42
« on: January 06, 2013, 02:53:33 am »
In my Napoleonic model of Equestria's military, I've long had horned helmets as standard issue kit. It fills the role of a bayonet for the average musketpony, which is needed since ponies can't use bayoneted weapons on a battle saddle rig.
If you're worried about magic not being usable due to coned protection, simple fix. Widen the cone out to give the horn breathing room and cut off the tip of the cone so the upper part of the horn is exposed. The possibilities of pony combat has long fascinated me. With how enchanting works, it's possible to make firearms that don't need gunpowder, just lead balls fed by a hopper. Equestrian artillery would be COMPLETELY devastating. Combine enchanted magical shells with intelligence gathered by quick flying pegasi and you can launch devastating coordinated attacks without the need for radios.
I played the original pony Victoria 2 mod over the summer after the end of the first season, it was fin coming up for the pony equivalents of infantry, cavalry, dragoons, and how everything would work together. How does an earth pony reload a blackpowder weapon? I theorized a reloading system based on how the US military organized itself in World War Z, they fight around caches of ammunition and rifles with a team or reloaders. On the attack, ponies make their way to the front one row at a time. First fire, second moves up. Second fires, 3rd moves up, and so on. Meanwhile behind the regiment there are ponies busy at work reloading new rifles and moving munitions forward to keep pace with the lineponies. Ponies at the back get both of their rifles (one on each side of a battle saddle) replaced with a fresh reloaded one and wait for their turn to fire, weapons are constantly being reloaded to provide a continual rate of fire. The next evolution on this tactic is for the unit to adopt a more loose formation to allow freshly reloaded ponies to move directly to the first rank instead of waiting. Defensive and retreating maneuvers are also in my book of pony tactics but they all function similarly to the offensive model, relies heavily on well coordinated support and harmony.
After reading a bit of Fallout Equestria I instantly knew that mouth fired guns are dumbfucktarded. However my solution to it is a bit complicated, or rather more complicated than it needs to be. It's akin to the many strange gun patents of the late 1800s and early 1900s that never saw production or even the light of day. I didn't know how it would work exactly but the pistol would be strapped on the shin of a foreleg. In order to fire a pony would have to first extend their leg forward and then flex a shoulder muscle to fire. How this would work, I don't really know but it would solve nearly all instances of accidental misfire since two specific actions have to first be made that aren't done in normal walking or interacting. Not being equine I lack the necessary point of view needed to conceptualize a practical pistol. Well except for a pistol mounted on a pony's head and fired with a standard trigger bit, but that'd look silly. Also damage sensitive pony ears if gunpowder is the propellant.
I consider myself an expert in theoretical pony warfare, mostly since I haven't seen anyone else try to come up with tactics or hardware solutions from a pony perspective rather than force human concepts onto them. Except for Kkat. The trigger bit and battlesaddle are genius. I'm very confident I wouldn't have thought of them.
In that case I'll try working in some robot pets for invaders. Thanks for pointing that out!