Fans of Total Annihilation, one of the first real-time strategy (RTS) games to use a real 3-D engine, eagerly anticipate the release of its spiritual successor: Supreme Commander. The Supreme Commander refers to the giant humanoid robot that functions as a mobile construction station, but packs enough firepower to act as either a defensive or an offensive weapon. Available upgrades, including a nuclear missile launcher, transform the mega power into something more lethal. The game's developer, Gas Powered Games, seeks to increase the size and scope of real-time strategy games for years to come.

In the far future, Earth's citizens spread across the cosmos and colonize hundreds of worlds. However, the Earth Empire falls apart, resulting in the Infinite War fought by three factions. The United Earth Federation (UEF) seeks to bring the empire back to its former glory, no matter the cost. The Cybran Nation, comprised of cyborgs, seeks independence and power in the wake of the Earth Empire's fall. Lastly, the Aeon Illuminate contains a faction of people who were enlightened by an alien race known as the Seraphim, creatures driven to extinction by xenophobic soldiers. They now fight to eradicate the other two warring factions from the universe.

Supreme Commander addresses some major shortcoming in real-time strategy games, namely size and scale. Whereas current RTS games drop players onto maps with limited room to maneuver. Supreme Commander's enormous maps let players get the full sense of a grand battlefield. This also allows people the freedom to amass an army in secret and lead them toward an opponent's base. Gamers will be able to zoom out and see a full strategic version of the map, and zoom in for a tactical point of view when appropriate. When on the largest map, an average battle between two players may last hours.

This increase in size also poses several obvious scale differences. Battleships appear much larger than escort ships and Commanders tower over their armies. Supreme Commander also diverges from the "rock, paper, scissors" philosophy that prevails over most games. Size does matter. A giant spider tank, armed with multiple heavy gun turrets, will crush virtually anything that gets in its way, as will spaceships with shadows that cover half the countryside. These weapons will be as tough as they look and require a ton of firepower to bring down. Conventional units like tanks and aircraft will eventually destroy them at a high cost, but creating matching super weapons and launching nuclear missiles will be the best approach. The game features two types of nuclear weapons, long range with a lower payload or short range with a higher payload. However, either type causes huge amounts of devastation on the battlefield. Fortunately, all factions include a number of countermeasures.

In addition, the game packs several levels of smart artificial intelligence. As players queue up build orders, newly constructed units board armored transports that ferry them over to a different staging location and return for more. Units selected en masse will match the speed of the slowest unit so that they arrive at a destination in full force, unleashing combined firepower, instead of arriving early and getting slaughtered separately. Armies will attack anything they pass along the way, and larger units target multiple foes at a time. However, clicking on an object (such as a nuclear silo) repeatedly ups its importance, causing the army to direct all their firepower towards it.

With gigantic maps, massive armies and humongous super weapons, Supreme Commander could be the game that sets the standard for RTS games to come. GameDaily will post more information in the near future.
Related Links

Supreme Commander Game Guide

Supreme Commander Website