============ OGREverse list, Jan 2nd (Last: Dec 26th) ============= ===== Computer Aided OGRE playing From: "Todd A. Zircher" ===== More info From: "Denny Graver" From: "Todd A. Zircher" ===== Enter the Dragon From: Preston Gustine ------------------------------ From: "Todd A. Zircher" Subject: Computer Aided OGRE playing The OGRE/GEV gamesets are bundled with the V_MAP program since I got (and maintain) a fan-ware license from Steve. Major release for V_MAP due within the next few days. Massive speed boost, bugs fixed, and new features added. TAZ ------------------------------ From: "Denny Graver" Subject: More info > [Um, it lists something called SFB, but not OGRE, are you sure you've >got the right place? Yep. Absolutely sure. It might be a good thing to look at all of the boards, PBEM, Boardgame, etc. If for whatever reason you can't see it, add it to your own profile. Mr Fish Flowers is listed, so it must be fairly Kosha. The webRPG online systemalso has an on line die roller, so you can play ogre on line. :Den ----- From: "Todd A. Zircher" Subject: More info Absolutely, under a different category there was two entries, one for OGRE/GEV realtime and the other for OGRE/GEV PBEM. TAZ ----- [Very well, how about a game? The OGRE Minis rulebook says that you can play the original OGRE scenario on the OGRE map with all the new rules and units. As a traditionalist, I'll pick 30 infantry units and 20 armor units (that is 90 squads of militia loaded on 30 armored hovertrucks and 40 LGEVs for a total of 180 points. Just to give you a "fighting" chance, this is all setup above the crater line.) The rules say you get a Mark IV, V, Ninja or Fencer. (Hint: The Mk IV or Fencer get overrun by 40 LGEVs and their racks will seem slightly inadequate...) The Fiver will find itself surrounded by six (or fewer) hexes each turn, each of which has three dismounted militia squads stacked with a Hovertruck in it. The Fiver can stand still and blow away all of this, but then the LGEVs will get a free turn to pound. (Let's limit the stacking to five units per hex, cause otherwise ALL of the LGEVs could stack up in a single hex to deliver fire and then scatter to escape retribution.) The Fiver can overrun the Militia, but each stack of three squads blows off an average of two tread units. And any squads that are simply bypassed? Well they load up at the start of their next turn and drop down next to the OGRE to apply ranged fire. What, you say it's not fair to beat this dead horse after posting the fix to my web site? (Darn, you guys are just no fun.) -HJC] ------------------------------ From: Preston Gustine Subject: Enter the Dragon ok here you go, and yes I know these will be very very off. Dragon I Steel Warrior Alpha Main Batteries X Main Batteries 1 Secondary Batteries 2 Secondary Batteries 3 AP Batteries 4 AP Batteries 6 Missiles X Missiles X Movement 4 hexes Movement 3 hexes Treads 24 6/6/6/6 Treads 36 12/12/12 Crew 4 Steel Warrior Beta Dragon II Main Batteries 1 Main Batteries 1 Secondary Batteries 6 Secondary Batteries 2 AP Batteries 10 AP Batteries 4 Missiles 2 Missiles 1 Movement 3 hexes Movement 3 hexes Treads 48 16/16/16 Treads 48 16/16/16 Crew 5 Steel Warrior Gamma Main Batteries 2 Dragon III Secondary Batteries 4 Main Batteries 2 AP Batteries 10 Secondary Batteries 4 Missile Racks 2 AP Batteries 10 Missiles 8 Missiles 4 Movement 3 hexes Movement 3 hexes Treads 60 20/20/20 Treads 60 20/20/20 Crew 8 Steel Warrior Delta Main Batteries 2 Dragon IV Secondary Batteries 10 Main Batteries 2 AP Batteries 14 Secondary Batteries 8 Missile Racks 2 AP Batteries 12 Missiles 16 Missile Racks 3 Movement 3 hexes Missiles 15 Treads 72 24/24/24 Movement 3 hexes Treads 72 24/24/24 Steel Warrior Epsilon Crew 11 Main Batteries 1 Secondary Batteries 6 AP Batteries 12 Missile Racks 2 Missiles 12 Movement 4 hexes Treads 48 12/12/12/12 Steel Warriors Steel Warrior Alpha: The first Steel warrior was heralded by the Nihon Empire as a landmark in East Asian technology. In reality the Alpha was based on stolen plans of the Mark II. A small commando fore was able to penetrate the security of the Seattle/Vancouver production facility and take a copy of the plans outlining the Mark II and more importantly, copies of the plans needed to build the templates for Mark II production. Using local know how and ability the Nihon Empire added armor and a third secondary battery along with beefed up the treads. These early Steel Warriors proved effective and crucial in the early stages of the campaign into mainland Asia. Steel Warrior Beta: With the ever-increasing numbers of conventional Chinese units, the Beat was meant to take on large numbers of tanks and infantry. With a near constant supply on troops the Chinese Hegemony were able to swarm over the earlier Alpha, while the cost in human life was great, the military cost to the Nihon Empire was greater. Using a reinforced Alpha chassis the Beta has been up-gunned to better protect itself from troops and GEVs. The increase secondary and AP batteries, along with the missile additions, however, proved too taxing for early model Betas. There were many cases of Beta being unable to fire their secondary batteries at due to the targeting sub-computer shorting out. These errors were fixed in time for the siege of Beijing, but some units still suffer from the fire control problem. Despite this problem the Beta went on to become the primary land weapon of the Nihon Empire, seeing action across the Pacific. Steel Warrior Gamma: The introduction of the Dragon III and the staggering losses that they inflicted to the Betas, mostly because of the Beta's poor habit of loosing half their weapons then to actual damage inflicted by the Dragons. The Gamma was to be the new front line Warrior, slowly phasing out the Betas, but the demands for tanks out stripped the ability to produce the new Gammas, as such the Beta were kept in production threw out the Last War. The major renovation of the Gamma offered was the first use of missile racks by the Nihon Empire. After examining intelligence reports of the new Fencer and Mark IV Ogres, the Nihon industrial machine created their own version. Slightly more rugged and faster reloading time allowed the Gamma's to pound their opponents from extreme ranges without suffering return fire. Steel Warrior Delta: The ultimate in Nihon cybertank design. The Deltas were to be the spearhead of the invasion into the Combine. Meant to tackle and destroy the Ogre Mk V, the Delta was designed to hammer the Mark V from a distance with its missile racks, then close in and finish the job of with its main batteries, and superior number of secondary batteries. The theory proved sound when facing a Mark III, the Mark Vs however proved much more challenging. By the time of the invasion most mark Vs had become truly self aware, they could out think most of the Deltas. The Delta was more often defeated by cleaver Mark Vs that would let loose with its full missile load aimed solely at the Delta's missile racks. In the ensuing slug match that followed, Mark V would win roughly 75% of the time. Despite this "minor" problem the Nihon Empire kept using the Deltas, no other unit could face off against a Mark V or even come close to beating the new Mark VI. Steel Warrior Epsilon: In a rare move of downsizing, the Epsilon class Steel Warrior were smaller and more mobile units then the previous Delta class. Designed to help consolidate and patrol the large expanses of mainland Asia, the Epsilons needed to be more self-reliant then previous models. The Epsilons relied heavily on their ability to use hit and run tactics. Their dual missile rack armed with 6 missals each could rain death on almost any unit they would encounter. The secondary batteries were meant to dispatch weaker foes, or as back-ups once the missile load had been expended. The Epsilons proved useful in their roles, but with the collapse of the Nihon Empire, many found themselves stranded deep with in China. Needing parts and repairs to survive, many banded together to form outlaw units that ruled over the lands as warlords, and in many cases fighting other bands of rival Epsilons for parts and human slaves. Dragons The Dragon I was the Chinese's first attempt at a "super" tank. Using ideas and plans based loosely on the information obtained about the new "OGRE" units to be fielded by the North American Combine. Lacking the ability and funding to create the advances AI software that was to be come the hallmark of Ogres, the Hegemony opted to keep their tanks as manned vehicles. The Dragon I was more of a test-bed model that anything else, an attempt to see if a manned tank could withstand multiple nuclear attacks and still function. While early tests proved less then successful, they did show ways to improve upon the design. The Dragon II used knowledge gained from the tests of the Dragon I and from actual battle knowledge of the early Combine Ogres. Using the base hull of a Dragon I, Chinese designers improved the armament and armor. The addition of the main battery and missile, however, significantly slowed the new Dragon. The new suspension system helped to offset the weight problems, but could not keep the speed at previous levels. After engagements with the new Japanese Steel Warrior Beta, the Chinese knew that a newer, more up to date model Dragon was needed. Starting from the ground up Chinese designers set upon recreating the Combines Mark V Ogre. Limited knowledge of the Mark V allowed for more guess work and creative le-way then originally called for, but the Dragon II proved to be the most effective of the main line battle Dragons. Armed with two main batteries, each in there own turret, back by a pair of dual gunned secondary battery turrets, and 4 missiles the Dragon III could project enough firepower to defeat the current production model Steel Warriors. The Dragon IV was to be the last of the great Chinese super tanks, produced in very limited numbers before the fall of the Hegemony, as such very few survived the Last War. Deemed as the ultimate weapon of last defense the Dragon IV used all of the Hegemony knowledge of Ogres, Steel Warriors and all other forms of cybertanks. The new primary weapon added was the Missile Rack, captured from a Fencer that strayed into northern China. Chinese armament specialist swarmed of the captured cybertank, awed by the marvels held with-in. The captured Fencer also yielded over the secret of true AI programming, but instead of making the Dragon IV a true AI tank, the AI was used to help and supplement to human crew. The AI would perform most of the actions, but it was the human crew that made the ultimate decision on what action would be performed. Special Rules: Because they do have human crews with in them the Chinese Dragons are played slightly different from traditional Ogre classed vehicles. Whenever a weapon system suffers a "D" on the CRT the weapon is disabled for 1 turn. However, further "D"s on the same weapon have no further effect. This represents that the Dragon's armor did absorb and defect the attack, but the crew member manning that system was stunned, or the interface to that weapon was jarred and needed to be re-set, things like that. Attacks on tread do not stun the crew and are treated like normal tread attacks. ----- [Actually the Dragons have range and the Robotic Samurai have speed and firepower, so the best Chinese tactic is to pound from range and drop a solid line of militia in between. (Deliver them with UNarmored Hovertrucks as there's over a billion replacements where they came from...) -HJC] Henry J. Cobb ogre@sjgames.com http://www.io.com/~hcobb All OGRE-related items Copyright (c) 1999, by Steve Jackson Games.