The importance of intel
Good intelligence is absolutely the most important aspect to Supreme Commander that many new players don’t grasp. Here’s a breakdown of some of the different kinds of intel, and how they’re useful:
Radar/Sonar: This is the most basic kind of intel. Many units in the game have fire ranges that are significantly longer than their sight ranges, and if you don’t have good radar coverage, you’re impairing the effectiveness of your units to carry out their main task, destroying the enemy. Artillery and base defenses particularly benefit from good radar/sonar coverage. If you can’t see approaching enemies before they’re right on top of your base, you’re missing the opportunity to deal free damage to them before they have the chance to retaliate. This especially applies to incoming air units, which move fast and really need to be spotted as soon as possible. SAM missile launchers have a good maximum range, but they’re significantly less useful if they only start shooting at enemy air units when they’re right on top of the base.
This tip to use radar and sonar may seem obvious, but there’s a caveat: if you’re running an energy deficit and you’ve used up all of your energy stores, your radar and sonar will shut off. This is an incredibly dangerous situation and makes you vulnerable to all kinds of attacks, and vastly reduces the effectiveness of most of your units. Never allow yourself to run an energy debt. Always build enough power generators, and if necessary, shut off some mass fabricators to run a mass deficit rather than an energy deficit. A mass deficit just makes your construction projects take longer to complete. An energy deficit could easily kill you.
Visual: Radar/sonar won’t catch everything. In particular, the Cybrans have a mobile cloak generator, and the other factions have Tech III aircraft that can become invisible to radar. So it’s important to perform visual reconnaissance nearby your base. Tech I air scouts are basically free; Tech III spy planes cost a bit more, but their extremely long visual range makes them worth it. Set up some patrols and make sure you’re able to see the nearby environs of your base. Remember, you can’t shoot at what you can’t see. Send along a few spy planes with your ground armies, particularly if you’re using mobile artillery. Tech III units can shoot significantly farther than they can see, and if you’re outside of the range of your radar and don’t have any spy planes, they’ll only be able to shoot at enemies once they’re right on top of them. Which means, in most circumstances, that they’ll be slaughtered.
Scouting: It’s important to know what your opponent is up to. Send out scouts regularly, both by land and by air. If you can spot something he’s working on when he’s just started building it, you’ll have enough time to counter it. For instance, knowing that your opponent is building an experimental unit, nuclear launch facility, or Tech III artillery is very useful information. Also, by looking at your opponent’s factories you should be able to ascertain what kind of a unit strategy he’s working on. If he has lots of air factories (or air factories that are assisted by many construction units), you definitely want to beef up your anti-air. Ditto for the two other kinds of units. Scouting is also useful to explore the regions outside of the range of your radar. You don’t want to miss the opportunity to take out an important, but lightly-guarded, enemy outpost simply because you didn’t find it.
So that covers the three kinds of intel. Make sure that you work on and keep track of all three in every game that you play. Moreso than many other RTSs, information is vital in Supreme Commander, and frequently defines the difference between glorious victory and ignominious defeat.
