Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance

[zaphodx1]

Hi there,
I make Supreme Commander casts of great games, if you like watching Supreme Commander or want to learn a bit from some analysis of top-level gameplay then why not come check out my channel!
http://www.youtube.com/user/ZaphodX1

Here are a selection of decent videos to give you an idea of what I do:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...B5HNo9Io4deRuA

Here is my popular tutorial which is a great intro for new players:


Come join our community at http://faforever.com and enjoy an incredible online multiplayer RTS experience, playing Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance!

[tHornton]

lol

[FatFreddy]

I already watch dem casts

I'm playing this when I find time and energy to - won my first seton's (got carried obv) today, did a bit of 2v2ing again with my roomate on Friday and steamrolled everyone 4 games in a row: 14mins, 11mins, 17mins and 24mins victories :f

Playing with your roommate with RLcomms might be a quite influencing factor in that, but still - feels good to know I am not completely terrible and there are a lot of people out there who still eco slower than I :f

Still get confused over eco though, and if I manage a good start I am usually on my way to fuck up my eco/lose track of what I wanted to achieve 15mins in

And still having a blast.

[Marko Box]

Ive been hooked on this for the last few weeks, up to 60 games allready and a few ranked ones.
Had a weird 4v4 last night, we kill two of their comms within 10mins of the start but also loose 2 comms. But our armies are pilaging their bases and we still have everything intact and superior forces. My comm gets caught in the midle of nowhere by few t2 fighter/bombers and dies but still things are going smooth with only one of their bases left.
At this point their third comm dies and its basicly 1v1 with our team winning. Sudenlly a wild army breaks in from one of their side bases and goes straight for our last comm who is in the mid field building a forward base. There was literally 3x times the units on our side on field but all out of position to help him. GG game lost.
Assasination style of gameplay in this game makes it much more intensive to the end since those comebacks from the grave are possible . I think i like this more then sc2.

[FatFreddy]

Had a weird 4v4 last night, we kill two of their comms within 10mins of the start but also loose 2 comms. But our armies are pilaging their bases and we still have everything intact and superior forces. My comm gets caught in the midle of nowhere by few t2 fighter/bombers and dies but still things are going smooth with only one of their bases left.

This is the first RTS I've played in multiplayer and thus wishes me to share insignificant battle stories

re: Comms vs. Air

When we (roommate and I) were just starting out in the easter holidays and, after the first trying efforts, busy with roflstomping the vanilla AI while checking out all the maps, I managed my first snipe with a horde of T2 fighter bombers. So far, so duh.

Couple days later we are in one of our very first 2v2s and he is battling it out in the middle of Isis, when and enemy commander pops up on the front and I suddenly realize "OH SHIT I BUILT T1 GUNSHIPS WE CAN SNIPE HIM (I tended to lose track of my units a lot) GO GO GO" *frantic yelling and delighted squealing as I realise what's about to happen* - babys first snipe

and I simply don't understand why so many not so good players think they need to play Supreme Commander Comm Hero Front Superstar, only to get rolled by 30 t1 units 15mins in because they planted their fat ass out in the middle of nowhere without proper support (I notice a distinct lack of easy to build T1 inties in midgame noobgames quite often) to build point defense :f

and a com explosion is so rewarding, wonderful game mechanic

[XenosisReaper]

point defense are shite tbh

My Commander just spends 95% of the game sitting in the rear of my base until I need some kind of last ditch all in push.

For game-modes where losing the commander isn't a loss then you can use him as a suicide bomber to wreck enemy bases or frontlines.

[Ophichius]

point defense are shite tbh

My Commander just spends 95% of the game sitting in the rear of my base until I need some kind of last ditch all in push.

For game-modes where losing the commander isn't a loss then you can use him as a suicide bomber to wreck enemy bases or frontlines.

If you're not operating at least moderately aggressively with your commander, you're giving up a ton of build power. < 10m in you can generally move with near impunity, especially if you have good scouting practices.

The ability to set up forward bases rapidly is a big deal, and the commander is often one of your first, if not your absolute first T2 construction unit, and remains one of your most powerful build units throughout the whole game. It's only towards the latter portions of the game where air/tac snipes are a severe threat that you want to consider either sinking him in a lake, or bunkering him under shields.

Also note that a fully upgraded Seraphim ACU is an unholy terror, as it is DPS and HP equivalent to an experimental, with massive HP/sec regen.

T1 PD are useful in specific situations, but not generally a great use of mass. Cybran and Seraphim T2s are evil, evil things which can mop up entire armies of T1 tanks. Generally you only use PD once the battle lines have solidified a bit more and you need to use them to anchor your mobile reaction forces.

-O

[Tajidan]

haha i love it when you build cybran T2 PD and you're really confident that these things will stop alot of enemy things but when they get in range the PD's shoot the fucking ground because you planted them behind a small ridge that wasn't visible without panning the camera down to the ground XD

[FatFreddy]

haha i love it when you build cybran T2 PD and you're really confident that these things will stop alot of enemy things but when they get in range the PD's shoot the fucking ground because you planted them behind a small ridge that wasn't visible without panning the camera down to the ground XD

Or battling on the edges of mountains

take that evil evil hill
eat artillery mountain ridge

enemy units, slightly better positioned: lols pew pew (and vice versa)

I really like that it actually matters and realising that projectiles actually have paths and collision (and even mid-air collision) blew my mind a little

Also, "things that didn't come to my mind": learning that mid-air collision with projectiles can also happen if you just happen to build an Aeon air experimental in the firing path of the enemy stationary T3 arty, like here (starting at 44:30)

[Ophichius]

haha i love it when you build cybran T2 PD and you're really confident that these things will stop alot of enemy things but when they get in range the PD's shoot the fucking ground because you planted them behind a small ridge that wasn't visible without panning the camera down to the ground XD

Oh god yeah, that's horrible. I'd kill for topo mapping as an optional overlay.

-O

[Marko Box]

re: Comms vs. Air

I get sniped by air too ofthen tbh since i like using it agressivley. Taking center mass, building forward base, suporting or defending early push etc. If i dont die it pays out nicley, you can have t2 pd's up fast (comm upgrade is the cheapest way to go t2), or push with gun upgrade. But yea unless we hold air or scout gunship ammasing in time its lights out

[Ophichius]

You do need to be pushing air. I know the standard start is landfac>2p>2m, I like to run airfac>2p>2m and focus on early air power. 3engineer>scout>interceptor>bomber spam while aggressively forward expanding with my commander. Three bombers will instakill a mex, so grouping them into three ship elements and pressuring early is really useful. If the enemy goes air to counter you, your scout and interceptor should have it scouted, and you should be paying enough attention to switch to straight up interceptor spam to outcompete him in the air. Once you can stack 6+ interceptors over his air factory, you've won. Crank another 6-10 for insurance and proceed to bomber spam his economy back into the stone age while cranking landspam to mop him up.

-O

[Grarr Dexx]

ASF's are fucking broken. Cybran for lyfe.

[Ophichius]

ASF's are fucking broken. Cybran for lyfe.

Oh I wasn't even talking ASFs, just basic T1 interceptors. I usually go for early knockout punches. If the game goes much past T2 I tend to feel that either I/my team have fucked up, or the other guys are really good. (Also my late game is crap, so I prefer to knock people out when I still know what the fuck I'm doing.)

-O

[Marko Box]

You do need to be pushing air. I know the standard start is landfac>2p>2m, I like to run airfac>2p>2m and focus on early air power. 3engineer>scout>interceptor>bomber spam while aggressively forward expanding with my commander. Three bombers will instakill a mex, so grouping them into three ship elements and pressuring early is really useful. If the enemy goes air to counter you, your scout and interceptor should have it scouted, and you should be paying enough attention to switch to straight up interceptor spam to outcompete him in the air. Once you can stack 6+ interceptors over his air factory, you've won. Crank another 6-10 for insurance and proceed to bomber spam his economy back into the stone age while cranking landspam to mop him up.

-O

Can you send me few example games?

Also in ranked games is cybran way to go? Im having trouble winning with other races. Also is there a guide somewhere with strenghts and weaknesses of all races and how to play ranked with other races?

[jbend9620]

Massively upgrading my computer tonight, and this is the first thing i plan on playing.

[Straight Hustlin]

I'm sorry but if a game of supcom ends in anything other then a massive nuclear exchange, your doing it wrong IMO. But then again I am a bad.

[Ophichius]

Can you send me few example games?

Also in ranked games is cybran way to go? Im having trouble winning with other races. Also is there a guide somewhere with strenghts and weaknesses of all races and how to play ranked with other races?

I haven't played ranked in ages unfortunately, can't really talk about the current ranked scene. It's entirely possible that my strategies only work against bads.

I'd just study the cost/hp/damage raws off the wiki if you're looking to understand them. In general Aeon = fragile, higher range/DPS. Require more micro. Cybran = fast as hell, disabling effects. UEF = tough, slow, high alpha. Seraphim = expensive but all around better per unit.

-O

[Mavolio]

changes that will be made to the game soon™ (see engy redesign mod) so that massive engineer spam wont be the only way to spam units any more. making it so you can make 1 HQ factory that means building other factories are cheaper. Hard to get a game of it atm tho as ppl just want to play ranked but its much more fun as you will actually see big T2 armies now instead of a few token T2 units while they save to get T3.