Topic: The Supreme Commander thread. (UPDATED)

[Pugnate]

IGN gives it 9.0
Gamespot gives it 8.7

[iPPi]

I guess RTS' really aren't my kind of game.  I gave the demo a shot and thought it was alright... pretty much like every other RTS game I've tried.  They're simply okay... but not compelling enough for me to buy and play a lot.

[Pugnate]

I have to agree. While I am a pretty well rounded PC gamer, my favorite genre is a RPG followed by turn based strategy and first person shooters.

I will enjoy an RTS if it is really exceptional, or even if the gameplay is only above average but the production values are fantastic (like WarCraft III). But I find most RTS games stupid.

It isn't as much about strategy as it is about a race to the end of the technology tree as well as a rush to just create masses of units. Heck, I found a lot more strategy in the combat of Baldur's Gate 2 than most popular RTS games.

I even bought Company of Heroes, but haven't played it yet. I am sure I will enjoy it, but I am wondering how much actual 'strategy' I will be using.

[scottws]

RTS games can be very strategic, but it's just generally too difficult to micromanage all the units to effectively execute proper strategy.

It's a control-scheme issue.  If you were able to be a true commander and say something like, "Go around the left flank and attack the strongest units first, spellcasters should attempt to cast X spell on Y unit and then retreat to a safe distance.  Badly wounded units fall back," it would be much easier than:

Click waypoint 1
Click waypoint 2
Ctrl-click waypoint 3
Highlight spellcasters and attempt to cast X spell on Y units
Wait for spellcast to complete and them Ctrl-click an area away from the battlefront
Set up siege units at an optimal distance
Highlight all fighting units and place them in front of the siege units
Right-click strongest unit, wait until it's dead
Repeat the last command over and over
Make sure to keep clicking on wounded units and move them away from the battle

It can actually get much more detailed than that.  If we somehow could voice commands in a very general manner and have units properly understand them, then it would be so much easier to be truly tactical.

[Ghandi]

The way that voice recognition is progressing, that could be a real possibility in 5 or 10 years. That was always my problem with RTS games as well. Take Warcraft III for example- I would generally know what I wanted to do but I was never quite quick enough to do it as fast as I wanted. Especially when I was starting out, battles generally consisted of throwing my army at the other guy and just micromanaging my hero, leaving the other units to whatever fate they had coming. Eventually I got better, but it took many hours of me and Folk getting our asses kicked until we learned what worked.

[Jedi]

I agree with a lot of what Scott has to say that a games design can hinder your ability to pull off decent strategy. The best game I remeber for being able to pull it off was Rise of Nations, that's my No1 RTS game, near the end of my time playing it I was pulling off some complex tactics, cutting off lines of retreat and flanking. The best tactic was to come in at a town from the left go past it deeper into enemy turff and effectively create a sheild wall of units. Another lot hits the town directly but the enemy can't get past my first lot to save their town, which they lose in under 30 seconds.

Ah.. I might reinstall the game and give it another go.

Oh yeah and Supreme looks pretty cool, I'm torn between it and Crackdown... 

[PyroMenace]

Gamespot has their review up. - 8.7

Most interesting indeed, too bad my system will probably get raped by it.

[Quemaqua]

I can honestly say that at this point, I couldn't care less.  The game looks cool, I'm just totally not in an RTS mood.

[MysterD]

The downside is that Supreme Commander can bring the most modern PCs to their knees. Since the game is keeping track and simulating hundreds of units over such a large area, it doesn't take much before the frame rate will start to stutter. On our test machine with a dual core CPU and 2GB of RAM, we experienced slight pauses on the humongous 81k-by-81k map. On smaller maps with a larger set of AI opponents, the action slowed to a virtual crawl as the system strained to keep up with the action. It's doubtful that a PC has been built yet that can run Supreme Commander's largest map with a full set of AI opponents at high graphics detail. Thankfully, you can adjust the graphical settings quickly and without having to restart the game, so if the battle starts to chug, you can simply go to the options menu and lower the visual detail to smooth out the frame rate.

I'm tired of brand new games bringing uber-powerful rigs to their knees.
One reason for me to wait on this, even though I do want to play this one.

Good thing I'm not much on RTS's, myself.
That's reason #2.

[angrykeebler]

I would really, really like to play this game in all its glory.

maybe in a year or two..

(sigh)

[Jedi]

I would really, really like to play this game in all its glory.

maybe in a year or two..

(sigh)

That's my plan, I downloaded the demo and it was unplayable until I turned all the setting down low - which is disappointing. On the other hand my PC is still unstable so screw it. Think I'll pick up crackdown.

[MysterD]

GameSpot's Performance Guide for Supreme Commander

[Pugnate]

So I actually hadn't read the IGN review. Well I had tried, but I wanted to stab my eyes because IGN sucks. But the Gamespot review makes me really excited about this.

edit:

OK I miss Kasavin. Why the hell did he leave?

[MysterD]

So I actually hadn't read the IGN review. Well I had tried, but I wanted to stab my eyes because IGN sucks. But the Gamespot review makes me really excited about this.

edit:

OK I miss Kasavin. Why the hell did he leave?

He joined EA to go work on C&C 3.


EDIT:
Go see this thread, for where we sounded off on Greg leaving Gamespot for, of all places, EA

[Pugnate]

Man you should really start picking up on rhetoric.   

Seriously didn't you notice my seven posts on the first page discussing Kasavin going to EA? I have more posts in that thread than you haha did you notice? 

edit:

Oh, fucking hell!!!

Right before and after that post of yours above I've had posts on his move to EA. How could you not notice that? 

[MysterD]

I lost it....long time ago....

[Pugnate]

In a galaxy far away?

[MysterD]

In a galaxy far away?

That sounds about right,

[MysterD]

Supreme Commander will likely expand....
   

Supreme Commander to Expand? [February 26, 2007, 10:50 am ET] - Viewing Comments
The Supreme Commander Q&A on eXp discusses Gas Powered Games' new RTS game with Chris Taylor. The conversation includes an intriguing, if not confusing, comment on the possibility, or perhaps probability, that the game will expand. Here's his answer to a question about whether there is an expansion coming:

    Yeah, I mean if we are going to announce something, it wouldn't be that there is nothing coming. (laughs) So you can do a little detective work on that without getting me in trouble, most importantly.

[MysterD]

New patch for Supreme Commander REMOVES SecuROM, among other bug fixes and stuff

Supreme Commander Update 3220 Release Notes

* Blue screen crashes: Resolved an issue where some users were experiencing hard crashes after applying the 3189->3217 patch.
* SecuROM: The disc-check security feature has been removed (except for Polish, Russian, and Chinese-Traditional releases).
* Language Updates: Polish Unicode fix for some missions' localization data.
* MP Exploit Enhancement System: The game now verifies that an enhancement order is valid before proceeding.
* Mini UI: Construction manager, Queue manager, and Selection manager now stretch horizontally to fill the bottom of the screen.
* In-Game Chat
o Shift+Enter now sends chat to allies.
o Incoming messages will no longer prevent strategic zoom function or display factional icons.
o Messages should no longer disappear in an active chat window.

Special Note: 8-Player Games: A known issue exists for Update 3220, where some 8-player games experience crashes during gameplay. Initial testing indicates a memory allocation issue. However, stats indicate that 8-player games are approximately .5% of all games being played, so our decision was to release the update with this known issue.

Special Note: SecuROM and Mod Users: If you have modified your game in order to defeat SecuROM disk authentication (or performed any modification, for that matter), it is likely that Update 3220 will cause problems for you. To correct this, you must uninstall Supreme Commander, reinstall and then connect to GPGnet to patch up.

[angrykeebler]

I'm pretty sure if I attempted an 8 player game of Supreme Commander my computer would explode

[MysterD]

Supreme Commander will NOT get any DX10 support from Gas Powered Games in a patch nor an expansion.

No DirectX 10 Supreme Commander [May 21, 2007, 11:30 am ET] - 22 Comments
The GPGnet Forums have word that there are no plans to implement DirectX 10 support in Supreme Commander:

    As the patch rapidly approaches, many of our community members are wanting to know the status of Supcom and DX10. This is the word on this subject.

    The opportunity to integrate DX10 came along very late in the development process for Supreme Commander. The window of opportunity was very narrow, but it was felt that if everything came together we could integrate this exciting jump forward into Supcom.

    Despite the best efforts of our own team and our partners from Microsoft and Nvidia, the timing simply did not line up. The availability of DX10 hardware, final releases of Vista itself, and the solid drivers simply did not line up with the necessary time frames in our development cycle. Having missed that window, our dev team has focused on graphical improvements that will benefit a far wider audience than the still very small but growing segment of Vista users with DX10 compatible cards. Having missed that window, the resources necessary to integrate the tech do not make sense compared to what can be accomplished for that greateraudience.

    Chris Taylor and GPG are rightly known for pushing the envelope of technology and innovation, integrating the latest technologies into GPG's games. While hindsight might make it clear that the time frames did not align to successfully integrate DX10 with Supreme Commander, it was felt that it was worth the shot we took.

    The bottom line: Directx 10 support will not be patched into Supreme Commander or its expansion packs. GPG looks forward to integrating this exciting technology into future projects. We, like the rest of PC gaming community, are looking forward to the first DX10 games in the coming months.

[Pugnate]

Well I found a good deal so I got the game. I just tried the tutorial which is actually a list of 9 videos and you doing what you like. It has left me unimpressed, especially after playing through the remarkably polished Company of Heroes.

In fact I am missing CoH already, and may buy the expansion. It might have been a good idea to play SC first and then CoH, but we'll see. I'd post screenies, but I can imagine a video being far more impressive, with the number of units that can pile up.

[Quemaqua]

Yay for no DX10 support.  It isn't needed and would be a waste of time.

[Pugnate]

Just finished the first couple of missions. The gameplay is fairly good, but though not as intense as CoH. In terms of storytelling it is well behind CoH, and while it shoots for a similar sort of atmosphere as Starcraft, it doesn't succeed to that degree. Since the units are all robots, you don't get the standard sound bytes from them when they kill another unit, die or are even selected. In fact you can go for long periods with only the sound effects and the music to keep you company. I never thought I'd be saying this, but I miss the RTS chatter.

The music is quite good and atmospheric, but I think it would be more at home in an RPG like his (Chris Taylor) Dungeon Siege games. For a futuristic game like this, you need music that is unique and is a bit out there ala StarCraft. Then again space opera music worked for Star Wars, but again it had the touch of wonder and fantasy you'd associate with something set in space.

Actually it really feels like the production values are separate from the gameplay. It is difficult to explain, but it feels like they made a game, and then slapped on some FMVs, music and stuff to give it character. I know that's how all games are made. The technical aspect is completed and then the rest is integrated afterwards. Trouble is it really shows in Supreme Commander so far. What I hate in RTS games is when each race's biggest differentiating characteristic is their unit color. While in something like Company of Heroes, you could clearly tell your side from the Nazis without any "Visual Aid", here all your units are just painted blue. One of the other two races is entirely red, while the third is green.

Now for the good stuff. The gameplay is high addictive. Thankfully there is no standard resource gathering, and the resource management is fairly clever. The game can also lead to some massive massive battles, with tons of units.

Just having played this, the Dungeon Siege games and Total Annihilation, I am starting to think that Chris Taylor can make some really good games, but doesn't have it in him to touch greatness. All of his games have been technical marvels in their own right, but there has always been that something extra missing.

Anyway I'll write more after I finish the game. I've said a lot after having played only two missions. They were really long though.

[Quemaqua]

Total Annihilation was pretty special, but I don't have much interest in SupCom, and Dungeon Siege bored the living shit out of me.

[MysterD]

SC is console-bound.