Art of Defense review and replay
A recent addition to the GPGnet map vault is Saya’s “Supreme Art of Defense” custom map. While simple, the gameplay proves to be quite challenging and addicting. Basically, up to four players line up and each one attempts to survive for as long as possible against wave after wave of enemies. The player starts out with only his ACU, and the first attack wave is correspondingly weak. However, the action rapidly heats up, and the player will struggle to fend off each successive wave as they become stronger and stronger.
I won’t spoil the fun by telling you what exactly each wave consists of, but suffice it to say that it becomes interesting and tactically challenging very quickly. One thing that makes this game mode so appealing is that you can try as many times as you like, and each attack wave is always the same. Because of this, you can (indeed, must!) really tailor your defensive strategy.
The map is not currently without flaws, but these will probably be ironed out in a new version soon. For one thing, the attacking armies have a tendency to stop when they engage your forces, which can make your defense much easier in certain situations. It is very easy to confuse and stop experimentals, making them almost trivial to defeat. The use of attack move orders, or something similar, should fix this problem. In addition, I encountered what I assume is a map bug at level 20 where the game freezes. I have only made it this far once, in my most recent attempt at the map, and it was quite disappointing when I was denied the opportunity to defend against what would have been a very powerful attack.
In spite of the problems, this is a very fun game mode. Hopefully, it is a sign of even better custom maps to come. To get it, search for “Art of Defense” on the GPGnet map vault. Also, if you want to check out the replay of my aforementioned game, feel free, but I recommend giving the map a whirl first. It might spoil some of the fun if you know what all the different attack waves are going to consist of ahead of time.
Update: Version 3 is out and it fixes the freeze bug at level 20, so be sure to get it!
Update 2: Those of you having problems getting the map through GPGnet’s The Vault, you can download it here. Just extract the contents to Your Documents Folder\My Games\Gas Powered Games\SupremeCommander\Maps.
June 15th, 2007 at 3:31 am
I don’t mean to correct, but you have to search for “Supreme Art of Defence” (yeah spelled wrong) and it says it’s made by Edmon?
June 15th, 2007 at 3:49 am
I lost in this game… Therefore it is not good. I rate this replay -9000. But seriously I laughed so hard when you missed those mls with the tmls.
June 15th, 2007 at 4:34 am
‘Defence’ is not spelt wrong, that’s how you spell it in regular English. ‘Defense’ is the US spelling of the same word.
June 15th, 2007 at 8:19 am
v3 is out so is your replace for v2 or v3?
June 15th, 2007 at 8:19 am
er replay not replace
June 15th, 2007 at 8:26 am
wow the Vault really is a broke-ass POS. This map is not on there. The Search function for finding a map doesn’t work practically at all. And trying by Most Downloaded or Most Played also = failsauce. What a waste. I gotta say the incompetence on GPG’s part to release functional software is increasingly apparent, be it the Vault, the joke of a map editor, or the game itself.
June 15th, 2007 at 8:28 am
Well I can’t get it to work with the version of Art of Defence that’s on GPG at the moment.
June 15th, 2007 at 8:28 am
(and that doesn’t include how half the time GPGNet and the Vault don’t even load themselves properly or how the Pages don’t actually change the content under Most Played or Most Downloaded, there’s only one page even though if you click the arrow it says Page Two, Page Three, etc, but it’s reall)
June 15th, 2007 at 8:28 am
but it’s really just Page One again)
June 15th, 2007 at 10:40 am
Hey :)
All the bugs you talk of are fixed in the version 3 that is now available on the map vault. Version 3 could be considered as the first release as v1 and v2 contained a few obvious bugs.
As for who made it:
Supreme Art of Defence
Concept and Design by Edmon
Scripting by Saya
Mapping by Shloober
see:
http://forums.gaspowered.com/viewtopic.php?t=13367
you can post your highscores!
June 15th, 2007 at 11:26 am
To find the map, just put “Supreme Art” into the “Name” field under the search and you’ll find it. I agree, the saerch could be a bit better.
June 15th, 2007 at 11:28 am
fyi – no results were returned both times i loaded GPGNet and tried that search.
June 15th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
i think your searching tools instead of maps. CHECK!
June 15th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Is there a way to download the map without logging into GPGnet? I’m behind a proxy that denies access to it.
June 15th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Just loaded GPG and the Vault up to check out this map. It looks pretty sweet to be sure.
I think wake needs to learn how to type because I searched “Supreme Art” and “Supreme Art of Defence” and came up with the map both times.
I hope we continue to get maps with cool concepts like these.
June 15th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
Man this map is loads of fun! Definitely really hard in the beginning though..
Anyone think it would be possible to have a 2 player coop version of something like this eventually?
Where two people work together to fend off a large attack?
June 15th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
I for one am very glad that the SupCom community is ripping off all of the best Use Maps Settings archetypes from StarCraft and WarCraft III :-D I remember playing Art of Defense many years ago, but it’s better in Supreme Commander. I can’t wait for Legends OpenRPG, tower defense, and DotA to be brought over. GPG should hire Saya part time to develop the custom maps.
June 15th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
There’s a replay on GPGNet of someone beating all 21 waves.
June 15th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Can someone pls upload a new replay with v3?
thx a lot
June 15th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
plaid this one last night a few times i could get anywhere finaly turned on the 2x resource mod and from there went fine :D finsihed all the levels….
BUT i have to say after playing it start to end the START levels are to hard… the finishings levels are fairly easy and id like to see a fatboy (that sits @ max range so u HAVE to go out and get it!) a few more spidy (because of their stealth) a czar or 2 and AS it loops (once u have finished all levels it restarts @ the start) id like to see a T3 arty apear @ the other end of the map (the LEAST accurate one)then every time it loops there would be another arty makeing it harder and harder
June 15th, 2007 at 9:51 pm
Falco: No, it’s just a POS, the Vault. I tried several times and then gave up. Don’t care to exert much more effort than that.
June 16th, 2007 at 12:11 am
After a large amount of trial and error, i got to level 20 and it crashed (version 2). Though it wasn’t that bad because i was expecting it, having read this beforehand. I am trying ver3 right now, but if there are really only 21 levels, i don’t think it will be worth going all the way through it just so i can see the 2 levels I missed.
June 16th, 2007 at 12:38 am
After a large amount of trial and error, i got to level 20 and it crashed (version 2). Though it wasn’t that bad because i was expecting it, having read this beforehand. But i doubt i will play through it all again just to see the last two levels.
June 16th, 2007 at 3:47 am
The next version definitely should contain more levels. 21 is pretty poor ;)
June 17th, 2007 at 6:22 am
Glad your enjoying the map guys, for those who found it too easy, there is now Elite Edition.
Get stuck in :D
June 17th, 2007 at 8:31 am
I have modified it for Co op. Damn its fun with 4 players, hope you dont mind Edmon. Uploaded to map vault after weekends bugs ironed out. still a big work in progress though.
June 17th, 2007 at 9:39 am
actually, can’t upload the map, for some reason its not sending the files. have to wait till tommorrow
June 17th, 2007 at 11:13 am
Version 5 is out!
June 24th, 2007 at 11:17 am
well, this may or not be the right place to ask for a solution to a problem, but i figure the more places i post the greater the chances of getting a response. I downloaded the map from the link that was posted above, placed the map in my “maps” file, however the map wont load. It just leaves me in the :: In Transit :: screen. Also, when the map is in my “Maps” folder, none of the other map seem to work. Some help with this problem would be most helpful. =\
September 11th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Hi Guys
I too downloaded V3 and placed it in my Maps folder. I select skirmish – select the map – select AI – and click launch – it starts to launch but then drops out to the main menu – any ideas?
Thanks
Rooster