NEW. TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT. [SOLVED]

[crimson]

I've been playing Starcraft 2 since it released. Played Broodwar a bit before. I never played Supreme Commander. Only saw previews. I was always interested in checking it out because it looked really advanced. But I didn't have a decent PC at the time. When SC2 released, I thought it would be something similar to what Supreme Commander looked like. But it wasn't. It was just a better looking version of SC1 with different game play and some enhancements.

I just thought Supreme Commander probably wasn't good or something because I never really saw it in esports or heard much about it. So even though I always thought I'd check it out one day, I never really thought about it again. A friend recently recommended it. But he said Forged Alliance was better than Supreme Commander 2. Then I ended up trying to research the difference. And found this place. I never knew people actually played this so I'm interested in trying it out. There's just a few things I'm confused about.

Why Forged Alliance? I figured if there was going to be a website like this, it would be using Supreme Commander 2. Is Supreme Commander 2 worse? I thought the sequel would have a more advanced engine than the original. Like you can see a huge difference between Starcraft 1 and Starcraft 2. There's still people who enjoy Broodwar, but SC2 for the vast majority is hands down a more advanced engine. So is Supreme Commander 2 less advanced than the first one? I don't understand why the first one is recommended over the sequel for competitive play.

Another thing I don't understand is why this site? Like for Starcraft, Blizzard continues to update and balance it. But this site is now developing and updating it independently of GPG? Did the original developer just discontinue development of Supreme Commander? Are they working on a third game in the series?

Supreme Commander really does seem much more technologically advanced than Starcraft. It seems like you can just do way more, and has a much better ability to manage large amounts of objects. Whereas SC2 is great and fun, it seems SupCom just looks like a much more advanced game. Which is the whole reason I was shocked that SC2 didn't look more similar to SupCom when it released. It came out after Forged Alliance, so I figured it would be more advanced. So my question in this regard is if SupCom should be as highly regarded as SC2, but for whatever reason, isn't? I know SC2 has had a long history in popular esports. Especially being enormous in Korea. So I was thinking that SupCom might be just as good if not better. Just never gained the same level of popularity because of other reasons?

The last thing is if I need a copy of the game? Or does this place have a more updated developed free version I can just download? If I do need the game, do I need an official copy like activated and linked to the original developer? Or can I just use my friend's copy?

[Androish]

I will give you my 5 cents

Why Forged Alliance?

Supreme commander 2 was a huge disappointment for alot of supreme commander fans. Gameplay was dummed down. probably alot of other reasons to but that was my reason.

Another thing I don't understand is why this site?

The company that made the game GPG had a client called GPGnet that you could host games with. But they stopped supporting it and after a while it went totaly offline.
At first this client was started alongside GPGnet to be able to get more features. patches etc and eventually GPGnet shut down completly. Now you can only play it through steam for Online but the steam matchmaking is far inferior to FAF in terms of setting up games, playing with mods, ladder etc.

Supreme Commander really does seem much more technologically advanced than Starcraft.

Supreme commander never had the same name behind it as do starcraft. And not the same financial backing.
Had supreme commander been released by Blizzard today I'm sure it would have become hugely popular
Also probly other reasons too. Maybe it carters to a too small audience. learning curve is steep etc.

The last thing is if I need a copy of the game?

Yes and no. You need a copy of the game to play. but there is no check if it is a legal copy or not. but I would advice you to just buy it off steam. atm it is 80% off.
http://store.steampowered.com/sub/11732/

[briang]

I would suggest picking this up on steam right now. Best 3$ you'll spend in a long time.

[crimson]

OK thanks for the info. That clears up alot. I thought the reason it didn't get popular was because of balance or not being very good competitively. So since it seems people actually think it's worthwhile, I'll check it out.

I'm completely against Steam. I buy my games elsewhere from legit sites unless Steam has a game for much lower price that I don't really care about. But most sites can be just as competitive in pricing as Steam. For SupCom/FA, I'd just buy it from another vendor since it's something I'm probably going to get into. Not giving a cent to Steam unless absolutely necessary.