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The mod community will go nuts over this game. Gas Powered Games are claiming the game is very mod-friendly, and it seems to be true. There is a mod selector in the main menu, and several mods have already been released. Hopefully AI mods will be along shortly.

Shipped with the game are oodles of skirmish multiplayer maps of all shapes and sizes, along with single player campaigns for each of the three factions. These start with relatively short “learning the ropes” missions, moving up to epic 4 hour battles. These are fun, but I believe the main focus in Supreme Commander is the multiplayer competitive aspect. And rightly so.



Multiplayer is controlled by a separate program called GPGnet. It includes chatrooms, clan control, ranked ladders and downloadable replays, along with the usual game hosting. It also gives news and game updates. The program, like the game, is functional but not entirely bug-free or streamlined.

Random crashes are apparently common at present, probably due to an issue with graphics and sound drivers. I cannot comment however, as the game has never crashed on me. Speaking of sound, I am unimpressed. The sound effects are okay, but I would prefer some more variety in the whirring and the booming and the zapping.



The three factions are the United Earth Federation, the Cybran Nation and the Aeon Illuminate. The UEF are the most traditional faction, somewhat resembling a modern army. Their art is based on right angles and straight lines, with boxy looking units. They are best at land combat, using explosive artillery and tank shells. Their coolest experimental unit is the Fatboy, a giant rolling factory with guns all over it. When the Fatboy stops, you can spawn an army from it’s backside. It is easily defeated from the air.

The Cybrans are part human, part machine. They have a spiky, triangular style and prefer lasers as weapons. They have two excellent experimental units; one is a spiderbot with a giant laser gun for a nose. The other is a flying gunship.



The Aeon are humans who follow the religion of a dead alien race. As you might be able to guess, their style is rounded and glowing. They use energy weapons with splash damage, and are sea specialists. Their tech level 1 tanks can float on water, making them a very effective early game weapon on water maps. They have a flying saucer as one of their experimental units, shooting a deadly beam directly below it. The unit has to move over whatever it wants to kill, making it vulnerable to anti-air turrets which are spread out. It can also hold many, many planes inside it, allowing you to release them over an enemy base after all of the anti-air guns are focussed on the heavily armored saucer.

I believe the faction balancing is quite well done, and I do not loathe or love any faction over another. They have sacrificed some variability in the units from faction to faction, however this makes for fairer online play.



Chris Taylor has publicly stated that his goal for Supreme Commander was for it to be the most customizable RTS ever made, and that he would like to ship the team's development tools with the game itself. Upon the release of the game this goal was not achieved and the editing tools were not sold with the game. Hopefully they will be released shortly.

All things considered, this is a challenging game with enough depth and content to keep anyone busy for months. Fans of epic strategy will have a great time exploring strategies and working their way up the online ladder. If you’re looking for 10 minute games with photorealistic graphics and small-scale tactics, maybe this isn’t for you. For the rest of us, this is the game we’ve been waiting for since Total Annihilation, and it will only get better and better.