Supreme Commander (PC), what do you guys think?

[Yian]

Well, I rushed out and got a copy so I could join a tournament at Gamespot. I don't know about you guys, but the game felt like a bit of a let down. :(

First of all, let me just say that I am totally not impressed by its graphics. Either I am being way too critical here (after all, I didn't like Half-Life 2's graphics that much either) or the game really hyped its graphics too much, but in my opinion, even Ground Control 2 looked better than this game. The maps in Ground Control 2 aren't as large, but it is way more detailed. The background art is prettier, with stars and galaxies in the sky, and the weapon effects look much better.

For a game that looks on par with Dark Reign 2, its performance is below pathetic. Dark Reign 2 ran great on my geforce 2 mx machine, while Supreme Commander struggles on my 6800 ultra machine.

Each faction is identical when it comes to units. They might look different or have different names, but they all match up perfectly to each other. The strategy for each faction is the same. Where is the innovation?

The maps are huge, but I just don't see why the maps have to be that big... even if I can have 1000 units, the AI cannot keep them in a decent, usable formation, and it is a pain to transport them.

Overall, this game doesn't seem that much more improved comparing to Total Annihilation. It might look better, but really not that great.

[MrBored]

I agree.

[Silence]

sigh i have to agree, tried on my friends pc... and considering all the hype and that it should have been like a ressurection of elvis, then well I was truly disapointed.
ugh this all sucks, the last RTS! that really made me go "oh man, im gonna go masturbate alittle" was probably Rome Total War (and now with the mods and stuff... its EVEN BETTER, yea still playin it)

maybe the new CnC will give more hope? waait, whens that comin out?

[MrBored]

The RTS genre has got to get away from the see-who-can-build-1million-super-weapons-the-fastest idea. Its really getting old. Thats probably why the Total War series has been so successful.

[foshizzle]

I like the game. And I still play it.

[CXalculus]

wel at first i had the same idea as you Yian, damn this thing doesnt look that good, started playing the single player and got bored after the 3the mission or so, why does it run so slow on my pc and like you said, every faction is just the same as the other, i thought at first.

But now after playing about a month or so, playing like 2-3 nights a week im having a blast, really!

First of all, i run it now on a dualcore and the thing runs great, always a good pace and ok it isnt the most amazing gfx to date but it stil looks pretty decent, and when you really zoom in it even looks great imo but i dont use that view much!

second, i rent a house with 2 buddies of mine, they al bought their copy to and we have a gamingroom where our 4 pc's are connected so a friend can join the multi fun of it all to and in contradiction of the singleplayer is the multiplayer a blast and thats where the game realy starts to shine. We have had memorable nights now starting a game and playing for 4-6hours to finish it and never getting the balans out of control, 4 hours pure premium war on my screen woehoe!

As for gameplay, its the small things that are so great like the zoomfunction, im always trying to zoom out now when i play an other rts and i mis it so much, the queuesystem, the how to use transportssystem, the radar and explorationsystem, the war itself, the "there is no i buildnukes first and i win" button but there still usefull but not like in other rts's! When you get the gameplay in your head and fingers you wil see this is an rts like no other and really something new and BETTER!

third, at first it seems to be the 3 factions are indeed the same, but there are so many differences that you wil learn when you play enough that it are 3 comepletly different factions for sure, i know i love mine and i wouldnt play any other like my buds do to, not only the specials but the shields, stealth, ships, nukes, planes are all different, some changes are big some small but they all affect the gameplay in a way!

Still, i think if you give it enough though and really start to understand the game you wil like it and just play with friends or online, not againts a pc cause they suck donkeyballs and cripple the fun!

just my2cents

regards CX

ps. if you ever wanne play, my name is "jugjug", just add me to your friendslist and we can play some if you like k!

[Phobo]

I love SUPCOM!

[JerraMaya]

Should have waited for the Command & Conquer 3 if you were purchasing a game , War Front is alot better than Supreme Commander do try its demo before purchasing it or just get C&C 3 its release date is 26th March which is today

[CXalculus]

yeah c&c3 is nice but all the same stuff again, your smacked with your face on the ground again and i hate that, you cant see nothing arround whats going on!

The only thing that is new and i really find sup is that you have a costumizable interface and thats kinda new to the rtsgenre, but overal, been there dont that!

never heard of warfront btw, any good?

[JerraMaya]

If your into downloading games then do give it a try , its somewhat like ACT OF WAR if u have played it , If you wanna purchase it download and play the demo first .
http://www.war-front.de/en/home.html

[BodomBeachTerror]

I feel the same way Yian does. I bought the game the day it came out. It really was a let down. It was just bleh, id rather go do something else.

[Phobo]

lol cc3 aint nothing like supcom goodness

[TopSecretBoy]

At first, I was so damn disappointed...

Now it's one of my favorite games ever.

[LynX]

I too was a little disappointed at first when I was in the beta test, but as I played a little more and figured out the strategic tools available to make organising and moving armies around easier, I keep having the urge to play it ever since.

1. Graphics

The graphics seem rather old at first glance, I know I was not very comfortable with it when I played the beta.

I read somewhere in the forums that the devs said they were new to normal mapping, and the graphics suffered a little as a result because it is very different from traditional bump mapping.

I see many criticisms about SupCom about its hype, but strangely enough I do not recall GPG/THQ themselves heavily advertising the game or engaging in "hype campaigns" like some other game publishers. In fact, it was rather low-key in terms of advertising.

Ground Control 2 could afford better graphics, but its biggest map isn't even half the size of SupCom's smallest, and you certainly cannot produce armies as huge as you can in SupCom.

Besides, while GC2 had pretty graphics, it didn't have anything else, the gameplay simply sucked monkey nuts and far less interesting than the original GC1, which was simply awesome.

2. Game performance

I think comparing SupCom with Dark Reign 2 is like comparing apples to stale old apples? If you take into consideration the huge resource requirements that the huge-ass maps, decently detailed units, lighting effects etc, frankly i'm surprised that SupCom does not require even higher system specs to run.

After all, the original TA taxed the systems of it's time for all they were worth.

About the factions and units, GPG stated that the Tech 1 & 2 units are pretty similar across the board for all factions for ease of balance. The real differences between factions start at Tech 3 and the experimentals of Tech 4.

The maps are that big because GPG made it with "Strategy" in mind. So far, besides those WW2 turn-based strategy games like Panzer, SupCom is without peer when it comes to living up to the "strategy" in RTS.

RTS games so far have been more Real Time Tactical that Real Time Strategy, because you rarely if ever make strategic maneuvers.

My experiences with the AI was that when playing on the hardest setting, they're very scary.
They really employ strategy, and very often to devastating effect. The bastard flanked my base and used Tech 3 bombers to wipe out my AA defences while I was busy fending off the ground force it sent as a distraction, and before I even realised what happened, I found that it had airdropped T3 mechs and artillery into my base. And this was when I had a heavily defended base plus a huge land army which I was preparing to send to wipe out the AI's main base.

Also, the transport system is brilliant, I don't know what you're complaining about, unless you haven't RTFM. :)

In fact, it is the best transport system ever, just a few clicks here and there and you have an automated transport run, so your units can get straight to the frontlines just after rolling off the production line.

[PHAT_ASS]

wasnt that much impressed at first cuz i felt like i was playing TA all over again (still i love TA its one of my all time favorites). The graphics didnt seem like a huge step up, but when the shields started going up, and the nukes started falling, i was in awe.

I played against the computer on easy it felt more like if it was on stupid. All I did was tech up, build as much T3 generators and metal makers as possible, and spam nukes and experimental units. Then I decided to try the tutorial... it taught me everything i had to know about the game and i must admit... against a hard AI its much more competitive. The whole concept of keeping an ongoing frontline with a firebase is insane. Feeding your frontline using transports that automatically ferry newly produced unit is even more awesome.
Battles truly have a sense of progression.

[MrBored]

wasnt that much impressed at first cuz i felt like i was playing TA all over again (still i love TA its one of my all time favorites). The graphics didnt seem like a huge step up, but when the shields started going up, and the nukes started falling, i was in awe.

I played against the computer on easy it felt more like if it was on stupid. All I did was tech up, build as much T3 generators and metal makers as possible, and spam nukes and experimental units. Then I decided to try the tutorial... it taught me everything i had to know about the game and i must admit... against a hard AI its much more competitive. The whole concept of keeping an ongoing frontline with a firebase is insane. Feeding your frontline using transports that automatically ferry newly produced unit is even more awesome.
Battles truly have a sense of progression.

Using the strategy of building as many T3 generators and mass fabricators as possible, then just spamming experimental units and the odd aircraft, its quite easy to kill 2 of the hardest computers that are allied against you. Its quite lame.

[PHAT_ASS]

Using the strategy of building as many T3 generators and mass fabricators as possible, then just spamming experimental units and the odd aircraft, its quite easy to kill 2 of the hardest computers that are allied against you. Its quite lame.

i said i did that against easy and medium computers cuz they don't do anything so its easy to tech up and spam peacefully... hard computer is actually hard; this is where you start playing properly... that or a good human player