Supreme Commander Talk

In an attempt to add a little variety to the replay reviews we have done here on SupCom Talk, today I’ll be looking at a 1v1 match on Roanoke Abyss. Many of you have been clamoring for more replay reviews recently, and so we are trying to deliver. Also keep in mind that if you click on the Replays link under Categories on the right hand side of the page, you can access all the old replay reviews we have done, and there are quite a few.

This match was played by Djinn as Cybran and Sir_Loui as Aeon. Right off the bat, this gives Loui something of an advantage, since his T1 tanks are amphibious. However, this is less of an issue now than it was before the v3251 patch, because frigates can now eat T1 tanks for breakfast.

Both players begin with a fairly standard build order, getting both a land factory and an air factory up quickly. They both make immediate use of their air factory by building an air transport, a crucial early tactic when playing 1v1 on Roanoke Abyss. With an air transport, they are able to move engineers to the ample far-off mass deposits much more quickly than they could otherwise. Both players also make heavy use of reclamation patrols early on to boost mass income. On maps like Roanoke with lots of reclaimable mass, this is very important for early economic expansion.

As is typical on Roanoke Abyss, early action is dominated by skirmishing over the 4 unoccupied starting positions. The preferred strategy for this seems to be dropping engineers from transports and then quickly constructing a factory. This gives the player much more staying power on a given island than they would have otherwise, as even several engineers can be destroyed very easily.

By 10 minutes in, Loui is in a clear economic lead, having secured more mass spots more quickly than Djinn. He is also beginning to make use of Aurora T1 tanks to harass Djinn’s forces. Djinn, however, has built a fleet of subs and seems to be in a position to gain naval superiority. Even with a strong economy, this would likely spell disaster for Loui, as his opponent would then be in a strong position to attack Loui’s main base directly with destroyers.

Skirmishing continues, with Loui losing an expansion base before he can even finish building it to Djinn’s frigates. Djinn also makes good tactical use of his sub forces, sending them around to the rear of Loui’s base to decimate his naval factories. Loui, however, has built a sizable force of T1 tanks and has Djinn’s main base largely surrounded. At about 14 minutes in, he begins an assault of Djinn’s base in earnest. This attack, however, is turned back by T2 point defense and T2 mobile missile launchers.

Fighting continues, with Djinn relying on fleets of subs and frigates, and Loui making heavy use of T1 tanks. He also builds some T2 torpedo bombers, which work to good effect against Djinn’s subs. Loui has clear superiority at this point, but neither player seems to have killing power quite yet. However, the observant viewer will notice that Loui has invested in a T3 air factory, which pays off at this point. Making use of his interceptor superiority, he easily gets enough strategic bombers through Djinn’s air defense to assassinate Djinn’s commander, winning the match.

Overall, this was a fun match to watch, because the two players employed rather different strategies. Loui was clearly dominant by the end, but this was more due to his superior economic development rather than his combat tactics.

Download the replay of this match here (v3255).

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 14th, 2007 at 11:17 pm by Grokmoo and is filed under Multiplayer, Replays, Strategy. Keywords: Tags: navy, Replays, Roanoke Abyss, Strategy, Supreme Commander. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.