Supreme Commander(aka Total Annihilation 2) - August PC Game

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2005-06-19 03:27pm

You know, there's a way to solve this discussion. Play each other.

The Jester · Post by **The Jester** » 2005-06-19 03:49pm

White Haven wrote:You know, there's a way to solve this discussion. Play each other.

I will probably lose considering that I haven't played in a long time and currently don't have TA loaded on this PC. Furthermore, I actually have to find the discs as well.

If I'm going to actually be of any sort of challenge I'll also have to devote a significant amount of time in just getting the necessary skills back. Time I would probably prefer to spend on other endeavours.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2005-06-19 04:49pm

CAN we actually play each other? Last I heard doing so was kind of..... difficult.

Drooling Iguana · Post by **Drooling Iguana** » 2005-06-19 06:14pm

I think you can if you know each other's IPs. I was also able to play a few games through GameSpy Arcade, but that was a long time ago.

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2005-06-19 06:35pm

Have to know what you're doing with port-forewarding if you want to do it via broadband with a router, I'd have to look up the ports and jimmy it a bit if I were to try. It's possible, though.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-06-19 07:15pm

Here's what I was able to dig up on port forwarding:

Configuring a router for playing TA online

You need to set it to route packets from ports
2300-2400 (TCP/UDP inbound/outbound [for TA]),
28800-29000 (same setting [for TA]) and
47624 (TCP inbound/outbound [for TA])

2300-2400 (TCP/UDP inbound/outbound [for TA]), 28800-29000 (same setting [for TA])
and 47624 (TCP inbound/outbound [for TA]) to your computer's IP address.

The direct X ports are 47624 for DirectX 7, and 6073 for DirectX 8, you may or may not need to open them both (the author uses 7 and only has the 47624 port open). TA also requires another set of ports to be open, these are ports 2300 through 2400, other sources say to open more, but thats all TA apears to need.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2005-06-19 07:21pm

I think some people have had problems doing TA online with XP and DX9.

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2005-06-19 07:36pm

This calls for a test.

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2005-06-19 09:53pm

We played TA at the last LAN I went to, in May on XP DX9 machines. It exited once, but the other times it ran fine. Not tried playing it over the net though, so I couldn't tell you where to start there.

As to the new game....well....fuck. I'm gonna have trouble sleeping tonight, I can see. Just...fuck!

TA has given me more megalomania than any other game in history, including RA2, which is one of my all time favourites. Honestly, just imagine the scene, your enormous base and military force is slowly crushing the enemy, marginalising their space smaller and smaller. Atop a metal building, a million construction planes coelescing, swirling, expanding and contracting like a bizarre flower around a curious contraption. The contrusction ends and the planes calm down or go on to their next task.

You click on the newly created Vulcan Cannon and change the firing orders to fire at will. Under its own will, it turns and aims towards the hapless enemy. Then it wastes a fucking ton of your energy trying to shoot down a plane. You get annoyed with that and target their commander. The commander, though he's a cold hunk of metal, unthinking, unfeeling but for the all too present urge to procreate by ejaculating his green nanolathing shit into a new building, appears to shit himself. He runs like fuck through his own base, not realising that his very will to survive is killing the rest of his base, the ultimate show of his ingenuity and handiwork. Within mere moments, all the buildings are damaged and are wiped clean away by the exploding commander.

As a final insult, you send in your construction kbots and vehicles to reclaim or "eat" the damaged solar power stations and metal extractors. The world freezes. Victory.

...Sorry about that, but TA is special.

Xon · Post by **Xon** » 2005-06-20 06:16am

The Jester wrote:
ggs wrote:Practically all of the really good players typically play with Commander die means game end.
Do you have anything to support that? Not trying to be vehement or anything just wonder what you have supporting that claim, that's all. I would assume experience playing with top TA players, correct?

A lot of the higher end TA players that are around these days show up in #gnug @ irc.gnug.org. The Gnug clan is full of particularly good players.

The TAG clan is also down right scary at how good they are at TA.

TA literature is sort of a little short in supply nowadays however we do see it touted here as a viable strategy. Of course this is perhaps not the best of sources but it should hold some weight.

The official stratagies were never very good

They dont even cover using Dragon's Teeth to provide shielding to stuff like Heavy Laser towers or the like.

Meaning what? You didn't think that these players were so fast, or they told you that they weren't? Or you aren't so fast and consider yourself a top player?

I'm only a good player, the top TA player can and do kick my ass from one side of the map to the other. But I have played them.

As for playing TA on Windows XP & DirectX9, I havent had any problems. My router supports uPnP so it automatically forwards the right ports to allow me to join a game. Doesnt automatically forward the correct ports so I can host however.

The Jester · Post by **The Jester** » 2005-06-20 07:40am

ggs wrote:The official stratagies were never very good

It depends. I remember the same point about using your Commander as a bomb appearing on the old Gamers Extreme website (which no longer exists), which is where I picked up the trick in the first place. They had some very good analysis of the game and some of the best players at the time writing guides on various games.

They dont even cover using Dragon's Teeth to provide shielding to stuff like Heavy Laser towers or the like.

I fail to see how this invalidates my point.

Post by **Vympel** » 2005-06-21 07:47am

My favorite part of that article- Chris Taylor saying: "Fuck rock paper scissors".

Amen to that. It's what makes the Empire Earth and Age of Empire games so fucking lame. I don't have the TIME nor the INCLINATION in a goddamn RTS to play around with that shit "oooh, am I attacking this unit with the right unit?".

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2005-06-21 08:27am

Beyond the obvious 'Hmm. Artillery might not be the right choice for shooting down that intercept fighter' moment.

Post by **Vympel** » 2005-06-21 08:32am

White Haven wrote:Beyond the obvious 'Hmm. Artillery might not be the right choice for shooting down that intercept fighter' moment.

Heh yeah- that was the beauty of TA- you instinctively knew what every unit would be good and bad at. My early days of playing, when I discovered that "hey, these Punisher batteries (CORE FOREVER!) would be great for killing ships!" ... ah the voyages of discovery ...

Xon · Post by **Xon** » 2005-06-21 08:34am

White Haven wrote:Beyond the obvious 'Hmm. Artillery might not be the right choice for shooting down that intercept fighter' moment.

Sure they are, you just need a lot of them.

And it helps when the fighters are parked.

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2005-06-21 08:48am

Anyone who's played Battletech with me knows that needing 'a lot' of artillery is never, ever a problem.

...Course the time I dropped a Long Tom shell on our CO's battlemech's /head/ might have something to do with our unit's current nonemphasis on artillery support...

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2005-06-21 10:01am

ggs wrote:
White Haven wrote:Beyond the obvious 'Hmm. Artillery might not be the right choice for shooting down that intercept fighter' moment.
Sure they are, you just need a lot of them. And it helps when the fighters are parked.

I just liked the odd occassion when a Core bomber decides to fly in front of a firing Vulcan - SPLAT. The flak cannons would have gotten him anyway, but watching the Vulcan take him out is so much more satisfying.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2005-06-21 02:05pm

Watching a Vulcan take out a few Rapiers at long range, flying across its field of view rather than toward it is quite a sight. Of course you need something like 500+ kill veteran status for that.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2005-06-21 02:17pm

One of my favorite game tactics was Bertha fire bases in strategic locations throughout the map. I would place a couple together (say three), then build another fire base at another location. This gave me good fire coverage on enemy bases and made it harder for them to find my guns.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2005-06-21 02:24pm

Okey, this looks awesome, but really, with all that awesome gameplay, can't they make the explosions purtier or the units look better? Maybe its just the magazine...

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2005-06-21 02:34pm

Ace Pace wrote:Okey, this looks awesome, but really, with all that awesome gameplay, can't they make the explosions purtier or the units look better? Maybe its just the magazine...

It's not coming out until 2006. They just got multiplayer running within their office recently. I think we're looking at an unfinished product here.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2005-06-21 02:38pm

It's a magazine scan, yes, and someone mentioned that these graphics are probably meant to be seen in motion.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2005-06-21 02:41pm

*will wait for Gamespot movie footage*

Okey then.

*Goes back to looking at look-alike nuke explosion*

Confession: I've never played TA.

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2005-06-21 02:48pm

Exclamation: HERESY! </HK-47>

Xon · Post by **Xon** » 2005-06-21 03:58pm

I've seen numerious times a peeper has flown into a Big Bertha or the like plasma round, and promtly died in a blaze of glory. Sometimes a Hawk goes up, and thats a real loss.

Note: Do not launch a nuke when someone has a swarm of +50 air units pinned over your nuke sile, friendly fire nukes in your base fucking suck