Rumors

E3 Coverages - Posted by El_Castro

Rumour: Supreme Commander Universe will be providing full day-by-day coverage at E3 2006, featuring a marathon lineup of interviews with Gas Powered developers!

XML unit/AI files - Posted by Nexus

Several sources have said that SupCom is taking advantage of easy to use XML files for both unit and AI scripting. Units will have only 2 files to deal with when making or modifying them and will come with a simple unit editor. All those mod groups will be very happy.

Maps are fricken HUGE!! - Posted by Nexus

By all accounts, the maps in SupCom are going to range from "normal" to "holy crap, that's fricken insane!" The largest maps should provide 4+ hours of gameplay.

Interview - Posted by Nexus

SupComU will get an interview with Chris Taylor!

Confirmed! Obviously I knew this was coming!

Westwood to acquire TA engine source code - Posted by El_Castro

I've got a couple of reports - my sources state that the information is unconfirmed - that RTS veteran, Westwood, is gearing up to make a bid to purchase full franchise rights and engine source from Atari* of the Total Annihilation engine.

With Atari liquidating assets like there's no tomorrow (Maybe there isn't! ^_^), having installed a revolving door on their boardroom, reports like this that would normally be somewhat doubtful do not seem so far-fetched.

The value of the TA source is supposedly still in the multimillions, however the impending release of Supreme Commander would put pressure on Atari to do something with that IP, or risk losing the capital it provides them with altogether.

If true, this could represent a change in the style of Westwood RTS games, and Westwood traditionally being something of a leader in the genre, a change in the way all RTS games are made. A greater move away from rock-paper-scissors design philosphies would be welcomed by RTS fans, and would introduce competition into the market, forcing other gaming-houses to attempt to match the ambition of the Newtonian engine used by TA and Supreme Commander.

We'll just have to wait and see on this one.

*The Company Formerly Known As Infogrames... it's kinda like Prince, you know?

Terrain-specific Units - Posted by El_Castro

To cope with the Rumored terrain variations, we have heard that GPG will be making units designed specifically to deal with these unique obstacles. Advanced sensors capable of penetrating desert dust clouds, small kamakaze bomb units to lurk beneath the mud of swamps, vehicles designed specifically to terraform (ie, create a quicksand flat or drill the top off of a mountain), and even a sort of light lava-transport for launching surprise surgical strikes on enemy interests.

Terrain Traction - Posted by El_Castro

Word on the street is that Supreme Commander will feature different terrain properties. These will range from avalanche-prone mountain-slopes, slippery wet-snow covered ground, dusty desert-scapes which kick up sensor-jamming and LOS-limiting dust, grassy plains hiding swamps that quickly turn to mud with too much vehicle traffic causing wheeled vehicles to become bogged. Rocky and firm ground will offer the highest movement speeds.

So, you want to be careful which slope you park your long-range tanks on, or a missile could see them sliding down the mountain and covered in snow. Pick your path carefully through the swamps, or risk having our army hopelessly hampered by quicksand. Run fast light vehicles across desert flats after picking your targets to jam enemy retailiations!

So we hear, anyway.

Limited Resources!! - Posted by Nexus

There is talk that SUPCOM will have limited resources!! This would not pertain to the energy resource as that is still unlimited, but the other...watch out!.


Confirmed as false. Chris Taylor said in his interview with Jeux-Strategie.com that Supreme Commander will use a model of infinite resources.

Lua scripting? - Posted by Nexus

Lua appears to be the scripting language of choice for SUPCOM. All you modders had better download the tutorials and get busy learning it!.

Confirmed! Although not too hard to figure out since the GPG job page is looking for a Lua scriptor.

Gmax(SeigeMax), SupComMax?? - Posted by Nexus

GPG is using another variation of Gmax, like the current SeigeMax, for all unit creation. Although similar to the previous, the new one, SupComMax (SCM), will be much stronger and yet easier to use.
Turns out to not be true. GPG is going with 3DStudio Max for SupCom.

Fourth race - Posted by Nexus

When GPG started the game, they had a 4th race called the Hedren, which was a completly alien race in nature. Very buglike and extremely mean. They decided to not include them in the game, but may introduce them in an expansion.

Different worlds - Posted by Nexus

SUPCOM will have at least as many distinct environments to fight on as TA, including swamps, red planet, forest, water and tundra worlds. However there will be no return of the ever popular metal worlds in SUPCOM.

Confirmed, mostly. Tundra, redrock, and swamp mentioned and "The metal worlds were very specific to TA, so we won't be exploring those for Supreme Commander, as this game has different fiction, and is not related to the fiction of the TA universe."

Fully Customizable GUI - Posted by Nexus

Supreme Commander may have a fully user customizable GUI, so you can make the menus look however you want in your game as well as be able to move them around to where you want on your screen.

Supreme Commander.. OH YES! - Posted by Nexus

The Supreme Commanders may carry tactical nukes of their own. It is unknown how many he starts with, if he builds more, or even if the feature will be in the game.

Confirmed! Again from the Gamespy Q&A with Chris Taylor: "but who said Short-range tactical nukes and a Supreme Commander don't mix?"

Co-op Missions - Posted by Nexus

It has been alluded to that Supreme Commander may have co-operative multiplayer missions with up to 10 players working towards a goal.

Confirmed!! Although the total number of players isn't fully known, "...we are introducing a new cooperative-style mode which allows at least two players to play through the single-player campaign as a team." per the Gamespy/CT Q&A