Supreme Commander.

[Pitch]

On the horizon...

Supreme Commander.. Lends itself more to a dictatorship than the follow up to one of gaming finest RTS masterpieces.

For those of you not aware, Supreme Commander is Chris Taylors spiritual sequel to Total Annihilation, considered, by many, to be the greatest real time strategy game ever released.

Historians make 2819 as the beginning of the Infinite War.

It is during this time that 28th-century combat takes on a new face. A single man in a self-sufficient commander suit can arrive alone on a distant world and create a massive army of robots, tanks, ships and planes within hours of arrival, using only the native mass and energy of the planet. Whole worlds are laid to waste in battles between these commanders and robotic armies. It is believed the Infinite War is lasting as long as it is because of the inexhaustible nature of these "Supreme Commanders" and the fact that they were never envisioned on such a massive scale.

For those of you have played Total Annihilation, the above should sound familiar.

What happened to Total Annihilation 2?

As far as I know, Atari bought the rights to makes sequel to TA, but for whatever reason, chose not to. Which is probably a good thing as it would have probably turned out crap, plus, at the time, the developer of the original Total Annihilation, Chris Taylor, had no interest in contributing to a sequel. He instead, formed Gas Powered games, and began work on the popular Dungeon Siege. Having completed the sequel to Dungeon Siege, it seems, he is now interested in giving us a proper follow up to TA.

A hard act to follow.

What made TA so great? Grandness. TA took RTS combat to an altogether epic scale. Rolling Tanks and mechanical Walkers fought war on land, while supported by vast wings on Aircraft. Behind them, Batteries of fixed Artillery simply bombarded the battle field.

And then TA added the first real sea combat seen in any RTS. Battleships & Cruisers took part in massive stand offs, shelling each other into submission, while smaller destroyers protected the hulking giants from deadly subs.

TA also added the first real use of dedicated construction units, a construction Aircraft, Tank and Robot all aided the expansive of your forces, each had it's strengths and weakness. The Aircraft could get anywhere and fast, but had the slowest build speed, while the Tank, although slow, could brush off countless enemy fire to reach it's destination in one piece.

The depth and playability of TA has yet to be topped by any RTS... until now.

Supreme.. You betcha!
Supreme Commander is geared to be truly awesome. With a pedigree second to none and everything that made TA so utterly good being added and improved, this is set to be one hell of a game.

SC will take the word “Grand” and bring a whole new meaning. No longer are your battles confined to and small square of land, you now fight over an entire continent, with a vastness yet seen in any game of its type.
Although no release date has been specified, in an interview with Gamespy, Chris revealed the following information about his latest Brainchild.

”The tactical nuke explosion is unbelievable. Picture the mushroom cloud and waves of energy radiating from the blast. As the wave hits enemy (and friendly) units, they explode and pretty much disintegrate.

In the early days of TA community, a well-done 256x256 map was a thing of awe and beauty. Now think 4000x4000.”

"If you are making the long trek across the land with a huge ground force, you'll need to protect it. A whole array of support vehicles will be available to all factions. Radar jammers will obscure your radar signature, mobile flak cannons can provide protection against aerial assaults, and mobile shield generators can deflect incoming fire."

“The original game design called for both minelayers and minesweepers, but the team recently removed them from the game because they slowed down the action too much. Supreme Commander is about grand strategy and over-the-top destruction, not slowly clearing a channel of explosives before moving in.”

Excited, you should be! I'll leave you with some screenshots of the game in it's current state.

[Pitch]

A few more.

[harrybard]

Looks nice!Is it like Dune 2000 or Comander&Conquer?

[danrok]

Only just saw this. Looks excellent!

[Pitch]

I personally can't wait.

[danrok]

I like these games, brings back memories of having to go to work after playing C&C all night with no sleep!

[Daniel ~]

Wow! I missed this post as well! Looks like Team play is going to take some dedication! ":O}

[Pitch]

I hope so. Did I mention I'm looking forward to this?

[cadaveca]

looks to be a system punisher. Online component, i wonder?

[Pitch]

Big ass maps. I'm sure having a 512MB card will help.

[Daniel ~]

I'm sure 2 gigs wouldn't hurt! ":O}

[Chesso]

Wow I just love the way that water looks i could stare at it for sometime.....

[Pitch]

A few more, courtesy of IGN and Gamespy,

[madcatmk3]

1.when will it come out?
2. Can my system handel it?

[Pitch]

I would think that alot of ram and video memory would help alot, but neither specs or release date have been confirmed.

[madcatmk3]

will 256(grpahics)mb be enough? I'm sure 2gb is enough.
Here's what that means: when a tank rolls over a hill in Supreme Commander and fires its cannon at a moving target, it's not an instant hit. The trajectory of the shell is computed as it whirls through the air.= big CPU.

[Pitch]

Gameplay footage.

[dsio]

Anti-Aliasing is such a must in this game.

[Daniel ~]

What setting do you recommend for the 6800GT Diso?

[Pitch]

Difficult to say without knowing the intitial specifications. But I think a 256MB card is going to be minimum for any real sort of gaming experience.