Supreme Commander: First Impressions

[WarriorX]

I know I said I was done posting, but I cant stop

those pics are fairly close to what it looks like to me. BUT THAT IS BUTT UGLY
honestly people, im beginning to think that the last game you played was warcraft 2.

I completly agree with codex this game just feels so incomplete. Which is confirmed by GPG constantly talking about running out of developing time.

the fact that he can leave the game on over night in order to build a hundred nukes is hilarious and sad ...gj

anyway now im done, for real this time

Do you really need 100 nukes to win...give me a break its for fun. Also if you really wanted to build 100 nukes you would have 100+ SCUs and your ACU working on them. I guess you want nukes to be done in 2 minutes huh. Well that sure would be fun. This isnt starcraft where the nukes kill 2 bunkers and thats it.

Since these graphics suck, please post a game that has way better graphics.

 

[GoldenTiger]

Shadows and fidelity are turned to high in my screenshot, and it is running on a 7950gt, jpg compression hurt it a little, but otherwise that is what it looks like at full detail.

Rofl
first of all that wasnt even the pic I was refering to (it was some other poster that had asked)
but I guess you have me in a "your computer is bad" box ... nevermind the fact that in a small pic like that and at that distance the game is going to look exactly the same no matter what graphics options you have turned up.
Someone posted some article where the GPG guy talked about how they could have added different things but they just ran out of time.

Funny, because other people have their games looking like this (I think the demo has stripped-down graphics, though my demo looks better than yours is showing by far still, so I don't know what's wrong with your computer):

 

[Banyan]

unfortunately yes, ill sometimes bump it down so i can get decent frames, on almsot everything low i'll get around 30, then it'll just drop when i get into battles lol. I dont mind it really, as long as the game is fun i can deal with that.

i said that cuz i know get all the way down to 10-15fps too

 

[nullzero]

These 2 are some of my favorite screenshots.

 

[Draax]

The first screenshot is great. PEW PEW PEW

Edit :On closer inspection I am wearing loafers ... er .... that artillery is about to drop some friendly fire on those assault bots.

 

[CodeX]

Funny, because other people have their games looking like this (I think the demo has stripped-down graphics, though my demo looks better than yours is showing by far still, so I don't know what's wrong with your computer):

*image cut, scroll up*

You're zoomed in a lot farther than I was At least compare the same zoom level. Mine looks just like the shot you posted at the same zoom
Also, for the last time I am playing the full version, and have been for a week

 

[J-Mag]

If I had run into multiple Spiderbots, based on the casualties I suffered against one, my rush would probably have failed. I don't like that, that a single Spiderbot is so powerful, and groups seemingly have to be countered by other Spiderbots.
Just think they seem too strong, not so much armour wise as much as that main cannon.

But, just what I think.

Have you ever tried tactical missle launchers to fend off monkeylords?

You're zoomed in a lot farther than I was At least compare the same zoom level. Mine looks just like the shot you posted at the same zoom
Also, for the last time I am playing the full version, and have been for a week

You have been playing it for a week and you are a game developer? It is nice to know that there a moralistic standards in the industry. I am guessing you don't work for GPG or anyone else trying to promote the game for that matter.

 

[pain.angel]

You're zoomed in a lot farther than I was At least compare the same zoom level. Mine looks just like the shot you posted at the same zoom
Also, for the last time I am playing the full version, and have been for a week

If you wanna talk fair his first shot is comparable to any other rts game's zoom level and the zoom level in your shot isnt achievable in those games.

 

[CodeX]

You have been playing it for a week and you are a game developer? It is nice to know that there a moralistic standards in the industry. I am guessing you don't work for GPG or anyone else trying to promote the game for that matter.

It is nice to know that people can make up their own words at random

I got the game on the day it was released in the UK, the 16th I believe, so not quite a week yet, big deal, I exaggerated, sorry.

 

[J-Mag]

I got the game on the day it was released in the UK, the 16th I believe, so not quite a week yet, big deal.

So 3.5 days is a week? I guess I will have to apply some weird formula to your estimated poly counts then huh?

Also, I wasn't aware that SunyIT had a UK campus

Utica, New York...

 

[CodeX]

So 3.5 days is a week? I guess I will have to apply some weird formula to your estimated poly counts then huh?

Or, you can look at the screenshots Ive posted and see how long I play the game

Also, I wasn't aware that SunyIT had a UK campus

Are you aware that you can, in fact, purchase things on the internet?

 

[J-Mag]

Are you aware that you can, in fact, purchase things on the internet?

Dude, it came out the 16th of this month in the UK. Even with international express you wouldn't get the package until Monday the 19th. You posted screen shots on the 17th. FedEx has a teleportation option now?

IS there someone in the UK who is digitally distributing it?

 

[SleetAndHaze]

J-Mag, no, I didn't try to use tactical missiles against the Spiderbots. I've only used them against stationary targets (random pieces of infrastructure, stationary ships, etc.). They do a ton of damage though from what I have used them on.

Are tactical missiles effective at hitting moving targets? Or are they best to target things like the Spiderbots when they stop to unleash their that firestorm of death from their main cannon?

In retrospect I probably should have launched a couple against the Spiderbot when it was caught up slaughtering my my force. But I have a save I can load up later just to try it out, would be smart to put the silos into a unit group for quick use.

 

[J-Mag]

J-Mag, no, I didn't try to use tactical missiles against the Spiderbots. I've only used them against stationary targets (random pieces of infrastructure, stationary ships, etc.). They do a ton of damage though from what I have used them on.

Well I have killed commanders with tac missles no prob and he was moving around. The monkeylord is significantly bigger so I doubt you'd have problems hittin' it.

Anyway, I think I read on some forum that the tac missles are effective defenses against experimentals.

 

[Appa]

Shadows and fidelity are turned to high in my screenshot, and it is running on a 7950gt, jpg compression hurt it a little, but otherwise that is what it looks like at full detail.

LOL no...it's not.

 

[GoldenTiger]

LOL no...it's not.

No kidding, he obviously has some kind of vendetta against the game and is trying to make it out to be graphically worse than it actually is. Why? Who knows, who cares? I guess it's time to just ignore the troll and enjoy the spectacular graphics and gameplay tomorrow !

 

[SleetAndHaze]

The Cybran's tactical missles do about 6,000 damage a hit, and the MonkeyLord Spiderbot has 60,000 hit points. By those numbers it should take 10 hits from the tactical missiles, however the Spiderbots appear to have a very small, but constant, regeneration rate (less than 10 hit points a second, from what I saw). So, in practice, it takes about 11 missiles to do the job. The Silos hold five missiles each, and also have a very high rate of fire so they go through all five missiles pretty quick, but with a construction unit or two aiding them, it can regenerate the missiles fast enough to do well. It basically requires having two fully loaded silos, but they only take away 500 energy and 20 metal a second each while constructing missiles, so two of the most advanced power generators and two of the most advanced metal makers can supply your missile capabilities with a surplus. So, it it doesn't seem to be a very economical long term solution to Spiderbots, but it is a respectable counter when playing as Cybran. I don't know the amount of damage, cost, or anything else about the superunits or tactical missiles with the other factions, so can't speak for them.

Anyway, I had pretty respectable success against stationary Spiderbots. However, when they were moving, my missiles seem to pretty consistently hit behind the Spiderbots and did no damage.

I wouldn't feel comfortable relying on tactical missiles to stop MonkeyLords, but they aren't a bad aid or last ditch defense. If there was an effective means are paralyzing the Spiderbots, that would probably go a long way (paralyzing Krogoth's with the Spider ARM Kbots and then D-gunning them with the Commander was a favourite tactic of mine against the devils). But I might be trying to transfer too much of my old strategies into a new game.

With all that said, thanks for the tip about them. I was treating tactical missiles as just artillery (and expensive ones at that) so it's good to know another use for it.

 

[Martyr]

whats the best defense against the rapid fire gun prototype? i have the computer build 2 of those against me, took a ton of shield generators to keep a shield stable against that.

 

[J-Mag]

Anyway, I had pretty respectable success against stationary Spiderbots. However, when they were moving, my missiles seem to pretty consistently hit behind the Spiderbots and did no damage.

Hmm I am sure you can get the timing down pat if you need to shoot at the ground in front of them. Spiderbots tend to move predictably.

I wouldn't feel comfortable relying on tactical missiles to stop MonkeyLords, but they aren't a bad aid or last ditch defense. If there was an effective means are paralyzing the Spiderbots, that would probably go a long way (paralyzing Krogoth's with the Spider ARM Kbots and then D-gunning them with the Commander was a favourite tactic of mine against the devils). But I might be trying to transfer too much of my old strategies into a new game.

Good idea, you can upgrade the sub commander's arm to have an emp pulse that stuns units. I am not sure how effective it is against experimentals.

 

[miskari]

use bombers for spider bots....i usually will have craptons of T1 bombers by the time there is any monkeylord, and ill usually even have some T3 bombers and air superiority.

 

[Droopz]

Actually that leads well to my question.

Of the 3 races, which would be considered the most effective with air units?

 

[GoldenTiger]

Maybe your bit torrent version has some probs

ROFL, likely does .

 

[miskari]

Actually that leads well to my question.

Of the 3 races, which would be considered the most effective with air units?

that would be The Human Alliance or w/e they are called. Thats because of their damn Gunships......grrrrr

 

[Droopz]

Cool, and from a general tech perspective, what have the Aeon got going for them? I always tend to play the most 'alien' type races in games.

 

[ilkhan]

Cool, and from a general tech perspective, what have the Aeon got going for them? I always tend to play the most 'alien' type races in games.

mostly they hit hard and they hit what they aim at (even if they suck at predicting movements).
Very strong (albeit smaller radius) shields.
T3 mobile arty can fire while moving
harbringers can repair each other
oblivion cannons own the water (and even the destroyers have a (shorter ranged) one.

I was a heavy UEF player and until looking at the stats. Now prefer to start as Aeon or to at least capture an aeon engineer.

Just finished a finns revenge Aeon vs UEF 92 minute game. He managed to get an SCU into my main base, which was annoying until I recovered. midgame the AI had twice my points. Later on I overtook and managed to annihilate the AIs base. Final assault (the AI had overlapping shields and *4* fatboys) was 3 czars, a GC with 2 more in the wings, a battleship, a couple tempests (they managed to kill one. I was sad)...
SC_022007_overview.JPG
SC_022007_westernisland.JPG
SC_022007_production_center.JPG

 

[miskari]

Cool, and from a general tech perspective, what have the Aeon got going for them? I always tend to play the most 'alien' type races in games.

The Aeon have the strongest Navy.

 

[Droopz]

Thanks mate. Sounds cool. SupComm might be the first RTS where I've moved away from air-based attacking as my primary means of winning games.

EDIT: Doesn anyone with the retail, have any more screenshots or other maps other than the demo one?

 

[tskiller]

Thanks mate. Sounds cool. SupComm might be the first RTS where I've moved away from air-based attacking as my primary means of winning games.

EDIT: Doesn anyone with the retail, have any more screenshots or other maps other than the demo one?

uhm


whats the screenshot button?

can the demo play replays?

 

[GoldenTiger]

Noob question, how do you link structures together ?

 

[J-Mag]

Noob question, how do you link structures together ?

Just build them so they touch. Storage facilities only connect to their retrospective generators and only one mass facility to any factory, but you can connect up to 4 power tech1 to each side of a factory.

 

[Droopz]

Awesome battle report from another forum. Shows why this game is so bloody cool.

All the pics are actually hi-res, but i've only posted the thumbnails. Might get some of the better ones at full size.

------------------------------------


Team A with TekDragon. Illectronic, and bnb get off to an early lead by taking the middle. Team B with DocGolem, Tomash, and Brody have to work hard to keep up economically.


eam A with TekDragon. Illectronic, and bnb get off to an early lead by taking the middle. Team B with DocGolem, Tomash, and Brody have to work hard to keep up economically.

Illectronic scores first blood with a crippling KO of Brody's naval factory, which he rushed to T2 in a hope to get out some destroyers. The subs were quickly driven off by torpedo bombers, but the damage was done.

DocGolem scores second blood, nailing Illectronic's T3 generator with a pair of T3 bombers. My T3 gunships showed up to defend and managed to save his T3 naval yard, but the attack was succesfull in crippling Illectronic's economy.

DocGolem attempts a similar strike against me, but his bombers run into a hail of flak and his bombs drop uselessly on the T3 sheilds.

Brody decides he's tired of our shit and puts together a wing of T3 bombers, along with his rebuilding navy.

Things start looking down when Team B launches a blistering 3 pronged attack. Tomash sends up a experimental gunship, distracting all my T3 gunships, while DocGolem marches along my AA line with a Monkey Lord to my base, and Brody nails poor Illectronic's battleship.

Having finished off the experimental gunship, my T3 gunships manage to turn back and intercept the Monkey Lord well before it reached my base. Lacking AA cover, it was quickly eliminated.

Tomash follows up with an army of T3 seige bots. Little does he know that Illectronic has sent up a wave of bombers while all Team B's interceptors were covering the center.

DocGolem finishes his T3 artillery and launches a never-ending barage at my base. A barage that does little good against the might of a layered UEF T3 sheild defence system.

bnb5500 gets in on the action with a nuclear missle launcher, but our hopes are dimmed when we catch sight of Brody's anti missle defence system.

Leaping into action I turn my entire economy into building a Mavor on the outskirts of my heavily defended fabrication farm.

Things again start looking down as we realize that DocGolem has to be constructing a nuclear submarine.

If that wasn't bad enough, Brody sends his mighty fleet of T3 battleships up the middle, crushing Illectronic's cruiser fleet without barely pausing. As the fleet settles off the coast of Illectronic's base and begins shelling it into oblivion Team A is faced with near certain doom!

TekDragon saves the day with a two pronged strike on both threats! T3 gunship fire hails from the sky as the battleships sink one by one. Meanwhile a carefully crafted submarine sneak attack catches DocGolem completely by suprise, nailing his defenceless naval factory mere minutes before the nuclear submarine finishes!

With their hopes of a swift victory dashed, Team B looks on in horror as bnb5500's first nuke slips past the edge of the nuke defences and annihilates Brody's naval yards - ending the threat of a second battleship fleet.

Tomash is caught off guard as well, with a nuke going off in the very center of his economic hub!

With Team B reeling from the double blows, Team A readies a crushing attack! TekDragon's Mavor opens up on Brody's anti nuke missle sites while bnb5500 launches a nuke into the gap!

Here we see the mighty Mavor shell hurtling towards Brody's base!

As Brody's mighty Collosus lumbers into action the Mavor shells annihilate Brody's nuke defences and a nuke quickly fills the breach!

Reeling from the blows, Team B prepares a mighty army the likes of which has never been seen before! As Brody's base burns under radioactive fire in the background, a swarm of T3 seigebots, 2 collosuses, a monkey lord, and a scarab march up the middle towards TekDragon. TekDragon, with naught to defend himself but a heavily damaged T3 gunship fleet, wonders how he will save his base!

Tomash, swearing vengeance, draws first blood in the mighty attack - bravely felling a lone T1 engineer with a never ending swarm of T1 bombers!

Poor engineer!

Knowing the fate of that engineer was a foreshadowing of what would happen to him, TekDragon attempts to delay the approaching horde with a steady rain of Mavor artillery. The shells drop from the sky felling Seigebots 3 and 4 at a time, but it hardly seems to blunt the attack!

Little does Team B know that the Mavor was simply a stalling tactic, buying just enough time to bring the UEF's mighty Fatboy into the battle! The Fatboy opens up on the approaching host, but will it be enough?!

Fighting the way only true red-blooded UEF heroes know how, TekDragon meets the approaching army of seigebots, monkeylord, and experimental gunship with his commander taking point. Loaded with heavy armarments and a powerful sheild, the commander slays the seigebots while the fatboy weakens the monkey lord as the remains of the T3 gunship squadron launch against it!

With mere meters left to go before the Monkey Lord's beam of death annihilates TekDragon, the gunships bring it down!

And thus ends the war of Seton's Clutch. The remaining two Collosuses fall to a horde of torpedos and bombers while nukes and mavor shells fall like rain on the remains of Team B's bases.

 

[Zygomatic]

Wow, that was quite possibly the longest post in [H] History, was enjoyable though

 

[Droopz]

Wow, that was quite possibly the longest post in [H] History, was enjoyable though

Thanks. Just waiting for the thread to change pages, then ill put up a couple of the choice full res shots.

 

[GoldenTiger]

Wow, that was quite possibly the longest post in [H] History, was enjoyable though

That was an awesome battle report !

 

[Droopz]

Yeah I was worried that a modern RTS with only 3 races wasn't going to be diverse enough to be fun, compared to games Like DoW that has 7 races with unique units. But SupComm definatly is more about tactics than it is about have 10 units per side that never get used.

Also, I'm marginaly OCD, and every RTS that has come out has shit me to tears because of the scale problems. There is NO WAY that the factory that the Space Marines in DoW have is big enough to build a group of tanks. Or the tanks that magicly fit in 10 troops etc...

 

[Obi_Kwiet]

To people concerned about the graphics:

I don't think you really realize the direction the graphics are trying to take. ON one had they are meant to look a bit retro - the units, especially UEF are of early 90's style, but are supposed to look very sharp at the same time. It does very well at preserving this style and still looking good.

Secondly, the game isn't aiming for realistic or photo-real graphics. It's supposed to look a bit CG. Sort of like a high-tech battle map. While effects are nice, it's real aim is function. It's not that the graphics are bad, it's that they have a bit of a different goal.

 

[Droopz]

Yeah, they are definatly stylized as oppsoed to hyper-realistic, and I think it works very well.

The main thing I wanted from the game was the same awesome feeling I got when I started playing TA, and that exactly what I got. Bundeled with that feeling, was a heap of innovative ideas and game play mechanics. Good deal all round.

 

[GoldenTiger]

To people concerned about the graphics:

I don't think you really realize the direction the graphics are trying to take. ON one had they are meant to look a bit retro - the units, especially UEF are of early 90's style, but are supposed to look very sharp at the same time. It does very well at preserving this style and still looking good.

Secondly, the game isn't aiming for realistic or photo-real graphics. It's supposed to look a bit CG. Sort of like a high-tech battle map. While effects are nice, it's real aim is function. It's not that the graphics are bad, it's that they have a bit of a different goal.

Wait, there were people who DIDN'T know this? I never even had played Total Annihilation way back when and I knew this when I first saw screenshots of Supreme Commander !

 

[nullzero]

Beautiful screenshots btw... I cant wait to try the game out full settings with the retail version on DX10 patch with a 8800GTS . The funny thing is the game hasnt even reached full graphics potential yet... the DX10 patch and future slight graphic improvements can add wonders to the visual quality and graphics of the game. Not to mention modding and third party improvements with textures etc. can also yield nice visual results.

 

[Zygomatic]

I am personally very happy with the game. I've never met any hardcore RTS fans that gave two shits about graphics. It's not called Real Time Graphics, it's strategy. While graphics are nice sometimes, I would much rather have a balanced fun RTS. I think it's fairly obvious who they're target audience was, hardcore online RTS fans. Hence the sub par AI and apparently questionable graphics.