I'm in the closed beta

Absolutely amazing game, it's pretty much an unofficial sequel to Total Annihilation. I got to chat it up with Chris Taylor (Dungeon Siege I & II, Total Annihilation) a bit Great gameplay, nothing like rushing people with 200 tanks.




This is the "Fatboy", a mobile factory

These screenshots taken off a game I played vs Agent911 (legendary StarCraft player, now works at Gas Powered Games).

10/30/2006 6:09:13 AM

Awesome looking game, been looking forward to it for a long time.

Did you get in with the Fileplanet subscription? I've been thinking of subscribing just so I can get into the beta.

10/30/2006 9:55:06 AM

nice pics!

what do you like most about it so far? Things that stand out?

I've been dying for this to release... can't wait.

10/30/2006 10:11:18 AM

Yeah, I was one of the few (~1500) that got a key into closed beta. It plays exactly like Total Annihilation with a lot of improvements and bells and whistles. If you subscribe to fileplanet now, you just get to sign up for the beta, doesn't mean you'll get into the closed beta. The big experimental units is what does it for me.

10/30/2006 10:56:39 AM

How hard is to to divide your attention in the game?

Does it ever get overwhelming where there is just to much going on everywhere?

10/30/2006 1:06:28 PM

I just saw this on EvilAvatar this week and kinda got a little excited in my pants.

I love the fucking blackened craters of old bots sitting on the battlefield. That is so hot. I'll definitely be upgrading my PC to run this bitch.

10/30/2006 1:11:53 PM

^^ You definitely have to be a multi-tasker to do well. Right now I'm ranked #1 in the beta, so I get to talk to the devs a lot and even play with them

I just did an interview with gamereplays.org yesterday cause of my ranking.

The experimental units are just sick, the fatboy in the screenshot has an energy shield and it just looks amazing whe you see hundreds of shells get absorbed by the shield when playing. My favorite experimental unit would have to be the "Monkey Lord" which is a giant spiderbot with a huge laser turret that just cuts through enemy units.

Yes all the destroyed units leave a wreckage on the battlefield, that screenshot on the first post was my base (view from behind the walls) -- and you can see all the wreckage of enemy tanks that got blown up trying to get into my base.

[Edited on October 30, 2006 at 1:27 PM. Reason : .]

10/30/2006 1:25:04 PM

innnnteresting veeeerrry innnnteresting

10/30/2006 1:33:10 PM

I had a bet with Chris Taylor that he couldnt work "Cum dumpster" into his speech at the GDC a few years ago.

I won.

10/30/2006 3:01:42 PM

ahahahahah

This game looks very interesting, and I will buy it most likley.
What kind of cpu are you running and how many units does it take to bog it down?

10/30/2006 3:09:14 PM

2.2 AMD64, 9800 XT, 1gb RAM. Runs decent at medium/low setting. You will need a pretty good machine when it's a 4v4 and there are 2000 units on the screen.

10/30/2006 3:14:42 PM

holy....shit.....

What are the build rates of that many units.

aka how long does it take to buil 1 unit(say a small tank) and how many can you que up???

10/30/2006 3:25:35 PM

Tech 1 units (cheap spammable tanks) takes 13 seconds to build each. So use like 10 factories and you'll get almost 50 units per minute.

Um you can queue up like 500 units per factory if you want.

Shift click = queue up 5 units
Ctrl click = queue up 50
Ctrl-shift click = queue up 100

My favorite part is how they keep RTS simple and fun. There is only one camera angle (makes communication easier imo, "South" is very obvious to everyone).

Seamless zoom, just mouse scroll your wheel from a unit all the way up to global map view where each unit is represented by an icon at that point.

Queues for units, I can tell a unit to go to point A, then to point B, then attack point C, not only it'll queue all those commands up, it gives me right then and there when I'm deciding an ETA completion for each of the commands.

Air Transports have a "Ferry" feature, means you can set a destination and the air transports will ferry from point A to point B then come back to point A to pick up more units automatically!

[Edited on October 30, 2006 at 3:31 PM. Reason : .]

[Edited on October 30, 2006 at 3:33 PM. Reason : .]

10/30/2006 3:27:57 PM

I have been watching this for awhile but it kinda got lost at the start of school.
I will definately be trying to get an upgrade to my comp before it comes out in early 2007(i think hadn't checked in awhile)
O and my question is how are the nukes? Recently i have not liked any RTS with nukes.

[Edited on October 30, 2006 at 4:45 PM. Reason : question]

10/30/2006 4:36:35 PM

how long are the average games?

10/30/2006 6:34:58 PM

Nukes are very balanced imo. There are two types of nukes, tactical and strategic. Tactical are kind of more like a defensive artillery shell, small explosion.

Strategic nukes are long range and its explosion pretty much kills anything. Nuclear launcher takes a LONG LONG LONG LONG LONG time to build. Anti-Nuke defense takes relatively short-time to build. Most time people can get a nuke in only because somehow they went in there and killed the anti-nuke defense before nuking.

10/30/2006 8:57:13 PM

So basically,

there is a north korea nuke, and a amerca nuke

[Edited on October 30, 2006 at 9:12 PM. Reason : dfs]

10/30/2006 9:11:51 PM

No... more like a cruise missile and American nuke. Tactical nukes have very little AOE effect, best way to use them is against expensive experimental units (like the Monkeylord) that are slowly encroaching upon your base. Have like 2-3 tactical nukes fire at it.

On and that nuke screenshot ^^^ up there. I don't know how to take screenshots like that, a nuke goes off, my screen flashes white from the blast.

10/30/2006 11:10:00 PM

More info please!

Which races are in beta and which is your favorite.

Similar to TA, are the basic units for each race pretty much the same? Does that suck?

Does artillery and base defense play a similar role to TA...i.e very important? Or does this game go the way of more modern RTS and encourage rapid expansion as the only playstyle. Can you turtle and win?

And anything else you can tell us....

10/31/2006 10:29:04 AM

to turtle and win would be nice. I like that

10/31/2006 10:44:30 AM

I wanna know how the maps are... do they seem small? is it easy to lose track of stuff?

Is it easy to move those massive armies around or does it take a PhD in unit management to pull off successful strategies?

10/31/2006 10:45:25 AM

is this the game with the big collosus with the laser eye?

10/31/2006 11:13:19 AM

Rapid expansion is much more viable if you wanna win. If you turtle you give the enemy the control of the map (and thus more resources and leading him out teching you).

3 Factions,

UEF (United Earth Federation - i think) - units use projectile weapons. Very StarCraft terran looking.

Aeon - This faction uses alien technology, units are sleek, they have plasma weapon systems. Units move by hovering (tanks can glide over water - very convinient).

Cybran - my favorite race, it's a race of cyborgs. Units are spider like, uses laser weapons. Yes the Colossus (aka Sacred Assault Bot) has a big laser eye.

One cool feature is that you can rename your units (yes your enemies can see it). So yes you can build a big experimental Fatboy and name it "Pwnmobile" if that floats your boat.

Maps are big, very big. And no, it's easy to find your units, you can just mouse scroll zoom all the way out. Units are represented by shapes (triangle for air units, squares for buildings, etcs). Oh and this is new over TA, you can UPGRADE your commander (personal shields, personal teleporter, upgrade engineering module).

[Edited on October 31, 2006 at 11:43 AM. Reason : .]

10/31/2006 11:37:18 AM

Are the units well off to fight on there own and still do decent damage without you micromanaging what they attack?

10/31/2006 11:47:20 AM

Yeah, how well designed is the AI? Both your opponent and your own units?

10/31/2006 11:55:42 AM

AI is decent enough for the game. You do have to micro in battles sometimes - other times you just have soo many units and you just order them to all move into enemy base and just sit back and watch it play out.

10/31/2006 12:00:37 PM

How's the pathfinding. Sometimes in games with a ton of units on screen, its almost impossible to get them all to move in a group, espesially through a narrow pass or something (Dawn of War is almost a nightmare with Imperial Guard).

10/31/2006 12:29:48 PM

man, i gave up my chance to be in the closed beta i didnt' think anything of it.

10/31/2006 12:57:55 PM

fuck yes, just got my invite

10/31/2006 1:01:37 PM

Tell us how? Fileplanet?

10/31/2006 2:12:13 PM

yeah, Fileplanet. It wasn't instant though, I had to wait a few days until more keys were released.

10/31/2006 3:09:07 PM

I downloaded this (no key) and played some skirmishes. Great fun, but I suck at it.


Aeon is terrible. The units have low hitpoints, they don't have as good weapons, and their experimental units are the suck.

[Edited on November 3, 2006 at 6:03 PM. Reason : ]

11/3/2006 6:03:10 PM

Where'd you download? From your Fileplanet account or pirate?

11/4/2006 11:06:19 AM

Pirate.

Demonoid.com

I'm not paying for fileplanet

11/4/2006 9:25:03 PM

yah.. i'm grabbing a pirate copy

11/6/2006 12:39:49 PM

got the update to 2.7 and the crack and it still won't let me play in skirmish mode... grr..

11/7/2006 12:27:11 PM

Same here. I can play in sandbox mode but not the AI.

Can anyone link the AI crack for 2.7 for us?

11/7/2006 2:09:25 PM

I'm kind of new to this, is this like a newer version of Tiberian Sun/Red Alert?

11/7/2006 3:35:03 PM

Ummm, no. More like a newer version of Total Annihilation.

11/7/2006 3:47:24 PM

Is Total Annihilation anything like those games?

11/7/2006 4:08:36 PM

nice

yea I havent played total annilation either?

11/7/2006 4:18:38 PM

GOD DAMN DOUBLE POST

I wish I could play this game

[Edited on November 7, 2006 at 4:20 PM. Reason : ]

11/7/2006 4:19:42 PM

bttt anything new Zhisheng?

11/30/2006 11:00:46 AM

Demo is out! Game releases in a few weeks. I suggest you try the demo if you have a slight interest. There has been a lot of raves about this game from game critics and magazines.

Absolutely stunning graphics. Supports dual monitors. Zooms all the way out to icon level (units are so small that they are represented by icons). This is the next-gen of RTS gaming.

So far the new C&C just looks like a graphical update to me. To me it just doesn't compare, no dual-monitor support. It sticks to the old C&C formula that's just out-dated imo.

2/7/2007 12:42:22 AM

Do the Aeon still suck balls?

2/7/2007 1:51:32 PM

i've never even heard about this.

that shit looks incredible

2/7/2007 1:57:18 PM

anyone played this with the DX10 features enabled? i'm trying to decide if its worth it to get Vista and a new video card.

2/7/2007 2:23:09 PM

Quote :

"Do the Aeon still suck balls?"

Their Tier 1 Aurora tanks have been improved and have very good range compared to the counterparts on Cybran and UEF which have about short-medium range. Traditionally the weakness in Aeon T1 units was the biggest weakness for Aeons, now it's much more balanced out and they might edge out a little vs Cybran in T1 units.

2/7/2007 2:44:16 PM

A T.A sequel!!!!

This thread should have a constant bump in place.

Zhi, what are the reqs for that puppy

2/7/2007 2:51:08 PM

Requirements are pretty heavy, I'm not sure on the exact system reqs. If you're thinking about upgrading, might wait for NVIDIA and AMD(ATI) to come out with their DX10 cards in a short time - should force a price drop on the current DX9 cards. Oh, dual monitor support kicks ass btw.

Go to http://supremecommander.com/

The really cool thing is the devs are just huge fan of DOTA (they play during lunchtime) so they really built this game engine with the mod community in mind. All the data file can be opened with WinRar, the unit AI are coded in LUA - mostly done by John Comes, their lead engineer (the AI scripts follow format similar to JavaDoc).

I talked to the company president once in a while, hopefully I get an internship over there (crossing my fingers).

When I was ranked #1, I kind of hit my opponents with different strategies rather than overwhelm them with one strategy. The gameplay is just so flexible in that respect that wild ideas are sometimes practical!!

For example...
Can't push 1000 tanks through enemy's door?
You can:
1. Lay siege, sit outside and have engineers build fixed artillery and pound their defenses.

2. Diversion, drop units behind their defense @ their weakest spot, that should force them to divert defensive force to respond, thus weakening their frontline.

3. Locate and assassinate their commander - kamakazi tactics

4. Build giant spiderbots with freaking lasers attached to their heads walk right through their D.

[Edited on February 7, 2007 at 3:07 PM. Reason : .]

2/7/2007 2:59:44 PM