============ OGREverse list, June 7th (Last: May 30th) ============= ===== Ogre Tower = Polyphemus' Eye From: Patrick Odonnell From: Servitor@aol.com ------------------------------ From: Patrick Odonnell Subject: Ogre Tower = Polyphemus' Eye > To get the kind of view that both players have of the battle field > would require eyes in the sky. We are talking about either > satalights or recon drones. I could see sensors in the con tower of > an Ogre, but I could also see it used as a respirator for fordings (I > know Ogres don't breath, but they must be cooled) or for a number > of other uses. > So, the Ogre designers made maximum use of this tower? Sounds great!! > In fact, if the con tower serves only one use, then it is a really bad > design. > You know what? You're RIGHT!!! > I also agree that for as much money as is spent on an Ogre, there would be > lots of redundancy. Since we don't play by LOS in the Ogre/GEV rules, we > can pretty much ignore this kind of injury. > Uh ... first it is written that the tower is not only used as a sensor tower but has many other uses and then it is stated that its elimination is irrelevant!?! The more *Functionality* the tower has the higher up on the priority target list it is and the more *Effect* it will have on the Ogre when I blow it off. 1. If it is a cooling tower then when I eliminate it the Ogre should have problems with overheating. This in turn is a bad thing for those electronics which are *burried deep in the hull in a lead box.* 2. If it is a communications tower then when I blow it off the Ogre's ability to stay in contact with the above named targeting drones and satilites will be at the very least degraded and the Ogre could very easily start getting incomplete information which in turn means that some of the defenders might not show up on the Ogre's targeting screens anymore ... yadda ... yadda ... yadda ... 3. For each of the other functions that you want to give the tower - when I blow the tower off that system's (or system of systems') integrity and functionality WILL be affected to the detriment of the Ogre and to the delight of the defender. The tower, at least as portrayed in the Mini's rules, IS the *Achillies Heal* of current Ogre design. There have even been some very simple but sophisticated posts to this list on how the tower can be added to the character sheet and thereby brought into to play. As I have stated before, when an Ogre pokes its ugly little tower over the horizon I am going to start *Lazin and Blazzin* it. If Ogre designers get the idea to make it where it can fold back then the Ogre has to pay the cost of not being able to fully utilize whatever systems are found in the tower until it is fully deployed at which time I will start *Laz ... Along with killing the tower I will invest in a Mobile command post and the Ogre can go play in the sandbox for all I care. > I don't believe it is actually a SENSOR tower, as it makes absolutely no > sense > whatsoever to make it so prominent. The Ogres battlefield sensors would be > triple-redundant, and incredibly hard to hit, much less damage. > Ok. > I think it is a COMMUNICATIONS tower, and contains the equipment necessary > to > maintain commo uplink to nearby friendly forces. In a NORMAL enagement, > the > enemy will be MUCH to busy to target the tower, and an enemy Ogre wouldn't > waste > firepower on it, as it in no way whatsoever degrades an Ogre's FIREPOWER > once > the tower is lost. > Even better. Communications has been and will continue to be one of THE priorety targets on any battle field. If the BEAST can't communicate then it CAN NOT cooridinate and is far less effective both STRATEGICALLY and TACTICALLY, especially, if it relies on other sources for intel and targeting info (which it would if as according to the previous post the Ogre doesn't operate LOS). If the censors are imbedded in the hull and extremely hard to hit then they will also be so low on the hull as to SEVERLY LIMIT the range of the Ogre seeing as how it throws atomic shells through what amount to short range Howitzers. > There may be STRATEGIC effects for losing the tower....but I seriously > doubt > there would be any TACTICAL ones. > I couldn't disagree more. Please, see above. PJ ----- [Wouldn't be simpler to simply state that the sensor tower has D4 and until it is elminated the OGRE can trace LOS from the top of that tower and after it's lost the OGRE must trace LOS from the weapons in question? (Reminds me about Line Of Sight Tasking (LOST) from this month's MCJ. It goes: "Hey you, handle this won't you?" (Hand off document and leave them to go find one of their subordinates to hand the task off to...)) -HJC] ----- From: Servitor@aol.com Subject: Ogre Tower = Polyphemus' Eye I didn't bother capturing anyone's text that I am responding to here because: A): I will bet people on this list are getting tired of reading the same lines over that they read last posting and, B): The spelling on some of the last post was so terrible that I just couldn't bring myself to do it... Yeah, yeah, I know. My grammar stinks to high heaven, so I shouldn't talk... Anyway, the Ogre towers serving as a snorkel for cooling? Pardon me, (and I admit I am greatly ignorant of engineering) but, doesn't water act as a better coolant than air? A comm tower? Sure, makes sense to me. But I still think one of its primary purposes is as a sensor tower. Henry, if the game presumes that the armor and Ogres are using fusion tac-nukes (which only create noticeable spillover effect within less than a half mile distance), then shouldn't the fireball(s) be (mostly) cleared away by the end of the turn? I mean, the Ogre's got LOTS of time within a turn to target and fire. Seems to me that keeping track of targets shouldn't be that tough within a few miles radius. best, flunky ----- [Actually all of this talk about sensors reminds me of a really bad crossover story I must never write... As the OGRE rumbled across the endless desert, its memory banks replayed how it had gotten itself into this mess. "Baron Harkonen, may I present our new ally, a forbidden device from the machine wars." Just a bunch of light infantry, not even any powered suits, it had all sounded so easy to the OGRE. The great machine was distracted from its memory playback by a shifting in the sand behind it and urged its treads to even greater speed. -HJC] Henry J. Cobb ogre@sjgames.com http://www.io.com/~hcobb All OGRE-related items Copyright (c) 1999, by Steve Jackson Games.