Forged Alliance E3 Impressions
Gamespot has the scoop on the upcoming Supreme Commander Forged Alliance details that were revealed at this year’s E3. Besides confirming a number of things we’ve previously reported on this site, quite a few interesting new tidbits have been released.
First off, it is confirmed that there will be a total of 110 new units, with about 10 units each for the existing factions, leaving about 80 for the new faction, the Seraphim. Details on two new experimental units have been confirmed, as well. The huge “Monkeyking” is actually an amphibious mobile factory that moves faster underwater than on land. It also sports an impressive 12 torpedo launchers, which should allow it to shred navies with ease. Perhaps these abilities will add a little more variety to naval battles, which currently focus almost exclusively on gaining sub superiority. The other experimental shown thus far is the huge Seraphim experimental bomber, which drops mini-nukes and also has anti-aircraft capability.
Besides experimentals, a few other units have also been confirmed. The UEF (and perhaps the other factions?) get a powerful new T3 point defense. UEF commanders will also have the option to build the impressively powerful T3 mobile missile launchers. It also looks likely that all 4 factions will now have a T3 armored bot more powerful than the current SAB. Cybran players will get the brick, and UEF players will receive an as-yet unnamed T3 armored bot. It is a pretty good bet that the Aeon will also be getting a new T3 bot of some kind.
These announcements are good news indeed, and it looks very likely that with Forged Alliance, our T3 unit selection will be substantially enlarged. 10 new units per faction doesn’t sound like a lot, but it will presumably be all in combat units, most of which will probably be T3 or experimental. This means players will indeed have a lot of new options when Forged Alliance is released in November.
July 11th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
well i just HOPE the UEF get a air expermental… it would be about time!!!!
i cant wait!!! move it i want it to be november!!!
July 11th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
“t is a pretty good bet that the Aeon will also be getting a new T3 bot of some kind.”
If you watch the trailer you see a bot that looks like a Harb but with a different “head”
July 12th, 2007 at 12:56 am
Watch the UEF’s new experimental unit be a floating Mavor that costs 500K mass. It would seem to fit with the theme …
Anyway, is anyone else disappointed that we’re only getting one new experimental unit per faction? I was expecting two.
July 12th, 2007 at 5:03 am
Two new experimentals per faction would have been really nice.
July 12th, 2007 at 5:09 am
zomg cool news.
July 12th, 2007 at 5:10 am
Oh, and if you can read French : http://www.clubic.com/actualite-76543-e3-premier-contact-supcom-forged-alliance.html
More info there !
July 12th, 2007 at 8:44 am
Hm, most stuf sounds interessting, but T3 PD? Argh, more turteling ahead… but on the other hand, T3 MMs sound like the right way to break this. So let’s see how the new balance turns out.
July 12th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
The units further up the tech tree are always the ones that get used least. I’d rather see more interesting units at the t2 and t3 stages than more experimentals.
July 12th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
I think that one experimental unit per faction for this release is fair (being that we currently lack variety in T3 levels, and that experimentals are not frequently used in ranked matches). If ever there’s another expansion/stand-alone, I’d expect some additional Krogoth-esque units…keep in mind that the Seraphim will likely have the same amount of experimental units as the other 3 factions, meaning in reality, we are getting as many as 7 new experimentals (almost twice as many as were there before!) in this stand-alone release.
July 12th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Cyde Ways: How about a Scothor, 700k mass, rapid fire mavor, Power and range of the mavor, firing speed of the scathis :P lol
If that actually happened it would suck but still be funny :D
July 12th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
I think an interesting unit could be some sort of anti-artillery flak shield. It would be similar to a TMD, only perhaps less accurate, or maybe it could break up the artillery piece and disperse its damage over a wider area on the ground. I’m excited about the T3 pd’s and mml’s, those are both units that I’ve missed.
July 12th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
I would like to see:
Multiple Rocket Launcher units - these units rapid fire a salvo of individually relatively inaccurate missiles at ground targets.
A new Air Superiority/Interceptor unit - this T3 aircraft would fire longish range high speed guided anti air missiles that are strong enough to kill most non-experimental air units (perhaps broadswords and other gun ships would be too tough to kill in one shot?), use of wich would rapidly drain the unit’s fuel to the tune of 40pct (IE - 2 shots + enough fuel to go somewhere and come back)
Counter battery units (possibly incorporated into existing units?) that would attempt to return fire based on the predicted launch point of an incoming projectile.
Amphibious Transport units - essentially a large hover craft that can carry a sizable number of units across the water.
Demolitions units - a tier 2 stealthy unit that is intended to slip into an enemy base, and attack key facilities - perhaps with a weapon that can only affect installatons
Drop units - a tier 2 unit that can either teleport, or that is designed to ‘drop’ from an air transport - even to the point that if the air transport they are in is killed, they do not insta die but instead deploy at that point.
Strategic Land Atttack Aircraft - a tier 3 bomber, large, slow, expensive, that fires a pair of tactical missiles at land targets - IE a true stand off weapon. The existance of tactical missile defenses prevents this from being a game winner to the person who has air control, but . . .
Mobile TMD - Probably a T3 ground vehicle - it would be nice if this unit could also perform as an anti air unit as well.
‘Sniper’ Bots - A T2 ground bot with a long range (but direct fire so as to require clear LoS) capability. It would also have the same short range weapon as the applicable light bot
millions of new maps :)
July 12th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
If the reports of 10 new units per faction are accurate, I’d guess the breakdown will look something like this:
1) 3 T1 units per faction
2) 3 T2 units per faction
3) 3 T3 units per faction
4) 1 Experimental per faction. I believe this is more or less confirmed.
If such is the case, I imagine you’ll see 1 air/land/sea unit per tech level per faction. This probably won’t be exactly how it turns out, as we already know that UEF gets the T3 MML and the T3 PD, so that’s two T3 land units there. And SupCom is somewhat asymmetrical, case in point Broadswords. Nevertheless, I’d imagine the breakdown will be something along these lines.
July 13th, 2007 at 7:07 am
You know it’s nice to talk about units and all, but how about the more important things that we’re lacking in SupCom?
How about a polished map editor that actually makes map making a pleasant experience and has a functional, ergonomic GUI and menu system?
How about the ability to restrict any unit or structure from a skirmish or multiplayer game like we had in TA?
How about improving the memory usage and footprint so it doesn’t require 64bit OS and 4+GB of RAM just to play a decent game on a 40×40 or 81×81 map when it clearly shouldn’t and GPG has admitted they made mistakes in the game that led to its current exorbitant memory usage?
How about better AI pathfinding routines that don’t completely whore the player’s CPU, and that don’t set waypoints for land units in unreachable places?
I’d better stop before I start digging up the dozens of other things people were looking for in SupCom and the issues we have with SupCom… you get the idea. These are the things we need to hear about. Units are fun to talk about but what about the REAL issues?
July 13th, 2007 at 11:16 am
I find it interesting that instead of giving the Cybran some naval power by giving them a water Experimental, we get a walker that is more powerful in the water. I’m not complaining, it just looks interesting……
Also, I perdict that T3 point defence means that just building SABs is not the answer anymore. Knocking out PD first using artillery (mobile or otherwise) airstrike, or Experimental power becomes first prioriety, and SABs can then proceed to knock out the base.
And as far as system improvments:
Fix the coordinated attack system
Create “Coordinated Assault”: Hold down a button (Maybe Alt) while issuing attack orders. While you hold the button, no one attacks. When you release it, all attacking groups go to their respective destinations at about the same time. This would allow you to assault from multiple sides or attack multiple places at the same time, making it that much harder to defend against
And yes, I agree: Clean up the goddamn programming so that we can play a larger map without getting lagged out!