07-19-2015, 08:01 PM
(07-19-2015, 07:41 PM)SilverOtter Wrote: Someone in the last few pages decided PA was better than SupCom.
I have played both, and you're absolutely wrong.
First off, PA has only one faction. While this does make balancing easy, strategy suffers as a result. It means there are only a handful of counters to a handful of tactics. Meanwhile, SupCom has three factions (four in Forged Alliance), each with a encapsulating theme: UEF is based around defense, being heavily armored and with superior range on their weapons for maximum base-turtle-ing. The Cybrans have weak units but make up for it with special technology, like cheap stealth and odd weapons. The Aeon go big, and deal large amounts of damage but suffer from weak armor and average speed. The Seraphim simply make tier units .5 up from the rest, costing more for a bigger package in all stats, but suffer from generalized units that lack the ability to deal with some strategies efficiently.
PA strategy boils down to which one of the generic units you want to use today. Fun. SupCom even has some units with more than one purpose!
SupCom's campaign is big, even though each faction has six missions in the original, these missions can take a while if you don't know what you're doing, even on easy mode. Some parts of the campaign even sync up with other factions.
Tiers and upgrading are different. The way PA does tiers is weird, by instead of upgrading your factories (and requiring you have defenses up beforehand, as it means the factory can't produce), you simply place down a larger factory while your original T1 is still pumping out. SupCom has 3 tiers, each with a focus: T1 is basic, T2 is tactical, T3 is strategical, and you even got fun experimentals if you want to rub your victory in your opponent's face. PA simply dumps all the cool stuff in T2 and declares it done.
SupCom's grid system meant each building fits, PA's free building means you have to wiggle around to fit it in.
And while infinite units was a good idea on paper, when adding up with cheap units it means swarming is a legitimate tactic, while in SupCom it was simply desperate when faced with a impenetrable defense that defies strategy, costing you tons of mass, time and a good chunk of your unit cap just to shut down a single torpedo tower next to AA that can only be taken out by your boats.
And while PA has big, solar systems of planets, the terrain was more noticeable, diverse in SupCom, which meant sometimes your defense for half of your base boiled down to the huge mountain that blocked tactical missiles. SupCom meant you had to work with the map you have to deal with problem you have at hand, in PA you can simply go around or even fuck off to another planet where you won't be bothered.
PA has ideas that sounded amazing on paper, but in practice it's worse.
Oh and let's not forget the game was launched incomplete, has a microtransactions store in a non F2P game, an orbital layer that's absolutely unsatisfying to play with once you've finally gotten there and overall most of the game feels more like a chore. The cardinal sin for any piece of entertainment is to be boring, and boredom is what PA provides in spades.
I'll be sitting in the corner with my copies of Forged Alliance and Total Annihilation kaythanks.