Unless someone wants to run on Ogre battle similar to Trillion Credit Squadron, we probably don't need a comparison of the monetary cost of the various Ogre amor units against their combat effectiveness. But I have some sort of psychological imbalance that causes me to compare numbers in any semi-plausible way, so here see how many dollars (in GURPS Ogre terms) it costs to buy one point, and some notes on the numbers below.
Unit |
Point |
Cost |
$/point |
| HVY |
6 | 47,814,002 | 7,969,000 |
| GEV | 6 | 38,528,417 | 6,421,402 |
| MSL | 6 | 39,429,280 | 6,571,546 |
| HWZ | 12 | 66,637,948 | 5,553,162 |
| INF Platoon | 6 | 4,727,980 | 787,996 |
| LT TNK | 3 | 17,715,729 | 5,905,243 |
| MHWZ | 12 | 66,888,648 | 5,574,054 |
| LT GEV | 3 | 22,583,972 | 7,527,990 |
| GEV PC | 6 | 30,260,564 | 5,043,427 |
| GEV PC +3 squads | 12 | 34,988,544 | 2,915,712 |
| SHVY | 12 | 86,354,223 | 7,196,185 |
| CMC + missle | 18 | 63,907,986 | 3,550,443 |
| Ogre Mark I | 25 | 349,723,703 | 13,988,948 |
| Ogre Mark II | 50 | 461,535,185 | 9,230,703 |
| Ogre Mark III | 100 | 669,738,381 | 6,697,383 |
| Mark III-B | 120 | 778,303,013 | 6,485,858 |
| Ogre Mark IV | 150 | 864,232,129 | 5,761,547 |
| Ogre Mark V | 150 | 798,112,172 | 5,320,747 |
| Ogre Mark VI | 210 | 1,151,982,634 | 5,485,631 |
| Ogre Mark VI (unadjusted*) | 210 | 921,586,107 | 4,388,505 |
| Ninja | 150 | 1,222,270,507 | 8,148,470 |
| Ninja (unadjusted*) |
150 | 814,847,003 | 5,432,313 |
| Fencer | 125 | 586,064,821 | 4,688,518 |
| Fencer | 150 | ??? | ??? |
| Doppelsoldner | 210 | 1,106,491,135 | 5,268,625 |
Of course, generic cost-effectiveness isn't the whole picture. Tactically, if you need a certain amount of force in a certain format in one place at one time, it doesn't matter that half that force would cost one tenth as much. If one hundred rounds of 30mm ammunition cost xxx of 1 round of 120mm ammunition, its not a better buy if the 30mm ammunition won't penetrate the enemy's armor.
But it is interesting to note that the costs derived by the GURPS Vehicles system line up so nicely with the canon; the Mark III is the first cost-effective Ogre, for example, and infantry is less expensive than armor, but not at all cheap.
Three notes on how I worked these numbers:
First, the prices listed in GURPS Ogre for the Mark VI and Ninja were increased because of the low numbers of these units produced. I have presented the price with and without the adjustment, so that we can compare the practical cost effectiveness of these units as well as the cost effectiveness of the design independent of the economies of scale.
Second, the cost of the infantry platoon was worked out as described on this seperate page: <Infantry Cost>.
Third, this comparison only includes equipment, but training and support systems contribute significantly to the cost of fielding units like these, and these costs will very greatly between the unit types. A GEV requires only two men, a platoon of infantry twelve. Training costs not only salaries for the recruits and trainers, but for training facilities, supplies, vehicles, fuel, etc. They say the pilot is the most expensive part of modern fighter jets; probably largely because of the fuel used in their training. Since the infantry is so technology dependent it may require more technicians to keep a platoon of battlesuits in the field than a heavy tank. More technicians, workshops, mess halls, point defenses for all of it, etc. I can't think of a way to tackle all this, so I left it out.
Bill Gates at $44,000,000,000 (2/28/01) would be an Ogre worth 8,301 points in the game. Alternatively, he could buy 55 Mark Vs and have $104,000 left over.