My Little Pony XCII: Suggestive Horse Noises

[Madcrafter]

If it were me at the helm...

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Okay, so we got more precursor ships to deal with, plus a new race. I say "gunboat diplomacy"--> Attempt one diplomatic hail on the new ship, but have a fleet standing by behind a jump point to go into battle. Long range attack pattern, soak 'em with death blossom! Can you build starbases or military outposts? If you can, consider setting up a couple on your far colonies to help sensor range.

For the precursor fleet, if they're like the previous one, then they will eventually run out of missiles. So that carrier idea is good. Load up on plenty of missile defense too. Wear out their ammo and then counter attack with a hard punch.

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Like everything, the diplomacy is slower in this game. While I can just sent a message to a ships I've detected, I'm pretty sure it doesn't do anything. Right now the diplomats are attempting to establish communication, so every 5 days they make either a bit of progress or get set back. Each year then, diplomatic relations change depending on the skill of the diplomatic team and the xenophobia of the aliens. It is possible that they will never be friendly, but it might be a long while until we can tell. In the meantime, any combat, or just detected ships in any of their systems, will greatly penalize any relations.

Can build starbases (in game terms, they're just big ships without engines) and pull them around with tugs, but for just detecting where they are, sensor buoys might work better.... Might be worth designing some. The outer colonies are not at risk at the moment, since they are all off on different branches from Equestria.

The precursors will wait for us. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

[DigoDragon]

Critical Mass Poofy!

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Like everything, the diplomacy is slower in this game. While I can just sent a message to a ships I've detected, I'm pretty sure it doesn't do anything. Right now the diplomats are attempting to establish communication, so every 5 days they make either a bit of progress or get set back. Each year then, diplomatic relations change depending on the skill of the diplomatic team and the xenophobia of the aliens. It is possible that they will never be friendly, but it might be a long while until we can tell. In the meantime, any combat, or just detected ships in any of their systems, will greatly penalize any relations.

Can build starbases (in game terms, they're just big ships without engines) and pull them around with tugs, but for just detecting where they are, sensor buoys might work better.... Might be worth designing some. The outer colonies are not at risk at the moment, since they are all off on different branches from Equestria.

The precursors will wait for us. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Spaaaace Poniiiiies!

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Sounds like diplomacy isn't very... timely? Efficient? Well, keep a fleet just on the other side of the jump gate cause that means you got firepower where they can't see it. ;) Any alien encounter that doesn't give you a warning is usually one that respects military strength. And I played enough 4X games that even when playing as a peaceful diplomatic race, you have to have a strong military fleet to back up your diplomacy.

How smart is the computer AI? Is it a cheating bastard that knows where everything is and all your assets?

...and if you feel cheated out of actual Space Ponies, have a Kerbal inspired CMC:

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[Aotrs Commander]

Well, t'aint promising...

Running Scandisk now as a final check - and thus stalling out anything useful I can do for the next two or three hours (usin' Dad's laptop currently and there's a fiarchnace he'll boot me off soon to some of his work...), since nothing else seems to have done anything... So, no avoiding it, then, really, everything's gotta be shunted over to the Win 7 drive. (Naturally, of course, removing one more level of safety for when I update it to Win 10...)

[Deadly]

Oh, the money we spend on petite pastel ponies ... I just got this lovely thing the other day and it sure is a beauty.

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[DigoDragon]

Well, t'aint promising...

That s'not good.
I reckon it's been finished for a while at this point. Hope it managed to make the computer usable again!

Oh, the money we spend on petite pastel ponies ... I just got this lovely thing the other day and it sure is a beauty.

That's a cute one. Funny you mention merch, as I was on this page when you posted. :3

I think I'm happy with just the little bit I got; 2 Trixie figurines, 1 Trixie plush, 1 Rarity figurine, a Doctor Hooves shirt, and 3 pins (Doctor Hooves, Vinyl, and Twilight). I only bought two of the Trixie items. Everything else was gifts from family/friends. Oh, and the Rainbow Dash socks my bro got me for his wedding. ...still need to get those pics of them.

My daughter on the other hoof... dang I cannot find room for it all. There's an Applejack on the dining room table that looks at me whenever I try doing my artwork. Dunno if she's trying to critique my art or making fun of my music. Maybe both?

[Deadly]

That's a cute one. Funny you mention merch, as I was on this page when you posted. :3

I think I'm happy with just the little bit I got; 2 Trixie figurines, 1 Trixie plush, 1 Rarity figurine, a Doctor Hooves shirt, and 3 pins (Doctor Hooves, Vinyl, and Twilight). I only bought two of the Trixie items. Everything else was gifts from family/friends. My daughter on the other hoof... dang I cannot find room for it all. There's an Applejack on the dining room table that looks at me whenever I try doing my artwork. Dunno if she's trying to critique my art or making fun of my music. Maybe both?

I see how much some people scrape together, and it's just insane.

I've got a fair number of funko figures (Trixie, Fluttershy, Daring Do, Rarity, Twilight, Discord, Rainbow Dash, Octavia, Vinyl Scratch, Lyra, Bonbon, Derpy, and Spitfire), two plushies (AJ and Twilight), a large Rainbow Dash toy thingy that you can brush and style, and this new Fluttershy and Discord figure. Plus a lot of the comic books (not the ones from the last couple of months though ... they publish so many, I can barely keep up). Oh, and three shirts that I bought long ago but don't wear much.

And the odd thing is, I don't think of myself as having a lot of pony merch. What I have feels like very little.

[Aotrs Commander]

That s'not good.
I reckon it's been finished for a while at this point. Hope it managed to make the computer usable again!

It did not. It didn't even find anything wrong, all of which is leading me believe that the error is not, in fact a data/bad sector error but perhaps something mechanical. *shrug*

So, rest of day (in-between somewhat... strained panto practise, because for various reasons, it's been somewhat more traumatic than most years...) has been copying data from external to Win 7 HDD and installling critical programs (i.e TCAD 16/17) and configuring the UIs and such for said programs. Can't obviously get MS Office in yet - since our new 2010 hasn't come so far, so that'll be tomorrow's job (whereby I may actually be able to reaccess email. (Well, nothing tecyhnically stopping me using email now, but i'm not using OE - dince then I'd have to back it up again) and I refuse to use default Virgin Media interface except as read-only!)

To be fair, most of it is done damn, no, it isn't, I just realised as I type this I need to install PSP8, right next job...

And then I can try installing and getting to run the old games I was part way through - fortunately not many, since I have been cracking through so many! (Only big plus with Steam - the games I had installed on XP and hadn't bothered with on Win 7 I can just queue up and leave overnight!)



The most annoying thing is that XP seemed to be running fine and I'd never have guessed there was a problem. But I suppsoe that's the point of it being a warning, isn't it? To catch it BEFORE Applejack runs out of the barn in terror.



Edit: FRACK YES! It occurred to me to try - since they don't require their CDs now - to copy and paste Emperor and Zeus directly from the XP drive to Win 7 wholesale! And, by crickey ITY WORKED! Both run, with all the settings just fine! (No shortcut on the Program menu, of course, since I didn't install them as such, but I can strech to a couple of desktop shortcuts for that!)

Lichemaster, that was painless!

[DigoDragon]

Rarity with an interesting mane style

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I see how much some people scrape together, and it's just insane.

Well, I mean if you got disposable income and all your responsibilities are taken care of... I just need the disposable income part of that process. XD

Plus a lot of the comic books

...I forgot I bought some of those to read. I haven't read them yet.

Edit: FRACK YES! It occurred to me to try - since they don't require their CDs now - to copy and paste Emperor and Zeus directly from the XP drive to Win 7 wholesale! And, by crickey ITY WORKED! Both run, with all the settings just fine! (No shortcut on the Program menu, of course, since I didn't install them as such, but I can strech to a couple of desktop shortcuts for that!)

Woohoo! victory!!

[Aotrs Commander]

Woohoo! victory!!

Countered by Anno 1404/2070 taking ages and being faff because Ubisoft... PS:T/IWD2/BG2 will have to be re-installed and faffed... SotS 1... I am having rather difficulty getting. Bought it from Stardock as a download... Had to go back into my emails on XP (having first disbaled the internet so OE couldn't check on activation...) and find the right links, becaue Virgin Media's email interface is [EXPLETIVING] [EXCREMENT], let alone only goes back to 2010 (when I needed to go back to 2009). And people wonder why I insist on using an email system that I can keep back-up myself...! And then, having installed the gamestop app, it wouldn't let me in because password... And now it will but it requries me to reboot before it completes its update (the frell?)

Guh.

Edit: Right... Now I can install SotS 1 (because damn it, I'm not paying for it on Steam again to save hassle...)

...

Gonna leave the various Bioware RPGs for another time; considering I'd not got any active playthroughs (and haven't really touched DA:Awakening/DA 2 at all), I'll burn those bridges when I come to them. As/when/if I get Witcher 3, I only need the svae file from Witcher 2 (assuming that's even a thing with Witcher 3, thoug I'd be surprised if it wasn't), so I won't bother with that... Might have to swipe mate's copy of C&C pack again at some point, but probably not for a while... OpenTTD is up, KeeperFX is up, the Steam games can start install as soon as I've done with SotS... HeavyMetal Pro is a low priority (try copying it across wholesale anyway)... CutePDF in, PSP8 in... Earth2150/Startopia are GoG, so that's no issue, GSB installers are on in case I want them... I think that's pretty much covers every game I had installed on the XP drive, which hopefully just leaves sorting MS Office and email again tomorrow. End might be in sighahahahahahahahahahaha! I kill me.

[Desert Sun]

I see how much some people scrape together, and it's just insane.

I've got a fair number of funko figures (Trixie, Fluttershy, Daring Do, Rarity, Twilight, Discord, Rainbow Dash, Octavia, Vinyl Scratch, Lyra, Bonbon, Derpy, and Spitfire), two plushies (AJ and Twilight), a large Rainbow Dash toy thingy that you can brush and style, and this new Fluttershy and Discord figure. Plus a lot of the comic books (not the ones from the last couple of months though ... they publish so many, I can barely keep up). Oh, and three shirts that I bought long ago but don't wear much.

And the odd thing is, I don't think of myself as having a lot of pony merch. What I have feels like very little.

I can't say anything myself. I'm looking at 3 sets of the main six in my computer room (Build a bear, Ty beanies, and the Mid Size Aurora). Add in the rest of the Build a Bear Set ( minus Derpy ), an Aurora Celestia, and misc. knicknacks, and i have quite the army to takeover my town.

And for some funny reason, most of the unicorns are on my side and the pegusi are on my wife's side...

[Gamerlord]

As/when/if I get Witcher 3, I only need the svae file from Witcher 2 (assuming that's even a thing with Witcher 3, thoug I'd be surprised if it wasn't),

There is, but from the last time I played it, there were only a minimal reaction to what your past actions (One big action, but it is entirely stuck in a side quest you could easily never realize exists) were, and the save import just lists every single one of your Witcher 2 saves with no indication which is the endgame save or what decisions were made in that savefile.

[Pendulous]

I may have mentioned this before, but the season 1, disc 3 image on it is Spike and...Cadence. The pony that doesn't show up until the end of season 2.

And people always talk about Fluttershy's crazy sewing knowledge, but people forget that the dresses that the group came up with as opposed to Rarity's originals, sucked. Including the one Fluttershy came up with.

[Aotrs Commander]

So... MS Office arrived first thing this morning.

Word and Excel checked and sorted.

Started on Outlook. I followed all the instructions, but this time set up my and Dad's primary accounts as IMAP instead of POP3.

Outlook appears to be downloading to our inbox every email we have ever had. Mine's up to 19k 24k, Dad's 14k 17.6k as we speak.

Um. Oooookay.

So. Yeah. That is a thing that it is doing.

Dunno whether there's a cut-off date or anything (can't actually scroll all the way down yet...) - I mean, I coudn't find anything older than 2010 on my account via Virgin's web access - if so by crap we have a lot of emails.

Better than the reverse, I suppose... Need to do a liiiiittle bit of clearing out though - once it finally stops, I guess I'll just find the most recent email date in my imported folders and then delete everything below that and then shunt the imported email into the folders (which will simultaneously clear the chaff and mark as read), so the whole rigamarole was still worth doing.

And I've still got to set up Dad's secondary email account... Once I realised how many emails were coming in, I figured I should proooobaly wait untl that was all finished first...



Oh, at 28k and 2010, mine stopped coming in (with the intro to "new improved Virign email" - which means, as my account was subsidiary to Dad's since we started, his account might have all of mine before that point.)

Dad's is at 20k and still only 2014...

...

...

I think this is one of those vanishingly rare instance where my reaction fails mere speech and so we must rely on other methods.

[DigoDragon]

And people always talk about Fluttershy's crazy sewing knowledge, but people forget that the dresses that the group came up with as opposed to Rarity's originals, sucked. Including the one Fluttershy came up with.

One can be good at sewing pieces and cloth together and have a terrible fashion sense. :3

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Outlook appears to be downloading to our inbox every email we have ever had. Mine's up to 19k 24k, Dad's 14k 17.6k as we speak.

Um. Oooookay.
So. Yeah. That is a thing that it is doing.

That's not so bad. Should see my box at work. It is in the Gigs thanks to the wonderful technology of attachments. XD
Course, I do have the advantage of being in Administration where I'm a nexus point for a lot of communication...

Dad's is at 20k and still only 2014...

Should we get a betting pool going?

[Aotrs Commander]

That's not so bad. Should see my box at work. It is in the Gigs thanks to the wonderful technology of attachments. XD
Course, I do have the advantage of being in Administration where I'm a nexus point for a lot of communication...

Should we get a betting pool going?

65k at June 2010 and still going...

Outlook estimated time to synchronise accounts... 6 hours.

*whimper*



Edit: Just shy of 66k and ...might... have stppped at the same "welcome to improved email" message at bottom end of 2010 as mine... Time to "sychronise accounts" just went up to 7 hours...

That's suspisicous, so google time...

Aaaah. Known issue with Outlook and Imap, just need to tweak the settings a bit...

Edit edit: Yay. Now just to delete the majority of those... 96000... emails...



*skulldesk*

*skulldesk*

*skulldesk*

[Manga Shoggoth]

Outlook appears to be downloading to our inbox every email we have ever had. Mine's up to 19k 24k, Dad's 14k 17.6k as we speak.

Um. Oooookay.

So. Yeah. That is a thing that it is doing.

Dunno whether there's a cut-off date or anything (can't actually scroll all the way down yet...) - I mean, I coudn't find anything older than 2010 on my account via Virgin's web access - if so by crap we have a lot of emails.

One of the settings for an email client is to delete emails after download. If I recall correctly this is off by default, and you optionally set it to on for the "main" computer. If you connect with a completely new configuration, then you will get every email that is still cached on the server.

(EDIT: My Thunderbird client allows you to specify a window - I can't remember what the Outlook settings were.)

[Aotrs Commander]

One of the settings for an email client is to delete emails after download. If I recall correctly this is off by default, and you optionally set it to on for the "main" computer. If you connect with a completely new configuration, then you will get every email that is still cached on the server.

(EDIT: My Thunderbird client allows you to specify a window - I can't remember what the Outlook settings were.)

And, of course, that is precisely the sort of thing we keep on, because paranoia and backups and all that...!

I just wasn't expecting it to do that! With OE, of course, it just downloaded all the new emails since the last time it was used, even if that was on a prior PC (which is my emails go back to 2002).

Yer unlive and learn, as they say.



Ho hum... Done my emails now, just the even longer job of doing Dad's...! (And, of COURSE, I have to do it in sections, because Outlook cries when I tell it to delete tens of thousands of emails at once. (Though maybe not unreasonably...!))

[DigoDragon]

Edit edit: Yay. Now just to delete the majority of those... 96000... emails...

That's an academy record!

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[Aotrs Commander]

Huz-freaking-zah.

After a ten hour slog, MS Office and email is now back to operational status and iron idiot is very nearly where it was before Thursday.

Well, except for Dad's secmdary account, since probably because I had to change the password, it wouldn't have it, but nevermind.

[Dalinale]

Hey ponythread, this is Pokonic (kindly ignore the non-Pokonic username). If anyone is interested in joining a long-ish running Fallout: Equestria game, just pop right in to this thread.

[Rater202]

(kindly ignore the non-Pokonic username).

May I polity inquire as to what in Tartarus is going on?

[Dalinale]

May I polity inquire as to what in Tartarus is going on?

Heck if I know.

[DigoDragon]

Welp. Sixth roof leak this year, and it's by the futon where I was planning to sleep tonight. Dear Celestia I hate the absorbent power of drywall.

May I polity inquire as to what in Tartarus is going on?

Equestria Witness Protection Program.

There are unicorns gunning for 'em.

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[Rater202]

Heck if I know.

...Have you tried asking a mod about it?

[Fable Wright]

...Have you tried asking a mod about it?

Presumably, Past!Pokonic asked for a name change a few months ago and forgot about it. And then their wish was granted.

It happens.

[DigoDragon]

The Fiery Joker reviews The Cutie ReMark finale.
If it weren't for the neat alternate Equestria timelines, I'd of rather gone and watched The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy episode again.

Presumably, Past!Pokonic asked for a name change a few months ago and forgot about it. And then their wish was granted

Does that work with getting future winning lottery numbers? Cause I totally could use that right now.

[Rater202]

Presumably, Past!Pokonic asked for a name change a few months ago and forgot about it. And then their wish was granted.

It happens.

There's a problem with that theory

[Pendulous]

Equestria Witness Protection Program.

There are unicorns gunning for 'em.

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Well, I mean, it was inevitable that I came up with a Scrubs reference.

[DigoDragon]

Spam&egg sandwich and coffee, the perfect comfort food for having a rough night's sleep.

Spoiler: Marshmallows in Coffee?

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There's a problem with that theory

Shh, go take your blue pill. Move along, nothing to see here. ;)

Well, I mean, it was inevitable that I came up with a Scrubs reference.

Haha, that is a good reference though.


Pretty much what I think of when someone mentions the new Discord chat program:

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[Aotrs Commander]

Well, won't need to buy any games for a while...

I thought I would just have a quick nosy at the Steam Luna sale, if if there was owt worth pickin' up (and I deserve a treat after this weekend...) I considered Civ V Brave New World (but elected no, on the basis of "can get hard-copy"), Dragon Commander, Age of Wonders III... But in the end, ponied up (not literally!) for the Age of Empires gubbins collection, which had AoE 2 HD (plus expansions) and AoE 3 complete at 70% of so for £13.50ish. Given I thoroughly enjoyed Age of Mythology and given the rave reviews, I figured it couldn't go far wrong. I imagine the campaigns will give me a stupidly long amount of playtime... Give me something to do while I wait for the HMRM patch to come out.



So, depending on how it lets you name profiles and what not, might it finally be time for Duchess Thunderpeel Rowdy Tsunami Golden Muffin Do'Hooves I to ascend to the throne at last...?

And now I can see why nopony calls you by your full name, Ensign...

Well, I ran the Aotrs, how hard can this be?