DescentBB

I'd like to discuss a few things regarding the game with you.

I played the demo and all this mad race for more energy and mass was too annoying for me.

Obviously you are not an RTS player at heart than. I didn't ask for people not playing it though.

I gots me Command and Conquer 3 and Supreme Commander.

All I gotta say regarding those two games:
Cybran > Aeon
Cybran > UEF
Scrin > Nod
Scrin > GDI

Better than NOD? Nothing is better than NOD! You can't beat Kane! And Seth. Yes. From God to Kane to Seth.

Dont' forget. Starcraft 2 is on the way as is Halo commander. (we'll see how that is... prolly need vista for that too. ) *yes. i know.. it's a 360 game*

I'm an old player of Total Annihilation, so Supreme Commander was an obvious choice for me. I don't play multiplayer, always play skirmish, but I'm having issues with the game maxing out on the memory on my system and then crashing, so I've been playing it a bit less throughout the past weeks.

I have started playing through the campaign to get acquainted with the game and have been hitting the unit limit on a regular base, but have never had problems with the game so far. My system however has 2 GB RAM.

I had a few questions regarding unit control but they have been answered already. Multiplayer is the way to go, imho, the AI just doesn't cut it (as usual. Why the heck does this area always get neglected? Particularly for RTS games it is a very important one).

Oh, btw I have tried 3 C&C versions, but I could never understand what people love about it. Actually I hate C&C. The economy is crap, the unit control is crap, etc. etc.

I have played a few other RTS games (Earth 2150 among them, which imo is a very good game). Then there was another one boasting with having a really good AI, but that just was a lie. TA was the RTS bar none for me. What a wonderful implementation of the genre. So supcomm really was a must for me, and I haven't regretted the purchase so far (apart from causing some severe sleep deprivation ... )

There is an MOD community AI pack the soriens i beleive tat absolutlely own the AI that came with the game. Give em a try(make sure you use Sorien C) so they AI can cheat. eg let it get double resources.

I gave up on th emultiplayer due to the lack of support for non-ranked games and that the chance of playing vs someone without a dual core is to great. 1 person w/o a duel core in a 2v2 = 50 minutes pass IRL while the ingame clock is only at 30 minutes

What is \"soriens\" and \"Sorien C\"?

Why don't you just grab a few friends and play with them?

Are you sure the time diff is not caused by some1 turning down game speed?

Admiral Thrawn wrote:I'm an old player of Total Annihilation,

...sh1t those were the days, i loved that game.

Diedel wrote:What is "soriens" and "Sorien C"?

Why don't you just grab a few friends and play with them?

Are you sure the time diff is not caused by some1 turning down game speed?

Positive, the game is designed to slow down to accomodate the slowest PC. The sorian AI's are a mod which enhances the default AI to an extent that it puts them to shame: http://forums.gaspowered.com/viewtopic.php?t=2866

Didin't link it earlier because i was in a rush to get out the door and go to class.

Edit: if you ever feel l ike playing give me a holler, don't plan on gpg that much jsut in house wiht friends usually.

Kyouryuu wrote:Better than NOD? Nothing is better than NOD! You can't beat Kane! And Seth. Yes. From God to Kane to Seth.

Quiet human, while we extract your ichor deposits!
(And Seth got his ass blasted in the face, so what now?)

Diedel wrote:Oh, btw I have tried 3 C&C versions, but I could never understand what people love about it. Actually I hate C&C. The economy is crap, the unit control is crap, etc. etc.

Which three?
-C&C Tiberium Dawn
-C&C Red Alert
-C&C Tiberium Sun
-C&C Red Alert 2
-C&C Sole Survivor (God Forbid)
-C&C Renegade (Doubt it)
-C&C Generals
-C&C Tiberium Wars (Newest)

C&C is less about resource gathering - it only has one resource, so it frees you up to fight and build units.

Tiberium Dawn, Red Alert, Tiberium Sun.

And yes, I have played Renegade, and I really liked that one (SP only). It was reasonably well executed.

Diedel wrote:I have started playing through the campaign to get acquainted with the game and have been hitting the unit limit on a regular base, but have never had problems with the game so far. My system however has 2 GB RAM.

same here on the ram. I'm running a quad core, but I'm also running windows vista 64. The game will hit the 2 gig limit and just nosedive. Tends to happen on the larger maps.

If I am honest I have to say that SupCom doesn't impress me as much as I hoped it would. Many features are similar to TA, and the units look like they've been distilled from TA, making a smaller and more stringent unit set (not a bad thing). You could however still play TA, install one of the good custom AIs and a 5000 unit limit will still not bring the game down to its knees, and the gaming experience will be just as good, imvho. And then there is TA Spring, an OpenSource fan project recreating TA in full 3D.

Looking at the trouble SC causes on big maps with many units (see some benchmarks on the inet) I can only say boo! to the developers. SC is severely CPU limited, and that means the AI system and unit/resource management are too slow. It makes absolutely no sense to implement all that stuff with a scripting language that needs to be interpreted during program execution if that slows the game down that much.

I think starcraft bw might be the most perfect RTS game ever made for pc. You can go mas or go for a small mico squad to counter a large or small mass.

Firebats beats a huge zergling or zelot attack. While 8 tanks and 8 marines with medics can beat off almost 100 hydras. Good game.

I never tried it.

Diedel wrote:I never tried it.

Well you might not like how simple the game is. Warhammer and newer stuff seems to have more complex stuff you might like alot better, because of the high lerniing curve (im going by what games you seem to like). You can learn all the units and abilities in starcraft in about 10 minutes. It's not alot. Doesn't sound like the game for you. but who knows. You can also say the exact same thing about how hard chess is to learn.

I'm playing Sup Com atm.
It's an amazing game, very deep. At first I though...it's OK. After playing thru the campaigns, and some skirmish, reading the GPG forums, I'm really
hooked.
It's tactical strategy...different from other RTSs.
the SCA GUI is awesome. DL it.
and yes, get the sorians/jaws2002 ai set. very tough to beat

Loved C&C, Red Alert, Dark Reign, Total Annihilation. Enjoying SupCom but mostly because of 3rd-party AI and UI mods. It lacks a well-polished map making program which was a disappointment for me. I've played a lot of RTS games. WarCraft 2 was okay, never liked StarCraft. :]

Where do I get the SCA UI?

Isaac,

game depth is not necessarily generated by a lot of rules or many different actors. Chess is the perfect example: You have few pawns and rules, but the combination of all make the depth. Same might be true for Starcraft. I just didn't like the gfx, and when it was first published, imo it had already been graphically outdated. When TA appeared, it had 3D terrain, 3D units, and most important of all, useful AI and very good unit management (you could set multiple waypoints for each squad, tell them to patrol an area and how to behave while patroling) - something the entire C&C franchise is sorely lacking. Frankly spoken: I hate C&C. I believe it sucks. It doesn't play well, it's a PITA to control the units, the gfx weren' that great (don't know the newer titles though). I have seen Generals being played by a friend's son, and it still was the same gameplay and basically the same interface. Westwood have been cooking their already overly simple concept to death, and that's how it tastes to me: Disgusting. Strong words, yeah, but I have strong feelings ...

Oh my, SupCom has developed a nasty habit of crashing after a short while of playing it ...

Diedel wrote:Where do I get the SCA UI?

http://forums.gaspowered.com/viewtopic. ... de76923f4e

check out the threads at http://forums.gaspowered.com/
for help with your crashing problem...likely its a heat issue...I have no issues with supcom....

rm

I have a watercooled rig with temperature probes at critical spots connected to the fan controller. The controller starts to beep if a probe measures too a high temperature. No problems here.

Edit: Turned off CPU overclocking -> no more crashes. D'oh. SupCom really seems to stress each and every part of the CPU.

no one said over-clocking didn't come with drawbacks.

I tryed the demo and it annoyed me cause the controls and when I tryed to scrool it flew across the map.

I'm sorry but I hate the game.

fliptw wrote:no one said over-clocking didn't come with drawbacks.

I don't really know what your post is good for, because I didn't complain (my problem if apps fail due to my overclocking), but this is the first case ever that I had problems due to overclocking. And I had only oc'd my CPU moderately.

My conclusion is that CPU maker's default clock speeds are really chosen after having tested every component of a CPU - even those that usually don't get stressed very much, and that SupCom does stress these, too. Interesting. Well, my system is sufficiently fast w/o oc'ing, I just added it for the heck of it.

Warlock,

the controls are very good, but SC has a very mighty control scheme. If you expect to master a game within 2 minutes, the entire RTS genre is not for you.

iv been doing RTS scence C&C 1st came out.

This game just doesnt grab me like TA did when it came out.

Feels more like a cavedog is dead so lets do a wanna be TA game. Just isnt all that.

You wrote you didn't like the UI, not that it's a different game.

SC is TA with improved gfx and ui, and the best units distilled from TA. With TA you went with a small subset of units anyway. Actually the ui works almost like the TA ui.

I'd rather say that time has progressed since the days of TA, and our feelings today aren't the same as 10 years ago. And then TA had been something refreshingly new. SC, however well done, cannot give that same excitement. But it's a worthy successor of TA, imo.

SupCom is an AMAZING game.
The mod community is going crazy with mods, UI mods (The SCA UI is awesome!), ai mods, maps, game types...heh they even made a tower version.

Supcom is the kind of game you want to keep around because they'll be modding it for years to come.

Aight, so I'm playing against the computer today and decide that I'm ready to play against a more advanced computer rather than the medium difficulty AI.

OH!!

MY!!

GOD!!

There are things that you tend to get used to when dealing with the computer on a medium difficulty. The AI not firing nukes is one of them. Nosireee, Mr. Advanced AI fired that thing first chance he got. And unfortunately, I wasn't prepared for it. Landed right on top of my poor commander's head.

Locked up on the second game. Starting to wonder if vista 64 was a wise choice. Heck! I'm starting to wonder if XP was a wise choice.

3rd game was interesting. The computer tried nukeing, but my anti nukes took care of the job. He was pummeling my secondary, but more powerful base in the middle with artilery, but the shields were holding. But... while bringing my flying saucer of doom to the front lines to head off an experimental Fat Boy attack, the AI's long range artillery gets a VERY lucky shot on the Czar and brings it down. RIGHT OVER MY OFFENSIVE BASE!!! Damn thing hits the ground, takes out the antinuke, 2 shields, and a generator.

And then the AI fires the nuke!

With the power base gone, it didn't take him long to march the rest of the way to my main base and eventually take me out. Bummer!

64-bit vista... unless you really want to be using more than 4 gigabytes of ram, or want to watch HDDVD/Blue-ray discs, then I wouldn't recommend using it.

Ive been playing the demo on and off for several hours. Seems like ill procure the full version (once funds allow ).

I just finished the final Cybran mission and have learned a lot about the game now. Most importantly something I just wasn't aware of: A tech X build unit can also build all lower tech stuff, and faster than the build unit of that tech level ...

Strat bombers do insane amounts of damage ...

I also found that the experimental units aren't quite worth what you put in them unless you have a few and they are very well guarded by an escort.

The Cybran Maven on the other side is a hell of a powerful weapon (pretty precise long range rapid fire artillery). I had two and they made short work of everything in their reach - stationary or mobile.

Aircraft carriers can also mean pure hell if they have a lot of aircraft on them, sneak up to the enemy and then launch all they have aboard.

I have yet to try a good AI in skirmish, but I am pretty sure Sorien 2.5 will hand my behind to me on a plate.

Btw, there is a thread balancing tool for multicore CPUs for SupCom that spreads the threads SupCom allocates better over the available CPU cores, making the game much smoother on big maps and with many units. You need to look for SupCom Core Maximizer in the GPG forums or with Google. I found the download link in some forum thread and don't have it myself anymore.

One of the major keys to SupCom is using your support commanders. The gate should be one of the first things that you build.
upgraded, the SACUs are insanely powerful as assault units, and the RAS upgrade is as good as a T3 power plant and a T2 mass extractor.
they are also great for building behind your experimental units, building AA and turrets, etc.

Make lots of em

What is the RAS?

Diedel wrote:What is the RAS?

basically turns your support commander into a walking fusion reactor. After looking at the advice, I started using these guys as soon as I got to tech level 3. Talk about wow! Great for keeping my firebases up and maintained while another group stays back at the main base and keeps hooking me up on the power.

And while playing against the AI (Tech AI), I ended up killing around 23 experimental units before finally taking out the enemy commander with artillery. Talk about brutal. Having 10 or more strategic bombers on standby at your firebase works wonders for taking out experimentals in route to your base.