Our latest interview is with Brainsteel_Inc. Brainsteel is a Forged Alliance player famous for his exceptional knowledge of all aspects of the game. Although he is not heavily active in the ranked ladder, he is well known as a great player with creative play.
GR: What is your name/age/location? Brainsteel_Inc: Hello, my name is not Horst Katzmeier and I'm from Germany.
What is your job in real life? Or whats your dream job, if you are a student by now? I'm studying Economics, Management and Business. I also work as a consultant for start-ups; allocating ressources of the EU-structurefunds is quite an important and profitable business after all.
What is the meaning of life? A clear mind. Achieving wisdom. To help people that fell into the depths of hedonism/nihilism. To save the world. To counterveil cultural assimilation in general. Ah, not to forget it; family.
If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be? The human race population growth to be negative.
When did you start playing? I started playing Supcom on the 14.04.2007. Games in general[chess] when i was ~4 years old and video games in general when i was ~10 years old.
Where did you first hear about the game? "The game"=Supcom, i guess. I first heard about it in a flyer of a game selling online-shop in October 2006.
How were your first experiences? Hey, you do not expect me to talk about indiscreet things in this interview, do you? FFS!
Did you have a Supcom/FA-teacher or did you learn it by yourself? The first thing I did after I had Supcom installed was to check the replay vault and click top 10 players --> before I even played a single game, I watched Unconquerable play on Winter Duel. After that it was just playing, watching replays, discussing things in the forums and checking the database.
Have you won any money from professional tournaments? Yeah, i've won quite some money with chess, however, Supcom has only earned me ~35€.
On average how much do you practice? Waaaaaaay too much. I guess i was[!] really addicted to Supcom/FA for quite some time. Right now, I've uninstalled FA, because uni exams need my attention.
What is your favourite faction and why? I've been a UEF player from the beginning, simply because they got Tanks and look awesome. Also, I liked them being totally gimped in the original Supcom [that was the common consensus back then], since I like to win with a "weak" army. I just wishd they wouln't have made Strikers so damn boring in FA. Supcom Strikers with splash, low cost, low buildtime were just so much more awesome. In FA, walls were so massively nerfed, in Supcom, Striker+ Walls was quite good.(Of course, this refers to the time before fast T2 became the one and only viable strategy)
What is your favourite Experimental Unit and why? I do not really like experimental units in FA, since they make T2 and T3 obsolete. I guess i like the Novak most. Since it is weak but will annoy your enemy to death. Nothing is better than ctrl+k'ing 2 Novak into a Paragon, that has just been finished 1 second earlier.[Ask Zock for the lulz]
Do you have any special strategy or tactic you like most? My favorite strategy is a Theta build order for UEF that goes like this:
ACU: pgen, mex, fac1, fac2, reclaim rock field near the base and rock field in mid, then walk into enemy territory.
Fac1: 1 engineer, 1 Scout, 10 Striker, repeat.
Engineer: builds mex, pgen, mex, hydro, mex, factory3
Fac2: assists Fac1 and builds one more engineer that assists Engineer1
Fac3: T2 tech with some more engineers from Fac2
Even though this strategy really fails against any early air[especially Ghetto] strategy, it allows to counter the common t1 spam strategies[that were introduced by mephy/matiz] with some massive Striker micro, uses all UEF advantages, maximises resource usage[zero M and E in storage] and is just something different than the common 3 t1 factory start. In general, you get more units more early, but less units a bit later, so you got to use all your Strikers to full extent, and the loss of even a few will cost you the game. Lovely strat and good fun.
Which is your favourite map? Why? Theta Passage. Because it is just an awesome map with good, constant fighting, not too much eco boringness, not too much reclaim, but nicely placed rocks, decent mex layout, chokepoints, .... <3
Which map do you dislike most and why? Daroza. Guess why.
How do you know when to transit from T1 to T2? I just go to T2 when I feel like going to t2? Weird question. Also, I usually tend to upgrade to T2 instead of winning in T1. If I gain an advantage, i usually do not use it to push my t1 units into the ACU to give him veterancy and wreckage! Also, one of the things you almost always want to do as UEF is to get t2 suite+gun upgrade. Especially against Aeon, this is the way to go.
What advice would you give new players to get good in this game? Do not play Thermopyfail. Just play 1v1 on 2 player maps until you've understood how the t1 eco works (ratio of factories to mexes/reclaim) and you can finally have some fun telling your tanks to shoot.
What is your most memorable match ever? Who was your opponent and what did happen? Ah, i think that would be the "Most hilarious game ever" that can be found in the gamereplays.org replay section --> i don't want to give away too much in case you'd like to watch it, but i lost my base like 10 times but never gave up.
click here for the replayIf you could change the game in one way, what would it be? I'd decrease the exponential factor of the game. Especially by reducing the need to eco up. Probably by removing T3 mexes.
Do you use hotkeys often in the game, if so which ones and when? Yup, it's like playing Piano xD. Buildmode to utilize the pregate build bug; a to attack, s to stop.... ^ as a "general unit toggle", and quite some more custom hotkeys, like one for SCU upgrades, one for ren_networkstats, one for "force lifebars on enemy".....
Do you use any UI mods? If yes, which, and why? I'm using:
-Advanced groups for bomber and and engineer controll
-Hotstats, i'Ve stopped using it though, becasue it does not really work with the gamecolors mod
-Gamecolors, so i can differ between tanks and arty if my enemy is black/dark
-GUI for hotkeys and some buildmenu improvements
-Eject mod to have a weapon against ignorant laggers, even though i've almost never used it, and as people get better comps, there are not that many laggers anymore.
-Menu delay remove mod, becasue it really annoyed me, how much the FA mainmenu lagged
-I've tried some economy management mods, but I found that doing the eco things myself is more efficient
Do you use the minimap? No.
What do you like and dislike most about the SupCom:FA community? The self-proclaimed "proness". Most of those elitists are just mediocre gaming nerds.
What would you wish to change in this community for the future? More People. Regular money tournies for the mediocre gameing nerds. So maybe some real pros come and **** them in their ****.
What would you say about the work Chris Taylor and GPG have done? Really awesome work. Stopping at 95% quite sucks though. I think the communication with the community is really weird though. I wonder if there sits some business man in the GPG headquarters that established those rules while actually thinking that it might be better for the $$$. Just weird.
Who do you think the strongest player in the game is (other than yourself)? That really depends on the gamesetting. In 1v1 on 5x5 maps, Sir_Loui and Mephy are probably the strongest players. Im 1v1 on 10x10 maps, Zock is probably the strongest player. On anyhting larger than that, SC-Account(better known as Ralovio) is probably the strongest player. Simply because, (overtrumped only by me xD), he knows most about the game mechanics and especially the economy.
Is there any player you would like to see return to FA? Why? Unconquerable, simply to bash the guy whose replay were my first contact with Supcom. Also, I'd like to see TLO and TBO more again, since I really like their BO input. Most people are just too lazy to create their own unique BOs.
Is there anything you would interrupt an intense ranked game vs a good opponent for, even if you lose 20 rating points? Pretty much anything. I do not really care about ranked. "Life>Gaming" anytime.
What other games are you playing at the moment? If any, why? Why do I play other games. Now that is another weird question. I guess because I like to see the creative output of gamemakers and am interested in good gameplay....
At the moment, i am playing some RPGmaker games that are quite wonderful.
http://www.rpg-atelier.net/ (This is a german page; it holds lots of english games though)
