The author of the original Fallout: Equestria. Not a participant in this discussion (yet), but you should be aware of her anyway. If you haven't read FOE, why are you even here? Go! Read!

Somber's Tip Jar
Thank-yous of the monetary variety may be made through PayPal. Simply click on Send Money, send it to David13ushey@gmail.com and mark it as a personal gift.

Story Links
GoogleDocs chapter index - Links to every chapter, plus FOE and FOEPH resources, media, and story download formats.
.epub Format - Thanks to Scorch_Mechanic.
LaTeX ebook .pdf - Thanks to ThePowersGang.
Nallar's Fanfic Archive - An auto-updated collection of fics offered in a variety of formats including Kindle .mobi, .epub, and .html.

[IncoherentOrange]

IRL I favor shotguns, carbines and knives. I know nothing about X-COM

In XCOM, you have four classes, which are:

Assault, which uses shotguns or assault rifles and favor close-quarters and accomodate defensive or critical hit focus.

Heavy, which uses light machine guns and rocket launchers, with abilities that favor either weapon.

Sniper, which uses, of course, sniper rifles, with abilities that focus on their ability to work alone or to support the team.

And Support, which uses assault rifles, with a smoke grenade, and has abilities that focus on that or the Medikit backpack item.

Oh, and OMD-SK, play Ironman mode, so you can kill us off for real!

[Frost]

Sounds like I'd be Assault, then

[Ironmonger]

Assault.

[OneMoreDaySK]

Two assaults, two shiv. Ironmanning, trying my hardest to keep you all friggin alive. You all will survive, even if I have t'throw redshirt after redshirt into the grinder. Well, at least shivs I can rebuild.

[Ironmonger]

On Steam.

Ironmonger: "I went to Iran."
Ironmonger: "That doesn't make any sense."
Ironmonger: "What?"
Ironmonger: "You ran to where?"
Raymark: "Mother fucker i said I went to Iran"
Ironmonger: "How bout you walk"
Raymark: "Cause walking is for the elderly and hipsters"

[Frost]

Is there anything like this in X-COM?



That and the ACR are my favorite weapons

[Cptadder]

I figured he wanted to give it an explosive that could make a shockwave within the body since, as you say, fragmentation would be useless. To do that, he needs magic. I mentioned 20mm being the start point for useful explosive loadings earlier.
Edit: Oh, and he wanted to save metal. Not sure why he'd need to, a bullet is very small.

So make it a rifle grenade, it's quite easy to mount up to 40mm grenades from any standard 6mm or above rifle and explosives don't need to move fast for infantry use.

A grenade rifle as a military's primary close quarters combat firearm?

I think he meant something like this.

Ah, I see. Still, though, that and a rifle to fire it from does not seem like the ideal general-issue firearm for use inside buildings or cramped shipboard conditions.

They don't require a rifle to fire, it's just that rifles are handy to launch them accurately since you can easily mount the spring leaf pop up ranging sight which you really can't do in pistols and smgs. However they do exist for both pistols and smgs, they are unwieldy however and the lack of being able to brace it against something means they kick like a mule... no pun intended.

Still if you want to use this thing in ships you don't want explosives because that ruins your ability to capture ships intact, as for standard buildings don't you want penetration not explosives with explosives role be handled by grenades?

*Still catching up on the thread fyi.

[Kattlarv]

@Swicked: So... does this mean you'll have to take a job as a security guard? xP And my back is almost functional, again.

And sorta scrap that last part, some loose sends are still left, said it was finished since I had plans to finish it, but as said... more than one thing messed up ^=^'

@Iron: Come now, this isn't the first time I've seen a reaction like this hehe.

@Cao: Well, I'm not seeing you contribute to derail the thread in another direction. I've already made several bellow the belt comments about your avatar, not endorsed them a single time :P

@OMDSK: Wai not?
And while it is a tad bit flat, they have quite a dozen of innovative things in it.

@EP: Again: Mutant Chronicles. It pleases slagathor, Bauhaus FTW!

[Ironmonger]

@Iron: Come now, this isn't the first time I've seen a reaction like this hehe.

I didn't know you were a chemist.

[IncoherentOrange]

Is there anything like this in X-COM?
*image*

That and the ACR are my favorite weapons

Spoiler:

[O. Hinds]

Bah, can't think of how to make FO:E cast, so instead I'm going to add y'all to my XCOM team. Any classes, genders, and playstyles you want in particular? Also have no idea, but I've gotten a whole lot of female characters instead of guys. O.o

I know nearly nothing about the game, but feel free to make me female if you need to give someone else a male role.

[O. Hinds]

I figured he wanted to give it an explosive that could make a shockwave within the body since, as you say, fragmentation would be useless. To do that, he needs magic. I mentioned 20mm being the start point for useful explosive loadings earlier.
Edit: Oh, and he wanted to save metal. Not sure why he'd need to, a bullet is very small.

So make it a rifle grenade, it's quite easy to mount up to 40mm grenades from any standard 6mm or above rifle and explosives don't need to move fast for infantry use.

A grenade rifle as a military's primary close quarters combat firearm?

I think he meant something like this.

Ah, I see. Still, though, that and a rifle to fire it from does not seem like the ideal general-issue firearm for use inside buildings or cramped shipboard conditions.

They don't require a rifle to fire, it's just that rifles are handy to launch them accurately since you can easily mount the spring leaf pop up ranging sight which you really can't do in pistols and smgs. However they do exist for both pistols and smgs, they are unwieldy however and the lack of being able to brace it against something means they kick like a mule... no pun intended.

Still if you want to use this thing in ships you don't want explosives because that ruins your ability to capture ships intact, as for standard buildings don't you want penetration not explosives with explosives role be handled by grenades?

*Still catching up on the thread fyi.

So you think that they'd be better off putting in the extra production lines and metal supplies needed and just make two (four, if the normal/AP distinction is included) different designs of bullets?

[Ironmonger]

I aint gonna lie, Swicked your job sounds boring as hell. Is it?

[Frost]

Is there anything like this in X-COM?
*image*

That and the ACR are my favorite weapons

Spoiler:

That gun I showed you was a Saiga 12, and in the words of Jayne, "It is my very favorite gun."

It's essentially a 12-gauge Kalashnikov, and you can get pretty crazy as far as modding it out goes. My favorite assault rifle would be the ACR or AR15-based guns. I don't know much about the guns in X-com

[Ironmonger]

As silly as it sounds, mercenary work. From what I hear they do a lot of work for the CIA, pretty good for someone who will eventually be a military veteran. Get to see various places, pay is good, possibility of fighting. Police/SWAT work would be interesting. As smart as I am I couldn't hold down an engineering job given I'm slow on some subjects and my brain likes to switch around numbers when I'm working.

[Frost]

Preferred term is Private Military contractor. Me and Iron are both planning 4 years in the military then PMC or police work

[Ironmonger]

I dislike the idea of people shooting at me, though.

I do too but that's why you shoot back! XD
Honestly I've expected to be going into the military ever since I was little, and now more than ever it seems to be the best choice for me. Worst thing that happens is I get religious. (props to anyone who gets what I mean)

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country. "

[Frost]

I dislike the idea of people shooting at me, though.

I do too but that's why you shoot back! XD
Honestly I've expected to be going into the military ever since I was little, and now more than ever it seems to be the best choice for me. Worst thing that happens is I get religious. (props to anyone who gets what I mean)

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country. "

Religious. Holy. Full of holes

[Ironmonger]

Holy, filled full of holes.

[Ketchup]

That was a terrible pun. Clever, but terrible.

[Ironmonger]

That was a terrible pun. Clever, but terrible.

Aint my pun, but leave Terry Bull out of this!

*shotgun racks*

Okay I'll stop.

EDIT: "Holy molie that's a lot of holies!"

[OneMoreDaySK]

Ironmonger you stupidly suicidal maniac. You get panicked by a muton, then proceed to charge at him and shoot him to death. You are so lucky that I have Hinds as a medic to patch you up after that.
So currently I have, nicknames only:
Assault (Male) Ironmonger
Assault (Male) Frost
Support (Female) Kim
Support (Male) Hinds

A plasma pistol wielding sniper named Homage (so many lucky crits)
Assault (Female) Blackjack [trying to get psi]
Assault (Female) Littlepip [trying to get psi]
Support (Female) Glory [archangel suit]
Sniper (Male) Calamity [archangel suit]

Going to build
Shiv - Ketchup
Floating Shiv - Orange

Ugh, psionic characters are so hard to get. I'm going with Psi->Magic in my mind so... yeah.

[Ironmonger]

Ironmonger you stupidly suicidal maniac. You get panicked by a muton, then proceed to charge at him and shoot him to death. You are so lucky that I have Hinds as a medic to patch you up after that.

That was a costly fight because it wasn't free of charge, and now I'm a pirate because I'm all patched up. If there's pan-ick from a muton then perhaps I shouldn't cook lamb anymore. Please don't shoot me.

[Cptadder]

So you think that they'd be better off putting in the extra production lines and metal supplies needed and just make two (four, if the normal/AP distinction is included) different designs of bullets?

Do they have access to plastic? You can make pure blast grenades out of several types of plastic or very thin metal which are great offensive grenades since they rely on the pure blast effect rather than shrapnel which means you can use them much closer to you than a standard fragmentation grenade. The lethality cone of a standard grenade is eight meters with the base plate lethal out to 15 meters but a pure blast grenade is lethal inside three meters only but is still effective (Loud bang, lots of dust) in an entire room in enclosed spaces. Putting aside plastics it's quite possible to cast pure blast grenades out of easy to make clay, in fact the first grenades were clay and you don't need to make it the burning fuse type seen in old Batman serials, you could rig any one of a number of traditional pull and throw types. The Japanese were pioneers in this during the lead up to the presumed invasion of Japan finding all sorts of interesting things to cast grenades into including old tin cans (Something you can already do in Fallout), wooden boxes and very nasty low yield bamboo bombs.

As Bullets don't need to be solid slug to save metal you can use a alternative less war useful material like again some kinds of plastic or good old lead, brass or several other types. Or just go hollowpoint in mass and reduce the amount of material per bullet by a good 40%.

[Frost]

That was a terrible pun. Clever, but terrible.

Aint my pun, but leave Terry Bull out of this!

*shotgun racks*

Okay I'll stop.

EDIT: "Holy molie that's a lot of holies!"

Heh, I wonder what you'll be like when you get back from your tour of duty.

Me and him, optimistically, will be more-or-less the same, personality-wise

[Ironmonger]

Heh, I wonder what you'll be like when you get back from your tour of duty.

This sums it up pretty well.

[Ironmonger]

Me and him, optimistically, will be more-or-less the same, personality-wise

I've met a lot of marines, one of my better friends being one of them, and you're right... that's a really optimistic expectation.

That's a bit of a different case, you are talking about the Marine Corps, we are going Army. However the issue of some sort of trauma be it physical or emotional a risk. Part of this decision comes from my grandpa being a demolitions expert from the Army during the Korean War.

[Ironmonger]

From what I've heard and partly read, the marines are usually in the thick of it and their training is a bit more harsh. We have a healthy chance of getting stationed on a military base somewhere rather than active combat though it's always a risk. Biggest fear is snipers.

[Frost]

One thing we have going for us is that we aren't going in wanting to be "badass" or any infantile delusions some people have upon joining the military, we're ready to do our jobs and be a part of a team

Also, a lot of wartime psychological trauma is due to being forced to kill, and call me a sociopath but that doesn't bother me.

As for our duty stations, to be honest I'm rather hoping for an active station. I'd rather die young and fighting than spend my career on a base

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