Ogre
DOS - 1986
Buy on Digital Stores
Ogre is available for a small price on the following website, and is no longer abandonware.
- sjgames.com Buy on sjgames.com
Ogre is available for a small price on the following website, and is no longer abandonware.
Comments and reviews
Outstanding tactical game!
Very excited to discover that you can play against an Ogre Mark 1B (my invention) in this adaptable PC game. Do this:
1. Start a two player game against a Mark 2
2. Place several tanks around the Ogre at the bottom of the board.
3. Shoot away the Ogre's armament until it reaches the desired strength. ie 1 Missile, 3 Secondary Guns, 6 AP Guns.
4. Use edit to remove the extra tanks leaving at the top of map the vehicles you actually want to fight.
5. Start the game with the computer as opponent. Save you new scenario.
The secondary information manual that came with the game offered a fascinating look into how the game was put together. The Ogre did an exhaustive one move (2-ply) look ahead. It checked every hex it could move to and calculated the average amount of damage it would inflict and then the average amount of damage it would take from that position on the defenders turn. Where multiple moves produced the same expected return, a move closer to the command post was given priority. Given the limits of processing power and most of all memory this was a very tactically competent AI. With an event horizon of only one turn the Ogre AI was strategically weak.
Experienced players should play with only 10 armor units vs the Mark III. If the AI does not offer enough challenge move the command post closer to edge of the map the Ogre enters from.
I played Ogre in 1987 on an IBM PCjr, running DOS 2.1 and a whopping 128k of RAM. I just remember having fun with it. Granted, the interface was not as friendly as the board game version but I didn't have to worry about losing those tiny cardboard playing pieces either..
Ogre!
...HAW! StarBrow, not to piss on your memories, but did you buy the same copy of Ogre as the rest of us did? And did you do any tweaking on your Jr? Although Origin did faithfully copy the look-n-feel as best as possible of "Ogre" the Microgame, the AI that ran the Ogre was so retarded that it could be beaten with one GEV tied behind your tracks. Most Ogre/GEV addicts who bought the game usually wound up not playing it after three or four games, as it was just too easy to beat. I know Steve Jackson himself wasn't too pleased with the AI, and although Richard Garriott promised some sort of patch to "improve game play", it never did materialize.
Still, it's worth a download, and if you can get it to work on your iPad, it'll occupy at least three minutes in the john :P
Steve Jackson's magnum opus, originally a "Micro-Game", that is, a board game, which sold for $2.98 Including the plastic bag, is faithfully reproduced by Origin. Although 2 can play this game really shines in solitaire mode, offering hours of pleasure.
Side note - this was the first game I purchased when I got my IBM PCjr. I was already in love with the original boardgame (including it's numerous spin-offs) and this electronic version in no way disappointed me.
No comment nor review for this game at the moment.