My Little Pony LXXXIV: That's Not Canon Yet!

[Rater202]

It's about half the diameter and 15% of the size of Earth and only 11% of the mass: surface gravity is only 0.37g.

*grumbles about stupid lieing science classes*

Still, if someone was going to try terraforming it into something livable, getting some oxygen there would be a priority, right? The point I was making was that sending some kind of plant to produce oxygen would be the start of the process.

...or am I just way off on this entire thing.

[Aotrs Commander]

*grumbles about stupid lieing science classes*

Still, if someone was going to try terraforming it into something livable, getting some oxygen there would be a priority, right? The point I was making was that sending some kind of plant to produce oxygen would be the start of the process.

...or am I just way off on this entire thing.

You realise that process took millions (possibly billions, I can't remember off the top of my head and it's way too late for me to go checking) of years to happen on Earth, right?

How many hundreds or thousands (being generous) of years were you planning to wait...?

[Forum Explorer]

*grumbles about stupid lieing science classes*

Still, if someone was going to try terraforming it into something livable, getting some oxygen there would be a priority, right? The point I was making was that sending some kind of plant to produce oxygen would be the start of the process.

...or am I just way off on this entire thing.

Oxygen, sure. But really even more CO2 would be beneficial. Mar's atmosphere is really thin (100 times thinner then ours). It's so thin that even if it's composition was identical to ours, we still wouldn't be able to breath because there just wouldn't be enough air.

I still think the first step would be to somehow steal the atmosphere of Venus and bring a large percent of it over to Mars. (Yes that does sound absurdly difficult and requiring super advanced tech. But at least that would start the terraforming of two different planets at once)

[Rater202]

You realise that process took millions (possibly billions, I can't remember off the top of my head and it's way too late for me to go checking) of years to happen on Earth, right?

How many hundreds or thousands (being generous) of years were you planning to wait...?

I was figuring that placing plant matter would be one of those things you set in place when you got there and then let go in the background while you us advanced tech and stuff to terraform it manually.

...Though I figure if you'd need a bigger atmosphere, you'd have to increase the gravity somehow. Otherwise the atmosphere would just bleed out into space and you'd have screwed up Venus for no reason.

I'm just going to shut up on this.

[SiuiS]

Boy it's been busy lately. No time to catch up. Only time to report on the paramilitary training of seaponies.

Spoiler

Show

"If it has eyes, we can Peek-a-Boo it."

[Rater202]

Boy it's been busy lately. No time to catch up. Only time to report on the paramilitary training of seaponies.

Spoiler

Show

"If it has eyes, we can Peek-a-Boo it."

*gains resonance*

[DigoDragon]

If anyone actually knows what the hell I'm talking about, feel free to correct my errors, or point out flaws, or just tell me it's BS.

Well you have good ideas, so here's a suggestion on making it happen-- Built your Martian city underground. Start with small contained colonies to support a few colonists and expand out. Being underground keeps your air in and solar radiation out.

The lack of a magnetic field is a big problem for life on Mars. No solar flare shield is bad.

It is also a big issue for anyone wanting to make the trip out there.

Neither the atmosphere nor soil are any good at keeping heat

The soil is pretty fine in composition. It's more like dust and it'll get in your everything. :x
It's also fill of iron-oxide, but real pretty to look at.

Still, if someone was going to try terraforming it into something livable, getting some oxygen there would be a priority, right?

It would certainly be up high on my list.

Boy it's been busy lately. No time to catch up. Only time to report on the paramilitary training of seaponies.

Spoiler

Show

EEEEEE!! Such a cutie!! I could pinch those cheeks! Or not. Probably just make funny faces. Babies love funny faces.

[zimmerwald1915]

Carl Sagan, yes? He was one of the greats.

So Google tells me. In the sense that I searched for "Sagan pony" and that popped up.

Also Mr. Wizard (Donald Herbert) was one I used to watch all the time.

Before my time

It's also roughly the same size and shape of Earth and has the same seasons for the same reasons.

As far as size goes, were you thinking of Venus? Because that planet has roughly the same diameter as Earth. And is not livable in any sense of the word.

[Soras Teva Gee]

*grumbles about stupid lieing science classes*

Still, if someone was going to try terraforming it into something livable, getting some oxygen there would be a priority, right? The point I was making was that sending some kind of plant to produce oxygen would be the start of the process.

...or am I just way off on this entire thing.

Actually you need to start by releasing massive amounts of CO₂ to build up the atmosphere's raw mass and warm the planet with the greenhouse effect. Plants don't do that and could even be counterproductive. Though a couple of plans I vaguely recall believe you could maybe release the gas needed from Mars itself by processing rock.

If you want humans to live on Mars you need to bring the pressure up to say... Everest levels before you go about making it breathable. And you would have to keep working at it since the same reasons Mars is a thinly pressurized icy red desert all still apply.

Really the only reason to terraform would be under some exceptionally odd circumstances given you'd be talking a generations long project for not much reward I can see. I call it "planetary bias" where because we live on a planet so we assume expansion means other planets and not say O'Neil cylinder colonies. Which if you have FTL and can find habitable worlds I guess is one thing but is particularly bad for a case like terraforming Mars you ask me, unless the timeframe (nigh geological) is a lot shorter then I've ever heard anyone living on Mars would have long conquered the challenge of you know... living on Mars... so what makes a generational project like that be something people have an economic reason to focus on something neither they nor their grandchildren will benefit from?

[Forum Explorer]

Space Civ 2

Spoiler

Show

So I'm playing what I like to call my Chaos Campaign because I put everything on max, and decided to play as Discord. And holy crap was I right about it being chaotic. Twilight surrendered to me giving me a massive empire (all the good races have been eliminated already) for almost no reason. The Changlings are running rampant, and every few turns a new random event happens. The latest? A new faction appeared, stealing ~140 planets away from everybody.

Luckily only 19 of them were mine.

At this point, I think the game has come down to a matter of luck on who will benefit the most from the random stuff.

[Gavinfoxx]

What is this space strategy game and mod everypony is talking about?

[Forum Explorer]

What is this space strategy game and mod everypony is talking about?

Game is Galactic Civilizations 2. In it you can create custom races, and Digo gave me a bunch of pony pictures to use for portraits.

[Deadly]

A whole year passes in a night, and suddenly I'm a year older. Isn't time weird?

Spoiler

Show

I come bearing gifts of birthday pictures

Spoiler

Show

Spoiler

Show

I've discovered a surprising pony dislike.

Ponified Dazzlings.

Especially interacting with other ponies. I can only think that it's a mental objection to clearly non-pony Equestrian creatures being depicted as ponies. Once or twice was ok, but now... Now it's starting to really bug me at a level far beyond how it deserves.

Odd.

Pony Dazzlings are a little odd, since we know they were non-ponies even back in Equestria. But I don't have a problem with it, personally.

Anyway, Sonata sure is popular isn't she? Not that she shouldn't be adored and worshiped. But as always, it seems people are falling over themselves to make her all repentant and nice. Me, I prefer to think of her as the most unrepentant and evil of the three. Adagio is just mad for power and revenge, Aria just wants to feed (or generally apathetic), but Sonata clearly enjoys being evil. I can't imagine Sonata feeling sorry for those she hurts or seeking to redeem herself. She's clearly having far too much fun doing what she does.

All hail Her Evilness, the Queen of Tacos!

Spoiler

Show

Yes, ponified Sonata. Very sorry, but it had the best evil expression I could find in a hurry

[Manga Shoggoth]

Boy it's been busy lately. No time to catch up. Only time to report on the paramilitary training of seaponies.


"If it has eyes, we can Peek-a-Boo it."[/spoiler]

Arrrgh!! Cuteness!!

I recall we did much the same thing with my daughter, but using Lemur (a glove puppet of a ring-tailed lemur). We have videos of hunt-the-lemur somewhere.

A whole year passes in a night, and suddenly I'm a year older. Isn't time weird?

Since we are on animals: Hippo birdie.

[Juntao112]

Well you have good ideas, so here's a suggestion on making it happen-- Built your Martian city underground. Start with small contained colonies to support a few colonists and expand out. Being underground keeps your air in and solar radiation out.

You can't solve all your problems by building a changeling hive.

[RCgothic]

Actually you need to start by releasing massive amounts of CO₂ to build up the atmosphere's raw mass and warm the planet with the greenhouse effect. Plants don't do that and could even be counterproductive. Though a couple of plans I vaguely recall believe you could maybe release the gas needed from Mars itself by processing rock.

If you want humans to live on Mars you need to bring the pressure up to say... Everest levels before you go about making it breathable. And you would have to keep working at it since the same reasons Mars is a thinly pressurized icy red desert all still apply.

Really the only reason to terraform would be under some exceptionally odd circumstances given you'd be talking a generations long project for not much reward I can see. I call it "planetary bias" where because we live on a planet so we assume expansion means other planets and not say O'Neil cylinder colonies. Which if you have FTL and can find habitable worlds I guess is one thing but is particularly bad for a case like terraforming Mars you ask me, unless the timeframe (nigh geological) is a lot shorter then I've ever heard anyone living on Mars would have long conquered the challenge of you know... living on Mars... so what makes a generational project like that be something people have an economic reason to focus on something neither they nor their grandchildren will benefit from?

Pretty much this. Human colonisation of other planets would be done under domes or underground depending on native atmosphere and magnetic shielding. Space Stations in orbit over low-gravity planetoids (for resources) would be a much easier place to start than an open colony on a planetary surface.

Spoiler

Show

[Deadly]

Since we are on animals: Hippo birdie.

That's brilliant, and altogether too cute ^^

Thanks

[MLai]

Pretty much the norm with toy-marketed shows. You should see how off the Transformers Rescuebot toys are to their show counterparts. Very off model. The only decent ones were only guest stars-- Bumblebee and Optimus Prime. I remember this being the way things were as far back as the 80s. So... nah, I'm not surprised.

That's not true! He-Man looked exactly like his toy! That was Mattel.

I don't know about Transformers (I can see how the transform function is difficult to translate into likeliness) but most boys' action figures strive to resemble the cartoon. Which only makes sense: You spend all that money making a 30-minutes daily commercial, you'll want it to accurately represent your product.

Which is why EqG toy line confuses me. The movie characters look so approachable, but the dolls look like greys ready to anal-probe you. Why?
You don't see this happen with Japanese anime dolls. You don't see this happen with boys' figures and they're for boys for god's sake! If Sunset and Dazzlings had figures that actually looked like them I'd go out and buy a set.

[Aotrs Commander]

Boy it's been busy lately. No time to catch up. Only time to report on the paramilitary training of seaponies.

Spoiler

Show

"If it has eyes, we can Peek-a-Boo it."

Nephew isn't quite at that stage, though through the magic of... well, magic (i.e. my standard undercover illusion spells) I am just about getting him to be amused at raspberries.

A whole year passes in a night, and suddenly I'm a year older. Isn't time weird?

Happy Birthday!

[DigoDragon]

CMC get cutie marks in new 3rd-party toy line.

So Google tells me. In the sense that I searched for "Sagan pony" and that popped up.

I assumed so based on the hair and that his cutie mark is a telescope. :)
Spaceship of the imagination...

Before my time

I was young enough to catch his last series in the 80s. It was how science really should be taught. Hands on with fun experiments like crushing gas cans, and setting off 144 mousetraps at once with a ping-pong ball.

were you thinking of Venus? Because that planet has roughly the same diameter as Earth. And is not livable in any sense of the word.

I hear it rains metal on Venus.

Spoiler

Show

Space Civ 2

Spoiler

Show

So I'm playing what I like to call my Chaos Campaign because I put everything on max, and decided to play as Discord. And holy crap was I right about it being chaotic. Twilight surrendered to me giving me a massive empire (all the good races have been eliminated already) for almost no reason. The Changlings are running rampant, and every few turns a new random event happens. The latest? A new faction appeared, stealing ~140 planets away from everybody.

Luckily only 19 of them were mine.

At this point, I think the game has come down to a matter of luck on who will benefit the most from the random stuff.

A thought on Chaos Campaign~

Spoiler

Show

It sucks when one of those random civs pop up and steal your planets. One thing I do in m games is not build space ports on all my planets and keep a troop transport ship on all of them. It's a bit metagamey, but when the planet finds it can't build spaceships and part of their population suddenly left the planet into orbit... >:)

Barring that trick, I always try to retake the planets I lost ASAP. The computer opponents seem a bit slower at that, so I take advantage and liberate some of theirs for my own without needing to risk war with anyone but the new civ. Love how it's all chaotic. Those are my favorite games.

A whole year passes in a night, and suddenly I'm a year older. Isn't time weird?

Happy Birthday!!
Pinkie Pie brings cake:

Spoiler

Show

Spoiler

Show

I'm going to find out if there are more pages of this. I must know what Pinkie has in store here.
And how she got it.

Edit: Found the series. Wow, this is not SFW. XD

All hail Her Evilness, the Queen of Tacos!

Sonata is my fav of the three Dazzlings. She is how I tend to play my changeling OCs-- that feeding is a perfectly normal fact of life and there's nothing wrong with it. You just have to mind your table manners or folks will complain. :3

I recall we did much the same thing with my daughter, but using Lemur (a glove puppet of a ring-tailed lemur).

My daughter had a puppet rabbit in a puppet top hat.
Actually, it still me be somewhere in storage.

Since we are on animals: Hippo birdie.

I got that card years ago. Pretty much the origin of where I do say "Hippo Birdie" to friends.

You can't solve all your problems by building a changeling hive.

I can try. :3

Spoiler

Show

That's brilliant, and altogether too cute ^^

Ain't it though? Another card in a similar fashion was three Santas holding up bells and then a large rock at the end of the line.
(Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Rock)

That's not true! He-Man looked exactly like his toy! That was Mattel.
I don't know about Transformers (I can see how the transform function is difficult to translate into likeliness)

Okay yeah, He-Man did tend to look show accurate now that I think about my old toys.

Transformers was hit-and-miss though. The major stars of the show were pretty accurate, but your 2nd and 3rd stringers tended to look cheaper and not like their show standard. And then there were some like Jetfire, who were simply repaints from other toy molds (Macross in his case). XD Go-Bots had the same issues. G.I.Joe was fairly accurate (and articulate. I can't remember many toy humans that had as many moving joints). Robotix was pretty 'meh' on show accuracy. Maybe the faces, but bodies weren't really that close.

Thinking about it, perhaps some of more accurate toys to show combos were because the toys were out first and the show just used that as a template. Maybe.

The movie characters look so approachable, but the dolls look like greys ready to anal-probe you. Why?

I think in this specific case, it is because the dolls are trying to mimic the Monster High toyline they compete with. Looking at the MH line, they seem to have come from similar molds.

I am just about getting him to be amused at raspberries.

The real fun is when they start up the baby babbling. :D

[Rater202]

@Deadly: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Nephew isn't quite at that stage, though through the magic of... well, magic (i.e. my standard undercover illusion spells) I am just about getting him to be amused at raspberries.

And you do this without freezing/con draining him how?

[DigoDragon]

And you do this without freezing/con draining him how?

Last I checked, raspberries didn't require touch.

[Aotrs Commander]

Last I checked, raspberries didn't require touch.

Besides, even if they did, I can turn my auras off, after all.

I just don't, most of the time, because I am, and let's be fair, basically, A Right Git.

[DigoDragon]

I just don't, most of the time, because I am, and let's be fair, basically, A Right Git.

Spoiler

Show

My daughter was quizzing me on my knowledge of ponies with a guessing game. Stuff like "I'm related to Applejack, but I have freckles". I was getting them right so she decided to up the ante: "I'm a unicorn. Who am I."

Well then.

I'm not sure what was funnier, that I got it right on the first guess or that my daughter face-planted angrily on the table.

[Rater202]

Out of curiosity, who was it?

[DigoDragon]

Out of curiosity, who was it?

:D

Spoiler

Show

Edit: Dang, my daughter was 6/6 for correctly naming some OCs when I did that Google image search. Savvy girl.

[RCgothic]

Edit: Found the series. Wow, this is not SFW. XD

With a name like 'Two Princesses, one Queen', what did you expect?

[Rater202]

With a name like 'Two Princesses, one Queen', what did you expect?

An adorable story of a regal queen bonding with her two daughters?

...I could not keep a straight face while typing that.

[DigoDragon]

With a name like 'Two Princesses, one Queen', what did you expect?

...I don't know what I expected.

Spoiler

Show

An adorable story of a regal queen bonding with her two daughters?

Heh heh.

I almost found an image for that.

Spoiler

Show

[zimmerwald1915]

Spoiler

Show

She does, alone of all the ponies, introduce herself as "the Unicorn." Trixie comes close with her "most talented unicorn in Equestria" and "the highest-level unicorn," but as far as I know, Rarity is the only "the Unicorn."