Supreme Commander - post-release discussion.

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GORDON
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Post by GORDON »

"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
GORDON
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Post by GORDON »

Finished the uEF campaign, 8 missions, got the cut scene.

Finished the Cybran campaign, 8 missions. The game errored when the cut scene started, giving me blue balls. God damn it.

Finished the first mission of the Aeon campaign tonight.

I need a quad core CPU.
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Leisher
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Post by Leisher »

I have completed the Aeon campaign, I'm 1-2 missions away from completing the Cybran campaign, and about 4 missions into the UEF campaign.

I didn't mind the unit caps until I realized that buildings counted against the cap. That sucks, but not a deal breaker.

I really enjoy how each side is portrayed in the different campaigns. In one campaign, you might think the Cybrans are evil, but play through their campaign and you'll see that they're not. It's interesting that these factions are at war and have been for so long, yet none are truly evil, they just have different ideals. Good stuff.
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
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Post by GORDON »

I believe that max-unit-caps are adjustable outside of campaign mode. I think I read... 1000 units per player? In campaign it seems to be capped at less than 500. I'd guess 250, or so.
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Post by Leisher »

In campaign it seems to be capped at less than 500. I'd guess 250, or so.


It depends on where you are at that point.

During the Cybran mission where you have to capture the node to the south, then the one to the west, then two more before the mainframe shoots the EMP...anyway, that mission has three "phases". I noticed that during the second phase my unit cap was 300 and once the third phase started it bumped to 500. So not too bad.
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
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Post by TheCatt »

You don't need a quad core CPU.
Supreme Commander uses two main threads, one for the "simulation" and one for rendering. If a quad-core CPU or equivalent is detected, it will also spawn threads for audio and graphics driver management.

This explains why we only see a minor improvement when moving to quad-core. The audio and driver threads don't hammer the CPU quite the way the simulation and rendering threads do. This might change a bit if you're running audio that requires a lot of CPU intervention—such as integrated audio or sound cards that require a lot of CPU cycles.

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GORDON
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Post by GORDON »

TheCatt wrote:You don't need a quad core CPU.
Supreme Commander uses two main threads, one for the "simulation" and one for rendering. If a quad-core CPU or equivalent is detected, it will also spawn threads for audio and graphics driver management.

This explains why we only see a minor improvement when moving to quad-core. The audio and driver threads don't hammer the CPU quite the way the simulation and rendering threads do. This might change a bit if you're running audio that requires a lot of CPU intervention—such as integrated audio or sound cards that require a lot of CPU cycles.
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I wondered if there might be a .... quad-core patch... in the future.

But good to see my hunch about my integrated audio was correct.
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Cakedaddy
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Post by Cakedaddy »

Your hunch is only correct if your integrated audio chip requires alot of CPU cycles. Your integrated audio chip is a seperate processor that handles sound, just like a sound card does. Some depend on the CPU more than others. And also, read the tech support forums about SC and sound cards. Many people have to disable their expensive sound cards and use no sound or integrated sound only cause of some bug. Unless they've fixed that since the last time I was there.
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Post by GORDON »

Cakedaddy wrote:Your hunch is only correct if your integrated audio chip requires alot of CPU cycles. Your integrated audio chip is a seperate processor that handles sound, just like a sound card does. Some depend on the CPU more than others. And also, read the tech support forums about SC and sound cards. Many people have to disable their expensive sound cards and use no sound or integrated sound only cause of some bug. Unless they've fixed that since the last time I was there.
The card I'm getting is mid-midhigh end and has been out for at least a year, so hopefully drivers are ready by now.......
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Post by Cakedaddy »

I don't think it was a driver issue. . . I think it had to do with how the game. . . did something. I dunno. But, it was an SC issue, not the sound card's fault. So, I suppose it could be fixed with a new driver or something. But still, something to think about. The card will still work with all your other games of course and still worth buying probably. Just saying, be prepared for issues with SC.
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Post by GORDON »

Well then I'll have something new to whine about.... thank god.
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Post by GORDON »

But back on topic... are the experimental units not available during the campaign, or do I just not know how to make them?
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Post by Leisher »

Ditto on the experimental untis. We must be doing something wrong?

The highest unit I've been able to build is the Strategic Submarine. Maybe the experimental units are built at the quantum gate?
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
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Post by Cakedaddy »

Maybe experimental units are only available at the expert level of the campaign. Didn't Red Alert 2 have different story lines depending on the difficulty you selected? I remember playing it on easy and not seeing some of the stuff Leisher described at the time.
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Post by Leisher »

I figured it out and I'm not telling anyone. Now I will crush you all in multi.

The big guns are found by clicking a construction unit and then choosing the fourth level of construction.

Just used a few experimental weapons to finish off the Cybran campaign.

By the way, I really like the endings.
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
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Post by Cakedaddy »

Nigga please. I already knew how to get them in skirmish mode. I figured it was a campaign limitation or something. Not that you didn't know how to navigate the menus.

The thing that took me longest to figure out was the dotted vs solid red line for ranged attack units. I would build big guns and couldn't figure out how to fire them. Finally saw that the solid line was the shortest distance it could fire and dotted was the longest. Still trying to figure out what upgrades are worth it and such though.
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Post by GORDON »

So. Hmmm. You don't need to access the 4th level of factory... a 3rd level of c-unit can build 4th level units?
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Post by Leisher »

I noticed it on one of the support units I built on the Quantum Gateway. I believe I also built one using another ACU in the final Cybran mission. So maybe they are only available via the ACUs?
"Happy slaves are the worst enemies of freedom." - Marie Von Ebner
"It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies..." - Orwell
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Post by GORDON »

SupCom: Forged Alliance

http://gameinfowire.com/news.asp?nid=10762

Expansion.

I'll be getting it... hopefully I'll have my quad core CPU by then so I can run it.
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Post by GORDON »

I've got the SupCom expansion on the way from amazon, so if any of you faggots wanted to multi you'll need it.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
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