[ericthered]

Originally Posted by CON_Troll

I remember someone posting a map for a scenario called "Blowing Up Duluth". This was before Tom's OGREMap program was available (I think.) Anyone remember this? I've lost track of it.

Its not this site is it?

https://ogrefactory.wordpress.com/20...ing-in-duluth/

The map goes to a 404 site, but it shouldn't be hard to make a big version by looking at the small one.

Originally Posted by dwalend

My take on it is a hex dominated by multi-story concrete structures for most of the hex is a town hex. It's got to provide 2X defense vs nuclear weapons to vehicles just driving on the street. If the hex features lots of multi-story parking garages its town.

If parking is free, in flat lots, to me that's not town. There's no cover for INF, and nothing to slow down a tank. A city like Phoenix - which has only a maybe three blocks of downtown, but flat sprawl for miles - I think should be clear terrain - all those 5-lane and 7-lane avenues, and no basements. (South Mountain Park and the Sierra Estrella to the southwest are at least rubble-and-ridge.)

I like to call most suburbs forest. With tac-nukes flying around, houses are about as durable as trees, and INF can duck into a basement for a bit of extra cover.

I think that's as extreme a view for making city hex status as one is going to get.

I've been basically looking at the density of the houses. I've been reading the great benefit for INF in cities as cover. Nothing offers hiding places quite like buildings, and the 360 degree cover of a building is much better than a forest. But I've still been longing for something that differentiates suburb from city. I'd certainly consider much of pheonix to be city hex even under such conditions though.

The other hard part is that not all suburb or even forest is created equal. Some housing is particularly flimsy being little more than a wooden frame with insulation and sheet-rock draped on, and some makes liberal use of brick, concrete, and basements. That's effected by history, culture, economics, and zoning.

Forests vary too. Some forests are thick with underbrush strewn throughout them, while others can be freely run and seen through.

It really depends on the scenario. A lot of the charm of Ogre is that you can play a game over a lunch break on a small map with a handful of fast units, or a scenario with a strict time limit goal, or play an INF slog on a huge map over a weekend. With those big lakes be sure to bring some GEV-PCs.

That's really good to know.

Boston could be interesting. It's tiny, so you can fit a lot of interesting stuff on one map. No mountains. South Boston to East Cambridge, maybe west to Longwood should be town. The rest is a mix of some clear suburbs, forest, swamp, the harbor, and the Charles (river up until Watertown - that can't be more than two or three hexes, then a winding stream that seems to go everywhere). The harbor has some rocky barrier islands and peninsulas, including one trace Italienne fort. Give us lots of bridges over the Charles and Mystic rivers, but not too many other roads inside of 128. The road system is just not that good to begin with, much of it is buried or built over. An LT wouldn't fit through the underpasses on Storrow Drive. GEV pilots might have fun in the harbor tunnels or on the Pike, but they'd be helpless if attacked. Maybe set up some bonus targets for MIT, HMS, the SSC in Natick, and Hanscom AFB.

I've started the initial layout, and It does look like a decent map location. Thanks for the pointers on notable locations. I still need to go back on several of the maps and mark interesting features. But I think this is the first time a military installation has been included.

The islands are most inconvenient size, I will note.