[Ogre] MORGUEs and the Vulcan Ogre Revisited

[Nocstar]

YES! YES! YES! Fireworks and Mad Jubilation!

I just ordered 2 Vulcans and 8 Vulcan drones from Warehouse 23. I am 
anxiously waiting for them to arrive so I can set up a MORGUE convoy. I've 
tried to cut and paste the pertinent parts of the previous listings on this 
topic in an attempt to collect all the data in one spot. Henry, I took the 
liberty of including your post from the SF Bay OGRE list on the Vulcan 
stats. I hope you don't mind. I would like to hear other opinions about 
appropriate units, stats etc as well as any posts I might have missed and 
any ideas on possible miniature alterations to produce the units that don't 
exist, i.e. Mark III-P "Peterbilt" Transport Ogre.



David Morse posted:
>Suppose a factory complex capable of building a Mark 7 realized that
>its existing physical factory space was in danger from some slow
>moving physical phenomenon, like a glacier, volcano, or army of the
>undead.  The factory has to evacuate its soul in some physical vessel,
>and what more secure caddy for its brain than the largest cybertank
>ever built?


I posted:
>Mobile OGRE Resource Gathering and Utilization Enterprise
>I could see an OGRE Factory resembling a MASH unit in its ability to 
>mobilize and relocate, i.e. a MORGUE unit. During its normal operations, 
>possible future locations are discovered, recorded and monitored. When the 
>time comes to relocate, due to either immediate threat or depletion of 
>available resources, the Factory AI transforms the Factory into an MORGUE 
>convoy consisting of the Mark VII OGRE with the AI, various "construction" 
>and "tow" OGREs, resource transport OGREs, and a suitable number of combat 
>OGREs of various types depending on the wealth and mental state of the AI.
>
>The AI may not allow the presence of carbon-based life forms anywhere near 
>it while it is going through this vulnerable transformation. The AI will 
>carry with it all the resources it needs to reestablish itself upon 
>arrival at the new location. The transport and construction OGREs will be 
>recycled when they are no longer needed. The AI will immediately replace 
>the relocation reserve as soon as it is feasible. This reserve will be 
>used only for future relocation unless the AI determines it is needed to 
>prevent its destruction.
>
>The Factory AI would become nomadic following the resources that feed its 
>purpose. Imagine all the resources available in a large city.
>
>Possible Scenario: An OGRE convoy has been sighted moving towards a large 
>port city. The convoy consists of a Mark VII OGRE, two construction OGREs 
>(stats?), one tow OGRE, two resource transport OGREs (stats?), one Mark IV 
>OGRE, and two Mark III OGREs.
>Mission: Destroy the Mark VII OGRE or the transport and construction OGREs.


Doug Pearson posted:
>For a transport Ogre, I'd do a variation on the Vulcan:  Use a Mark III
>chassis, same treads, same movement, same size.  Install the tow
>equipment option.  Weapons:  only 2 secondaries and 6 APs.  The extra
>room formerly taken up with weapons and ammo would be carved out for
>storage (transport).  Amount of weight of the material could be roughly
>that of a Mark II or about 8 armor units.  Access into the "bay" is
>from underneath:  this ogre caries two drones with low profiles that
>essentially act as self-propelled, semi-intelligent forklifts.  There
>should be enough clearance for this under a Mark III.  Let's call it a
>
>Mark III-P "Peterbilt" Transport Ogre
>2 SBs    O O
>6 APs    O O O O O O
>45 treads, starts at M3:
>OOOOO OOOOO OOOOO, down to M2
>OOOOO OOOOO OOOOO, down to M1
>OOOOO OOOOO OOOOO, down to M0
>
>After further thinking, let's let the Peterbilt have a semi-fixed
>"prow" on the front that would allow it to "bulldoze" new construction
>sites.  The blade would be, of course, BPC armor.


Henry J. Cobb posted on SF Bay OGRE:
>And what the heck, here's my own take on the Vulcan.
>
>The Vulcan is based on the Mark III chassis, but sacrifices weapons
>for a pair of manipulator arms and drone storage.
>
>In addition it can carry one vehicle up to the size of a heavy tank on
>its back deck in the same manner as tanks transport infantry, but the
>Vulcan cannot itself move on a turn when a vehicle is being loaded or
>unloaded either by the retractable ramp or by the Ogre's arms.
>
>The Vulcan has a set of built in towing gear as per OGRE Reinforcement
>Pack and the same ability as an Engineer squad to scan for minefields.
>
>Finally the Vulcan has four internal compartments which are only
>destroyed with the Ogre itself, these are two hangar bays, each of
>which can carry a flight of flying drones and two payload bays each of
>which can hold one payload from the types listed below.
>
>Using a payload generally requires the use of a manipulator arm and
>requires that the Vulcan not move on the turn it uses that payload.
>Note that in addition to the flights of flying drones carried in its
>hangar bays, each Vulcan is usually accompanied by a handful of tank
>sized remotely controlled units to assist it in its tasks.
>
>2 Manipulation Arms (Defense 3) OO
>2 Secondary Battery (Attack 3, Range 4", Defense 3) OO
>6 Anti-Personnel (Attack 1, Range 2", Defense 1) OOOO OO
>
>48 Tread Units Move starts at 6"
>OOOO OOOO (Movement drops to 5")
>OOOO OOOO (Movement drops to 4")
>OOOO OOOO (Movement drops to 3")
>OOOO OOOO (Movement drops to 2")
>OOOO OOOO (Movement drops to 1")
>OOOO OOOO (Movement drops to 0)
>
>1st hangar bay drone flight:
>
>2nd hangar bay drone flight:
>
>1st Payload bay cargo:
>
>2nd Payload bay cargo:
>
>VULCAN PAYLOADS.  Each of the Vulcan's two payload bays may hold one
>of the following payloads.  A payload can also be carried on a truck
>or hovertruck in place of the truck's usual cargo.
>
>Minesweeping Payload 2 points - This payload lets the Vulcan sweep
>mines as it were an Engineer squad.  The Vulcan requires one working
>arm in order to sweep mines.
>
>Light Artillery Drone 6 points - Each manipulator arm can assemble or
>disassemble a LAD at the same rate as a squad of Engineers.  However
>each LAD requires a control channel that could otherwise control an
>Arm Drone so Vulcans rarely carry these.
>
>Nuclear Charge Payload 6 points - This payload holds six small nuclear
>charges of the same type as assigned to Engineer squads.  The vulcan
>can place these itself with the use of one arm per charge or friendly
>Engineer squads can reload from this supply by riding the Vulcan for a
>turn.
>
>Ogre Missile Reload Payload 6 points - This payload includes 6 Ogre
>missiles.  The Vulcan cannot fire these itself but it can reload one
>missile into an adjacent undestroyed missile rack or empty external
>missile hardpoint per arm per turn.
>
>Construction Payload 8 points - This payload allows the Vulcan to
>perform minor civil engineering tasks such as making temporary repairs
>to structures, roads and bridges or digging reventments.  Each
>Construction Payload includes material for up to 20 structure points
>of repairs.  Each arm can build or repair 2 structure points per turn.
>Small reventments require 2 structure points of material to construct
>and large reventments require 4 structure points of material to construct.
>
>Tread Repair Payload 10 points - This payload includes enough spare
>parts to repair 20 tread units on Ogres or similar vehicles.  Roll one
>die to determine the number of treads that an arm repairs each turn.
>
>Drone Reload Payload (cost by drone type) - This payload includes
>three flights of drones.  It takes one arm one turn to reload a hangar
>bay.  A Vulcan can reload its own hangar bays from its own payload bay
>while it is moving.
>
>
>FLYING DRONES.  Flying Drones are small simple robots with limited
>endurance that were introduced in 2088.  They use the same sort of
>jetpacks as the infantry battlesuits, but without needing to carry a
>pilot or lifesupport they are much faster.  Flying Drones are deployed
>as flights that are really 4 to 6 robots, but are treated as a single
>unit in the same sense that infantry squads are.  Flying Drones are
>launched, move and are shot down in the same manner as cruise
>missiles, with a maximum movement of 30 inches (15 hexes) before
>running out of endurance.  They are smaller targets than cruise
>missiles, but their armor is much thinner so it cancels out.  Each
>flight of drones is expended on the same turn they are launched.
>
>A flight of drones can be carried in a hangar bay, on a truck drone
>rack (which costs 1 point in addition to the drones and takes up the
>cargo space on a truck or hovertruck) or in place of one external
>missile.  (Drones won't work through missile racks as they tend to get
>squashed by the autoloader.)
>
>Each flight of drones is of one of the following types.
>
>Recon Drones 1 point - This flight moves to within 2 inches (one hex)
>of its target then designates that target until the end of the current
>turn, negating line of sight and terrain benefits for that target for
>all attacks against it.
>
>Attack Drones 1 point - This flight of drones counts as 6 squads of
>infantry that can only fire on enemy infantry and militia.  It attacks
>by overrunning its targets and is removed when it is shot down by
>missile interception rolls or all 6 of its "squads" have been lost to
>defensive fire in overruns or it runs out of endurance at the end of
>the current turn.  Each Attack Drone flight conducts overruns separately.
>
>Bomb Drones 1 point - These are suicide drones that fly bombs into
>their targets.  Each Bomb Drone flight that reaches overrun range on
>its target immediately conducts a single 6 point attack against that
>target that cannot be combined with any other attack and then the
>drone flight is removed.
>
>Hunter Drones 1 point - This flight is launched to counter enemy drone
>flights.  Hunters are activated during the enemy combat phase and
>intercept any hostile drone or cruise missile that approach that
>combat phase within 10 inches (5 hexes) of the hunter's launch point
>on a base roll of 9+.
>
>ARM DRONES.  The Ogre Vulcan Arm Drone is a heavy tank chassis that
>has had its turret and crew space replaced with a manipulator arm.  A
>Vulcan can control up to 4 Arm Drones at the same time. The Vulcan's
>maximum range for controlling non-flying drones for movement is 30
>inches (15 hexes), but Arm Drones farther than 10 inches (5 hexes)
>from the Vulcan cannot use their arms.
>
>Arm drones cost 6 points each and are treated exactly the same as a
>heavy tank, expect that they ignore D results on the CRT, their only
>weapon is a single 1/1 AP gun that they can only use in overruns and
>they each have one arm which can be used in the same manner as Vulcan
>arm or used to tow other vehicles as towing gear.
>
>TRUCK DRONES.  Trucks and Hovertrucks can be built with drone controls
>instead of crew compartments for no additional net cost increase.  A
>Vulcan can control up to 8 truck drones in addition to up to 4 arm
>drones, but each truck drone can only move around and must be loaded
>and unloaded by other units.
>
>Drone trucks ignore D combat results, but require a controlling unit
>and so are rarely used except by Vulcans.
>
>-HJC