April. We have made even more progress, with Vanhoover captured and the First Panzerarmee moving to encircle the Equestrian forces in Acornage. Chrysalis has order the country into total mobilization, with every Changeling either working or fighting.
The fronts as of May. Although we did manage to encircle and eliminate some of the Equestrian divisions, the majority managed to retreat before we cut them off. Meanwhile, our forces to the south make further gains.
Lovely. One of our generals has been wounded.
We haven't won yet. WHY HAVEN'T WE WON YET?
Or spies in Equestria are reporting that Celestia has begun to… well, not panic, but She has instituted a new series of laws to help with the war effort.
And oh drat Stalliongrad's about to join The War.
Slightly better news, we've just captured Tall Tales. Although the fighting was heavy, we are still advancing. Slowly. Not fast enough. But advancing nonetheless.
Mid-July. Our armored divisions are wreaking havoc on the Equestrian lines, with General Pharynx moving to cross the Smokey Mountains and to the Pegasi Gulf.
You think that music will help you? PAH! Nothing can help you now, Celestia!
I mean, except for Stalliongrad. They can help you.
Alright. Happy thoughts, Chrysalis, happy thoughts. Look, we just took Los Pegasus. Don't you just want to burn that gaudy, disgusting city to the ground?
Alright, maybe I was on point earlier with the Lord of the Rings references?
The War, as of August. Although we have made massive gains, Celestia is about to finish overhauling the bureaucracy, and Stalliongrad has joined the war. If we don't finish this soon, we will likely begin to lose. We might need an extra push to get us over the edge.
So. The Continuous War Plan. Seriously good buffs, which get better the more territory we capture, at the cost of potentially collapsing down the line. Should we implement it?
[ ] Begin the Continuous War Plan!
[ ] Hold Off For Now
[ ] It's Too Much of a Risk, Don't Implement It
[X] It's Too Much of a Risk, Don't Implement It
that focus is broken, as in it breaks the game. there is no condition for the national spirit to disappear, meaning that even if you win the minuses to weekly war support and stability keep adding up until you have zero of either.
Also it keeps adding communist and harmony support, and that doesn't disappear either, sooo.
do i want to shoot myself in the foot for short term gain? hell no.
that focus is broken, as in it breaks the game. there is no condition for the national spirit to disappear, meaning that even if you win the minuses to weekly war support and stability keep adding up until you have zero of either.
Also it keeps adding communist and harmony support, and that doesn't disappear either, sooo.
do i want to shoot myself in the foor for short term gain? hell no.
Queen Chrysalis' plan for a continuous, unrelenting assault was decided to be… infeasible. Instead, more changelings would be freed up for the front lines by resettling the pony population in the occupied territories into the Hives.
The War as of Spetember. Equestria has been bisected. Our push into Los Pegasus caught the Equestrian Army by surprise, with only a smattering of forces being stationed in the area.
The Buffalos, convinced to join the war by their Equestrian 'partners', have been dealt with appropriately.
It seems that the Equestrians are not totally incompetent. Our spies have been flushed out and captured, forcing us to rely on other methods of intelligence gathering.
MUAHAHAHAHA! Crystal City has fallen, with Princess Cadence fleeing back to Equestria. Although it won't be as sweet as Celestia's eventual downfall, Queen Chrysalis is taking some satisfaction in defeating the mare who ruined her first attempt at taking Equestria.
With their capitulation, Chrysalis can finally take the fight to Stalliongrad. Let's see how the Reds do.
HAH, YES! Canterlot has fallen to our forces, with the Princesses forced to flee their beloved capital to Manehatten. The war shall soon end, with our victory!
...Assuming Stalliongrad doesn't somehow manage to turn the tide. Maybe we should assign some more divisions?
With Baltimare fallen, so too will Equestria. The only major city still under their control is Manehatten.
... Apparently they still have some reserves of strength. Somewhere. How much longer are they going to hold on?
With the war beginning to enter its end stage, we can afford to turn back to developing our own economy. Or, as the case may be, the economy of our puppets.
As we crush the ponies in Equestria, Wingbardy subjugates the ponies in Griffonia.
The front in December. We are pretty clearly going to win this.
And, as 1012 dawns, the Equestrians finally surrender. Although we still need to finish off the communists to the north, this should be the end of their active resistance.
Total annexation was, of course, demanded. Although we will later reorganize the territories into something more sensible and easier to manage.
Stalliongrad would not last long. They would be crushed, and the last of the pony forces with them.
With the Polar infrastructure improved, we now have an opportunity to extract the resources buried there.
At last. Stalliongrad has fallen to us, and the ponies have been placed beneath the heel of our boot.
We have reorganized the conquests into a series of administrative regions, seeing as managing them directly would be difficult at best. We have done very well for ourselves, and the Queen is mostly satisfied.
Mostly. With Equestria under her boot, the thought of simply… not stopping has crossed Chrysalis' mind. It would be difficult to invade the Griffonians, but… perhaps? She could not only be Queen of the Changelings, but Queen of the World.
Or, alternately, she could simply rest upon her laurels, proud in the fact that she was the one to defeat the ponies.
[ ] Rest Upon Our Laurels (End This Game)
[ ] Onwards, To Griffonia! (World Conquest, Here We Go!)
Well, we should probably smash Nova Griffonia and the Yaks first, just to ensure we can focus all of the continent's resources on future endeavors . . . But yes . . . World conquest. All shall bow down before the Queen.
[X] It's Too Much of a Risk, Don't Implement It
that focus is broken, as in it breaks the game. there is no condition for the national spirit to disappear, meaning that even if you win the minuses to weekly war support and stability keep adding up until you have zero of either.
Also it keeps adding communist and harmony support, and that doesn't disappear either, sooo.
do i want to shoot myself in the foot for short term gain? hell no.
Alright. The holidays are done, I'm nice and relaxed, let's get back to-
...
Horsefeathers
Yeah. The mod updated about a week ago, and from a quick check the savegame is not cooperating. At all. So, let's consider this a good excuse to put together a primer for Griffonia.
Equestria is, if nothing else, a land united. With Celestia and Luna protecting them, with bonds on unity uniting them, the ponies have thrived. Although the nights were dark and full of terrors, an Equestrian could be reasonably assured that they could lead a long and prosperous life, safe from any real harm.
This was not the case across the sea.
The history of the Griffons was not one of friendship and harmony; it was a history of iron, in which an iron spirit and an iron will was needed the griffons to survive. Not that iron ever did them any good, of course. Griffonia was divided between many kingdoms, all of them constantly fighting with one another. One would occasionally rise to a pre-eminent position above the others, only to be brought down by internal squabbles or the temporary unification of their enemies. That was the status quo, until 300 years ago. Until Grover of Griffonstone.
King Grover of Griffonstone had discovered an artifact called the Idol of Boreas. The idol granted him incredible power, which he leveraged to defeat and conquer the Kingdoms of Wingbardy and Aquilea. Grover, now crowned Emperor of Griffonia, founded the modern Imperial dynasty and, in theory, had unified Griffonia for all time.
However, it was not to last. The Idol refused to grant its powers to Grover's son, creatively named Grover II, forcing the Empire to be held together by purely mortal means. A patently impossible task at the time, the Empire began to wither, though it did not manage to collapse outright until almost 40 years ago.
The Griffonian Empire barely stands, the Sick Bird of Griffonia down but not quite out. The loss of the Idol of Boreas combined with an overlong regency council for the sickly Emperor Grover V, hamstrung the already stretched Empire, with things coming to a head in 978. A massive horde of dissatisfied peasants and malcontents assaulted the capital, and a enterprising young general named Kemerskai seized control in a bloody coup. Kemerskai attempted to found a new, Republican state on the ruins of the Empire, but a counter-revolution toppled his regime, re-installing Grover to the throne. The armies of the Griffonian Republic marched north, seeking to eventually return to Griffenheim, and many of the outlying duchies and kingdoms declared independence in the chaos.
Even the nobility that remained loyal still bucks at the reins. Most notable of these is the Grand Duchy of Fethasia, a traditionally autonomous and prosperous part of the empire, and the Free City of Romau, home to one of the three Archons of the Griffonian faith. In addition, the Sunstriker Clan of bandits remain as nominal vassals in the north, although they are likely to break free the moment they see an opportunity.
To the immediate south lies the Kingdom of Aquileia, wracked by revolution and chaos. The incompetent Discret family, despite managing to put down a successful Revolution, have failed to entirely snuff out the flames of liberty. The Skyfall Trade Federation lies on the northern coast, a merchant 'republic' secured by their control of the former imperial navy, yet crippled by a lack of popular support. Between these countries and the Empire lies Griefwald, a small country well aware of their precarious position and seeking to secure it.
Further to the south, you find what were formerly richest lands in the Empire. The Kingdom of Wingbardy had seceded from the Empire even before its collapse, and is now faced with a massive economic crisis caused by the collapse of their former overlords. The crisis is also affecting the Equestrian colony of New Mareland, where an increasingly large independence movement is making gains.
The southeast, meanwhile, is still beset by chaos. The Griffon Liberation Army fights to liberate the Griffon workers from the depredations of the Kingdom of Brodfeld, with Blackrock's Bandits and the Gryphian Host raiding and causing chaos to both parties. It looks unlikely the region will settle down any time soon.
In the east, we have the Ponies of Griffonia. The River Coalition, in theory a unified alliance of the pony nations against the Griffons, is more a general agreement to fight against invaders and generally not get in each others' way. However, many riverpony politicians dream of potential unification. The two most likely candidates for forming any such River Federation are the River Republic, currently recovering from an election that is still being contested by the socialists, and Lake City, an unstable republic still nursing a grudge against the Griffons.
And nurse they should. The Knightly Orders of Hellquill and Longsword, founded by Grover II with the express purpose of conquering the Ponies of the East, still look to the Riverlands. Of particular note is the recently founded Reformisten movement, which seeks the outright conquest of the ponies in a glorious crusade. Also of note is Diamond Mountain, ruled by the tyrannical King Rover and still reeling from a massive Griffon raid, and Nimbusia, a pegasus-dominated oligarchy and the strongest military power in the River Coalition.
Finally, in the North, we have the least-populated area of Griffonia. Mostly controlled by small, isolated tribes of ponies, the most notable settlement is that of Farbrook. As they become increasingly aware of the world, Farbrook begins to consider the idea of reaching out, most likely to the River Coalition. That is not to say they are friendless, of course. In fact, they boast a close relationship with the Changelings of Greneclyf, with whom they have shared in friendship since time immemorial, and who's Queen has also become interested in the idea of closer ties with the outside world.
And, of course, there is the Arcturian Order and the Dread League. Locked in eternal battle, the knights of the Order have defended the world from the necromancers of the League for over a millennium. Although the Order has become increasingly relaxed in recent centuries, as the threat from the north has waned, they must still keep up their guard. Rumours have spread south of a new necromancer, one who could unite the League and lead their armies south in a second Black Crusade…
