Supreme Commander or Sins/ Solar Empire

[archeryguy1701]

The past couple weeks, I've been eyeballing a couple of new computer games. The games I was looking at was Supreme Commander and it's expansion or Sins of a Solar Empire. Has anyone played either of these games?

Reading the Wiki articles, they both have some features that really interest me. SC's factions can have up to 1000 units in a game, and games can last for hours. SoaSE, on the other hand, reads like it would be a very epic, very high quality game, and again, it sounds like it won't be short little missons like most other modern RTS's. So, if you've played either of these games, could you please give me a verdict of whether or not it's worth anything? Or, if you've played both, could you give me a comparission, and a suggestion as to which one is better? Thanks!

 

[Arrqh]

I've only played Sins, but Sins and SupComm are both very different types of games. It's not really an RTS, it's a hybrid of an RTS and a 4X game (like MOO and Civ)... once your fleets start getting large, you really don't want to be micromanaging your units because there's too much going on and fortunatly the AI is good enough that this is actually a good thing!

 

[archeryguy1701]

Would you reccomend Sins?

 

[Arrqh]

Definitely!

 

[firehawk12]

Ooof. Sins is evil because it's all real time... that makes it even harder to quit because you just sit there and wait for things to happen.

 

[archeryguy1701]

^And that's actually a sort of game that I'm looking for. Most other RTS's, I can play a couple of missions (they don't take very long because either the computer wipes me out fast, or I can put on a stout defence which makes the game last 30 minutes), and then I get a bit bored. I can come back later and play a bit more, but it doesn't keep me interested enough to stay at it for a long time. So, what I really want is a game that's fun/ interesting enough that it'll keep me at it for a long, long time. I want an RTS (or 4x) game that treats me like Sim City 4: I sit down planning on working on the game for 30min or an hour, and by the time I bother to check my watch, it's two in the morning.

 

[firehawk12]

Ah, well, then you'll love it. I generally prefer turn based because there's less pressure.
One problem I found is that because it's real time, if you play on a huge map with the max number of CPU opponents, the game will start chugging after a while. The turn based equivalent of this is that turns take longer to compute... but, I think it's less noticeable for turn based for some reason.

 

[archeryguy1701]

Well, within the coming months, I intend to get a new, fancy computer that should run even faster than my current one, so if starts "chugging" too much, I can certainly play smaller games until the new system arrives. While the threads only been out for 2 hours, I'm getting the impression that Sins is the way to go (poor old Supreme Commander has no one to advocate for it! )

 

[firehawk12]

I dunno, SupCom is good if you liked Total Annihilation. I never played it, so I guess I have no feelings on it.

Although, I've read that the 360 port is pretty much garbage.

 

[archeryguy1701]

Haven't played Total Annihilation either, so couldn't speak to that. My frames of reference are more or less limited to the CnC games, the LOTR: Battle for Middle Earth games, and Sid Meir's Alpha Centauri.

 

[Romulan_spy]

Supreme Commander and Sins are very different games. Sins is space based whereas Supreme Commander is ground based. But I absolutely love Supreme Commander. I would definitely recommend it! It has some huge maps. And there is nothing like building an experimental unit like the Galactic Colossus and stomping your enemy to dust.

 

[archeryguy1701]

^And like I said in the OP, that is definately one of the attractive things about SupCom: the giant maps and the massive armies. There is nothing that irritates me more than small, limited maps and command point caps. I like building to my heart's content and I like a giant theater to work with. Many maps in other games are so small that your bases will end up taking an entire wall of a map. Doesn't give you much room to work with.

 

[Canadave]

^ I like that style if it's presented properly: World in Conflict is a good example.

Overall, though, I'm with you... I love being able to create huge armies. Haven't played either game, but I do really want to play Sins, and if I was you, it's the one I'd go for.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I have not played either game, but I am a fan of both genres, and Sins has been highly regarded to me.

If SC is anything like Total Annihilation, then it wouldn't be a bad buy, either. It also appears to be very well-reviewed.

I guess I'm no help. They both sound excellent.

 

[Shurik]

I played both and would recommend both.

SupCom has huge maps and a huge number of units and all of this leads to some epic battles. You can't also win this game by producing only one type of a super strong units (like in various Command&Conquer games), you have to build a balanced army.

Sins is a mix between good old RTS and stuff like Civilization - a very enjoyable game that could take many-many hours to finish ...

 

[Cain]

I highly recommend Sins of Solar Empire. Like others have said it's a cross between an RTS and a 4x game like Civilization or more accurately like Master of Orion. It's slower paced methodical RTS. If the you get overwhelmed with everything going on, you can pause the game and issue orders. It's just a well designed game.

I played the demo for Supreme Commander and I wasn't crazy about it. I just couldn't get into it. It is more like a traditional RTS than Sins except that it is on a massive scale.

 

[archeryguy1701]

Well, it looks like I'm going to go with Sins. Most of you are voting in favor of it, and I didn't feel like waiting 5 hours for the SupCom demo to download to check it out. However, based on what I already knew and what several of you have said, I will add SupCom to my collection eventually- Sins just sounds more appealing at the moment. Thanks everyone!