Domination of Equestria - T-15 - days.
The Battle For Ponyville: 12:01
So here we were.
Two armies arrayed against each other.
On one side, on the outskirts of the town nine thousand Solar Guard and seven thousand Night Watch.
On the other, intelligence estimates six thousand changelings, two thousand griffons and three thousand minotaurs.
And two chained hydras and...is that an Ursa Major?
On the face of it, we have them outnumbered and better control of the air.
All my studies of warfare tell me that this should go well in our favour.
But I’m still super uneasy.
“Hey Twilight.”
Huh?
“Twiiiliiiigght…”
Oh yea, I should probably vocalise.
“What is it Rainbow?”
“It’ll be alright. Alright?”
“I know Rainbow. We’ve planned well enough.”
“I know right? I mean, you’re just that awesome, your battle plan will work perfectly.”
“I doubt that. Nothing ever works perfectly.”
“Of course it will. I mean you designed it. So if a perfect pony makes the plan, then their plan has to be perfect, right?”
Oh Rainbow, if we weren’t about to go rushing into Equestria’s bloodiest conflict in over six hundred years then I would like nothing more than to sit down and talk about your feelings, and maybe mine, but…
Not right now.
“I’m not perfect Dash, but thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“Anytime Egghead.”
“Haa…”
“Princess Twilight?”
“Yes?”
“We’re ready to engage on your order.”
“Thank you. Order the western flank to begin maneuvers.”
“At once Prin-”
WHUMM
CRACK
BOOM
...
BOOM
Oh…
Oh Celestia…
“...”
“Twilight! Are you ok!? What was that!?”
“So many… so many dead…”
“Twilight! Snap out of it! Here comes another one!”
WHUMM
CRACK
BOOM
...
BOOM
“Super condensed air drop travelling at over the speed of sound generated in empty space…”
“Ok, I have no idea what the hell you just said, but it basically amounts to we’re getting screwed!”
“...Twice as much damage from the expanding air front followed by a second implosion from surrounding air rushing into the resulting vacuum…”
“I don’t care what it is I just want to know how to stop it before everyone’s dead!”
WHUMM
CRACK
BOOM
...
BOOM
“Magical coil based hyper-compression an-”
SMACK
“Wha?”
“You back with us Egghead?”
“I...yes, yes I am.”
“That’s good. So what are we gonna do?”
“We’re gonna head back to the castle. I’ve got something in my lab which could very well save our plots.”
“The hell Twi! Why aren’t we using it already!?”
“Because I don’t know what long term exposure would do to a pony! It’s not healthy as is! But It'll be more healthy than having super compressed air bombs dropped on us!”
“Sounds good to me, you need a hoof?”
“I’ll need many hooves. Corporal! I need you and your squad to do some heavy lifting!”
“Yes Princess! At once!”
“Damn you Overlord, I should have expected this… Come on, the dampener in is the basement, we’ll need to move it quickly.”
Overlord Rule No:40 I will be neither chivalrous nor sporting. If I have an unstoppable superweapon, I will use it as early and as often as possible instead of keeping it in reserve.
I love the way this guy thinks. Empires have fallen just because the mastermind behind it was dumb enough to NOT use his mega-death weapon as often as possible!
Is it bad i have all the rules printed off in paper and laminated and kept in a safe? I mean... urr... shit.
7097873
Don't worry, I have a copy on hand, a backup on my computer, and a backup of my backup on a flash drive.
Where does he get all these wonderful toys?
7097873 At least it wasn't carved into a stone tablet... or a few. Also, the TwiDash is strong here...
Spam the doomsday gun!
HAHAHA!!!! That is rule number one of war... never give an inch..
7097872 Yep.
I remember in a modded Minecraft server (FTB with many extra war mods installed), I started a faction and created a super weapon that teleports nukes around the map using portals. Once a noob faction with barely a smelter to their name moved into my turf and set up shop raiding my villagers. I used it on them and when they complained I linked them the evil overlord's list and told them "Tough shit, next time stay off my turf",
P.S. I had to, my faction was me and 3 friends, theirs had 7 people and if they'd teched up into power Armour they would have screwed us HARD.
Meanwhile, back at the Overlord's camp....
"Hey, did you bring the popcorn?"
"Yeah. Did you bring the soda?"
"Yep! Too bad we can't drink on duty!"
"Hey, is that camera loaded?"
"Fresh roll! This is going in my album! This will let the wife know the Overlord does care about us!"
"I wonder what he's doing?"
Cut to Overlord....
"Keep hitting the button, if you please!"
"Yes my lord! Button Mash is on it!"
"Perfect! More tea, please."
"Right away sir!"
7098405 If I was part of the Overlordships army I would sit back and enjoy the easy win, but not get too relaxed never go too relaxed then you die because war, war never changes (sorry for cheesy reference)
And if Button is on the super weapon Twily has not a single chance before they get the thing she made
A good rule, but I think there is an exception. If the unstoppable superweapon has bad fallout, it should never have been made in the first place. I mean, take the Death Star for example. Yeah, powerful as it is, using it basically turned the entire galaxy against them, not to mention the amount of ships they could've used those materials on.
7097873
That safe better be by your bed or in a local bank; not hidden in the caverns of doom at the peak of mount destruction past the sea of despair.
7098698
They could have just built 20 star destroyers, then just flew around and nobody could stop them.
7098698 agreed. I propose an amendment to this law.
"I will prefer to have many, less unstoppable superweapons with no long term downsides than one completely unstoppable instant-win button that destroys everything for 1000 years
7098197 hah!
7097873 That depends. Are you an evil overlord?
7100587 Try 20,000. They could have built a fleet so huge they could blot out the sun on every world they owned.
7103427 I want to be an overlord, but they say I don't have enough experience on the field.
7097926 Ha, I have three copies, one labeled "Bakery Empire Torrent", another unlabeled, and the third is "evil plot", and can't be run on Windows, it's a virus.
7097873 Yes it is. If the heroes find the list they have many options. They can burn it, depriving you of its aid. They can read it themselves and devise counters to its rules or do things the rules do not cover. They can even, if they are devious heroes, make amendments that are a terrible idea to trip you up.
A partway solution to these problems is to have multiple copies of the rules stored in separate locations that you compare to stop them destroying it or making amendments. You can even have fake copies that the heroes can capture to mislead them about the rules.
The best solution however is to memorize the rules or even better simply learn the logic behind them. The rules are a crutch for those who do not yet understand. The truly intelligent do not need them. Of course a long list of pre-thought through scenarios is immensely useful to anyone as you can't think of everything.
The rules aren't just a collection of sayings. They will help you succeed as a evil overlord. If you think of something new that does that add a new rule. If you find a rule that hurts you, kick it out. Try studying other evil overlords and working out the things they do right and the things they do wrong. You should learn from your own mistakes but it is much less painful to learn from someone else's. Look at the things they do wrong and try to think of solutions and then think if the solutions pose any problems of their own. Then repeat. Think things though as far as you can. Pretend you're a hero, think what response you would make and then come up with a response to that. Do this even with the rules on the evil overlord list and if better solutions present themselves replace the old ones. You will not catch everything not even close but you get practice and will see more mistakes when the time comes. To quote Eliezer Yudkowsky from the website lesswrong "The perfect is the enemy of the good" If you make a mistake acknowledge it and fix it. You are not perfect, none is, and those who think themselves perfect are less perfect. Learn how your own mind thinks and try to correct any glaring weaknesses. Try lesswrong. They have spent ages trying to do this.
One last tip. Don't just read the evil overlord rules. Read all the rules, hero and villain alike, and think of counters to them. This means you are prepared if others decide to use the rules. It's also good practice. Besides, maybe one day you have to be the hero kicking out another evil overlord, whether to get back your empire, or to get it in the first place.
There you are. I hope I answered your question.
Overusing your trump card no longer makes it a trump card. It becomes something you rely on too much, which your opponents then witness and study so they can counter it. Unless, of course, you don't rely on the superweapon to begin with, instead merely implementing it into a well designed strategy which covers the weapon's weaknesses.
7098698
I know I'm necroing but I feel the need to point this out. The Death Star is a joke. The first one had a straight line from a hole down to a the main reactor. It's literally begging for a shot down at it. The second one had a hole even larger that the first one, so much so that the Millenium Falcon can fly into it and out.
So if they had covered up those obvious weak points in the first place, everything would have been so much easier. Universe against them? Blam. Luke Skywalker shot a couple of laser cannons down the hole? Sorry, the hole ain't straight, Blam. Millenium Falcon flies towards us? Sorry, hole not big enough *winks*, Blam. Galaxy against us? Blam Blam Blam Blam Blam
You get the idea
I'm taking Movie Canon btw, not the novels.
7574486 It should be pointed out that the second one was unfinished. I don't know what's worse, that the first one had such a glaring weakness, or that they lured the rebels in when the weakness hadn't yet been covered for the second time. Or that they even tried making a second one in the first place.
7561176
Real armies don't use trump cards because by the time it reaches that point, you've already lost anyway. Kind of like why we don't build super battleships if we can't mass produce them. A few nations learned why the hard way in WWII. If you do have a super weapon, it really is best to do as much damage with it in a strategically useful way before it is destroyed than keep it in reserve where all it can do is make the enemy pay for their inevitable victory.