Supreme Commander FAQ

Hi there...

A lot of time has passed since this FAQ was originally written. Below, we have edited the original FAQ to bring it up to speed with the released state of the game.

Please see the new Supreme Commander forums at http://forums.gaspowered.com for current information and discussion topics.

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Q: What is Supreme Commander?
A: Supreme Commander is a Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game developed by Chris Taylor and Gas Powered Games.

Q: Cool! So it's Total Annihilation 2?
A: No. Supreme Commander is an all-new intellectual property (IP), game and universe.

Q: Who publishes SupCom?
A: Supreme Commander is published in North America by THQ. Please visit http://www.supremecommander.com for all the latest info.

Q: Is Supreme Commander available now ?
A: Yes. Please check with your local retailer.

Q: What is the USA rating for the game ?
A: Supreme Commander is rated E10+

Q: What operating systems does Supreme Commander support ?
A: Windows XP (Service Pack 2) and Windows Vista. Windows 2000 is not supported.

Q: What are the minimum system specifications for Supreme Commander (retail version)?
A: Please visit http://forums.gaspowered.com/viewtopic.php?p=8248#8248

Q: Other than English, what languages will Supreme Commander be available in ?
A: Currently, there are plans for

Chinese Traditional (text only)
Czech (text only)
French
German
Italian
Korean (text only)
Polish (text only)
Russian
Spanish (european)

Q: Who did the music? The sounds?
A: Jeremy Soule is doing the music. Frank Bry is doing the sound effcts.

Q: Are any of the folks that made TA that were involved with SupCom?
A: Yes. Aside from Chris Taylor, there are several engineers, artists, and production people that used to work at Cavedog on the TA franchise. Sound effects are also being done by Frank Bry again, and music is once again being done by Jeremy Soule

Q: I can't tell from the screenshots I've seen on online - is the terrain 2D?
A: No, our terrain is 3D and non-spherical/non-wrapparound.

Q: How many races are there?
A: There's only one race - humans.
But humans are broken up into 3 factions:

United Earth Federation (UEF)
Cybran Nation
Aeon Illuminate

Each has a different point of view about themselves and the conflict, and the overall look of each group's units are different.

Q: Are the game's units people, or have people inside them?
A: Only the commanders have people inside them. Humans still exist, but the fighting is done mostly by robots. Since the units are fabricated on the battlefield, this makes sense (the commanders, though, are teleported in).

Q: What's the abbreviation for Supreme Commander?
A: The normal abbreviation used within GPG is the standard military-style version: "SupCom". Internally, "SC" is used only when space is at a premium, due to two letters being more ambiguous (even without StarCraft).... could stand for "Simply Centered", Scintillatingly Clean", "Sean Cassidy", et al... and because "SC" has a less "military" feel.

As to pronunciation (of SupCom)...well, some here say "Soup Comm", some say "Sup Comm".

Of course, even knowing all that, anyone preferring to use "SC" or "sc" isn't wrong. It's always a personal choice.

Q: I've heard SupCom requires dual monitors - is this true?
A: No, not at all. It supports dual monitors in dualhead mode (two monitors on 1 video card), but does not require it. It even allows a single monitor to run in split-screen mode.

NOTE, however, that you can't do dualhead with SLI, nor does the game support dual video cards.

Q: Can I do both split screen AND dual monitors?
A: By default, the game starts on 1 screen with a minimap.
- If you split the screen, you get 2 views + minimap.
- If you instead turn on the 2nd monitor, you lose the minimap

You can split the primary monitor in a dual-mon setup, but you can't split the 2nd monitor.

Q: I've got 2 monitors - how do I use both, with Supreme Commander ?
A: Please visit http://forums.gaspowered.com/viewtopic.php?t=38

Q: I hear SupCom requires DirectX10 and Vista. Is this true?
A: No. Supcom does not need or require Vista (DirectX10 is built into Vista and will not be available to Windows XP). The game runs fine on Windows XP and DirectX9, including features like split/dual screen mode and spiffy special effects). Vista and DirectX10 may just have spiffier effects

Q: So, Supreme Commander uses DirectX?
A: Yes.

Q: Does Supreme Commander use a 3rd-party service for online play ?
A: No. It uses GPG's own GPGnet for matchmaking in multiplayer, although the actual multiplayer gameplay is synchronous peer-2-peer (no server).

Q: Do you have a fan site kit?
A:We definitely intend to strongly support our online fans and sites. It's We should have something available before early 2007. When available, we'll be sure to announce it on the forums (and list the link on this page too).

Q: Where can I get more information about Supreme Commander?
A: Visit the official website at www.SupremeCommander.com! Also, be sure to sign up for the Gas Powered Newsletters - our subscribers get the insider information first!

Also, check out the Supreme Commander Forums forum for links to articles on SupCom.