Hey All:
Community Q&A #2 is COMPLETE!!!
But, first off, sorry for the delay. Everything just took a bit longer than we originally anticipated.
However, Chris has answered the questions…so without further ado.
Enjoy!
For multiplayer games, Will we have options like we do in SC & FA? Being able to turn off nukes, etc?
ChrisTaylor – Yes, this is what we call “exclusions”. This feature has madea return in Supreme Commander 2. We also allow a mode where everythingon the research tree starts unlocked.
Will Supreme Commander 2 have LAN play?
CT– Yes, but Steam is used to “set up” the game. Once a game connectionis made, the packets all get routed locally. Using Steam for LAN makesit possible to invite people into a game, bypassing the requirement tojoin a game from a server list.
SC/FA multiplayer games weregreat, but sometimes a good game was ruined by single player who quit,lagged or otherwise harshed our mellow. Will SC2 have any features tomitigate some of these issues, such as giving a quitting players unitsand control to the remaining team member, etc?
CT – You are cracking me up! We are looking into solutions to this and you may see a resolution down the road.
How is the balancing progressing at the moment for SC2? Any trouble areas? Any interesting changes to balance overall?
CT– Game balancing is an ongoing process. Right now, I think we’regetting close but there are some key ideas being argued out, like theability to transport an ACU early in the game. Sometimes it’s notalways about numbers, and is the ordering of something on the techtree, or something seemingly subtle, but which throws off balance.
What sort of net connection will we need to support a typical 3v3 match?
CT – This is a tough one to pinpoint, but I would recommend a fairly normal 128 kilobit cable DSL upload rate.
Does Supreme Commander 2 have any sort of in-game scoreboard that provides intel similar to that from SC:FA?
CT– We use a different method that shows only the relative position ofplayers so that we don’t leak any beneficial information out to theother players. So far this has worked quite well.
How powerful are the Major Experimentals from SC2 compared to the ones in SC:FA?
CT– That’s a good question, but hard to answer because all the numbershave been adjusted in SupCom2, and it depends what they are fightingagainst, and how upgraded their opponents units are. I will say, thatif you can build one early on in the game, its destructive force willlikely be much greater than if you wait till the late game…
Are there any planned or existing upgrades to Experimental Units?
CT– Right now the Experimental units are at the top of the food chain.This is a great area to explore for future packs though!
Will I be able to play SupCom2 with my brother with a single copy of the game? Or, will I need two different keys?
CT – Each player will need a copy of the game to play.
What sort of patch/balance schedule can we expect with Supreme Commander 2?
CT– We haven’t finalized a schedule quite yet, but both Gas Powered andSquare Enix are committed to releasing updates as often as necessary!
When can we expect the first add-on units for SC2?
CT– lol… The game hasn’t been released yet and you are already lookingfor expansions! We’ll let you know as soon as we can!
Can you tell us about the potential for a ladder system in Supreme Commander 2? If not at launch, any chance post-launch?
CT– We are working on a Ladder system right now, and we are hopeful thatit will make it in before launch, but if not, it won’t be longafterwards.
How soon after release should we expect a SC2Leaderboard (in particular for 1v1)? And, what sort of ladder would itbe? It would be awesome to have a separate 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, FFA ladder!
CT– We’ll start with a 1v1 Leader Board, and likely break them upgeographically, and then add more and expand upon that over time.
Will there be any sort of Clan Support in Supreme Commander 2? Will we only be able to use Steam Groups to organize?
CT – Steam Groups is what we recommend for organizing clans.
Are there any plans for a Tournament System, similar to that from GPGnet?
CT – We’ve been seeing a lot of enthusiasm for this feature, and we’ll be looking forward to that down the road with Steam.
Willthere be any sort of Multiplayer Save option in Supreme Commander 2? Ilove playing games with my friends and nothing annoys us more than whenwe can’t finish a really epic game because we ran out of time.
CT– One of the best approaches right now is when you select a multiplayermap. You can choose one that suits your time frame. Smaller maps meansfaster battles and larger maps take much longer.
Will Supreme Commander 2 feature a reward system (achievements) for ranked games?
CT– We do in fact support achievements, for both single and multiplayer.And because Steam doesn’t have a limit, we’re looking at adding a bunchmore to the multiplayer side to take it even further.