In Changelingia (West Equestria), Brie gains the support of a Changeling queen for his endeavors. Spark is doing his best to help an ill Wolf spiritual leader.
In Free Equestria (East Equestria), Iron is trying to intimidate a group of criminal griffin interlopers. Fantasy Play is helping to shut down an Anarchist press. Silver is helping his new household. Amber Sunset is walking through the city, and Dark Star has just finished helping the orphans.
2365 replies and 46 files omitted.
>>133614>I myself often have difficulty with femalesOkay, that's a funny line.
>>133614She says this but what is the tone of her voice?
>>133616First line with regards to anarchism: urging, slightly indignant
Second line, with regards to Fantasy not liking the work: consoling but supportive.
>>133614Fantasy still looks a bit sad when she lifts up her head to meet Blue Skies' gaze. She wipes away her tears with her hoof.
"I'll need some time... to... mull this over. Do we go back and leave these pamphlets at headquarters?" Fantasy taps her saddlebag. "Or can we visit a dairy bar before that I could go for an ice-cream."
>>133618"We can leave the pamphlets back at headquarters, sure. I'm not sure how much information about their origins we can gleam from that. What we really need is for Mint to give up the name of the pony who is providing her these pamphlets, as that pony - hopefully - knows the actual source. It would make sense to wait a while before coming back to her though, so it seems like you've had time to read them and consider what she said." She blinks. "There's enough time for ice-cream."
>>133619Fantasy seems to be half-listening at first but thwn she nods.
"Then let's leave for that dairy bar. I need something to cool my head. It is burning up like furance."
She starts to walk over but thens stops and turns around.
"Well, heh. I guess you should lead the way."
>She starts to walk over but thens stops and turns around.
>"Well, heh. I guess you should lead the way."
And the prize of the most jarring tone-shift goes to...
>>133620"I don't... really know many dairy bars... uh..."
She turns around to Fantasy and looks at her skeptically
"It's winter, and you have less hair now to keep your head warm."
[1d20 = 6] "Tell that to my head," Fantasy rubs her forehead with her hoof. "But fine, let's just go back to HQ and I will slump down in a couch there or something while drowning myself in cold tap water."
>>133623"No... We can, uh, find an ice cream place. Somewhere."
Blue Skies looks around
"If you had asked for a bar I would have a dozen local recommendations. Let me see, where have I seen an ice cream parlor..."
>>133624Fantasy remembers the map she bought at the train station and holds it out between them in her magic.
"I wonder if this has dairy bars amrked on it."
>>133624>>133623After a few blocks, and looking down to each side, Blue Skies says "There we go" and trots over to the left, to a corner shop in a building with a white coloration and a set of colored circles over the top that look like icecream in a bowl. Going inside, there is a tan stallion at the counter, and of course many flavors of icecream on display
>>133626Fantasy orders a bowl with three balls of ice-cream if they exist. She orders blueberry, chocklate, and strawberry flavours. On that she pours caramell sauce and a slice of banana. Is this possible?
>>133627Strawberry, Chocolate, caramel sauce and banana slices are all available. But Blueberry ice-cream, unfortunately, is not available
That's fine, she then takes something random for that ball of ice-cream and pays the stallion. She then moves towards a desolate table where the two can speak in private.
What does Skies order? Does she order anything?
>>133630There' s a mint flavor. Just saying....
The ice cream costs seven bits
Blue Skies: "More expensive than a mane cut"
Skies does not order anything
There is a table past the door in the corner of the parlor, where the two may sit
>>133631Fantasy sits down there.
She sneaks a spoon of ice-cream over to her cat and holds a hoof below it to catch any spill.
>>133632Mr. Snuggles moves his head back at the spoon shoved in his face.... At first. But after a moment, he licks the ice cream
>>133633After he is done, Fantasy takes a spoon for herself. Her spoon cuts a banana slice into a smaller piece, dips it in caramell suace, and then scoop up some chocklad ice-cream on the spoon.
"Mmm..." she mumbles with plasure on her features after she had consumed the spoon's contents.
She then sighs a calming sigh.
She meets the gaze of Skies.
"You didn't buy anything," she says.
>>133634"Well, no... I have to keep my figure after all."
She has a sort of half-smile
I'll stop here for today. This was a great session.
>>133636>>133637Huzzah! Goodnigth, and I'll see you again
>>133613Ah, in distress. Call up on... Okay, I got it.
>>133635Fantasy's eyebrows heighten.
"Well, good thing I don't."
>>133645She gives a kind of confused smile, and then shrugs
“Well... carry on eating then.”
>>133646Fantasy eats a bit more in silence. After some time has passed, Fantasy make eye-contact with Skies again. Her face still carries the glum exprsssion from before but perhaps a bit less strained.
"So, you said I did good for my first time?" she says.
>>133648Blue Skies seems to stare at her the whole time while Fantasy eats her ice cream.
“I mean you bonded with her fairly well. Made her think you were real, that you were interested in what she was trying to sell. But you didn’t get the name of her friend.” She tilts her head and looks off to the side. “Not that she would have given that to a filly she just met anyways.”
>>133649Fantasy nods.
"Though, I wonder a bit, now in hindsight, mmmm.... Why you gave me this mission. I said that my specialities *lips smack* were sneaking and illusions and you gave me a social infiltration mission," Fantasy says while taking spoons of ice-cream. "But I'm glad I did well, though." Fantasy adds.
>>133650“Well... The Blackhooves don’t exactly get to chose what tasks they have to do. Preventing the spread of propaganda that may incite rebellion is just part of the job description.”
Then she looks at Fantasy, and smiles wickedly
“Besides. Who says you
won’t get to sneak and use illusions? We’ve only just begun.”
>>133651Fantasy still looking a bit guilty cracks a small smile.
"I'm glad that it can still happen," she says. "Does this mean I'm hired?"
>>133652“Well” she looks up and off to the side. Then back to Fantasy with a more norma smile. “On a mission-by-mission basis. We use quite a few local informants, after all.”
>>133653Fantasy nods.
"That's fine. While I do this for the cause, I cannot live on that alone and I have a feeling I will try to take on as many missions as possible. I want to at least a get a small salary per mission.
>>133654“Don’t worry about that. They pay by the mission, by the bounty, and for information. For as long as the sparks of rebellion threaten to become fires, there will be missions.”
>>133655Fantasy scrapes up the last part of the now melted ice-cream from the bowl.
"Okay," Fantasy says and nods. "Then I say I like to return and cash in these pamphlets." Fantasy tries to wink at Skies but since she still feels bad it comes off as forced and pats her bag. "It would also be intresting to read what they say. Maybe we can find some clues on the whereabouts of the printers on them."
>>133656Um... let me see if I can think of anything>>133657“You can try...” she says
“But I’m not sure it will be so simple.”
>>133658"Yeah, probably," Fantasy says.
Fantasy stands up and walks over to the tan stallion.
"The ice-cream was tasteful. I may return."
She then leaves teh establisment with Mr. Snuggles on her back. I assume that Skies follow after.
"There were two times which I had to stop myself from speaking up before." Fantasy looks into the ground. "When she talked about equality and hierachies and the idea that the fascists were trying to divide creatures through nationality.
"First, I don't believe that, even if we wanted to, a world could exist without hierarchies. It's just the nature of nature.
Fantasy starts to stare up into the sky above.
"Second, I find it sad and hilarious taht she thinks that the divide between creatures is artifical but the one between classes isn't."
>>133660She nods
“I know the feel. I’ve had to learn to hold my tongue as well. There is a hierarchy of creatures in nature, and for the same reasons, a hierarchy in everything nature produces. Ponies who follow these ideologies tend to hate hierarchy because they often find themselves on the bottom. They don’t understand how to run a society or an economy. You couldn’t run a daycare without a clear understanding who who does what and who has final say in what is done, let alone a country. As for this ‘unity across nations... they don’t understand that ponies are like ands and bees. They live in hives by nature. Destroying the hive does little good.”
She sighs
“But ideologues similar to these, if not the same, hold sway in many parts of Equestria and parts of the world. It will take a long time to rehabilitate this area. Everypony has their place. Everypony has their role. Fighting that leads to unhappiness. But making ponies see that... is more challenging than I’d wish.”
>>133662Fantasy mostly nods throghout Skies' dialogue.
"Mmm... Yes. Though I would say that mare knew her craft well. I assume that she thinks stuff like this because she pities the creature and ponies below her. She might not fully understand that money cannot be given to everypony that has it rough.
"Although, from where I'm form this did not matter because ponies help each other for free. The idea that social benefits from the tgoverment were to solve everything never even entered our minds."
>>133663She shrugs
“She’s an Earth Pony. They always find themselves on the bottom of society, and they always want to get out of it. Government is a tool of it sometimes. Sometimes it’s unions. But always, it’s the same peasant revolt.”
>>133664"I suppose that's fair. I wouldn't trust some higher standing ponies to always be on the lookout for my best intrests. To seek power isn't wrong but the methods can be.
"Though I would say that I never seen any branch of socialism as peasenats revolting, its kmore like they are used by someone powerful to their purposes rather than for a cause." <- Would have liked to add this buI'm not sure if this is something she would say. "Anyway, let's get back to HQ."
>>133665“Seeking power is wrong when the ponies seeking it can’t use it well” she says.
But the two ponies walk back to HQ, arriving back at the offices
>>133666I guess we'll stop here until Dark Star returns.
Anyway, this a was fun and a fine session. .
Once it gets closer to dinner, Silver gets up and goes to the kitchen to prepare their food.
>>133668This is pretty straightforward, with the kitchen having all the necessary equipment, and mod ingredients
>>133669Then Silver gets to work preparing the stroganoff. He also tries pan frying some of the crocogator meat they got for Mala.
>>133670Hopefully Silver knows how to prepare both. The electric stove isn’t quite as powerful as the gas or even wood stoves Silver is familiar with, but he makes so
>>133672Silver is able to complete both: stroganoff, and fried alligator
>>133675Silver sets the table, and calls out to the household.
"Dinner!"
>>133673I'll probably leave the station soon if Darkstar doesn't show. Then I'll just check on the pamhplets and then leave. Our characters can bump into each other on the streets.
I will give Darkstar sometime thought but otherwise it make sesne that my charcter would take the rest of the day off and not meet Darkstar (if he doesn't appear) since he is in a meeting with Seabreeeze.
>>133676Khoi and Jubilosa enter the room together, while Mala, last to enter, is the first to the table. Jubilosa looks with intrigue at the new food while Khoi examines it with caution. Mala sniffs both the struganoff and the fried alligator with enthusiasm
>>133677Hopefully he'll be around tomorrow...
>>133678Silver serves up portions of the stroganoff onto everyone's plates, and serves up a portion of fried gator to Mala. He looks over to the other carnivore in the room.
"Want some crocogator, Jubilosa?"
>>133710Each of the creatures looks at the strogranoff as it is placed. Mala bends over to sniff the stroganoff, and then the fried alligator. Jubilosa looks down at the stroganoff with curiousity, and then picks up a fork to move it. Khoi is rather skeptical of the stroganoff, unsure about it.
Jubilosa:
"Crocogator? What's a crocogator?"
But when she looks over to Mala's plate, she says,
"Oh. Sure. I'll try it, I guess."
I'll wait a bit more. No stress.
>>133712Hopefully Dark Star will return soon. Hopefully...
>>133711The stroganoff moves, well, like a cassarole. Noodles provide the base of the dish, covered in a simple sauce of cream of mushroom soup and sour cream, with extra mushrooms to add more substance to the meal.
He looks over to Khoi, and smiles.
"Go ahead, try it. It is quite good!"
He sevres some meat to Jubilosa and then sits down in front of his own plate. He licks his lips before digging into the satisfying meal.
We need to send a radio signal to see if Dark Star and Iron are okay
>>133721Khoi seems rather hesitant looking at it. She looks over to Mala and Jubilosa.
Jubilosa, however, uses a fork to try to pick up some of the aligator meet, moving it up in her beak in exactly the manner you’d expect a bird to eat. Mala basically just puts his muzzle directly in the Stroganoff.
[1d2 = 1] >>133724>>133721Khoi picks up a fork, and starts nibbling on the Stroganov, with an expression of discomfort and uncertainty
If Dark Star and/or Fantasy shows up I can squeeze in a session, otherwise I won't be here
>>133733Would like to play but has some stuff on my mind. I think another day. I just can't hack it today.
However, I think my character will seek out yours next time I play. >>133735Um, okay. Hope you can play tomorrow
>>133725Silver at least looks like he's enjoying the meal.
>>133739Jubilosa eats a piece of alligator, and then another and another. She's eaten a significant portion of it before she tries the Stroganoff. She takes a small sample with her fork, tastes it, and looks off to the side to contemplate it, before using her fork to eat it in earnest.
Mala sticks his muzzle into the stroganov and eats a portion of it, before pulling his muzzle out and licking his nose and lips - covered in cream - for many seconds, before placing his muzzle into the plate of fried aligator. Mala eats all of the fried alligator quickly, always directly with his mouth, simply biting off pieces where the meat is too large to swallow. When this is done, Mala goes back to the stroganov, especially liking to lick up the cream.
Khoi is the slowest to eat, trying but struggling to use a fork, before using her magic directly to pick up noodles. She chews the noodles extensively, unlike Jubilosa and Mala, who don't or very possibly can't chew. She often looks over to Mala and Jubilosa with concern o judgement, and while Mala does not notice, her glance seems to provoke Jubilosa to switch from the alligator meat to the stroganov. Khoi avoids the cream where she can, and eats mostly just the noodles.
Nova Griffonia is a much better country to play for a new player than Equestria is. You won't get dec'd on by anyone else and there are hardly any unexpected surprises. There are several very fun paths to go down, and the research bonuses you get from national focuses are useful for keeping up in different areas.
I picked Goldfeather for the ancap memes and it's actually a fun and very different way to play the game. You can actually get civilian factories in return for volunteers which is a great help for such a small country, and it lets you play the game and get experience without risk of getting invaded. I've found that special ops units (mountaineers and knights in particular) are the best option, at least because my main army templates are still substandard. You can basically ignore navy and air force as you can't use those as mercenaries, though I'm playing catch-up with those since I'm boosting fascism across the northern hemisphere and maybe making a faction.
Also it was disappointing to see how the Equestria AI trounced the Karthianian Empire. Then again, it clearly had naval superiority whereas my navy was bugged in the other game. Interestingly that bug hasn't surfaced in this game. Also the Griffonian Republic's faction declared war on the Empire which never happened in my last game.
>>133741Silver looks up from his food and over to Khoi. His raises his eyebrow and tilts his head slightly to the left.
"Why do you not use fork?"
>>133742I remember playing Goldfeather... It's been over a year and a half, but I do remember it. Nova Griffonia can be fun. Navies haven't really entirely worked right since Man the Guns.>>133743She looks back to him, with wide eyes.
"Uh...."
This is getting pretty far off-topic, but has anyone else played Darkest Hour? I wanted to get some vanilla HOI in but for some strange reason the vanilla game crashes after loading though EaW works fine. The next best thing was to try Darkest Hour, a "Hearts of Iron game" that is a standalone built by the modding community. It's based on HOI2 which I've heard is the best HOI game. It certainly is a very different sort of game and has a vast amount of depth.
The amount of depth in the game is astounding. For one, the time-frame extends from WW1 all the way to 1970. The densely-packed research system works off a research team system--rather than have a flat bonus based on government ministers (though you can get that too), you hire teams according to their expertise and skill level. I think the political system is far superior since rather than four ideologies, you get ten Kaiserreich-style depending on the axes of democratic/authoritarian and left/right. Diplomacy and intelligence are both self-managing for the most part. Although there are decisions, there are no focus trees, and outside of special events you can change the path of your country's politics only very gradually. Being an older game it isn't heavy on the visuals (and I still don't know if there are any hotkeys), but it makes up for it with the sheer amount of flavor text in the game (every historical government minister of every country is present!)
Part of me wishes that EaW was made in this game because of how well-grounded everything is. HOI4 is definitely a much more arcadey and "dumbed-down" game in comparison, but that probably works better for a cartoony setting. Still, if you like the history aspect of Hearts of Iron then check out DH.
>>133749Huzzah! I got one good line of dialogue
>>133752That does sound pretty neat. It reminds me of the "Realism Invictus" mod for Civilization 4, which has something like three times the detail of the base game
>>133744Silver smiles at her.
"It is okay, I am just curious. I have not seen unicorn - or kirin, in this case - eat like that."
>>133754She is silent for a moment, looks down, then back up to Silver, and blinks
"What is this?"
>>133755"What is what? Fork? Stroganoff? I am afraid you will have to be more specific."
>>133757He looks at the cream, and gives an amused smile.
"Cream of mushroom soup and sour cream. It is very good!"
He demonstrates by using his fork to impale some noodles and a large piece of mushroom from his plate, scooping up some of the cream sauce, and eating the savoury bite with a look of definite enjoyment.
>>133758She watches with something between fascination and horror
>>133759Silver swallows the bite, and smiles at Khoi.
"You do not have to eat it, and you especially are not obligated to like it, but it would be nice to see you try it before you give final judgement."
>>133764Now Silver looks confused.
"Cream of mushroom soup and sour cream...? I am afraid I do not understand."
>>133766“Yes. This uh... this ‘sour cream’ she says.”
>>133767"Oh, that! Sour cream is made from cow's milk."
>>133769She narrows her eyes and slowly nods her head
“I see...”
>>133770Silver now looks even more confused.
"What is wrong, Khoi?"
>>133771“Is using animal for food.” She says
>>133772"...uh...well, yes, I suppose technically. It does not hurt cow to make, though."
>>133774Pretty much, yes.>>133777She looks up at him, silently for a moment, and then over to the other two
“Very well...”
She picks up more noodles with her magic, and tries to eat them
>>133779Silver shrugs to her use of magic instead of her fork, and resumes eating the last of the stroganoff on his plate. He leans back in his seat once he's finished, giving his stomach a satisfied pat.
"Ahhhhh, that hit spot..."