Who needs tanks?

[Joseph Paul]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

...and all of this is only possible at places you can drive the uber-tank to after it leaves the factory.

Or maybe you can include places that have an unbroken chain of passable surface routes and deepwater harbors with heavy equipment servicing ships that are either not attacked by hostile forces or are equipped like Ogres themselves.

This also assumes of course that you can wait for the uber-tank to drive it self or be carried by ship to the battlefield. Just me, I'd try and get the fun and games over with before they could arrive.

Looks like a pretty limited niche to me.

Weren't Ogres being put together in the theatre of operations per the Ogre supplement? I suspect that because their movement is destructive that you would want to build them close to the front if you could.

Anybody got any canon on what terrain stops Ogres?
Funnily enough it mentions crossing oceans on the floor!

As for fast strikes it is a good idea but if you are going to hold territory for an indefinite amount of time the Ogre will catch up to you. Assault would be the niche and throwing an AI in to the breach may beat throwing meat at it.

[Joseph Paul]

@David Pulver - Thank you for the insights. A couple of questions - What does your TL 10 MBT weigh and how is it powered? Road and cross-country performance?

Edit:

Ok I see a weight- 60 tons. I gues what I want to know is what fraction of that is the armor?

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Langy

No, what he meant was that the tank in Ultra-Tech has thicker armor on the front than it does elsewhere - it's 700 in the front and 300 elsewhere. The TL7 Main Battle Tank has 1155 DR in front and 165 elsewhere (the turret and the top have different armor, but that's the basic armor).

If we use the progression from Spaceships, a TL8 main battle tank should have 1.5 times the armor of the TL7 MBT, while a TL9 main battle tank should have 2.5 times as much armor as the TL7 MBT. The TL10 main battle tank would have 3.5 times the armor of the TL7 MBT. That winds up with about 4,000 DR for the TL10 main battle tank's front and about 5,000 DR for it's turret's front.

And while it doesn't actually cover the entire thing, the Tank Protection Levels website (as well as a converter page for T2000) have portions of the M1A2 SEP with DRof 2600+ vs KE attacks, more than 2x the TL7 tank's listed frontal armor. Even against KE attacks, it's listed as having 950mmRHA equivalent vs KE attacks (950mm x 2.75DR/mm = DR2612). The mmRHA vs Chemical Energy (HEAT) attacks is listed as ~1500mmRHA on the Turret Front (!), the equivalent of DR4125.

[blacksmith]

Originally Posted by Panzerfaust

That may be the case, but do they have manipulator arms and move at speeds where the g-forces would probably cause you to black out or die from the sudden hurking and jerking? Also, I already am well acquainted with the whole macross and robotech argument with the battletech universe. Damn near cost us the new mech warrior game >_>

They have manipulator arms yes, as for what speeds, well they give a 70ton vehical jump jets. And speeds are hard to determine as scale and turn durration are rather questionable.

I don't remember tanks being faster than mechs so they have to be moving at a decent clip.

[Joseph Paul]

Langy how did you get that (5) armor divisor? APHC has a (2), APDS has a (2), and APEP has a (3). APHD has a (5) but it is TL11.

[Langy]

APHD. I didn't restrict it to TL10.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Joseph Paul

Weren't Ogres being put together in the theatre of operations per the Ogre supplement? I suspect that because their movement is destructive that you would want to build them close to the front if you could.

Anybody got any canon on what terrain stops Ogres?

If any terrain stopped Ogres, they'd just nuke it until it stopped being that terrain. (More seriously nothing except mountains could do it.)

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

If any terrain stopped Ogres, they'd just nuke it until it stopped being that terrain. (More seriously nothing except mountains could do it.)

Swamps are awfully bad for them in the game, if I remember right.

[Joseph Paul]

Originally Posted by Langy

APHD. I didn't restrict it to TL10.

Ah, the OP had. Still the TL 10 ETK can do 4050 pts of damage which imperils my emplacement doctrine. It would take 20 feet of concrete to stop that.

One of the things that I find interesting is where a technology has a sweet spot for development before something else comes along and takes over.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Joseph Paul

Ah, the OP had. Still the TL 10 ETK can do 4050 pts of damage which imperils my emplacement doctrine. It would take 20 feet of concrete to stop that.

One of the things that I find interesting is where a technology has a sweet spot for development before something else comes along and takes over.

The 406mm guns of the Iowa class battleships can punch through 30 feet of concrete. You just need more rock. :-)