Supreme Commander

After the magazine coverage and a cinematic trailer Chris Taylor has now shown an early playable version Supreme Commander 2 at E3 2009 in a presentation lasting 12 minutes.

You can find this video on Gamespot but IGN has a six minute video where in the beginning the unit cannon is more clearly on display (you definitely want to see how units pop out of those unit cannon shots).

Online E3 previews of SupCom 2 containing more details are also found on IGN and on Gamespot.

The game is just nine months into development so bear in mind it's all a work in progress (even though GPG targets a release of (early) 2010). Some of the big changes are explained, like the upgrade system, the more intricate maps but many questions still remain about how much exactly the economy has been trimmed down for example.

Here is a list of some major stuff that's been revealed now, keep in mind some of this might change before release:

- Three factions: UEF, Cybran and the Illuminate (which are a splinter faction of the Aeon in the previous games).
- Economy system is revamped, no more stalling it seems, you can only start producing a unit when you enough resources for it.
- Faster unit build times overall.
- Weapon shots are still calculated by a physics simulation so they can miss à la TA/SupCom.
- Strategic Zoom is being remade to make it feel more natural, still a work-in-progress which is why it hasn't been shown yet.
- Same visual quality as Demigod, much more detailed maps (with huge depths in which airplanes can crash) and a more distinct art style for each faction
- There are still going to be huge maps and hundreds of units running around on them
- New upgrade system, five different paths/tech tree subsets namely Land, Air, Naval, Structures and Commander. It's meant to make early units more viable later on.
- Upgrades are also shown visually on the units themselves (like extra or longer cannon barrels, small anti-air turrets on tanks such) and are funded by resources.
- Experience can be used somehow for upgrades/improved veterancy as well, giving attacking players just as much tools as turtle players.
- SupCom 2 will have almost 25 experimentals, divided into mini-experimentals and major experimentals.
- Revealed experimentals: UEF Fatboy II, UEF Unit Cannon (major), UEF AC1-1000 Gunship (mini), Cybran Zilla (major), Cybran Megalith, Illuminate Ear Canal (mini), Illuminate Universal Colossus, ...
- There should be between 25-30 multiplayer/skirmish maps available at launch.
- Naval combat is still present, it's just not shown on E3.
- ACU can be upgraded with jumpjets, escape pod, torpedoes, core dump option, artillery, etcetera.
- GPG has implemented a new rendering engine and illumination model for this game
- New pathfinding engine sounds like it's gonna be revolutionary, and lower the system requirements considerably, SupCom 2 should be playable on PCs of three years old and make better use of multicore CPUs.
- AI will make use of a "neural net", an evolving database which lets AI adjust to the player's actions on the go.

Small update: the official site of SupCom 2 has just been launched as well. You can find screenshots of the map shown in the video presentation there while the cool trailer music plays on the background.

2nd small update: a new interview with Chris Taylor from Button Masher reveals more goodies.

This post has been edited by Togra: Jun 5 2009, 06:48 AM

Sounds fantastic!

Must have game when I get a new PC. I LOVE that platform, I hope a lot of maps are futuristic like that and not just green meadows or desert like in FA & Co.

Upgrades sound sweet, removal of that terrible in my opinio), overly complicated resource system sounds great as well. Faster unit production is great too, nothing like having to wait 15 mins for an expermental.

Also, the graphics and stuff look awesome! Another must-have game after Mass effect 2, SC2, Diablo 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Doesn't sound like a player that is new to the series can just pick it up.

Nor will a total newbie be able to pick up starcraft 2 and be uber. However if they rework the econ well enough a newb should be able to get a bunch of units out and star having fun.

I'm wondering how that AI programing is going to work.

And I'm wondering how they reworked the economy. CT just said they "fixed"/streamlined/simplified(?) it but nothing else.

I think the changes they've made are rather good ones TBH. ;]

Although I think they should make some of the units they've showcased less all-around.

It sounds like they removed the "money over time" system and replaced it with a conventional paying method that can be found in AoE 3, RA3, SC2 and so on.

A wise choice imo. The game was kinda ruined for me because of the economy. I kidna never got the hang on it and thus never really got to build any large armies.

So, better pathfinding, less system requirements, better eco system, upgrades, cool maps and nice graphics = must buy.

Meh, the economy in supcom was not complicated in anyway imo, just gotta make sure you dont throw any resources to waste or get in low power.

Anyways i really like what ive seen. Finally unit upgrades in supcom . Only thing im worried about so far is the maps. I hope they are not too fancy and demanding in visuals, because that would only create lag in online play.

RA3 uses a money over time system.

To me, this just looks like they're trying to get around the fact that popular magazines and the like slammed Supcom 1 for being too complicated. Which it wasn't. None too enthused about this.

http://e3.gamespot.com/video/6211256/ same demo, but more info and longer movie (11 min)

looks better than i had imagined from reading the article but i hope there's still extensive base building in it and im not sure about those maps. how did they manage to put navy in there? hopefully not every map is like tht.

ARRRRRRRRRRRGH!

Please, please say it isn't true. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The whole "just in time" production system is what made Supcom (and TA) so fluid and immensely playable. Don't turn it into a totally sucky "pay in advance" system, nooo -.-


EDIT: Doesn't seem that's what they did, Togra. I hope what they did is massively increase build speed on Factories, and tweak it so that if your Economy is stalling, resources are alotted with certain priorities to certain projects.

EDIT2: Having seen the entire video now, I think the game will be awesome, if they don't screw up the economy It appears that a lot of awesome things from Demigod made it into Supcom 2!

This post has been edited by Thygrrr: Jun 14 2009, 11:32 AM

I am pretty excited about this game as well though there is a lot of stuff we have yet to find out. That new eco system could be worse in many ways compared to the old one but they're still doing all kinds of tests with it according to Eric on the official forum. More intel here atm.

According to the article in PC gamer they are in fact removing current eco system. "You shouldn't need a master's degree in economics to be a robot killing general, so 'dumbing down' the economy system isn't such a dumb idea" is the quote they kept throwing out. They said it will be replaced with a purchase when you have all the funds available system. I understand why they are changing the eco system in SupCom 2, but I don't like it. I agree with some of the others that it wasn't overly complicated and it was what kept it fresh. Honestly I don't understand why they are keeping Mexes in the game. Why not just replace them with ore fields and Harvesters like every other game?

I obviously can't say for certain how it will turn out, but unless they make all the units cost like 10$ players wont get big armies out. I always thought some of the strategy of the game was whether or not you min maxed on factories (min factories max engies assisting) or went full on spam. I thought there was supposed to be a penalty for crashing your economy. Now they simply wont even let that happen. And I was always amazed by players that could keep their mass bars hovering above 0 but below full the whole game. That was special to me, something I could constantly progress towards. I even got pretty good at it eventually. It also teaches a semi-real life lesson to kids today of not spending more than they make. I know the whole you get X income to spend on Y things per second (Month) makes a hell of a lot more sense than, You want the car? Pony up $20,000 cash and I give it to ya games.

Another thing I don't like is the minor experimentals. CTaylor said in the article that he was disappointed with the fact that the experimental units "stole the show..." So how do the fix it??? By adding 20 more of course! Not only that but they say now they will come out in 10-15 minutes! So much for making those tanks last all game. Seems lame to me.

However I feel that the unit upgrades are a nice improvement. As long as they don't follow other recent games (DoW2) trends and give like 3 units but with 5-6 slightly different upgrades. I liked having a light bot, a combat bot, an arty piece, and 1-2 misc units per tier. I don't want it to turn into spam Blockheads and race to upgrades. I fear the game will simply turn into a memorization of build orders and lame experimental rushes. But I have high hopes that I will be wrong and SupCom 2 will be amazing. I'm 99% sure I'll buy it even if they completely ruin it somehow just because I love the series and its features like the strategic zoom.

some of the changes I got from the article:
-Now you have to have all the mass/energy upfront to purchase something
-You can only have 1 engineer building something (no more rushing TMLs/TMDs)
-Building times have been reduced to compensate
-Levels (SP at least) look kick butt
-Aeon visuals have become more "steampunk-ish" because it was hard to identify what their units were at a glance
-Minor experimental 10-15minutes into the game. Still dwarfed by Major experimentals
.........Fatboy Tank (minor UEF) loses landing pads, factory ability
.........AC-1000 Gunship (minor UEF) "Think AC 130 from Call of Duty" Circles and rains death from above
.........Megalith Walker (Minor Cybran) Amphibious spider walker, more legs/guns
.........Soul Ripper II (Minor Cybran) Still flys, doesn't look like a beetle
.........Urchiwnow (Minor Illuminate) Heavily armored snail with lots of (Forward firing?) guns
.........Darkenoid (Minor Illuminate) New Czar
.........King Kryptor (Major UEF) Massive assault bot. Really freaking powerful. Think Krogoth TA vets
.........Unit Cannon (MAjor UEF) shoots dudes from your factory to front lines
.........Cybranzilla (Major Cybran) Big dog that breaths fire
.........Universal Colossus (Major Illum) Galactic Colossus+
.........Pullensmash (Major Illum) spins up pulls and smashes enemy units together.

I suggest reading the article if you can get it as it goes into more detail.