Supreme Commander

[therev]

I was playing the Rise of Legends demo the other day and I really, really wanted a full zoom out that I saw in the Supreme Commander video.

[Dimahoo]

I wonder what the most units you can have is?

I'm sorry....i just do.

[Arathain]

The thing I'm most excited about here is not the scale (although that's very exciting), it's the idea of RTS armies that don't need constant micromanagement to fight effectively. I really hope that's the case, anyway.

[errollw]

This looks awesome, can't wait for some large scale carnage with what looks like those tactical nukes

[Byron5184]

I've been drooling over this game ever since it was first annouced last year. The E3 vids just blew me away. This game will destroy all opposition in the RTS genre imo. Chris Taylor (the GPG one ) is a GOD!! B) Im looking forward to the features like the zoom and waypoint system and theco-ordinated attack feature. Will be awesome to strike an enemy from multiple sides without the massive micro required like in TA or C&C.

I still play TA to this day and its still just as addictive as it was then, so SupCom is gonna be just awesome.

As for the things like the explosions looking a bit under par, they still have at least 7-8 months before the planned release date. Now all they got to do is add all the content like campaigns and storyline etc... now the graphics are sorted

I will wait as long as required for this game. And my life will once again vanish for a few years

[Molloy]

I've been playing TA multiplayer for 8 years now. I also review game replays. The competitive lifespan of the game is just phenominal. Most RTS games have a competitive lifespan of 3 months.

Total Annihilation hasn't been patched in 7 years or so and the best players still haven't abandoned it. Peoples style of play just keeps shifting and evolving. The best players from 2003 would get absolutely trounced by the best players currently competing. Nobody has managed to break the balance yet.. they're constantly messing around and working out new approaches even now! And the game still holds up. It's insane.

Chris Taylor has a really cool approach to game design. He throws everything in there. And he doesn't try to say rock beats scissors, paper beats rock. He just gives the units weapons with real physics, that can handle themselves without being babysat. After that the game is out of his hands. He does a little bit of basic balancing, but the players are going to undermine your game universe. They're going to tear it apart and play it in ways you never imagined. The cool thing is he isn't afraid to let the player do that. He's not setting all these controls and limitations to keep you in the little box he's built. That's meant that there was room for players to riff and experiment. There's never an overpowered strategy because people keep thinking up new ones.

If anybody wants something to hold them over till Supreme Commander comes out I recommend you try TA Spring. It's an open source RTS engine written by TA fans. It's been developing at a frightening rate in the past few months. They've already incorporated quite a few things from Supreme Commander. You can zoom and and out with the scroll wheel. There's deformable terrain. Deformable water... blah, blah, blah. Anyway, it's free. And there are usually a good 150+ people playing it online at any given time. It's really starting to baloon in popularity. Check it out.

[icycalm]

sup Molloy

I'd like to see how the other RTS developers respond after this game comes out. They'll be years behind.

The only quick solution for them will be to focus on small-scale/hero-driven games like WarCraft III. Otherwise, they'll have to devote several years of work to come up with a comparable engine.

[Byron5184]

The Official Trailer for Supreme Commander that was first aired at E3 has been released on the internet. Gamespot has both a low quality version (for free members - 42MB and is poop quality) and a High Definition 174MB version that only premium gamespot members have access too but is MUCH sharper. Although these videos are available from other places as well so youll be able to find the HD version for free from somewhere if you look around.

I got the 174MB HD version and i must say, OMG its so much nicer than the shakey cams from the E3 floor.

EDIT - heres a link to the torrent for the HD trailer.

Supreme Commander HD Trailer Torrent (sorry if this aint allowed)

[redbloodcell]

I've re-installed TA out of anticipation.

Still the best RTS EVER. No exceptions (yet!)

[Couch Corpse]

Holy shit!

[Poet]

I used to play TA while back at uni, many years ago. I remember finishing more than one essay in the early morning and rather than going to bed I'd play TA for the rest of the night, so I didn't sleep through my alarm clock to get up and hand in my essay before the 9am deadline.

Good times.

[dan_tm]

Hmmmm...

The last RTS I played (and loved) was Red Alert 2, that was years ago... It doesn't look like I've missed out on much if this is supposed to be a few generations in front of that.

Surely this isn't the first fully 3D RTS? They seemed to be pointing to that during the youtube videos. Surely I must have missed some vital detail that makes this so special because you all seem to be raving about it, to me it just looks like a 3D RTS.

[Wintermute]

Good times.

Indeed. We had full 24 hour TA sessions in our house for a few weeks. As we were crawling to bed at dawn, our house mate would get back from his night shift and take over. As he was going to bed, someone else would arise and get passed the stompy robot baton. Amazing game.

I might have to re-install it now. Again.

Surely I must have missed some vital detail that makes this so special because you all seem to be raving about it, to me it just looks like a 3D RTS.

If by 'just looks like a 3D RTS' you meant 'just looks like a fucking amazing 3D RTS' then, yeah, I agree.

[dan_tm]

If by 'just looks like a 3D RTS' you meant 'just looks like a fucking amazing 3D RTS' then, yeah, I agree.

Well I've never played a 3D RTS before so maybe the ones before this were all shit, I don't know.

This just looks exactly how I imagined a 3D RTS to look so it didn't seem that impressive to me, as I said, I've probably missed something that's really special about it.

[Byron5184]

With Supreme Commander, its more the features and attention to detail that makes it such a highly anticip[ated game.

For example, the Zoom feature, SupCom is the first RTS that has full zoom, where you can zoom from right into ground level all the way out to the full map, as shown in the youtube videos. Then you can rotate the angel of the camera so you can go from traditional RTS angel to ground level.

Then there is the waypoint system thats modifyable without redoing it from the start. Then you can set it to co-ordinate strikes easily between different battlegroups. Then there is the size of the maps that are FOOKING massive.

Its like what Chris Taylor said in the E3 Presentation. Most, if not all modern RTS games nowadays focus on battle tactics, how to destroy the enemy army (focus fire, target the artilleries first etc...), SupCom focus on war strategies, the big picture. Not just building an army and destroying the base thats a few screens away like in C&C.

Also if units run out of fuel and ammo that were hearing about and believe to be true, then you cant walk an army of tanks across such a massiove map and kill all. Things like forward attack bases and supply chains would be required adding a whole new level to the experience.

For those that have not followed SC or seen the stuff from E3, there is a presentation on YouTube in two parts demonstrating parts of the game. Worth the watch if you havent already. I'll even link them for you

Aren't i kind Unless its already posted then, Aren't I stupid

Yep, already posted LOL first post LOL

[dan_tm]

Also if units run out of fuel and ammo that were hearing about and believe to be true, then you cant walk an army of tanks across such a massiove map and kill all. Things like forward attack bases and supply chains would be required adding a whole new level to the experience.

That does sound interesting, hopefully it makes it into the final game as I could see that adding quite a lot to the tactics.

[Gabe]

With Supreme Commander, its more the features and attention to detail that makes it such a highly anticip[ated game.

For example, the Zoom feature, SupCom is the first RTS that has full zoom, where you can zoom from right into ground level all the way out to the full map, as shown in the youtube videos. Then you can rotate the angel of the camera so you can go from traditional RTS angel to ground level.

Then there is the waypoint system thats modifyable without redoing it from the start. Then you can set it to co-ordinate strikes easily between different battlegroups. Then there is the size of the maps that are FOOKING massive.

Its like what Chris Taylor said in the E3 Presentation. Most, if not all modern RTS games nowadays focus on battle tactics, how to destroy the enemy army (focus fire, target the artilleries first etc...), SupCom focus on war strategies, the big picture. Not just building an army and destroying the base thats a few screens away like in C&C.

Also if units run out of fuel and ammo that were hearing about and believe to be true, then you cant walk an army of tanks across such a massiove map and kill all. Things like forward attack bases and supply chains would be required adding a whole new level to the experience.

For those that have not followed SC or seen the stuff from E3, there is a presentation on YouTube in two parts demonstrating parts of the game. Worth the watch if you havent already. I'll even link them for you

Aren't i kind Unless its already posted then, Aren't I stupid

Yep, already posted LOL first post LOL

Didn't Cossacks have some sort of supply chains?

[redbloodcell]

number 1 didn't, don't know about 2.

[John0]

Utterly stunning. I love the bit about emergent behaviour. This. Is. So. Cool.

[hoot]

[Hass]

[hoot]

5 page interview with Chris Taylor

The way we're working is that we have a pool of units, so that if you're playing with fewer people, you have more units [per person]. We've toyed with two to four thousand units in a pool. So let's say you and I play head to head and it was four thousand units, we'd get two thousand each. If we played eight player, we'd get five hundred each. What that final unit count is, it's not yet been decided, but in all fairness whatever it is when we launch the game in January it will be different in June. The powers of the machines will go up, it's fully moddable, people can change the number of units to whatever they want with a mod. So if you and I get together and we know a little something about how to mod the game, we can change it to ten thousand units each. There's really nothing about how the game is architected that limits that number. It's an arbitrary limit that will be set at release, and it will probably be within two and four thousand units total.

Nice :]

[hoot]

New 3 page hands on

[choddo]

So the Closed Beta for this is now on. I got a FilePlanet ID and there are hacked versions out there.

After a quick play earlier today, seems very nice with some spectacular battles although I haven't had a chance to get to grips with the controls properly yet.

Anyone else got it & want to try out a game?

[hoot]

'Acquiring' it now, should have it tonight if not for tomororw. Definately be up for a game :]

[JPickford (retired mod)]

That looks amazing. A real sense of scale with those giant robots.

[John0]

I bet you a giant massive robot this won't work on my laptop.

[redbloodcell]

So the Closed Beta for this is now on. I got a FilePlanet ID and there are hacked versions out there.

After a quick play earlier today, seems very nice with some spectacular battles although I haven't had a chance to get to grips with the controls properly yet.

Anyone else got it & want to try out a game?

I've got it, but haven't got my GFX card yet :cry:

When I do I'll take you up on that, though!

[johnj]

absolutely no hope for a 360 version then?

[hoot]

Not sure it would work on a pad to be honest.