New Supremem Commander Preview!

[Quixoticism]

The brand spanking new GameSpot has just put up a new preview for Supreme Commander. Some new information and a few new screenshots and these actually look 3D!

-Spreme Commander-

GS: There's going to be a focus on strategy in Supreme Commander, much more than what you'd expect in a typical real-time strategy game. Can you explain how that will work? For example, we know that there is a "global" view, and that you can also zoom down to the tactical level for battles.

CT: Indeed, large-scale strategy is definitely what we are injecting into the genre, and in a much bigger way than I believe has been done before. The size of the maps is the key to this. For example, you can't really have nuclear missile submarines that hide in an ocean if you don't have an ocean; lakes and little waterways that skirt the edge of the map don't really allow for this. In Supreme Commander, it's insane; you can have a group of destroyers on a search-and-destroy mission, or a battle group defending a strategic port or "preparing" a stretch of coast for an upcoming beach landing. It's important to be able to watch this sort of thing unfold at a strategic level, but when the shooting starts, you'll want to zoom in (as appropriate) to get a good sense of how the battle is shaping up, and then make tactical adjustments as you see fit.

Screenshot

IGN has a four page interview

IGNPC: So if these units are so big and you're planning on having so many of them on screen, how big are these maps exactly?

Chris Taylor: We actually had an interesting map balance conversation today about it and what's happening is that we find if you play the game on a smaller map, 512 by 512, you find that you kind of just turn a corner and boom, there's your opponent. So you're fighting a lot sooner with tanks and more traditional lower level tech units. Now if you get up to one of these big 2k by 2k maps, and we go up to 4k by 4k, because these maps are insanely large, you'll find that suddenly your nuclear submarines play a more important role as do your long range bombers so the game moves to the next level.

You're not going to want to just pump out a few tanks and just drive them over to the other guy's base if it's a big continent. It'll take so long, it's just not effective so you'll need to load them into a transport and fly them over even if it's all land. You'll need to get over there with a construction unit and build a quantum gate that allows you to push units through to the other side of the map. Your strategies definitely change. Different people will enjoy the different game experiences.

And Jeux Strategie has a personal interview with creator, Chris Taylor.

JS : Will the diversity of units be as impressive as in Total Annihilation?

CT – Absolutely, and with the addition of massive units which are many times larger, players will get to experience games where small units can run between the legs of massive “experimental” units. It’s really great to see the way the engine allows for a brand new experience.

JS : A question that many fans are asking on our forums: When will we have more information about the game, especially the first Supreme Commander's video?

CT – We’ll likely release something during E3 next spring, that’s the best bet!

This is one of my most highly anticipated games to be coming out next year. It looks like it will be absolutely amazing!

Edit: Added IGN and Jeux Strategie interviews; included quotes from the interviews.

 

[Reginald]

Sweet. As a self-confessed addict of RTS games and yet never having played TA, I think this could be something very special.

 

[DEATH eVADER]

From those screenshots, it was true about the objects from the first screenshots being placeholders

 

[IchI]

I read all 3 interviews. I like the way this guy thinks towards games. He definatly knows what it takes to make a good game. Hopfully he can pull it through. I have high expectations for this game. There are some weird screen shots in those. Some look amazing others look pritty dam dated. I don't mind what the graphics look like, but it weird to see such a transition. It really does make you think :O

 

[guchi]

I read all 3 interviews. I like the way this guy thinks towards games. He definatly knows what it takes to make a good game. Hopfully he can pull it through. I have high expectations for this game. There are some weird screen shots in those. Some look amazing others look pritty dam dated. I don't mind what the graphics look like, but it weird to see such a transition. It really does make you think :O

I agree with you on both things, but I think that the problem with the screenshots is that the game is made for playing in topdown view, so the different perspective ones look wierd.

 

[destrukt]

hot damn !

edit: well, i've read through 2 of them, and he lets loose alot of information, especially in the ign one .. he's not even trying to hide stuff :x

 

[Ennui]

http://www.supremecommand.org/forums/showthread.php?t=118

 

[destrukt]

^ .. ok ?

 

[Ennui]

figured i'd post a link in case anyone wants to discuss the game in more depth there. i doubt munro would get annoyed at me 'advertising' if you could call it that given that he runs that site as well.