Royal Artillery?

[Imagination]

Brian's recent pic had a question come up in my head (I apologize to the artist if this was a purely cosmetic sort of thing in the pic, but it grabbed my attention).

Is there a Royal Artillery Battery, and if not, is it possible one could be formed?

Equestria already has fireworks, and there's Pinkie Pie's party cannon thing she has, so ponies aren't entirely alien to explosives and (albeit not military grade) cannons. Of course, the RAB wouldn't have anything extravagant in their arsenal. Mostly salute guns and a few pak howitzers at best, and the battery itself would serve a mostly cerimonial function. Gun salutes and the like.

I'm currently in training to be an Artillery Officer for the military, so you can see how this made my ears perk a bit. If need be I can also provide the structure of gun crews and the functions of the members within the battery... and can even adjust them to fit the MLP universe as well!

Anyway, thoughts? Critiques? Problems? Questions?

[Parker_Izing]

I expect them to exist, otherwise, Pinkie's Cannon would sound tragically serious...

Pinkie Pie's party cannon is just a Flanderized for LoL's version of an existent apparatus (Cannon) if said apparatus doesn't exist, Pinkie's party cannon would lose it's "Flanderized for LoL's" status and be the real deal, horrific thing I didn't expect nor want for Pinkie.

(like Pipsqueak's rubber sword implying real swords)

[Imagination]

That's what I was thinking, however I didn't see any sort of Battery in the Organizations tab in the lore, so I figured I'd at the very least bring it up and see if it can't be worked with.

[Skye]

Gunpowder has so far made no show (Except for perhaps Fireworks, which are more likely powered by magic or magical items such as Zecora's potions). Brian's picture is not considered Canon in the respect that it was drawn for fun. It was a common thing to see as nose art on aircraft in our real world, but it was not intended to suggest that Artillery were invented in the pony world.

Let me detail why this won't work.

Ponies are not, by nature, an aggressive species. They are herbivores, for one thing. This means that they don't hunt. They won't be inventing any weapons that will make it easier to hunt other animals for food. They will, however, invent a lot of things that relate to farming or quality of life. This puts them on the defensive. They may have some offensive capability if necessary but it is highly unlikely.

As artillery is designed for killing or damaging an opponent from a great distance, and this is an aggressive move, ponies will not have anything more complicated than catapults. We know they can build them, and they are a relatively easy to build and easy to operate technology. Firearms require the manipulation of small components or dangerous components none of which a pony is likely to handle with any frequency. Because of the absence of gunpowder, they also won't be using the same thing to propel shells or other explosives. Since they don't have any major world wars or conflicts between one another, (There is no need to compete for land or even tribal disputes when there's enough land for everyone), there will never have arisen a need to invent weapons of mass destruction such as artillery and bombs either.

However, simple things like catapults and trebuchets, ballistas, anything that could be operated with hooves might be invented. These are simple items. The key thing is simple. Firearms such as cannons, guns, pistols, and such require a level of complexity that may even be considered beyond a pony's capability to operate. Many things are also done with magic. Why would they have invented a bomb-throwing machine when they don't have a general need for vehicles beyond transporting goods or mass transit (Such as a train) when they wouldn't be going on offensive ventures anyway?

In short, there will be no Pony Artillery, Howitzers, or anything of the like in Equestria Mane Roleplay.

[Imagination]

Alrighty then. Thank you!

[Stainless Steel Fox]

I would have thought the equivalent of artillery would be pie throwing catapults. After incidents like the great caking at the grand galloping gala and the range war in Appleoosa, I'm surprised boxes of cakes don't require a concealed carry licence.

[Strife]

Gunpowder has so far made no show (Except for perhaps Fireworks, which are more likely powered by magic or magical items such as Zecora's potions). Brian's picture is not considered Canon in the respect that it was drawn for fun. It was a common thing to see as nose art on aircraft in our real world, but it was not intended to suggest that Artillery were invented in the pony world.

Let me detail why this won't work.

Ponies are not, by nature, an aggressive species. They are herbivores, for one thing. This means that they don't hunt. They won't be inventing any weapons that will make it easier to hunt other animals for food. They will, however, invent a lot of things that relate to farming or quality of life. This puts them on the defensive. They may have some offensive capability if necessary but it is highly unlikely.

As artillery is designed for killing or damaging an opponent from a great distance, and this is an aggressive move, ponies will not have anything more complicated than catapults. We know they can build them, and they are a relatively easy to build and easy to operate technology. Firearms require the manipulation of small components or dangerous components none of which a pony is likely to handle with any frequency. Because of the absence of gunpowder, they also won't be using the same thing to propel shells or other explosives. Since they don't have any major world wars or conflicts between one another, (There is no need to compete for land or even tribal disputes when there's enough land for everyone), there will never have arisen a need to invent weapons of mass destruction such as artillery and bombs either.

However, simple things like catapults and trebuchets, ballistas, anything that could be operated with hooves might be invented. These are simple items. The key thing is simple. Firearms such as cannons, guns, pistols, and such require a level of complexity that may even be considered beyond a pony's capability to operate. Many things are also done with magic. Why would they have invented a bomb-throwing machine when they don't have a general need for vehicles beyond transporting goods or mass transit (Such as a train) when they wouldn't be going on offensive ventures anyway?

In short, there will be no Pony Artillery, Howitzers, or anything of the like in Equestria Mane Roleplay.

We know that aggression is not unheard of in Equestria, due to the previously separated pony species (Hearth's Warm Eve) and various other events (Nightmare Moon, Discord, etc). Weapons have been shown, primarily swords, most likely developed during the aggressive times. By seeing Pinkie's party cannon, it is a logical step to think they know of cannons and having someone like Zecora in the show (one who messes with plants, mixtures, etc) we know they are fully aware of chemicals and equivalent sciences. By seeing the fireworks it is very likely 'gun powder' exists as well (Although the name could be different). Remember that two thirds of the ponies do not have magic, so it only makes sense that not everything defaults to "oh, it's magic".

While ponies themselves are not bipedal and do not have manipulative digits (fingers), other species do (Spike being the common example). Also, cannons are MUCH easier to load and use and in the technology tree, came significantly sooner than guns (the Chinese used gun powder as a weapon long before the invention of guns). As far as ease of use, cannons can be loaded by ponies with little effort, as it requires only the packing of power and loading of the cannon ball, which requires little dexterity.

There is an overwhelming amount of points in evidence that not only does the technology exist, but it was used (even if in the past). Do they have a group now? Probably, most countries keep an army in reserve even if they have not seen war in ages, and Celestia being as wise as she is portrayed, it would only make sense to have some sort of defensive force via multiple methods. Also, guns are just as offensive as defensive (as are all weapons and shields) ... it matters how it is used.

[Imagination]

I don't think she was denying neither that evidence of such technology or things equivalent to the technology are present, nor that the potential is there for such things to come to fruition, just that those things aren't in the best interest of the nature of the RP itself. While slightly disappointed with the result, I'm perfectly aware of why this suggestion/question was denied and am actually pleased with the stance the staff has taken on it, if I interpreted this right.

While I know a cannon CAN be loaded without thumbs, it's very difficult. On a basic gun the crew must open the breech, load the round, close the breech, charge the shot, and pull a pull string to discharge the round.

But the primary reason that I believe the staff is turning away things of this nature is simply because they don't want any RPs to start becoming 'combat' oriented, like so many roleplay boards fall victim to. If they allow cannons, then people will start asking 'well then why can't we have guns or bombs?' and it'll simply open too many ugly doors for an RP that's supposed to be peaceful and follow a mindset of love and tolerance.

[Skye]

I don't think she was denying neither that evidence of such technology or things equivalent to the technology are present, nor that the potential is there for such things to come to fruition, just that those things aren't in the best interest of the nature of the RP itself. While slightly disappointed with the result, I'm perfectly aware of why this suggestion/question was denied and am actually pleased with the stance the staff has taken on it, if I interpreted this right.

While I know a cannon CAN be loaded without thumbs, it's very difficult. On a basic gun the crew must open the breech, load the round, close the breech, charge the shot, and pull a pull string to discharge the round.

But the primary reason that I believe the staff is turning away things of this nature is simply because they don't want any RPs to start becoming 'combat' oriented, like so many roleplay boards fall victim to. If they allow cannons, then people will start asking 'well then why can't we have guns or bombs?' and it'll simply open too many ugly doors for an RP that's supposed to be peaceful and follow a mindset of love and tolerance.

This is one of the reasons. Also, it is not in the nature of My Little Pony to turn into a gritty war-based roleplay as would be evident and only in the due course of allowing such things into this RP. Canterlot.com is supposed to be a light-hearted adventure-based roleplay. It's not Call of Duty or Left 4 Dead. While I understand (And enjoy!) the appeal of such games myself, that's not what My Little Pony is about and that's what must be understood. The combat-oriented roleplay that can only result in bloodshed, death, anger, and violence is not the intent or purpose of Friendship is Magic. Lastly, while evidence that such technologies 'could' exist, there's not necessarily a reason that they -do- exist. We assume much based on events that have taken place in our world, but in a world where the mindset is completely different, just because they could exist does not automatically mean that they -do- exist.

We can assume that by the presence of fans that they have knowledge of electric motors which means that they could have knowledge of meat slicers, which means that ponies could eat meat. But let's stop and look at this for a moment. We know that in our world, equines are herbivores by nature, by design, by evolution, what have you. They're not designed to hunt and kill animals for food. Their teeth and digestive systems just aren't built for it. So why would we assume that in Equestria that ponies eat meat? We know that they do not. Therefore, just because we know they could, doesn't mean they do, and so ponies would very likely never make meat slicers. There may be other species that do, but for the purposes of Canterlot.com's roleplay, it has no function nor purpose here, which is the same with guns and a lot of other technology that has been attempted to be introduced.