It's like TA, but BIGGER.
(This post for computer strategy gamers who don't bother reading the games press much)
There's a new RTS game out, called Supreme Commander. It is, to all intents and purposes, a direct sequel to Total Annihilation (but they're not allowed to say so for legal reasons)
Why do I think this is special? The traditional RTS control system, which pretty much dates back to Command & Conquer and Warcraft 2, becomes a major pain in the proverbial when confronted with large numbers of units (say, greater than 50).
Most RTS games have countered this by coming up with various mechanisms to limit the number of units in-game. TA, on the other hand, changed other things to make it possible to cope with large armies (unlimited build queues, unlimited resources, big maps, big guns, relatively smart units).
Supreme Commander continues that evolution. Most of the innovation is in the UI - the level of control of building and factory production makes every other RTS I've played feel painful. You can assign one factory to assist another, so they co-operatively chew through the same build queue; there's a "repeat this build queue" button so you can leave factories producing your army while you go do something else. Also, the BEST mechanism for handling transport units I have ever seen, which extends to getting transports to assist factories, so that units come straight off the production line and load onto a transport, which then transports them to the rally point halfway across the map, without you having to lift a finger. It's actually possible to get your 200 tanks across a large expanse of water without getting RSI or dying of boredom.
Plus, it's great fun to march a group of MonkeyLords (warning: dialup-unfriendly picture) into your enemy's base and watch them chew it up.
It's not all rosy - some of the pathfinding can be a bit bizzare, especially when attempting to formation-move large naval groups, and experimental units can sometimes get a bit confused and bimble about aimlessly for several seconds, rather then fulfilling their orders (which are typically something like "I'd like a half-kilometre-wide swathe of destruction through the enemy base, please"). Also, SC is a bit of a resource hog. It really wants to be played at a resolution of 1280x1024, at least, if you want to see what's going on properly. I've got an Athlon 64 X2 4600+, with 2GB of ram and a Geforce 7900 GT - not quite an uber-leet gaming rig by today's standards, but it's no slouch, either - and SC has made it stagger under the load a few times.
Overall, though, it's a more-than-worthy successor to the mighty Total Annihilation, and the game currently occupying most of my (rather scarce) free time.
If you want to check it out, there's a bandwidth-busting (1079MB) demo available (which is also on a lot of game magazine cover disks at the moment).
There's a new RTS game out, called Supreme Commander. It is, to all intents and purposes, a direct sequel to Total Annihilation (but they're not allowed to say so for legal reasons)
Why do I think this is special? The traditional RTS control system, which pretty much dates back to Command & Conquer and Warcraft 2, becomes a major pain in the proverbial when confronted with large numbers of units (say, greater than 50).
Most RTS games have countered this by coming up with various mechanisms to limit the number of units in-game. TA, on the other hand, changed other things to make it possible to cope with large armies (unlimited build queues, unlimited resources, big maps, big guns, relatively smart units).
Supreme Commander continues that evolution. Most of the innovation is in the UI - the level of control of building and factory production makes every other RTS I've played feel painful. You can assign one factory to assist another, so they co-operatively chew through the same build queue; there's a "repeat this build queue" button so you can leave factories producing your army while you go do something else. Also, the BEST mechanism for handling transport units I have ever seen, which extends to getting transports to assist factories, so that units come straight off the production line and load onto a transport, which then transports them to the rally point halfway across the map, without you having to lift a finger. It's actually possible to get your 200 tanks across a large expanse of water without getting RSI or dying of boredom.
Plus, it's great fun to march a group of MonkeyLords (warning: dialup-unfriendly picture) into your enemy's base and watch them chew it up.
It's not all rosy - some of the pathfinding can be a bit bizzare, especially when attempting to formation-move large naval groups, and experimental units can sometimes get a bit confused and bimble about aimlessly for several seconds, rather then fulfilling their orders (which are typically something like "I'd like a half-kilometre-wide swathe of destruction through the enemy base, please"). Also, SC is a bit of a resource hog. It really wants to be played at a resolution of 1280x1024, at least, if you want to see what's going on properly. I've got an Athlon 64 X2 4600+, with 2GB of ram and a Geforce 7900 GT - not quite an uber-leet gaming rig by today's standards, but it's no slouch, either - and SC has made it stagger under the load a few times.
Overall, though, it's a more-than-worthy successor to the mighty Total Annihilation, and the game currently occupying most of my (rather scarce) free time.
If you want to check it out, there's a bandwidth-busting (1079MB) demo available (which is also on a lot of game magazine cover disks at the moment).