============ OGRE/GEV list, November 20th (Last: November 17th) ============= ===== Sequence Question ===== The Assault Tank ===== lowering the cost ===== Missile Tank ammo ===== Buy the Book. ------------------------------ From: fish Subject: _More_ questions A veritable fountain of stupid questions, aren't I? 1) Another question about the Friendly Fire Isn't section: What happens to a unit caught in the Killing Zone of friendly fire (at whatever range)? Seems to me like that close to the explosion you wouldn't really be able to aim a tacnuke with such precision so as to avoid your buddies... And certainly if the firing unit(s) are beyond the 6" limit... 2) How many militia fit into a revetment? The same as infantry (i.e. 3 in a small, 6 in a large), or a greater number? 3) Could you combine five squads (or however many) of militia into one unit? Certainly you wouldn't have balance problems as you might for infantry ("Okay, I've got ten squads in the city, for a total defence of 30. Come and get me."), so I can't really see any reason why not. 4) Does a D0 Command Post get an attack strength of 1 in overruns only against militia, or against everything? Page 34 implies that it gains attack against any unit, while page 18 implies only against militia. Or is it that _any_ manned structure gets A1 in overruns, but any structure (manned or unmanned) gets A* in overruns against infantry, where * = defence? <>< fish ><> (fnord.) ----- [3> No, under cover Militia only loose one squad to a D, if you're going to stack them up, you'll suffer greater losses. I've got a question myself: A platoon of infantry is size one, so a platoon hiding behind the hulk of a Missile Tank in a small revetment in a city has a defense of what? (My calculation says: 3 * 3 + 2 + 2 = 13, single Ogre missiles bounce off!) -HJC] ------------------------------ From: fish Subject: Missiles (was Re: Buy the Book.) SJ wrote: > [Uh, Steve? In your book, Ogre Minis, page 15: "The missiles it > fires are essentially identical to those launched by the Missile > Tank..." -HJC] > > !!!!! Literally in my book. Hoist by my own words. > Okay: (a) clearly I didn't remember saying that, and (b) I'm not sure I > believe it now. I'd welcome comments. Well, it makes a certain amount of sense. Of course, prior to Minis I had always thought of Howitzers as essentially firing long-range Ogre missiles, which would explain their not being able to split fire among multiple targets, which, frankly, I think units firing a whole bunch of nukes really fast should be able to do. (But I digress.) If you accept Minis as canon, there's clearly the impression that Missile tanks and all sorts of howitzers (but excluding Field Artillery) fire very similar missiles. This makes tons of sense from a logistical viewpoint -- you'd only need one supplier for all your missile-launching units! (Heaven help you if the bad guy found a way to spoof that kind of missile every time, though...) So i'd tend to agree with the text in Minis. Although that would mean that missile tanks _would_ probably be able to fire at underwater units. <>< fish ><> (fnord.) ------------------------------ From: fish Subject: Disabled Unit Movement Page 34 states "When a vehicle becomes disabled, it is not necessarily incapacitated. Its onboard computer systems are sophisticated enough not only to defend the unit, but also to direct its movement and firepower until the crew recovers." Now, this makes pretty good sense. I'm cool with allowing disabled units to fire only in overruns. But it seems to me like the onboard computers should be able to be programmed with some _simple_ commands to execute should the crew become temporarily indisposed. (After all, AI technology is far enough advanced so as to have effectively self-aware Ogres.) I can think of innumerable situations in which it would be very useful to have a disabled unit get out of Dodge until it recovers, so that it's not meat on the enemy's next fire round. To that effect I propose the following rule (and wait, cringing, for the flames to follow): Disabled units may move on their movement turn, but only in a certain preset manner, as the onboard computers aren't all _that_ bright. A disabled unit will move in as direct a line as possible towards a certain position set at the beginning of the scenario, generally a Command Post or other fortified position. Its movement rate is effectively 2/3rds of what it would normally be, as the computer is not as capable of taking advantage of terrain as the human crew would be. (In GEV, multiply by 2/3 and round down.) If a unit comes upon impassable terrain (Cliffs, water, swamps for most units and forests for GEVs), it will move around it to the best of its ability; if two paths seem equally advantageous in terms of terrain (i.e. the computer will ignore enemy forces along its path of movement for purposes of deciding what route to take; terrain alone is evaluated), then determine randomly which route is taken. Well? Thoughts, comments, critiques, flames? It brings up whole new possibilities -- maybe individual units could be programmed with different procedures (Charge into overruns, maybe, or run for the nearest defensive terrain). Or maybe friendly Ogres above the unit in the chain of command could command a disabled unit as a Drone. (Rules for which I gather are in Killing Zone.) Speaking of which, are there playtest files for Killing Zone or the rumored new edition of Ogre Minis open to the (semi-)public, or perhaps those with an IO account? I'd even promise to buy another copy when (if) it came out... <>< fish ><> (fnord.) ----- [Didn't they already do Rivets vs OGREs? -HJC] Henry J. Cobb hcobb@io.com http://www.io.com/~hcobb All OGRE-related items Copyright (c) 1996, by Steve Jackson Games.