Fans of Chris Taylor’s strategy opus received a surprise today when the studio head announced that he was handing off control of the franchise to Farenheit/Heavy Rain creator David Cage. “David and I have wanted to work together for a long time” Taylor said, “and with my attention focused on Age of Empires, this seemed like the perfect time to bring him on board.”
Cage himself took to the floor to announce Supreme Commander 3, showing the press a brief teaser trailer in which a boy in fifties-style clothing attempted, fruitlessly, to goad a 200-foot tall mobile command unit into playing baseball with him. “This is a game of many things” he explained. “Yes, it is about 200-foot tall mobile command units and the lonely men who pilot them; it is also about hope, windmills and the invention of the printing press.”
“Supreme Commander is a wonderful series. A wonderful series. But I wonder – when a man lays out his energy generators, can that be art? When a man makes a little tank, a little gunship, is that love? I believe that a King Kryptor’s greatest power is his ability to make you cry. I believe that if you zoom out far enough, you will see the human heart.”
Supreme Commander 3 is scheduled for release in the summer of 2012.
Is this a joke?
My God, I hope it’s not a joke! SupCom 2 was awesome! I don’t own FA but I’m planning to buy it. If there’s a third one, you’ll see me there, buying the game! :)
You were actually impressed by SC2? Wow that is rather terrifying the SC1 and FA were much better the only way SC2 makes sense is if it is compared to more casual RTS games otherwise it just falls short. The Aeon for example in SC 1 had one of the best Navy’s in SC2 they don’t have a navy in fact they have more experimental units than non-experimentals. They took all the known experimental and nerfed them i mean look at the fatboy one of the most powerful units in FA is now the Weakest UEF experimental they traded power for cost experimentals are the only units worth building now why build weak one’s?
Supreme commander 2 was awfull i hope it will be closer to SupCom 1. Then i would buy it,
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They have to make it more like SupCom 1, for example the resource system, it was awful in SupCom 2. Also bring the goodold SupCom1-units back, in SupCom 2 they were like toys.
If they can give us the feel of scale back that was lost in SupCom2, then I am the first to buy this.
I want huge battlefields (not the small stuff like SupCom2), SupCom/FA-like unit diversity, Supcom/FA-like tier 2 and 3 true long range artillery, complete and varied land, sea and air armies. I also want the SupCom 1 base building back with cool upgradable fortifications and with shields etc that depend on your energy generators so they become a strategical objective. Oh and I liked the adjacency bonuses.
I also would like 1 or 2 extra factions and an official map editor.
I also would like greater variety in maps, like asteroid maps, vulcanic landscapes etc. I also would like to be able to build certain structures under water.
And a good high quality single player campaign. Not the laughable shit that was SupCom 2.
All in all I want a true successor to Supreme Commander Forged Alliance and not the disappointing setback that was SupCom 2. Hell, it would be great if the game engine would be more forgiving and would not bog down as much.
dude, MY EXACT THOUGHTS SC2 had good unit ideas, but KINA EVRYTHING ELSE was different than FA, :/
hope you do better THIS time Chris!
thel_vanemee
I wish the game devs would listen to Argos! Hire him to design the game! I want exactly what he outlines too!
SupCom 2 was such a huge disappointment- man, that’s putting it mildly… it suuuuuucked! Just a rotten POS.
FA was infinitely better for anyone with even half a brain for actual strategy.
If they use the SupCom2 template rather than go back to what made FA great and improve on that, then just stick a fork in the whole francise. Just put it out of its misery.
Give us HUGE scale battlefields! Skirmishes that can last for days/weeks/months on end. REAL strategy and resource management, not just “build the most stuff the quickest” nonsense that was SupCom 2. Get back to what made FA great, bring back the depth and scale, drop ALL the garbage that ruined SupCom 2.
“REAL strategy and resource management, not just “build the most stuff the quickest” nonsense that was SupCom 2.”
I agree with the analyses of Zack. This was indeed one of the core flaws of SupCom 2. Building the big stuff got totally meaningless.
One of the things that made SupCOm FA such a powerful experience was the fact that you had to commit yourself to the construction of a long range tier 3 artillery weapon or an experimental. It was a costly war effort, even dangerous, but at the same time it was exhilarating and beautiful. And when you got it up and running it was the greatest thing to see in action. For example I loved constructing a long range artillery gun and see it hauling its shells towards the enemy base. And at the same time I loved it when the enemy tried everything to break through my shields to destroy my big gun even before it was finished.
The difference between SupComFA and SupCom 2 in this respect is that in FA an artillery piece or an experimental really meant something to you as the builder, but also to the enemy. In SupCom 2 they had lost all meaning. You could spawn tier 3 guns by the dozen and the same was true for experimentals. They had become average meaningless units that involved no real strategic choice of diverting your resources anymore. And the enemy was no longer shocked by their appearance on the battlefield. Experimentals were common and ordinary. The fear factor had been totally diminished.
I still vividly remember my first experience in a Forged Alliance skirmish battle against the AI on a large map with islands. I remember my shock and awe when, for the first time, I saw a huge enemy Monkeylord crawling out of the sea behind my defenses and witness it deliberately destroying my powergenerators, which made all my precious defensive shields collapse. I managed to destroy the Monkeylord but I was unable to recover from the onslaught. It was a humiliating defeat. It was pure horror. And I loved it. This is what got me hooked to Supreme Commander Forged Alliance. These kind of experiences are what spoiled me for every other RTS (with the exception of the Dawn of War 1 series).
And it is this what I NEVER EVER experienced in Supreme Commander 2.
Give us back the REAL Supreme Commander Experience.
It needs:
-Scale, large maps
-Diversity of maps. I want to do battle on ocean planets with bases build on and in the sea. I want to do battle on asteroids in space, I want to do battle in dangerous lave landscapes, I want to do battle on metal planets (Like in the old TA days) etc. etc.
-Diversity of units, so that even after a hundred battles you can discover new uses, new combinations etc. Supreme Commanders FA is great at this.
-Costly big guns and experimentals that really mean something and involve real strategic choices.
-Complete, all-round armies: Sea, Air, Land. God, I loved my long range missile cruisers :).
-Basebuilding, A base is not just simply the place where you build stuff. It is more, it is your home. A base is personal and an attack on your base should feel personal. A base, the buildings inside it, are strategic objectives. For example the destruction of a powergen should have repercussions for your shields. This is what makes it interesting, because it creates realistic strategical and tactical objectives. This should never have been removed from SUpCOM 2. If anything, it should have been enhanced and made even more interesting.
I think a base should have an upgradeable headquarters for example. This might give units a slight effectivity bonus in movement and reaction speed for example.
-Adjacency is cool. I loved the adjacency bonuses my smart base building operations gave me. For example I love it when the firing rate of an artillery piece improves when I build energy generators next to it. And I also love it when this makes the gun more vulnerable. I also love it when my damaged shields regenerate faster when they have dedicated energy generators build next to it. etc etc. It is all about choice, about making decisions.
-Upgradeability. It should be possible to upgrade for example existing base defenses. Turrets could be upgradeable just like shields. This is what research could be used for.
etc. etc.
I just have to add this:
Personally I believe that GPG did not fully realize what a revolutionary RTS they had created with Supreme Commander/Forged Alliance.
If they had realized this, they would never have destroyed in Supreme Commander 2 almost everything what made the original so revolutionary, so awesome, so incredibly EPIC.
I am not really a Supreme Commander 2 hater. It is a good game in its own right, but it is so much more run of the mill average than the original was. And it is that what completely shocked me.
Never ever has a sequel to a game so disappointed me as Supreme Commander 2 did. A sequel should always take the original’s superior features and build on that in stead of destroying them.
If they had given Supreme Commander 2 another name, if they had not tried to sell it as a sequel to the most epic RTS ever, I might have even liked the game and considered it a worthwhile little snack after playing the real thing, which is Supreme Commander/FA.
As it is now I cannot enjoy Supreme Commander 2, because I realize that this game has destroyed our chance of getting a true epic successor that builds on all the strong features that made the original game what it was.
And I think that is a terrible realization, because there are no alternatives for the Supreme Commander experience of giant epic onslaught. If you like Starcraft you can also enjoy Star Craft 2 because essentially they are the same and Star Craft 2 is a true successor to the original. And you can also enjoy numerous other RTS games that in many respects offer battles on the same scale and in a comparable RTS spirit. All, or most are nice games in their own right, but…..
Nobody else has made anything that can be compared to Supreme Commander!
We have no alternatives at all. And perhaps for many, many years to come we will not see anything like it.
That makes me very sad.
Well I would say Sins of a Solar Empire has come incredibly close to matching the style and general feel of Supreme Commander. The game itself can go more quickly, with units and buildings being made faster, but games can easily last days on end across vast solar systems. Also, I think the unit management is more advanced due to the whole jumping between systems thing.
Don’t get me wrong though, Supreme Commander is still my favourite RTS game, and I really hope they can capture what made it so great in the third installment – If there is one.
Supreme Commander 1 was good apart from the issue of taking half an hour to make an experimental but then came Supreme Commander forged alliace!The oppenants tested you way more than in the first game and when you saw the A.I.s makimg an experimental you franticly upgraded your defences and tried to make an experimetal of your own just to counter it.Sometimes it worked-other times it failed.But this was the beauty of the first to games.Then Supreme Commander 2 came out and the only similar parts were the ACU and the resources but beside from that it was completely different.No tech race just swarm to wim!
Lets Hope SupCom 3 goes back to its roots, SupCom 2 was friggin aweful
Im guessing that chris taylor or whoever it was that threw that up there was stoned wen they did cus we all know that if ur gunna release a game 5 months or so from now that ur gunna throw up atleast a PUBLIC teaser and a flashy title and we all know that u cant play baseball wit a friggin ACU -.-
I think it would be cool if there were a new faction where all the structures and units were organic lifeforms :) just saying
Personally I have a hard time believing the article at all.
If Supcom 3 were to be released in the summer of this year, we would have already heard about it and would be able to read development journals and give input on their forum. That is how GPG communicates with their fans. That is what GPG did during the development of Kings and Castles until it was put on hold.
And Kings and Castles is also the reason I do not believe they are developing Supreme Commander 3. I believe they would at least finish Kings and Castles first.
Personally I would rather see them create a true Supreme Commander Forged Alliance successor, because it is an IP with a huge and unique potential, and it is unlike any other RTS in existence, but I fear it will not happen for a long, long time.
I wish GPG had half the resources Blizzard has. Imagine what Supreme Commander 3 could be….
It could be of course that the Supreme Commander IP is now in the hands of Square Enix and that they have put another developer on Supreme Commander 3. In that case I have no faith in it at all, because it is under the rule of Square Enix that we got the failure which is called Supreme Commander 2 in the first place.
On start and on building units Mass-energy is awful,but i kind of Like it because it’s very difrent with the first series,I think that this really is the heart of the making a game because,WTF is only changing the story cus they could just make downloads for that….
Ok – just typed a massive post only for Firefox to crash and its lost! – running late so this is a very short version of what I had typed.
Anyway basics were;
Supreme commande4r 1 & Forged alliance were great and (FA) even better in my view.
Supreme Commander 2 was just a stinking pile of crap -did I waste my money on that game ALL that made the other great were stripped out, chewed up and then spat back in.
For me to even consider buying any new game (if it’s true) then it MUST be back to what made the game great – take forged alliance and use that as you bench mark !!
Phew please don’t crash again Firefox!
@Paul
As I see it Supreme Commander 2 in itself is a nice (be it rather mediocre) RTS game. But, and that is a very big but: It should never have been called Supreme Commander 2. It is too different, and as you said, everything that made Forged Alliance the epic experience it still is, was stripped away.
A sequel to Forged Alliance should feature all elements (see my previous reactions) that made that game so incredibly unique and improve upon them, instead of removing them.
Supreme Commander 2 did a big disservice to the Supreme Commander franchise in lowering the expectations to a level of mediocrity. It has tainted this extraordinary IP. We have enough mediocre RTS games that resemble each other.
I am glad to meet so many people on the web who have the same feelings of intense disappointment about what happened to the most epic RTS ever.
I can only hope GPG is aware of it and will one day try to live up to the expectations for the true Supreme Commander franchise (excluding SupCom2) and give us the real and awesome sequel this IP deserves.
I would consider it a crime against the art of RTS design to let this unique IP die like this.
@ Paul
I forgot. I would recommend the extension called ‘Lazarus’ for Firefox. It remembers messages you have typed, in case of a browser crash or some other mishap. It is a superb tool I have been using for years now. Satisfaction guaranteed. It has never failed me.
indeed, like everyone says everywhere on the net: as a sequel supreme commander 2 was a deep fundamental failure. i didn’t like it even as just another casual game! when you pull out from it the deep tech&eco strategy and nerfing the experimentals while abusing unit clarity with weird upgrades that hampering strategic understanding of the grand scale – what you get is one big boring, scrap metal cliché..
how about in the supreme commander 3 seraphim returns some how?
whont be that awesome? :D
Oh yes, I agree completely, the Seraphim should never have been removed. They are a very cool faction. I love these unique quicksilver shapes. It is one of my favorite factions. I play them a lot.
Removing the beautiful Seraphim was one of the many stupid decisions that GPG made for Supreme Commander 2. They could have at least left them in for multi player and skirmish. When comparing Supcom 2 to Supcom FA it is mostly less of everything. Less units, smaller maps, smaller scale, less base building, less factions etc. and in my opinion, much less epic fun.
Like I already stated I believe Supreme Commander 2 should feature even more than 4 races (diversity is great fun, compare for example Dawn of War with its 9 factions). Someone mentioned an organic faction, which I think is a good idea and which could easily be done without betraying the basic SupCom concept of one central commander unit at the core of each army.
I would be very, very happy if 2 extra factions (All FA factions + 2 new factions) were to be included in Supreme Commander 3.
I don’t even think these factions need to be functionally totally different. The degree of diversity that exists between factions now is quite satisfying and more than enough for me. So it would be mostly a difference in appearance and effects, with some unique experimentals per faction. This would also make it easier to balance the factions.
I rly hope that it will be a supreme commander 3 cuz i didnt hear about it until in june
anyway i cant whait to hear more about supreme commander 3 if it will be oane
i agree with you argos but probably if they add a new change difficulty cuz in FA it was only easy,mediu and hard they should add expert or somthing or again im going to finishit in 4-5 days like i did in FA but adding some new faction it will be cool and if they add a cool story about how seraphim return in the galaxy probably it will make a great game and a new chalenge.
sorry about my bad english still i need to learn some more.
You are talking about the campaign. Well, concerning gameplay time there are always limits to what a campaign can give you. I played to the Forged Alliance campaign with all three available factions.
For me most of my time is spent on skirmish battles against the AI. I installed the excellent Sorian AI and an incredible pro looking mod called Black Ops, which improves Forged Alliance like you wouldn’t believe.
I also use the BlackOps Commander mod which turns your commander into a very powerful warmachine for later game through several cool upgrades.
SupCom Fa has turned out to be the only RTS that can fulfill my RTS needs and I play at least one or two games almost every week.
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i saw that mod on youtube i know its cool but i tried to play with some mods but didnt work some well probably i didint intall all stuffs but campaign and skirmish it doesnt matter for me cuz i like both so in my opinion forged alliance is the best rts game ever i played.
maybe in some day im going to play in some mods depends what i like and after im going to get bored about playing campaign and normal skirmish.
Don’t you guys want to know what the new race is? If you recall, Shiva prime was not built by the Seraphim.
“Don’t you guys want to know what the new race is? If you recall, Shiva prime was not built by the Seraphim.”
@Jon,
Well, I think we guys (or most of us) don’t really believe there will be a Supreme Commander 3 any time soon. Therefore speculation about a new race is moot.
They even removed my favorite race the Seraphim entirely form Supreme Commander 2, so I would not be surprised if they would remove one more instead of adding a new one.
After the failure (as a true SupCom sequel) that I consider Supreme Commander 2 to be I don’t dare to hope for a true sequel to the best RTS ever made.
I hope GPG will eventually reflect on what made Supreme Commander so awesome and epic and pick up where Supreme Commander Forged Alliance left off.
Well.. just tell us if you really working on Supreme commander 3 or not ?… i couldn’t find any update mentioned on your gaming daily page …
(Link to last info about Supcom 3 http://www.gamingdaily.co.uk/2011/david-cage-joins-gas-powered-games-as-lead-designer-on-supreme-commander-3/ )
@ iAreL33t,
It is very unlikely.
GPG was very busy working on another game, Kings and Castles, and that game was put on hold indefinitely as they took it upon them to produce Age of Empires Online for Microsoft. GPG is still producing content for that game.
They will most likely pick up were they left Kings and Castles after they are done with AoEO.
It seems unlikely they would start working on a new Supreme Commander anytime soon. And when they eventually do, it would probably be in the vein of that failed second Supreme Commander game that destroyed everything that made SupCom great and epic.
And if Square Enix owns the rights of Supreme Commander now, I would give up all hope of ever seeing a true sequel to the magnificent, epic and unique Supreme Commander Forged Alliance.
One could say that the Supreme Commander franchise has been highjacked by a game that has very little to do with Supreme Commander’s true nature.
A true nature that is comprised of large scale battlefields, huge unit diversity, special and expensive and relatively rare super units, true long range artillery, complete all-round land sea and air armies, comprehensive base building (with f.e. shields depending on energy), community involvement (moddability, mapeditor) etc.
That specific Supreme Commander game seems to have died with the release of Supreme Commander 2.
A few posts back, someone mentioned that there is no true alternative for the epic scale and depth of supcom 1 and FA.
this may be about to change.
A gathering has taken place, of designers who are the creators of some of the greatest strategy games ever, total annihilation, supreme commander, and command and conquer generals, for a single higher purpose; to bring back the awesome RTS.
this game will be known as planetary annihilation, and in defiance of publishers’ reluctance to take up original content, especially in the RTS genre, it is being funded through kickstarter.
it appears to have many features of what made supcom and TA awesome, along with numerous additions to add to those fine concepts. ever wanted to smash two planets together? there’s a reason its called planetary annihilation. how about fighting a war over an entire solar system? I have good news for you.
Anyway, head on over to their kickstarter page for more information.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/659943965/planetary-annihilation-a-next-generation-rts
it’s the spiritual sequel to TA! what more do you want?
Its 2013. Isn’t out yet. This was a joke.
I cannot imagine anyone believing that SupCom 3 was really in the making.
I actually really want to book mark this blog post, “David
Cage joins Gas Powered Games as Lead Designer on Supreme Commander 3 – E3 2011 | PC Gaming | GamingDaily” on my own website.
Would you mind if Ido it? Thanks ,Elvira
I don’t think it is true.
There will be no Supreme Commander 3 in the foreseeable future. The IP is dead for now. Chris Taylor has abandoned SupCom. He even has abandoned the promised Kings and Castles and is doing some other game now I don’t care about at all.
There is however a new game by a new company that seems to carry the torch now: Planetary Annihilation. Three important former GPG employees who have worked on SupCom are working on this new game. It looks incredibly promising and revolutionary.
I hope this is a JOKE. Im sorry, but the very picture presents some GERIATRIC oldies watching something they dont even understand and I WONT ask if they DO. Believe me, Im not here to offend anyone but please, HIRE SOMEONE WHO IS ABLE TO EVEN THINK FLUENTY!!!! Come on, I mean I spent all those months waiting for any news to watch THIS SHIT??? THIS IS OBVIOUSLY RUDE – PERIOD
I bought SC1 and FA and SC2. But I only play the awesome FA! I was totally disappointed about SC2. I only by a SC3 when it’s really close to FA. With Cybrans Monkey-Lord-Spider with a big beam and all the complexity. I want big Shields and powerful experimentals and the same tec-upgrade structure.
ATTENTION: I haven a great IDEA to SC3-Experimentals. Please make it possible to CREATE OWN EXPERIMENTALS by choosing among “templates”. For Example “Movement”: Choose 6 Spider Legs 4 Legs or chain-tank or float or flying or spaceship/satelite. “Armor” choose among 1 big beam or one big chaingun or multiple guns/rockets… “protection” big protection, middle or less protection. “Speed” fast, middle, slow. “producing”: should it be able to produce vehicles or planes. “range of weapons” long, middel, short.
When you choose for example an Experimental with a big protection and also selected fast with a high arming and long range and the possibility to produce vehicles/planes then it takes more time/recources to produce. When you choose a light protection and a slow Experimental then its produced faster.
The Idea of individual Experimantels would be very new. And please make sure the good old Experimentals like the Monkey-Lord-Spider is available.
I think that is a great idea, Michel.
The player should be able to save(and export/import) his custom Experimental templates and use them in other games and multi player battles. And of course you should be able to name your own custom Experimentals.
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Thanks for finally talking about >David Cage joins Gas
Powered Games as Lead Designer on Supreme Commander 3 –
E3 2011 | PC Gaming | GamingDaily <Loved it!