"What are the major differences in gameplay between Supreme Commander and its predecessor, Total Annihilation? Is it significantly different or just evolved?"
Well, I got through a 4 commander game on that huge map. I've read that 4 players are all that's allowed online.
It's like an evolved Strategic Conquest. If you're familiar with StratCon you'll be able to play this without cracking the manual. The main improvement is the ability to zoom in and out with the mouse wheel. Zoomed out, it displays the units as pictographic symbols common to strategic games. Or, you can zoom in to ground level and a large unit will fill the screen. My main way of moving around a map now is to zoom out where I am and zoom in where I want to be. You can "pan" 360 degrees at ground level with the spacebar. The higher level engineers can build lower level units, if you choose. I'm still discovering things I can do..
It's also got 3 factions, and all the factions have slightly different arms. They all have 3 different, giant, super units like the Krogoth in StratCon each. All factions have nukes, nuclear submarines and ABM systems. They all have sheild and stealth capabilities in some units.
There are an entire menu of AI's, and in this game, the top AI's are fairly good, unlike Strategic Conquest.
There's so much there, I'm expecting humans to develop some real devious and wicked strategies. There's a LOT of different ways to win, or lose. |
