The scoreboard
One aspect of ranked play in SupCom that is perhaps a little unbalancing is the score box you can activate by hitting F2. The number listed there can give you quite a bit of information on your opponent early game, and all without spending a dime on reconnaissance. For example, if you see a very low score, you know that your opponent is probably inexperienced, and you can safely let your guard down against air transport attacks or early bombers. Conversely, if you see a very high score, it is a good indication that your opponent is probably spending all of his time building economy, not defenses. This is because in the early game, before many shots have been fired, score is dictated almost entirely by how much mass and energy you have brought in. In this situation, amphibious or bomber attacks against arrays of power generators and mass fabricators can be deadly.
The problem with this is that the information obtained from the score was done so in a meta-gaming way. Being able to see your opponent’s score is like an extra form of scouting, and one that can change the way games are played. For ranked games, at least, this should not be a factor, and the score display should be turned off. Players should need to actually scout out their enemies in-game, and not have access to free, potentially very useful intelligence.
March 12th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
True, it doesn’t exactly take away the need for scouts but there is still a feeling that it’s out of place.
Nice blog btw, there is more useful info gathered here (much more concentrated and to-the-point) than in the manual or on the General SupCom boards.
March 12th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
I’m going to repeat this comment for emphasis: “Nice blog btw, there is more useful info gathered here (much more concentrated and to-the-point) than in the manual or on the General SupCom boards.”
Thank you so much, that is exactly what we are going for.