Poll: Supreme Commander 2

[Fleetfiend]

Recently, I set out to find a new RTS to play with my boyfriend. The both of us really enjoy RTSs, but have never been really hardcore RTS players. We had our sights set on The Lord of the Rings: BFME2, but considering that it would be kind of expensive to get an additional copy (and the online servers are down), we decided that BFME wasn't the best idea.

So I started exploring, and found Supreme Commander 2. It seems to be very highly reviewed, has a nice visual style, and mechanics that the two of us agree fit what we want in an RTS. Upon looking it up on Amazon (and seeing that it's only $5 a copy), I bought two without really thinking about it.

Upon closer examination, however, the game seems to have gotten some pretty bad reviews on Amazon... which is probably why the price is low.

So what is your opinion on the game? I haven't received it in the mail yet, so I thought I would try to get the valuable opinion of the Escapist forum-dwellers.

And on a side note, which faction do you prefer in the game?

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well many moons have passed since I played that and I didn't much care for it.
On the whole it just feels like badly put together RTS, the visuals are not good, they overlap 2D and 3D in a really odd way and it's hard to see what's actually happening in the heat of battle, the research tree was made by an idiot who wasn't told this is real-time, the writing and voice acting... holy hell, and they don't want to shut up already.

I got no favorite factions because the game just irritated me, but as they aimed it at "accessibility" and consoles so that's not really a surprise.

 

[Redingold]

I'll tell you that the first one was better, significantly. If you can get that instead, do so.

I spent a bit of time playing SC2, but it never really pulled me in.

 

[Lashus]

Supreme Commander 1 and the expansion, Forged Alliance are far better than 2. Play that instead. SC2 killed the franchise to nearly all of the long time fans.

Also, Cybran all the way!!

 

[loc978]

It's a fun little game in its own right, I suppose... but it really did kill the balanced mechanics that previous installments had. Remember this about SupCom2: upgrade cheap units and spam them. That's the only strategy.
*grumbles like an old man*
In my day, stronger units were universally more expensive...

Also, Cybran. Especially in 2. Adaptors [http://supcom2.wikia.com/wiki/Adaptor_Mobile_Shield,_Anti-Air_and_Anti-Missile] are practically cheating.

 

[TriGGeR_HaPPy]

I'll tell you that the first one was better, significantly. If you can get that instead, do so.

I spent a bit of time playing SC2, but it never really pulled me in.

Supreme Commander 1 and the expansion, Forged Alliance are far better than 2. Play that instead. SC2 killed the franchise to nearly all of the long time fans.

*snip*

These, exactly.

Speaking of 2, I've always been an Aeon player, and Supreme Commander 2 is no exception.
SupCom 2 is pretty fun, and I especially like it more than most current RTS'. And as a lifelong fan of Total Annihilation, this gives me an added joy to playing TA's spiritual successor.

But really, SupCom 1 is just so much more fun. I realise that's just mine (and many others') opinion, but still. I loved SupCom 1, then 2 came out, I played it for a couple months and then just stopped playing. :S

 

[(whitty name here)]

SupCom2 felt...dumbed down when compared to the first game. It didn't feel like there was alot of thought being put into what to do. You basically have 3 options:

1. Spam tier 1 units
2. Build more power generators/metal extractors to spam more units
3. Build more factories to spam more units

But anyways, Aeon drew me in with their suicide bomber planes. I had alot of fun building as many as possible and then just flying them into a fusion plant. Banning game-enders kind of stops you from spamming Tzars and the Galactic Colossus but meh

 

[Naeras]

If you want a great RTS, pick up Company of Heroes. It hardly costs anything and is easily one of the best games ever to be made in the genre, with Starcraft being the only thing with an equal metacritic-score as far as I remember.

 

[Dandark]

I liked the Cybran more, you just can't beat Brackman. That said I am thinking of the original. The reason that it had a lot of bad reviews was that it was a huge dissapointment when compared to the first game. I couldn't even get through the story on the second game.

That said the second one wasn't too bad. As a reviewer from somewhere once said "Just pretend that it's not Supreme commander but is instead a random RTS game, then you will find that it is kinda fun and not that bad".
It was an okay game but not worth the memory space to keep installed on my computer since I would nearly always prefer to play the original.

 

[The Eupho Guy_v1legacy]

I enjoyed it, not as much as the original, but its still a decent game. Still play it from time to time with friends, when we want to beat on the AI, but the single player campaign is mostly forgettable.

Also, I'm UEF all the way. There is no such thing as too much artillery.

 

[Plinglebob]

The reason for the bad Amazon reviews is because after the first game (one of the best RTSs of recent times) it felt like a big step down in terms of scale and a big step sideways in terms of gameplay. This meant it gained the usual hate a lot of sequals can get and thats why there's a big difference in the proffesional/public opinion. As a wise man said:

"Just pretend that it's not Supreme commander but is instead a random RTS game, then you will find that it is kinda fun and not that bad".

Edit: In the first game I liked the Aeon for their style, but hated how everything seemed to start as a blod of silver goo.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I never play SC2 since I fully aware that it is competely different from SC1 and the negative changes made to it.

Assuming the factions still function the same way they did in SC than I'm voting for the Cybran Nation.

I think their experimentals were the best (Soul Ripper and Monkey Lord) since they were more pratical compared to the other faction experimentals (the CZAR was weak and the Fatboy and Galactic Colossus lack AA defence while Monkey Lord at least had some).

I love the heavy assult bot Brick (very useful when you got a group of them underwater) and their Gunship as they were a beast in combat and the destoryer is somewhat useful that it can walk on land despite it's super slow (at least it can walk on land)!

I also I felt their story in SC were much more justicify as they were fighting for their freedom (UEF still use slavery and just want to be number 1 while the Aeon were using their religon as a excuse to wage war (non beliver must die).

 

[C F]

Ah, yes. Supreme Commander.

I myself started with the Aeon, but I started warming up to the Cybrans ever since the second Aeon campaign mission back in the first SupCom. I still use an Aeon ACU, but I acknowledge that the Cybrans have many sweet technologies available to them (to the point I go out of my way to get a cybran engineer if possible).

The Monkeylords are perhaps the most economical experimental units. Cheap(er) to build, efficient land-to-land damage, AA capabilities that can double as torpedoes underwater, and the ability to slip under the radar. I cannot stress that last part enough. Habitual players know that the omni-sensor part of a T3 radar only covers areas close to home. Too often have I ran into a Monkeylord out in the field without expecting it. This works for you when you're on the offensive as well. The enemy's artillery can't target you until you slip into their omni-sensor radius, and by that time you're too close for them to soften you up adequately.
All hail the Monkeylord.

Also, the Soul Ripper is the arguably the best air experimental (some might give this honor to the Seraphim Ahwassa). Forged Alliance also brings us the Brick (as mentioned earlier), the Soothsayer, the Wailer, the HARMS, and the Hive (which I prefer to the UEF's Kennel). But the Aeon are brought the Salvation, and more importantly, the Paragon. Once you have that operational, you have everything.

Despite being vastly inferior, SupCom 2 is still fun on occasion. The Aeon Illuminate there are given the Loyalty Gun. On Xbox LIVE (yes, I have the Xbox version as well as the PC version), my strategy is to build an entire base with economy structures, shields, turrets, nuke defenses, nukes, and a Loyalty Gun. Due to the unit cap on LIVE being 200, the enemy can rarely provide enough firepower to crack a tightly-knit base with 30 shield generators and 100+ turrets. Also, there are things in LIVE that haven't been fixed, like the ability to use Radar Overdrive to reveal the entire map. I provide the intel and economic support (as well as a fallback position) for my friend's UEF firepower spam.