Supreme commander strategies5/29/2023 ![]() Like TA Maps, Supreme Commander maps tend to be large and geographically diverse. ![]() The Supreme Commander Defense Build: First Steps.īuilding a defense oriented base that can survive waves of enemy units takes planning and a certain element of guile. ![]() Supreme Commander tactics that rely on defensive units must be well thought out and geographically oriented - building a defensive fortress is a resource and time intensive process that befits more cerebral players, and makes Supreme Commander an extremely rewarding title for gamers who like long, drawn out matches. The inclusion of static and mobile shield emitters, mid ranged tactical artillery and missiles, and an assortment of traditional towers armed with anti air, anti ship, or anti land weapons make Supreme Commander defensive tactics not only viable but even dominant on many maps. The units included in the game support defensive strategies far more than in most contemporary games - unlike Warcraft III where each side pretty much has one basic defensive structure, Supreme Commander boasts several at each tech tier. The ability of a player in Supreme Commander to pursue a strategy of building a self contained economy in a small region, usually done on the way to teching up and building experimental units, nuclear weapons, or long range artillery, means that defensive tactics uncommon in modern RTS titles are plentiful on most maps. Supreme Commander Tactics: Defensive Options The ability to choose from several paths means that the various unit combinations that can be formed and technologically demanding weapons that come available at higher tech tiers in turn result in a proliferation of tactical options. ![]() Players are not immediately drawn into conflict, and can plan out their desired strategic path. While expansion can be advantageous, a well planned economy can be entirely self sufficient within a small section of the map. Resources are infinite, their rate of extraction the only economic advantage one player can maintain over another. Supreme Commander tactics are far more refined. Tactics become similarly restricted, chosen almost entirely by which units the player has managed to pump out by the time resources run tight and which will counter the opponent’s unit choice. Strategy on a resource restricted map becomes one dimensional: get resources and build units to get more resources and build yet more units. Evidence of this can be seen in the resource battles that define many RTS titles like the Starcraft or Command and Conquer series - once all the resource expansion points have been taken and exploited the game comes down to which player can outnumber or out-micromanage the others. RTS games that have strict unit caps and aim for battles that last half an hour to an hour are meant to force two sides to engage one another early and often. While it may seem counter-intuitive, a strategic focus actually opens up a wider variety of tactical options than might have been otherwise possible. The focus on strategic options actually serves as a driver for Supreme Commander tactics innovation. Strategy and Tactics - Supreme Commander Synergy Nuclear weapons, long range artillery, and experimental units that seem to have grown out of the Core Contingency era Krogoth Kbot mean that long games in Supreme Commander take planning and creativity in order to prevail. While micromanaging small unit formations is entirely possible, Supreme Commander focuses on offering players numerous paths to victory. Tactics are all the rage in most real time strategy games, but TA and Supreme Commander both focus heavily on the strategic side of combat. While hardcore TA gamers did feel slighted by the lack of a direct link to the ARM and CORE of yore, all in all Total Annihilation has a worthy successor in Supreme Commander. As the spiritual successor to the groundbreaking Total Annihilation real time strategy title of the late 1990’s, Supreme Commander was expected to be big in every sense: big maps, big units, big campaigns.
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