Supreme Commander v3260 patch is released
The v3260 patch for Supreme Commander came out yesterday. This was the patch that was announced over a month and a half ago with the promise of “You asked for them. They’re coming.” As was correctly speculated, “they” turned out to be new units; specifically, T2 fighter/bombers for UEF and Cybran and a T2 cruise missile for Aeon. First, the patch notes:
New units!
- UEF T2 Bomber
- Aeon Guided Missile
- Cybran T2 Bomber
Bug fixes and other changes:
- Fixed an issue with Ferry Beacon guarding
- Visual tweaks to UEF shield effect
- Horde AI will now utilize T3 land units
- Performance improved when showing waypoint lines
- Fixed crash bug associated with air units refueling/repairing on air staging platforms
- Air superiority has been retuned across all three factions.
The forums are rife with complaints about how overpowered the Aeon cruise missile is. The arguments do sound compelling — the missile is ridiculously fast, and its counters, massive shielding and T2 flak AA, are more expensive and can’t be built as quickly. The cruise missiles do 3,000 damage each, enough to take out a T2 power generator for a large economic advantage, or four of them can take down a commander. I haven’t yet had a chance to download and play the patch because I’m in the middle of moving and I don’t have access to my desktop computer on weekdays.
And the rumors of SupComTalk’s demise are greatly exaggerated. This is just really not a good time for Grokmoo and me; we’re both busy with moving and jobs. I can’t help but feel that you readers didn’t take my desperate plea seriously enough. The alternative, that none of you are capable of or interested in writing about Supreme Commander, is too sad to consider. I only got one post out of that plea, which was much, much less than I was hoping for. We need at least several semi-regular contributing writers. Several people did contact me, but apart from that one post, nobody even followed up after that. Come on Supreme Commander community, you can do better. We’ve written for this site nearly every day since the beginning of March, so some of you should help us out when we’re temporarily no longer able to continue that pace.
July 31st, 2007 at 9:20 pm
The new Aeon missile is definitely a problem. I was able to beat an average opponent with them even though I don’t know how to play as Aeon (all Cybran for me). The problem is that every team used to be about the same, but now Aeon has a unit that makes them just a little better than the other teams. Even just building a t2 air factory forces your opponent to drops so many resources into air defense that he has already lost.
Also, there was another patch released today. Does anyone know what it did because the missiles were still over powered?
July 31st, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Another patch? Are you perhaps referring to the GPGNet patch that was released a few hours after the SupCom v3260 patch? GPGNet patches should not impact the in-game dynamics of Supreme Commander in any possible way, as far as I know…
July 31st, 2007 at 9:55 pm
GPGnet now has a Mod Vault, so that’s probably what the GPGnet patch was doing. And no, it won’t affect gameplay.
July 31st, 2007 at 10:08 pm
I found that t1 stationary AA, with cybran, was an effective enough counter, or at least deterrent, against Mercies in a match I played on Roanoke today. But on land maps shelling out the resources for a full field of AA coverage, simply because your opponent has upgraded his air fact to t2, will quickly put you behind in the land battle I think. Yet, there’s also the counter argument that the opponent quickly jumping to t2 air will put them behind in the land battle. I think we need more time to see exactly what changes the mercy means to strategy – jumping on the over-powered bandwagon may be a little preemptive.
July 31st, 2007 at 11:01 pm
i plaid a skirmish against AI on sentons today… and myself being in the frount starting place i could shoot anywhere on the map…
now i know this was AI and they had no planes partoling…..
but i do think the range might need ot be reduced…. and building them on a czar is just HARSH!!!! because u can lanuch about 50 @ one (aiming them is a diffrent matter as they dont auto target!)
but shields and AA seems to take care of them… and haveing fighters up and patroling means even less are likely to get thru
as for the UEF and the cybran
Cybran unit sucks ive found its good for a flyby shooting @ units… bot not realy for bases or anything
UEF the UEF bomber is basicly the lvl 1 bomber with a bit more damagae and HP
good for both hitting units and hitting bases due to the leval of napam!
BUT one thing i have noticed (need to double check)
they dont drop their bombs if they are just told to fly over something… where as the T1 bombers do
if this is true this gives a MASSIVE disavantage to the unit meaning that the each plane will need to be targeted manauly
August 1st, 2007 at 2:05 am
The one thing I’ve seen nobody mention about the Mercy is that, whether or not it’s a horrible unbalanced overpowered monster unit, it also forces the person using it to micromanage. That’s against the basic SupCom philosophy.
Mercies can’t land to refuel, they can’t be told to patrol and attack targets of opportunity (apparently Mercies will patrol if you give the patrol orders to the factory making them, but they still won’t attack anything), and their very small fuel supply means you have to pay a lot of attention to them or they’ll be wasted.
On the one hand, people SHOULD have to work to make a high-leverage strategy like this pay off, and the fact that an un-micromanaged crowd of Mercies generally gets picked off by AA much more effectively than a smaller group is the only thing that stops them from being a total game-ender every time.
But SupCom isn’t meant to be a game of micromanagement, like WhateverCraft. In micro-heavy Blizzard-type RTS games it’s all about using the particular special abilities of your weird and wonderful units, and you have to be fast with the keyboard shortcuts or you’ll get obliterated. SupCom is meant to be more strategic, without that sort of stuff.
(Another area where the low-micro SupCom philosophy fails is the Support Commander Upgrade Treadmill. Again, a very effective strategy, but it requires a lot of repetitive clicking through the clumsy upgrade interface.)
Mercies with their current stats that didn’t require any more micro than, say, tanks, would be a game-breaker. But if you have to force behaviours on the player that contradict the basic nature of the game in order to make some add-on function, and make special exceptions in the behaviour of the unit too (only attack-capable unit that can’t attack automatically, only unit that needs to refuel but can’t, only unit that dies when it runs out of fuel…), then I think that may be a sign that the add-on belongs in some OTHER game.
August 1st, 2007 at 2:20 am
I haven’t played supcom in a while so I’m not up to date on the last few patches – but I wonder – what makes the unit different from tactical missiles? I’m assuming they’re at least economically superior.
August 1st, 2007 at 3:23 am
The major advantages:
1. Across-the-map range. Only a minute or two of fuel, but flies as fast as a scout (faster?).
2. Immune to tactical and strategic antimissile systems. Only ten hit points and can be shot down by AA fire…
3. …but when it actually dives to attack, a Mercy goes poof and turns into a collection of pretty streamers which cannot be shot down. If you’re particularly unlucky, it flies through your shield in “plane mode”, THEN turns into the streamers (which would otherwise hit the shield).
4. Built in an ordinary Tech 2 aircraft factory. No special facility needed.
5. Guided. Tactical missiles attack where you click; Mercies attack the unit you click, even if it’s moved.
6. Splash damage. Max damage to any one hit unit is I think 3000hp (a lot, but less than a tac-missile), but a single Mercy can knock out three or four T2 units, or heavily damage three or four T3 bots.
7. Can attack air units. Soul Rippers die horribly if attacked by a greatly smaller value of Mercies.
August 1st, 2007 at 3:26 am
@JRPereira: They aren’t missiles as such – they are fully controllable aircraft, that attack by exploding into a flashy cluster of missiles when they get close enough. They are not targetted by tactical or strategic missile defence, and they can be flown anywhere on the map (though they have a short fuel supply and can’t refuel, so they can’t fly for very long). They’re built at a T2 air factory or in a Czar, like any other aircraft.
I don’t find them overpowered, because with even 1 flak cannon as defence, they go down very fast. They’re not cheap either.
August 1st, 2007 at 3:28 am
I was interested, but my english is too bad.
I can write in french, but english…
Oh dude, your blog is so cool don’t throw it away !
:)
August 1st, 2007 at 5:25 am
The mercies definately seem too powerful. I’d be inclined to say tactical missile defence should work against them, at least to some extent. They shouldn’t be guided also. It’d be fairer if you could dodge them if you saw them coming.
August 1st, 2007 at 8:39 am
I don’t like them, I think the Aeon should have got t2 bombers aswell, similar to the t1 ones but better, or they should drop multiple bombs
August 1st, 2007 at 9:42 am
I like the change in gameplay, the different reasons to choose different races. A little change in strategy is all that is required to adapt, give it a week or 2 and learn the effective counters. They ARE expensive and easily lost, they are a high risk high reward unit. Find the economical counter and hey presto, no more cries of “Nerf!”.
Give it some time ladies.
August 1st, 2007 at 12:33 pm
I have only tried the new units in a few games against some AI and i like them so far. the aeon missle seems like it is powerful but oh well, i like the diversity in factions, i think it should make for some interesting games. and the Cybran T2 Bomber is good to have a few on base defence petroll if you have some support up for them too up there too. havnt tried the UEF one that much yet but i like the napalm effect for it :D. YAY for faction diversity :D
August 1st, 2007 at 3:08 pm
@ Daniel rutter: your complaints of the cruise missile are all shortcomings, yes.
However if those were eliminated, it would behave like a kamikaze aircraft, whereas it is in fact a CRUISE MISSILE. a missile does not patrol an area, refuel, or pick targets automatically. When a cruise missile is launched it should already have a target.
you want it to behave in a fundamentally different manner, forgetting that though it is controllable as an aircraft, it is not a true aircraft at all.
of course a missile crashes when it runs out of fuel. it is kept in the air entirely by the rocket motor. it has no lift, or gliding ability, unlike an airplane.
August 1st, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Laconic Youth: Umm, actually, cruise missiles sure as hell do create lift using wings. Hence the word “cruise” in the name. The Tomahawk cruise missile, for instance, has a range of 2,500 km and travels at a speed of about 880 km/hr. As you can see, it stays in the air for about three hours. That’s much longer than the very short flight time afforded to these so-called future weapons in Supreme Commander, but then again, SupCom isn’t realistic at all, and isn’t really meant to be.
August 2nd, 2007 at 3:00 am
FYI T2 bombers will pick targets on patrol.
August 2nd, 2007 at 4:50 am
The community seems to consist of fat and lazy four year olds. So WTF ? A new version with a new unit appeared.
Your old tactics and build scripts need to be reevaluated. Cybrans who used to have all the advantage now don’t have it so easy anymore. Yes, you need to do some work now, maybe lose a few games until you develop new strategies. Instead of waiting a few weeks to see how things develop, players are in tears everywhere and complaining like four year olds.
Oh NOOOO. NOT FAIR… MOMMYY!!
Oh how they cry in fury.
It’s pathetic.
August 2nd, 2007 at 7:54 am
I’ve just had a thought, what does the AA prioritize now? would it still fire at a bomber over the guided missile? I bet GPG have forgotten to put it in :P lol
October 2nd, 2007 at 2:05 pm
So now that this patch has released, and “Air Superiority has been retuned across all three factions,” have the problems with the ASF’s been fixed?
What is different with Air Superiority now?