Balefire Blues is a total conversion submod for the Hearts of Iron IV Game Mods Old World Blues and Equestria at War, set in the post-apocalyptic setting of Fallout: Equestria. Its world map covers most of the Equus continent of Equestria at War; the current version features part of Eastern Equestria around the city of Manehattan, and the developers have plans to make the entire map playable. The game systems originally overhauled by Old World Blues to better reflect the post-apocalyptic nature of the setting are retained here, as is the zoomed-in map (with rivers being treated like seas) resembling the North America map in Old World Blues, so that it would work on the small scale required by Fallout: Equestria.
The mod can be found here
(note that it requires both of its parent mods in order to run). Its community can be found on Reddit and on Discord.
This Game Mod provides examples of:
- After the End: The world was bathed in radioactive balefire, and nearly wiped clean. Ponies survived, but they did not thrive, and were greeted by a new world of ashes and suffering.
- Crossover: The mod's story is based mostly on Fallout: Equestria, mixed with some elements (like the world map) of Equestria at War.
- Fantastic Nuke: Replacing the traditional nuclear warfare system are various Megaspells, powerful magic that can unleash devastating or useful effects upon a battlefield. Balefire Bombs are a stand-in for traditional nuclear bombs, a zebra design that uses necromatic magic in the place of radioactive material. Balefire Bombs are activated in the same way as nukes, although they do not require air superiority to be triggered.
- The Ghost: The Griffonian continent is not included in Balefire Blues's zoomed-in map, and Griffonian nations (like the Holy Griffonian Empire and the United Socialist States of Rijekograd) are only mentioned in various flavour events.
- Great Offscreen War: 200 years ago, Equestria fought a Great War with the Zebra Empire, which ended with the known world being engulfed in balefire and all but wiped out.
- Multiple-Choice Past: Like in Old World Blues, the first focuses in all countries' focus trees allow the player to choose certain aspects of what happened in that country's past. Each choice for each event offers different bonuses.
- Visionary Villain: The Visionary ideology represents characters who believe that the wasteland can and must be rebuilt into their own vision, whether good or evil.
