Best HFY Reddit Stories: Concepts (r/HFY)

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#hfy #Greentext #awesome #space #spaceorcs #/tg/ #greentexts #4chan

[@SoMuchFacepalm]

This is HFY done well. The aliens aren't retarded, humans aren't the only people with morality or brains, we're just slightly different enough to have a unique concept and act accordingly.

[@zeehero7280]

Yeah if the aliens actually inherently suck, then humans aren't so great. It's easy to be awesome if everyone else sucks.

[@Madcat1331]

Now this, this is wisdom right here. So tired of those power fantasies where the authors think that weapons are humanity's only redeeming feature

[@ianharrison5758]

The best HFY shows respect to the alien races in the story, making them stupid or outright cartoonishly evil only takes away from any realism within the story and only works if you’re specifically going for that effect, Usually for the sake of comedy. To me almost satirically stupid aliens or excessive human glaze where we’re the only ones with morals or the foresight to use common sense can work when it’s explicitly the objective but too many HFY stories try to take themselves seriously while having some alien admiral lose a battle bc he talked massive shit, made assumptions and didn’t do any research or recon before the battle.

[@zeehero7280]

Volunteer soldiers are always superior to conscripted ones, whether conscripts get training or not. who would you rather have fighting for you, someone you forced to fight, or someone who WANTS to fight for his nation?

[@maximsavage]

Well yeah, but the idea here is that no member of another sapient species in that universe would even consider volunteering for war, hence the need for conscription. The aliens are only willing to fight in self-defence, or in direct defence of the individuals who matter to them, so if a government goes "Hey, I'll pay you if you fight for me", the answer is *always* no.

[@Kez_DXX]

For Earth conscripts the weakness is usually to take out the officers which causes the subordinates to fall into chaos as they don't know what to do or where to go. It could be the unreliable narrator trope in effect but with everything we're presented with it seems these aliens don't even have officers. They have the clear but very broad objective of either defending or capturing. And combat medics are also a foreign concept so no treating the wounded let alone injured so conditions likely aren't great for anybody. Between "defend the city or you will die" and "the only way you're getting off that rock is if you capture the objective", Humanity could probably take that planet out from under both with a few leaflet drops.

[@alicorn3924]

problem is manpower, at some point in a war a large portion of people wouldn't be volunteering for alot of reasons

[@nathaniels9141]

Alicorn yes but the majority that you are forcing should be support roles. It's one of the reason US, UK, and other militaries are so strong. Then you compare it to the Russian or North Korean army where they're forced to. Studies of WW1 and WW2 have shown that 10% of soldier did 90% of the killing. Having an army of just those 10% with the rest getting whatever that 10% needs is what makes a army strong. The reason the US is a super power and won both WW is cause of its manufacturing and resource in country.

[@TiltedHandle]

@@nathaniels9141 doesnt that sound a little concerning?

[@ObservingLibertarian]

Note: the human who *won* the game of rock paper scissors - is the one who ran to save the alien. That was a nice touch.

[@zeehero7280]

They played it to find out who gets the honor of saving him

[@MerlinCross13]

Medics playing Rock Paper Scissors to see who'd run into threat to get someone is pretty believable.

[@maximsavage]

"I've got him!" "Screw you, I want that medal too! I'm going!" "Alright, shit, let's play for it. 1, 2, 3, shoot!"

[@Kez_DXX]

@@MerlinCross13 and the Xeno will learn right fucking quick the golden rule among professional soldiers is that you don't shoot at Doc.

[@bogustoast22none25]

One thing you need to understand is that corpsmen and combat medic will run across an active combat zone, get shot at, and die, for the opportunity to save you. With that in mind, know that should any bullet find itself anywhere near that battlefield angel, you’re gonna get shot and killed so fast your the last seconds of your life are gonna be fucking lag, cause death is not gonna go claim your soul fast enough.

[@randomguy-tg7ok]

Ah, this story. I remember this one. Funnily enough, I can't imagine _not_ fighting and dying over ideas. You might fight to protect your town, but what if a third of you have families in the next town over? When that town gets attacked by a third, would that third not want to defend their families? And would you not want to defend them? The concept of not wanting to do that is so... well, Alien.

[@ObservingLibertarian]

Indeed: the human who *won* the game of rock paper scissors - is the one who ran to save the alien. That was a nice touch.

[@davidaward82]

a lot of the HFY genre shows most aliens as herd based prey animal descendants, herds are far more insular than the tribes which we humans arose from, while they may move, and their numbers may shift constantly, the herd remains the herd, and if you stray too far, you're not part of the herd anymore, tribes are more flexible. could explain why the aliens in this particular fiction seem so 'not my city, not my issue' etc

[@silvadelshaladin]

Heh, we infected him. Infected with concepts.

[@jros4057]

"Y'all ever hear about operation paperclip? No? Well don't worry it doesn't matter, but hey listen. Us humans will fights the next few wars for you. Sound good? Awesome! "

[@normiesalvador1854]

This was done fairly well--aliens don't think like us, don't act like us.

[@maximsavage]

Yeah, but in a believable way, which is even better. They still have morals, they're still intellectually capable and they aren't explicitly weaker than us, but they're different.

[@Nyghtking]

I was expecting the humans to start overthrowing governments due to those government's regular practice of forced conscription.

[@zeehero7280]

Some human governments still do it, but in a much more humane way, it's not just like battle slavery, a conscript has to fight, but gets trained and is treated like a volunteer soldier would be.

[@Kez_DXX]

I'm trying to figure out if the psyops guys would have a field day or be bored out of their minds. Leaflet drops would probably be sufficient to win without battles. What would the xenos governments do about it if they don't have professional armies? And air superiority is a thing you need to achieve with trained military pilots otherwise it's too costly.

[@dazeyndrowsy]

oh, possibly Though we'd be smart enough not to openly declare war and instead use subterfuge

[@ZM1306]

Wouldn't even need a Goverment to take over a planet. A rich enough guy could just build up a decent PMC of his own and take over planets. Or just a large enough militia could pool their resources and split the planet after taking it over.

[@andmos1001]

Not really. Forced conscription has been and still is an integrated part of most government. But, very few countries still practicing sending their forced conscripts to the front without any training or cohesion. Mainly because sending the conscripts to the front without training is basically sending them to the meat grinder.

[@jeromietolbert1866]

Yes this wide and beautiful galaxy needs more people who would put their lives on the line for others who would go to the gates of hell for people that they don't know who will show compassion and respect for their fallen and lift you out of the dirt when it is necessary to make the universe inspired again this is what the galaxy needs

[@johnnymellon7414]

There are two sides of that coin, as the narrator of the story mentioned, not only rainbows and happy unicorns. At some point you're going to run into a spider-bro sieg-heil-ing his spider fuehrer and crystal entities suicide bombing their neighboring tree people

[@jankubiak3218]

@@johnnymellon7414 lol

[@NemesZoltan87]

This was... thought-provoking. Good write, good read. Thanks for narrating!

[@jeromietolbert1866]

A few things that might get confused yes I think that would be what the galaxy needs but it needs far more than just a concept

[@mithwork2674]

this was gold me likey :D

[@DeHerg]

So the only thing you need to win this kind of war is a few leaflets telling the enemy they won't be killed if they surrendered and transported wherever they wished to, within reason. There's a reason slave armies are a really bad idea.

[@Cortanis001]

This one seems a bit biologically out of touch for me. Any life sustaining world would give rise to some variation of the predator vs prey dynamic and would theoretically produce a civilization that would see them through to first contact and/or exploration. Otherwise they run into the "great filter" issue of abundance leading to stagnation of civilization and progress. Humans are a bit different theoretically in that we find our species true potential in the face of adversity and the seemingly programmed need to explore as well as find new sensory inputs. I find it hard to believe that any first contact species wouldn't have figured out dedicated defenses and defenders to some extent just to be able to survive.

[@awb07d]

Humans are just going to steamroll all the aliens they going to fight

[@lpsjewel]

This is a powerful story. Kudos to the Author.

[@klausdalang4936]

Nice

[@peterwall8191]

You Are Wrong! Freedom is not an idea Freedom is not an abstract concept. Freedom is a way of life, more valuable than life itself. Freedom is what life is all about. The freedom to be you. The freedom to do as you please, so long as you do not harm others. The freedom to keep what you earn, unless you wish to exchange it for something else. The freedom to own property. These are not abstracts. These are the natural state of every sapient person. Its hard not to have anyone else telling you what to do,to rely solely on your judgement, to be responsible for your mistakes. Harder stil, to accept that you have to kill to keep your freedom. Yet, what other way is there? Living on your knees , subject to the whims of strangers? That is no life, you exist nut you do not live.

[@anonymouspotato7538]

Show me one physical freedom. Not an ideal, not words on a paper, not a symbol like a flag. Show me one unit of physical freedom. If you can't, that means it's abstract, not concrete.

[@zeehero7280]

@@anonymouspotato7538 A building made of concrete freedom.. that would be epic.

[@jankubiak3218]

@@anonymouspotato7538 I would argue that an action, or something being done a certain way, is not abstract, as it has been done physically, and a way of life is just that, a physical manifestation of an "idea" that is freedom.

[@maximsavage]

Freedom is an abstract concept. Plenty of standard things are abstract concepts. More importantly, plenty of abstract concepts are worth defending. You don't need freedom to be concrete in order for it to be worth defending, I sure don't. Love is abstract, it's worth defending. So is friendship, so is happiness, so is the right to pursue those things. Your comment seems like it comes from the need to justify the worth of freedom, because for some reason, you associate "abstract" with "worthless", or perhaps with "not real". So, let me say it again: abstract concepts can be real and can be worth defending. Life is not limited to what is concrete and physical.

[@kdrapertrucker]

Freedom is the natural state of life. Authoritarianism is an artificial construct.

[@WallNutBreaker524]

When it comes to Humanity, Everyone is a warrior 💪😎👌 especially when the situation calls for it.

[@TheStartrek99]

Shit. Easiest win ever. Just offer the opposing force amnesty.

[@WiredTurkey316]

For the algorithm

[@polasamierwahsh421]

NICE

[@elysebenge3740]

...For the Algorithm!

[@herisuryadi6885]

Hm

[@Erigalus]

Mh?

[@herisuryadi6885]

@@Erigalus Hm

[@shitfart1459]

Hm

[@daltonsharp6254]

HmmmmmmmmmmmmmMmm?

[@shitfart1459]

Hmmmmm

[@lanceknowlton1871]

Algorithm appeasement comment

[@copo2835]

Yup, for sure. It's not like there's an entire branch of the Ukrainian military that's made up of 20 thousand or so volunteers from foreign nations...Oh, wait

[@funster0691]

@@copo2835 I think you commented on the wrong comment

[@scullcrusher3981]

Hi

[@Boris99999]

I seriously doubt that a complicated society that has highly differentiated roles would survive without its people understanding what “empathy” or “mutual aid” is! Farmers would literally die from predators killing them because other farmers wouldn’t see the need to help them because they’ve hardly knew each other. Traders would die from accidentally loosing all their provisions and villagers not wanting to share with them because they have never met them before. Orphans would die because why would anyone help children they don’t know! Such a society wouldn’t live till the day when they would be able to build their first rocket! Hell, they would die out before they invent an electric lamp!

[@Fireballl14]

Uff... this did not aged well. Considering how everyone scared to face russians in Ukraine.

[@funster0691]

so some other guy said this and I'm pretty sure he meant to reply to this comment because the other comment was just "Algorithm appeasement comment" so here's what he said "Yup, for sure. It's not like there's an entire branch of the Ukrainian military that's made up of 20 thousand or so volunteers from foreign nations...Oh, wait"

[@Fireballl14]

@@funster0691 20k in 500kk western world population... In war that has at least 2kk fighting man involved. Yeah, don't get me wrong. Those 20k are real heroes, but it's kind of disheartening on how much support west gives to Ukraine especially if you take in account how much they pay russians for fuel.

[@funster0691]

@@Fireballl14 ya agreed

[@bogustoast22none25]

Scared of their people dying in a nuclear Holocaust, not just helping Ukraine. You also conveniently fail to mention how some people are actively sending humanitarian or financial support to Ukrainians, how the US, a Western power, is slowly crippling its own ammo supplies to give to Ukraine, and how the inflation is collapsing our own economy. I myself went from being able to save 30% of each paycheck and still live comfortably to barely able to afford anything new. And all of this is happening right after a pandemic had ravaged the world economy. And lastly, the last few decades the world has shifted to a more anti-violence mentality, anti gun mentality, anti war mentality. Suffice to say that with most of the population not wanting to send their kids to war, bad economy, chances of Ukraine actually winning (at least at first, based on available intel) and the looming threat of worldwide destruction, people were… incapable of seeing a viable option to helping Ukraine other than letting them fall and try to ensure Russians wouldn’t be too cruel on them. It was a Hail Mary that Ukraine managed to pull through, with the US giving them the main factor in being able to fight back.

[@jameson1239]

@@Fireballl14 you forgot to mention the amount of ammo and equipment the west is sending to Ukraine aswell as humanitarian supplies through organizations such as the Red Cross also already in the Americas we use very little Russian oil

[@jimmycoyote74]

For the algorithm