This page shows how to calculate the cost of an Ogre with any mix of weapons and treads. You can either start from scratch, or select an Ogre from the gallery and modify it. The formula used is quite simple, and is presented below.
type | move | VP/point |
---|---|---|
Xheavy | 2 | ½ |
Standard | 3 | 1 |
Fast | 4 | 1½ |
As the first step, total up the VP from weapons. The costs are given in the table at the top of the page.
Next, pick how many tread points the Ogre will have. Add the cost of the treads themselves, as given by the table at right.
If the Ogre has more VP from weapons than it has hit points of treads, it is said to be "overloaded" -- for every point difference add the cost of half that many treads.
This formula tries to calculate the battlefield value of units. At one point during the war, The Combine probably pumped out a Mk V for the same real cost as the Paneuropeans spent on a Fencer. But that only matters in a strategic game. Once the units are on the battlefield, the battlefield cost is all you need.
The relative costs of weapons seem right to me. Three secondaries seem about as good as two mains. A one shot missile seems a little worse than a secondary.
At any point, modifying a design by increasing the movement rate will also increase the cost. Cutting out components always decreases cost. There are no discontinuities, where the price suddenly increases by 50% when you add a single AP gun.
Pricing missile racks has been particularly difficult. This is because a missile rack has no intrensic value without its missiles. Because it doesn't have to wait in line to be fired, the first missile in any missile rack is the most valuable one, with the value decreasing for each reload. At the extreme end a missile rack with twenty reloads is no better than a rack with ten reloads, since the enemy will shoot off the rack immediately in any case. I chose to model this with a high cost for racks and a low cost for reloads. Another route would be a low cost for racks, and a high cost for the first missiles, tapering down to a low cost for the fifth missiles. But this system is simpler, and the only potential gripe I see is that a rack with exactly three reloads is only worth 10 VP, not its current value of 11.
In conclusion, the thing I like best about this cybertank designer is that one doesn't need to carry around a computer to do the calculations. Just remember the weapon and tread costs, and you're set.
There's no real minimum or maximum size imposed on Ogres here. You can build the "Ogre Munchkin", an M2 ogre with two treads and armed with a one shot missile for just 6 VP. Actually its not really a gamebreaker, but it sort of ruins the aesthetics of the universe to have Ogres about the size of a Honda Civic.
Ogre is a trademark of Steve Jackson Games. The Ogre image () is a registered trademark of Steve Jackson Games.
All variant rules copyright 2002, 2004 David Morse. Permission is hereby granted to make and distribute copies of this document for non-commercial use.