[ChronoReverse]

Grabbed this from Fileshack at 500kb/s (waited 40 minutes in line though). A 1GB demo, they're getting really big these days...


Anyways, first thing is my PC:
Pentium D 820
2GB DDR
9600SE (lawlz)

Needless to say, it wasn't pretty and it ran like molasses (if I'm being generous) at 1024x786 (appears to be the minimum resolution) and minimum settings. This made it kinda hard to get into it and micro was rendered absolutely impossible (instead of being merely difficult). I've only played the first mission but at least that one can be played using purely strategic methods (i.e., build appropriate swarm, send them in, repeat).

The interface feels large. Perhaps it's designed for high resolution, but it felt like it was taking up a lot of space. I'm told there's ways to lower the space taken up so I'll play with that later.

The first mission pretty much plays like TA to me. You get your Commander (that is, you're the commander), you build stuff and you blow stuff up. Pretty basic. It's interesting how the map grows as more mission objectives are given. Zooming in and out would probably be useful and neat if I could get good FPS, but the way it is, it's a tad tedious. AI for the first level was non-existant but I guess it's meant to let you get your feet wet. I'll see what happens in the next mission (looks like it's one from the middle of the campaign).

AA Towers are useless (I built three right under the patrol path of some enemy fighters... I eventually gave up and just sent in the AA vehicles which made short work of the fighters). Didn't get to test the light laser tower. Artillery is fun (and the only reasonable way to assault the plasma towers since those are behind concrete walls). Bombers seem to be more accurate than in TA. For some reason the enemy (UEF) plasma tower devastated my units. My fighters also seem to lose out against their fighters. Probably due to my lack of micro.



Did some overclocking and managed to get my FPS into the 'teens. Just this much already made the game a lot more playable. Those fighters of mine aren't useless after all if I give them a target.

The scrolling zoom is pretty neat, when you scroll zoom in, it'll center on your cursor. I wish there was a way to have the camera follow a group though. The split screen idea is also pretty neat, allowing you to zoom in on two locations at once. I suppose it'd be even nicer with two screen (built in dual monitor support).

Looks like the Tech 1 units are very RPS.  They also seem grossly outmatched by the Tech 2 units.  At least a huge swarm of artillery bots were able to take out a commander before the commander did that to them.

[Grug]

My setup
3.06ghz w/ hyperthreading
1.5gb ddr ram
7600 gs

Ran with settings on medium with changes making not to much difference. It still seemed to be a bit choppy though, which was surprising because I run FEAR fairly well with most graphical settings on high.
I'm not sure I like the way the screen scrolls it seems too jerky. And god forbid one should turn on the tactical minimap, seems to choke the game like no tommorow.

It's playable, and seems fun, I only played through the first mission also.

I'd agree with the comments on the interface. It seems the battle screen only takes up about half the screen vertically. Kind of dissapointing.

I don't know yet, I think there's a lack of decent loding or optimizing or something, it seems as if it should run better than it does.

Still seems like fun though. Will wait and see huh...

[neoterran]

Games are getting out of control. These video cards cost hundreds and hundreds and even the high end ones can't run games very well. that sucks.

[Ulala]

The game isn't out yet, though. And you don't have to buy it as soon as it comes out either. I'm waiting for video card competition to kick in so I can get a nice one for less money than now... and then I'll look at buying SC. 

Games could certainly use more optimization though, I'll give you that. Battlefield 2 still hogs my system, but I've heard it's cause it wasn't steamlined (like the code) very well or something. *shrugs*

[ChronoReverse]

Well, a 7600GT (which can be had for $100 now after rebates) would run medium settings fairly smooth so it's not _that_ bad.  The one thing Supreme Commander seems to like is a dual-core system though.  There are reports of people with fast video cards getting lagginess when the battlefield starts to expand and the unit numbers balloon.

For me, I'm utterly limited by my video card at about 15fps so I can't comment.


I wish AMD would hurry up and release the R600 already.  I want mainstream DX10 cards with a price-war.  A 8600 or the ATi equivalent would be nice.

[CP5670]

I wasn't very impressed with this. The game performance during the campaign is horrible as others noted (stays around 20fps on an X1900XTX), although the skirmish runs a lot better. However, the game in general feels very slow paced, more than TA ever did. It might be a matter of getting used to it, but I found it getting somewhat boring, even though I loved TA back then.

You need to play it in at least 1280x960, or the interface takes up too much of the screen.

Games are getting out of control. These video cards cost hundreds and hundreds and even the high end ones can't run games very well. that sucks.

Not only that, but many of these games barely look any better than ones from one or two years ago. This has become the new trend in PC games for the last year or so. Check out some benchmarks of SCDA or R6V on the PC, for example. It's downright pathetic.

[ChronoReverse]

Yeah, it took me 48 minutes to finish the first mission.  Rather sluggish (to be fair it was multiparts but still).


I've found out how to unlock the camera btw.  Hit Ctrl-V.  Then you use space the move the camera, it won't return.  Hit Ctrl-V again to revert.


Actually even though I complained about the interface size, it's not really that bad since you have to zoom in and out all the time anyways.  I even use the split-screen mode (hit Home to enable, End to turn off) so I can keep an eye on my commander (press T for tracking camera on selected unit(s)) and the other one to control some other group of units.

Formations are formed by right click dragging a box around your group.

[Fineus]

Thought I'd pop back to comment on the demo since I downloaded it yesterday.

I think I know the reason that the campaign feels slow (or at least the first mission). Your map gets revealed as you complete objectives - so all the defences, units and what have to that you move to the east are suddenly in the wrong position and you need to focus your efforts to the south instead. I can't help but feel that if you started in the bottom left of a big square map and knew you'd sooner or later have to cover all of it - you could build and deploy your units accordingly. It's the rushing from north to south to east etc. that gets tricky.

I've had no problems with the graphics at all untill high-level maps and unit counts come in. I'm running at 1280x1024 (highly recommended) with no AA (not necessary at that resolution) and most options set to high except shadows. It runs fairly smoothly untill things get busy. Another thing worth noting here is that if you turn the game speed up - things get much more juddery. Turning it down has the adverse effect - so playing with the speed controller is a good idea if you need time to think, plan and issue orders.

Overall though the game has clearly been refined since the beta. I'm looking forward to the full release.

[Mefustae]

Is it just me, or does that Dr. Brackman bloke - the guy who founded the Cybrans - sound exactly like Donald Sutherland in the Cybran campaign briefings?

[Falcon]

Playing on 1600x1200, max settings, with a few minor slowdowns. Question though... why isn't the sound working when I play the game?

[Vasudan Commander]

Games like this are not intended for the average PC gamer ! Its too taxing on the PC !

In the words of Mr Scott from the USS Enterprise : -

"We cannae hold her togetha cap'n! She's breakin aparght! She cannae hold much longa !" 

[DeepSpace9er]

If you havent gotten the demo yet, get it here http://www.gamershell.com/download_17675.shtml

I played the beta of this thing for months.. its a great game, and even better as a finished product.

[Ashrak]

laggy as a ****er on a midrange system 4000+ 1600pro and 1gb

[SadisticSid]

I imagine the game is much more dependent on CPU speed than the video card, which is unusual these days. But given the complexity of a simulation involving maps dozens of times larger than in TA, physics and unit processing, it's unsurprising.

[NGTM-1R]

I'll have to check out the demo, but to be honest I'm not really enamored of it because, well, it seems to follow the basic concept of "build five hundred of these things and throw them at the other guy en masse with maybe a superweapon as backup". There's no real way to resort to tactical craft or subtle methods when you're dealing with a landscape blanketed in units.

[aldo_14]

As a (big) aside, is it (in your opinion) 'cheating' in games like Rome:TW if you only engage enemies when you have massive numerical superiority?  Because it's, like, a valid tactic but also a very cheaty-feeling one....

(this was, incidentally, because I was thinking about the issues of balancing tactical control against 'realistic' real time action; and concluding that the inherent reduction of control through use of fixed keys and ui meant that some form of pause-to-order was perfectly justifiable as still being realistic)

[Flipside]

Personally, my feeling on that is that too much micro-management is given to the player, you seem to fill about 7 levels in the chain of command. I suppose that it is the only way to do it, as most AI systems I have encountered seem to only be capable of the Rush attack. As soon as you figure out how to withstand the initial assault, most AI's can be taken out by a simple dig-in and build technique.

Computers are good at 'logical' things, which is why logistics and resourcing are usually very good from an AI player, but they can't do imagination. I've never seen a computer do a hit-and-fade, or used a small group units to draw off some of your main force and lead them into a trap. In many occasions, at least when one side has been outnumbered, the 'dirty tricks' have had more impact on the battle than melee fighting has.

I think 'Pause to Order' is acceptable as a tactic simply to offset the fact the computer, whilst unimaginative, has instant awareness of every unit on the field, it's current location, action and situation, whereas the player has to take far longer to get that information (as Aldo said, in part because of the UI).

[ChronoReverse]

To be fair, the AI in SC doesn't cheat in that way.  It must also rely on spotters and radar (and this really shows... the SC AI is pretty brain-dead).

[Fineus]

It would be kinda nice if it built attack units based on your weaknesses. I've not seen any evidence of that yet - but if you have a whole load of ground defence turrets but no anti-air potential then it should start swarming you with bombers - basically forcing you to defend against everything whilst trying to find weak points of your own. If I can see the AI has no anti-air then I'll start bombing the **** out of it rather than risking my ground units to their 25-strong tank platoon.

[Rictor]

I'll have to check out the demo, but to be honest I'm not really enamored of it because, well, it seems to follow the basic concept of "build five hundred of these things and throw them at the other guy en masse with maybe a superweapon as backup". There's no real way to resort to tactical craft or subtle methods when you're dealing with a landscape blanketed in units.

Damn, this sounds like my kind of game! I hate games that require micro because I always end up getting my ass kicked.

My usual strategy consists of: create a mass of units, preferably a single jack-of-all-trades unit, mass-select them and click inside the enemy's base. And forget all this "rock-paper-scissor" stuff. Juggling anything more than two or three kinds of units is more than I care to handle.

Too bad it would run at 0.5 FPS on my computer.