Supreme Commander Preview
February 5,2007 - Let’s get this out of the way: for all intents and purposes, Supreme Commander is the spiritual successor to Total Annihilation. It’s just not its successor in name, since Atari actually owns the rights to what many credit as Chris Taylor’s finest effort. TA came out a full ten years ago and is still supported by an active community – most notably, fans are enjoying a slew of homebrew mods, taking TA in a direction that Cavedog, which unfortunately went out of business after the release of Total Annihilation: Kingdoms, never could. Some even went so far as to create complete conversions, building graphics engines from the ground-up and throwing the entire world into three dimensions.

However, with the impending release of Supreme Commander, fans of TA might have something else to focus on for a good, long while. Not just because Taylor is striving to make the game as modifiable as the original. With Supreme Commander, the founder of Gas Powered Games is giving fans what they’ve always wanted – a bigger, better, more refined version of the game that they love, with outrageous units, big explosions, and epic battles.

Taylor’s vision of the ultimate real-time strategy game is what Supreme Commander is really all about. While it’s clear that his ideas have evolved since the early days, there are a number of similarities between TA and his latest product. Both games dish out war of the robotic variety; as far as we can tell, humans never directly engage in combat. Both revolve around the Armored Command Unit (ACU) that can single-handedly build the facilities necessary to wage war on a planetary surface. Both have a similar, inexhaustible resource system. Both let you build killer long-range artillery cannons with which to terrorize your foes from miles away. The soundtrack for both is composed by Jeremy Soule, who has since made a name for himself with compelling orchestral arrangements that defined Knights of the Old Republic, Guild Wars, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Yet while comparing TA to Supreme Commander and witnessing the latter in action, one word immediately comes to mind: magnitude.

This game lets you control an astonishing 500 units – even more if you desire (and have the computing horsepower). You’re also able to zoom out farther than we’ve ever seen in a real-time strategy title, at which point most units are represented by small icons. Taylor really wants to capture that “theater of war” feel, where the player can order massive clumps of troops to attack from different directions simultaneously. To that effect, you can actually set estimated times of arrival for each, coordinating multiple strikes within a short period. There are even transports that automatically ferry vehicles and infantry bots between two locations – a must, since most maps span hundreds of square miles in length.

At times, the entire interface seems geared towards the effective automation of tasks that most RTS games let the player struggle with. Repeatable build orders are in, meaning that your factory can be assigned to produce a never-ending stream of tanks, fighter jets, and infantry bots in any combination. On-the-fly waypoints play a huge role in directing your forces on the battlefield, and these can be customized at any time by clicking and dragging them around the map, which you can view at any level of magnification you wish. And we do mean any. Pan all the way out and get giddy – you’re playing with hundreds of sharp toys in a decidedly explosive sandbox. 

Automation is key in Supreme Commander, because like all else, Taylor is taking base building to another level. While it remains to be seen how players will react to the extensive construction options presented (especially after contemporary RTS titles like Company of Heroes emphasized unit tactics and abilities over base micromanaging) we expect most will ease back into the groove fairly quickly. TA veterans will find the controls extremely familiar – you can still shift-click and queue construction commands (as well as build and attack orders). The same goes for the engineering units, which can build structures independent of your ACU. Also, you can direct multiple engineering units to build the same structure, expending more resources but speeding up production time considerably. You can order them to patrol a given area, automatically salvaging mass scraps and repairing units as necessary. Again, ideas taken from TA, but ones that we haven’t seen implemented in quite the same way since. Actually, after all these years, Total Annihilation still does this stuff better than most real-time strategy games on the market, and we’re glad to see a similar level of control make a return.

Achieving victory in Supreme Commander relies heavily upon building an economic infrastructure. There are two resources (mass and energy), and the first thing you’ll want to do upon hitting the field is instruct your ACU to build mass extractors and power generators. You’ll likely want to scout the map early on, identifying locations where mass extractors can be built and figuring out where the enemy is hiding. With a simple recon craft, you can shift-click on various locations, sending it on a sweep patrol of sorts. As the recon unit uncovers the terrain, the notorious “fog of war” will creep over it again in time, but the intelligence gathered is critical. The game includes land, air, and sea-based units, and if you get caught building a force that your opponent can easily counter, you’ll be left quite defenseless – except, of course, for your ACU, which possesses a powerful arm-cannon capable of shredding units with one hit (at a massive cost to your energy reserves, no less). But it’s unlikely you’ll ever want to put the Commander in danger, because without him, your base construction ability becomes severely hampered. Plus, certain multiplayer variants declare winner to the side that wipes out the other’s ACU, so it’s best to keep it out of harm’s way in most instances.

Given the sheer numbers your opponents may throw at you, you’ll be glad to keep your ACU tucked inside your base. Every single unit in Supreme Commander is mechanical in nature, and there’s no shortage of them either. Expect around 30 different units per side, split among naval, air, land, and amphibious categories. Each of the game’s three factions can also construct “experimental units” – huge, lumbering battle stations that can easily obliterate dozens of lesser bots but come at an outrageous resource cost. The “Fatboy,” an example of one of these monstrosities, is best described as a massive, treaded battle tank. This weapon of war boasts multiple gun turrets, a slew of heavy cannon batteries, and the ability to produce its own army. By all means, expect the outrageous.

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