While we wait, (Re)Impression: Supreme Commander:Forged Alliance

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:06:49 -0500

After getting so damn bored with WoW i figured i could give Supcom a new shot with the expansion and some mods going, so if you are getting bored already just read the next line:

This game is supreme fun combined with forged strategy tactics!

Why? Let me explain:

First off i would like to remind you that you are reading a "experience" of both games combined.
So to start off with i will give you some quick details on the system i run it on:

Operating System: Windows Vistaâ„¢
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU @ 2.40GHz
Memory: 2046MB RAM
Graphic Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS
Sound Card: Creative SB X-Fi
Paging: 5 GB

Campaign

So i spent more or less 150 hours on this game by now going through endless skirmishes trying out each race and finally finished the campaign today.I started the campaign about 12 hours ago and what really drive me was the way it is presented.
You start off with pretty much your full arsenal in a small map, the good thing is once you complete your objectives that usually is about killing the enemy, the map expands and you still keep your units, resources and orders.( by orders i mean patrols,build ques, etc)
Now i must admit it it really pulled me into the game seeing the map expanding and not thinking to start over and build a new base in another map, which is the case in most RTS games. Here one mission can last hours. Now if you never played this you might think: well if i focus on building a solid base with 20 super weapons and mega artillery i can crush them at once as soon as the map expands! well... fortunately this is not the case, you see here size really matters! And by that i mean map size, base size, unit size. the enemy usually have 5 or more bases scattered around a huge map in total, it is not easily taken if you play it on hard even if you feel overpowered for a second or two.Â Don`t forget the enemy can also "think big".

Now i really cant say too much negative about the campaign mode except that the story is a bit thin, not boring though and the voice actors are badly directed it seems. i love the voices but the way they perform is not good... (I still cant get that Russian cybran chick out of my head! Dostya out!) I think that expanding map techniqueÂ was very satisfying because usually when i was about to finish a map in other games was when my base was perfectly polished and my army of doom ready. Campaign felt a bit short too, but hell! it`s an expansion eh?

Dostya out! get outa here doll!

Quick tour on how i played the skirmishes while explaining my impressions:

I found a map from the many maps already included, hooked on a couple of mods(will go into detail about that as well) and my favorite: 20 min no rush. Now that is something i really like.Â I mean if you made a can of coffee and a brand new pack of cigarettes next to you, there is no rush in finishing it? Well to me that's quality time for me, if i`m lucky my girlfriend is not home either!

I start off with my commander and begin collecting resources.
Now one of the many beauty's of this game is resource handling. You have Energy and mass, Energy is by far the easiest resource you have but also the most critical, you defenses rely on it and you can easily go out out. it is measured by "income per second" and your capacity is about 5k. now this can expand if you build storage facilities for it but it is not your most concern in the start of the game. when you build your base and units it will consume mass and energy per second, so the key to success is to have a balance between the two. if you go on on minus you will build slower because you simple cannot sustain the amount of resources required, so when you multibuild you will see significant changes and easily run out in the start. Mass is harder to get since you need to find mass nodes around the map and build extractors on them. you usually start off with 4-6 close by your base and the rest is scattered through the map, However if you use the 20min no rush option you are limited to a small area around your starting location.

As minutes pass i should have enough mass and energy production to start working on defences. This part comes in many ways such as ground,naval, and air defenses, you build turrets, cannons, shields, anti missiles(yes anti nukes too!)
As soon as my base is pretty much covered in shields and turrets are placed the game it about to begin, in other words: 20 minutes have passed and the map is open for ground control.

Get your shields up!

Now maybe since i only play RTS with friends or ai`s on hard mode i prefer building up a solid base with heavy defenses and slowly building up my army of doom and destruction for the ultimate showdown. This is one of the main reasons i enjoy this game so much,why? because here you can! to put it simple. unit cap is massive, and this game is meant for you to build hundreds of units and attack with all of them, or massive "experimental" units that would be overpowered in other games, and yes you can build hundreds of them too, as long as you have the resources(and time) to do so.

Independence Day

This game is not the typical rock paper and scissor game, if you want to go full out with air attacks; you can. prefer heavy siege tanks or giant destroyer boats? Yes we can! that's right Obama, you can even destroy your foe from your own base with the massive range withÂ your expensive artillery arsenal. keep in mind that everything has a price and unless you have at least 15 heavy power stations and at least 6 mass nodes with extractors along with some mass producers you are in for smoking many cigarettes before they are done.Â Nifty thing about that again is that literally everything has a counter to everything, if you have too much mass produced you can always build engineers or support commander to assist building, which means you build faster again but at the cost of more resources, and its endless almost. Imagine yourself able to build 20 bombers every 10 second or build a experimental unit in 5 sec, that's right and it gives a lot more satisfaction than building the good old mammoth tank fast as hell. (if you want to experience the AI building in the same scale i suggest getting a mod for it, i will post some excellent mod links in the end of the article)

Experimental bomber on the loose

You can que up everything from move order to build order by holding shift key down.
Make build templates that will be stored.

Examples: Sending planes to go around the base before attacking the target, then shift click to go back to base after they have attacked.

Build up symmetrically power stations with power storage around them for benefits, save it as a template and reuse it.

Build a mass extractor with defenses around it and shield, make template, use the template on a mass node,shift click and que up for another node.

Queing it up!

So what are the "not so good" experiences then?

First off: see my system specs? well i use high quality setting with no anti aliasing which is fine but once the map passes around 600-700 units i experience some fps loss, and that can be from 40fps to about 10fps.
There are still some bugs that can crash the software, but nothing compared to the original Supcom.

Examples are: unit not responding to your commands, patrols are not obeyed.

Can be a real memory hog.

As much as i like the style of the game all you really do is command robots that make beepy sounds. I miss the human touch and the feeling of caring for units.
I cant play the game without the mods i use.
You need a lot of training to get maximum efficiency out of your resources in the start of each game.

Mods:

Sorian AI
http://supremecommander.filefront.com/file/Sorian_AI;93191

This is a way better AI than the original. if you play it on AIx he will send multiple nukes on you. (i`ve experienced 23 once)
It can come with an airforce of hundreds or multible experimental units at you.
It will build much more heavier defenses.

Build template rotator
http://supremecommander.filefront.com/file/Build_Template_Rotator_UI;85046
Explains it self?

TotalVeterancy
http://supremecommander.filefront.com/file/TotalVeterancy;90844
Now this is one of those mods i cant live without, you units will gain veterancy/levels as the produce power, kill target, absorb damage etc.

Airborne engineers
http://supremecommander.filefront.com/file/Airborne_Engineers;77238
Yes this is something i really missed from the good old total Annihilation

Get a look at these mods if you plan on playing again, it will surely be more fun then. Airborne engineers could be a bit overpowered since the Ai will never use it but other than that i believe there is pretty good balance to it.

If you have any questions fire at will!

Yours...
Jannic

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