[Ogre] It's raining heavies

[John D. Gwinner]

I'm trying to create a scenario with Ogre's and Heavies on Mars.

GEV's wouldn't works so well, but I figure a Heavy might be big enough
you could have some life support (air/portalet) added to it, so the
crews could operate on Mars.

The next question: how to get them there?

Does anyone think even with reduced gravity, that they could be dropped
from orbit using the air bag method used so well with robots?  Even at
Mars gravity, that's a lot of weight.

My scenario also has an orbital elevator, so I was thinking maybe they
got smuggled to the surfce in sealed cargo containers.  Land the crew,
shoot up the port, pop the containers, and voila, an invading army.

My problem with that is that the orbital elevator would be at Pavonis
Mons, and that's a ways away from anything interesting, so the vehicles
would have to drive several hundred or thousand miles to attack.  With
technology in the late 21st, would a tank be capable of several hundred
or a thousand miles travel without a lot of maintenance?

I'd drop light / missle tanks, but I don't think they'd be big enough to
have the room to add some oxygen bottles, but let's face it, with the
hostile battlefield in the Ogreverse, maybe that's built in.

Thoughts?

		== John ==

P.S.  Ok, this is actually back drop to a story I'm writing about
colonies on Mars, but I'm trying to make the scenario realistic.  The
"CP" in this case is a 'bubble city' on Mars.