If you have been playing the Beta, you already know what the new gameplay is like. There have been some balance changes between the Beta and the Release versions, these have been posted on the FA website and are relatively minor; probably the most noticable one being the Monkeylord being made substantially cheaper. Otherwise, there are quite a few interesting topics to post on.

There are of course new maps in ranked play. Several of these are relatively small, so lots of intense T1 action will be had. Of particular notice is the number of maps with substantial water, water is now very common in ranked play and of course with all the amphibious, naval, and air units available now it is a whole new battlefield; water really isn’t much of an obstacle to action anymore. Overall the amount of mass spots in the new maps seems to be quite large as well. Most of the original maps had 4 with maybe a few more nearby, but the newer maps seem to have as many as 5 or 6 at the starting location with many more in the nearby area. This plus the wreckage available on many maps makes mass easy to come by.

The importance of the commander is more noticable than ever. One of the new 5×5 maps features a small triangular island in the center that both players start on. I’ve only played one game on it so far, but not surprisingly it resulted in a draw. Both I and my opponent pushed hard with our comms and, with no-where for either of us to run to, we eventually both went down in a double explosion. I see this being a lot more common; comms are now so much more powerful and important on a battlefield dominated by T1, and using your comm for map control is so critical now that map control is more important. Therefore, on the smaller maps comms will be duking it out regularly and skillfully using your comm is going to become quite critical. I would rate this as a positive development overall, but on maps like the one I mentioned (don’t know its name off the top of my head) it will certainly make for a lot more draws.

Personally, I’m having a lot of fun. When SupCom first came out I had my “First Happy Time” as I tromped all over people who had no clue how SupCom worked, while I with my Total Annihilation experience was able to dominate. Now, having spent time playing and studying the beta for FA, I’m once again enjoying a “Happy Time” crushing people who are totally unused to the new FA playstyle. I know this is shortlived, but I’ll enjoy it all the same!

For replays I do think GameReplays.org is about as good as it gets. It has just about everything you suggested, a scoring system as well as comment discussion on individual games. The replay reviews are even better, with the strengths/weaknesses of each player discussed. It may not be Supcom specific and it does require a login but the SupCom section is still pretty well done and there is a lot of good discussion there.

As for discussing tactics and intricate supcom stuff… what better place than Supcomtalk.com! Man I need to get permission to actually make posts here, there is a lot of stuff worth posting about right now.

Still congrats to Sir_Loui for a second place finish, and thanks to him also for continuing to help keep SupCom Talk alive.