Supreme Commander

[Ziiv]

Supreme Commander is exactly the same as the game from the 90's: Total Annihilation
All 3 races are the same with different skins... bravo.

They might look the same superficially, but they're each very different. The Aeon, for example, have a T1 tank with less than half the hp of the other factions' tanks, but with much more range. Thus, if used carefully they'll beat enemy units without much trouble, but if you leave them alone, the other units will just run in close and tear them up. Likewise, Aeon Tech 1 mobile artillery have a DPS that rivals Tech level 3 units, but have a low accuracy to compensate. This allows them to destroy large structures such as factories extremely fast while not being overpowered against groups of tanks. The Cybran mobile artillery, on the other hand, has much less damage, but stuns enemy units in a wider radius, making it better suited to supporting your tanks. Likewise, Tech 2 point defense varies between factions. The Aeon Oblivion point defense fires once every 4 seconds, making it better suited to taking out high hp units, while the Cybran Tech 2 point defense fires a constant beam which means its shots always hit, and it never wastes damage or overkills. This makes it better for taking out many weaker tanks. The UEF Tech 2 point defense fires once every 2 seconds, making it ok against both types of attacks.

The units might seem superficially identical because they fulfill similar roles, but the way in which they fulfill those roles is very different.

Even more Unbelievable, the online service is a 3rd party browser application (Gas powered games) which forces you to start and close the acutal game each time you match a game..... is it just me, or is this medievil?

THQ had finnaly created the foundations for a strong online service ( and community ) with Warhammer 10k and COH which could compete with b.net and they go and destroy support by allowing this backyard gas powered piece of junk to power the mulitplayer service. You god damn arseholes.

The online service is a 1st party application. Perhaps you didn't notice that the game is developed by Gas Powered Games and published by THQ. Gas Powered Games plans to eventually self-publish which is why their online service is independent from THQ.

I tried this game about 30 times online and can concede it may have a unique play style at higher skill levels. It is extremely macro management orientated, focusing on automated production and rally points using zoomed out map levels. There may be something in this, but I just didn't dig it.

What did you guys think?

Rob

The idea is to focus on your strategy and overall plan rather than the details of each individual unit. There are lots of different ways you can win, and if your opponent doesn't prepare for each possibility, you can exploit it. For example, you can win by sniping him with tactical missile launchers, bombarding his base with destroyers, overrunning him with tanks, capturing more territory and overpowering him economically, getting a strong air force and bombing him, building transports and dropping units into his base, or if you get to the late stages, surprising him with an experimental, nuking him, building a game ender. You have to be constantly scouting him looking for weaknesses to exploit and exploiting them.

 

[Rjak]

Universe at War is definitely worth checking out if SupCom wasn't your thing. The 360 version is out next month and the PC patch will allow PC players to whoop 360 ass and vice-versa.

 

[BonsaiK]

I hated Supreme Commander too. I would have probably liked it more without the zoom-out feature, but I can't help but feel it was just Total Annihilation but prettied up slightly. Sure the units might be tactically fine-tuned but the game FEELS exactly the same to play, only not as much fun because 90% of the time you're looking at little dots rather than the exploding metal those dots represent.

 

[BulletMagnet]

JugglerX: it sounds like you really don't know the games industry works. Why whinge and berate THQ; they just paid for it. It was Relic that developed both the first three DoW titles and CoH. Gas Powered Games made Supreme Commander (and it's expansion), and had nothing to do with those games.

You call yourself a "Veteran RTS player", but you're naive enough not to realise that different people prefer different sort of games.

Entire Forum: RTS is an entire genre, not a specific recipe. If you don't like it; thats fine because you are all entitled to you own opinions. Just don't say a game is bad because YOU didn't like it. Games are like pieces of art; they really speak to some people, but others just don't get it. Or maybe it's like pizza; some like olives, some people don't.

About SupCom: Okay, yes the three factions (four in the expansion) are suspiciously similar. It's one of what I think is it's few failings. But aren't the Axis and Allies in CoH similar too? If a game doesn't suit you, you may want to look at some things called mods and/or TCs.

Supreme Commander is a strange game in the sense that you can actually play without enormous amounts of micromanagement, or if you prefer with lots of it. As a fan of the game (it's already pretty obvious that I'm a fan), and long-time player I've seen many battles fought differently, sometimes people win and sometimes they get horribly pwned. For those who haven't fully explored the entire game's workings; the Aeon (one of the factions) are ones who prefer a little extra micro to succeed. Where-as the Seraphim (another faction) are benefitted a lot less by it.

Finally; yes, it's a lot like Total-Annihillation. If you didn't like TA then you likely won't like SupCom. Both these games are intended to have enormous battles sprawling over miles and miles of ground. One the otherhand, games like CoH and Starcraft are the wuite the opposite; they focus on a smaller scaled, more personal battle. Just try to take that into consideration before passing judgements.

 

[BonsaiK]

The funny thing is I loved TA and I still occasionally play it and love it. I can't stand SC though. I actually believe that TA is a better game. It's certainly more fun at least for me.

 

[Count_de_Monet]

I couldn't stand it when I first started playing because it felt so slow after CoH but after a while I warmed up to it and now I love it. It's fun to play a game where every unit isn't vital to your cause and you can make a field of production buildings to overwhelm your enemy instead of being forced to conceal everything you do because if you slip up you have lost the game. I had forgotten what it was like to play an RTS where you can't lose the game in the first five minutes by losing a riflemen squad...

The factions have the same basic units but each unit has different strengths and weaknesses which you won't recognize half the time because you direct the battle from way up in the stratosphere. Resourcing is a bit of a struggle but it gets to be second nature after a while once the pacing of the game turns into muscle memory. And I love the experimental units more than anything else because while extremely powerful they certainly don't control the battlefield if you know what you're doing. Also the little things like T3 production buildings being able to pump out swarms of T2 units make the game great. Plenty of games I'll skip building T2 naval units and go right for the T3 facility to produce cruisers and destroyers.

My brother (the one who finally forced me to pick it back up) said that playing Forged Alliance is a completely different experience and in many ways completely superior. Resourcing is significantly less important, teching isn't the enormous investment it used to be and the balance seems just right. I wish my laptop could handle Forged Alliance but for some reason it's way more demanding than SC even though I can't tell the difference while playing...

 

[DeadMG]

Count_de_Monet: turn off range circles.

I have to say that FA did massively improve the experience.
But, you don't do everything from max zoomed out. You have to zoom in to direct your battles properly and appreciate how good the game looks. You only zoom out to arrange the battles, which makes orchestrating multiple efforts and/or theatres of war infinitely easier.

 

[wankey]

Hey DeadMG,

Thanks for your efforts to bring the entire remnants of the SupCom community over here to help defend this game. But its almost a fruitless effort and shows how bad this game has become.

I have played this game since the very beginnings to beta and have stayed with it till the end. And all I have to say folks is that it is a really big waste of time.

The real problem with this game is consistency. I think Gaspowered Games hired some really talented people, and some really stupid people.

They hired a bunch of really really talented engineers to build the massive strategic engine. Then they hired a really bad balance designer and artists to populate the game.

Then they hired a bunch of stuck up forum moderators and community heads (originally they had a bunch of funny people, but they're all gone).

There are just so many obvious things wrong with this game that majority of competitive RTS gamers don't bother with it and most average RTS players have moved on. Players who do like it and try to get the developer's attention to fix it are ignore or treated like crap.

Forget this game people and move on, there are better companies out there and soon SupCom will fall into the shadows like Dungeon Siege and all of GPGs other "franchises"

I originally gave this game a lot of potential, all of that is used up when I realized it wasn't the game's problem, it was how GPG was run.

Also don't forget how much we got screwed when they released FA. 49.99 for SupCom and 39.99 for FA?

All I have to say is now F U C K Y O U Gpgnet for screwing your fanbase over.

 

[cuervoboy]

Supcom did not deliver like gpg/thq said it would theres no doubt. Then again how many companies deliver EVERYTHING right out of the gate on their first try ? Not many if any at all . FA solved TONS of problems that supcom has . There is so much lose and fail in this thread it's hard to pick a starting point. I hear crying about having to purchase supcom and Fa because why..? Because " we shouldn't have to pay for another product to fix the first one " or something like that . Get over it. Fucking spoiled little children . How much money do you people spend on other things in life ( and pay extra for ) ...How much do you spend at a bar in one night trying to get a girl to go home with you , yet she never does ? How much money do you spend on trendy clothes? Only to look live every other ****** out there. How much do you spend a month on junk food ? The list goes on and on ....but fuck that lets dismiss all that and cry about 50-80$ for a game of gold . So what if you had to buy it in sections. The faction diversity is there without doubt.It's not perfect...but what really is? FA IS TA2 no matter what people thought or want it to be .Of course it's similar in many respects to TA. I saw something about " average gamers " in this thread. Fa is NOT for average gamers . Its for HARDCORE gamers. If you want average go play anything else but FA . Simply put EVERY other RTS game out there is generic and watered down. Nothing special about any of them ( other than TA ) . Red alert was fun back in the day but that's about it . I respect the OP in regards to his opnion ...but he is wrong . But really what made me post here more than anything is wankey . Should change his name to wanker . Wankey you are an idiot / always have been . Your opinion means NOTHING . You have done nothing but cry about supcom from the start . You drive more people away with your negativity than GPG does .You are nothing but a whiney little **** that has nothing better to do than try to "ruin it " for everyone else. If anyone doesn't believe me go look at the gpg forums and count how many whine threads wankey started . No wonder he didn't get the respect from the community/ admins that he so desperately needs to feel validated as a human .( i think hes human anyways). I admit there alot of things that could have been done better. Supcom shouldnt have been released as it was . (Blame THQ ). Nevertheless it was ...and let me tell you after 10 solid years of TA it was more than welcome to MANY of us even in an unpolished state. Remember when TA came out? In alot of ways it sucked until BT / CC came out. Then it got real good . Much in the same way Supcom benefits from FA (and hopefully the experimentals ).
Overall this series already smokes every other series out there and it's only going to get better . If you want easy go play starcraft and the likes .If you want a true RTS and willing to put your time in to learn it then play FA . Everyone is entitled to their opinion but it gets to a point where it's no longer opinions but becomes outright attacks . Personally I'm sick of lamers such as wankey trying to destroy someting that is quite good simply because he's inferior at the game / sexually abused as a child by all his family members. So for alll it's worth ...Wankey go eat a dick i'm sure it's much more your speed than competitive online gaming anyways .good luck to u.

 

[Wolves]

I think that supcom is more of a niche game, for those who do not like the rtt style of CoH, WiC, and CnC3. It's the only rts that I actually enjoy playing, and you really have to think to get up to the higher levels of play.

I do agree that some of the forum mods are a bit harsh, and the dev team is strangely silent, but I hope they have a good reason for it. If they don't, gpg has nothing to hold onto and will sink. But I hope not, because I really like the game, as its really the only one of its kind, unless you want to play TA.

 

[wankey]

Also don't forget how much we got screwed when they released FA. 49.99 for SupCom and 39.99 for FA?

Please keep something in mind. Forged Alliance is a stand-alone game. You do not need SuCom to play it, and unlike Dawn of War, there is in fact no interaction between the two titles. Forged Alliance gives an entire new campaign, almost twice as many skirmish maps, and reworked the entire game structure to streamline pathfinding and improve the AI and interface. 50 bucks is nothing, don't piss and moan about it. Games used to launch for $80 or more, and here you got two for only $90. Forged Alliance is not actually an expansion, and GPG released two separate games at a reasonable price.

I don't remember any single game being 80 bucks. Care to fill me in on some of those? Anyways I won't argue this point any further, I see Dawn of War releasing stand alone packs every few years (at least they're good) so I guess the pricing is okay. The stand alone did feel like a big patch though, very little actual content was put in, just fixes.

Anyways, if you like the game then good for you but soon there will be nobody playing it. Why?

- people who don't like the game have already stopped playing
- people who like the game but voice their opinions get pushed into not playing it by religious fanatics (below)
- people who are religious about the game will slowly fade away when they grow up / move on
- the ratio between new players who become addicted to SupCom is much less than players who are leaving the game, so you have a losing battle.
- GPG has already stopped updating it and stopped supporting modders (they didn't even release a SDK)
- new comers will have to deal with a moronic community and community leaders
- original community leaders are already gone
- community websites are slowly fading away

This game is a pure example of over hype and under deliver. It's going the way of dungeon siege and you can do nothing about it. If they really want to boost Supreme Commander popularity, they should simply release it for free download and play. There were more people interested and online playing this game during beta than now.

Anyhoo, I agree whole heartedly with the OP. If only I can actually find anyone who is willing to pay more than 20 bucks for SupCom+FA I'd sell it too. The train is gone folks, move on.

(Waves to the GPG Forum guys who come on here to flame me. C'ya, have a nice day, enjoy your aids.)

 

[cuervoboy]

quote]I am teller of lies

 

[PheonixIV]

Wankey. I feel it prudent to point out that SupCom has almost double the online numbers we had a few weeks ago.

 

[DeadMG]

And the "entire" community consists of one thread in an oft-ignored forum producing the grand total of 22 responses, one of which was an admin.

You said that Dungeon Siege and the like has moved into the shadows. Now GPG self-publishes Demigod. I think there will be no more of the no money for stuff anymore, or at least less. If they could get rights off THQ we could well see another Supreme Commander game and infact The Experimentals or whatever it is is being developed so.

He was an awful balance designer, but don't argue with the art (or at least label it as subjective) I really liked the art in the game.

Plus, I think that you have a bit of stupidity syndrome, because the beta players were all american with a splashing of european. In the retail the majority are from Europe and we also have a much bigger following from other locales as well, so a lot bigger proportion is not in your timezone.

 

[DeadMG]

The one thing stopping SupCom being the next big thing is the system requirements, which I can admit being a big flaw.

 

[wankey]

Wankey. I feel it prudent to point out that SupCom has almost double the online numbers we had a few weeks ago.

When Supcom came out there were 800-1000 beta players.

Double of what? You're now getting 2000 online players? Everytime I go on I see 400-500.

 

[Ixus Illwrath]

Well, I can say with no doubt in my mind, Sins of a Solar Empire has been a whole lot more fun for me.

I now have a valid excuse to uninstall Empire at War.