Info about Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance:

Official game description:
The last days of man are at hand.. Two years after the Infinite War the once great warring nations now lie in ruins, and humanity’s hope for a brighter future is nothing but a bitter memory. A new, seemingly unstoppable enemy, supported by the zealots of The Order, now seeks to eradicate mankind: UEF, Aeon Loyalist, and Cybran alike. With their backs against the wall and staring into the abyss, the tattered remnants of Humanity’s forces must put aside old hatreds and band together as they prepare to make one last desperate stand. One last chance. An alliance forged in blood, steel and hope, they turn to face the dark.  
Key Features:
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*   New Playable Faction: A completely new playable faction will be available in multiplayer games and serve as the main threat during the new single-player campaign. This new threat is a cunning and devious race with advanced technology and are true masters of quantum technology. New weapons, new strategies, new conquests!  
*   New Units: 110 new land, sea, air, base and experimental units evolve armies to address strategic weakness or become the ultimate expressions of factional military doctrine.  
*   Warfare on an Epic Scale: Fully realized navies, orbital weaponry and advanced counter intelligence technologies give commanders unprecedented, deadly new capabilities in what is already the most strategic RTS on the market today.  
*   New Multiplayer Maps: New multiplayer battlefields provide new grounds for players to prove their supremacy.  
*   New Single Player Campaign: Play through a brand new single player campaign as you gather your forces to save mankind from extinction.

Release date: Sep 28, 2011

Categories: Real-time Strategy, Multiplayer, Resource Management, Large-Scale Combat, Mod Support, Single-player Campaigns, Technology Tree, Unit Management

Feature scans:
- Wiki: score 10; verdict: Mixed Feedback with Technical Issues; summary: The user feedback highlights a mix of technical issues and positive experiences. While some users report bugs with multi-monitor setups and initial loading times, others praise the game's longevity, compatibility with modern hardware, and the dual-monitor functionality.
- Proton/Linux: score 50; verdict: Tinkering Required; summary: The game has some notable issues on Linux, particularly related to driver configurations and Proton settings. Users have reported needing to uninstall and reinstall drivers, as well as disable specific Proton features to get the game running smoothly. However, once these configurations are addressed, the game runs well on Linux. The overall sentiment is that while there are initial hurdles, the game's performance on Linux is positive once these issues are resolved.
- Steam Deck: score 50; verdict: Tinkering Required; summary: The game experiences significant technical issues and instability on Linux, with users reporting crashes and difficulties getting it to run smoothly. While some users find it runs perfectly, others face substantial barriers, indicating a mixed but generally problematic experience.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $2.00 - $10.00
  - Reasoning: The reviews consistently mention that the game is worth its price, especially when on sale. Multiple users highlight sale prices around $2 to $4, indicating that this range is considered a fair and attractive price point by the community. Additionally, the sentiment that the game is a 'steal' even at full price suggests that the community perceives high value in the game, supporting a slightly higher end of the price range.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: 16.0h
  - Story completion: N/A
  - Session length: 2.5h
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The evidence provides direct and indirect mentions of playtime. 'Completed in: 16 hours' suggests a typical game completion time. 'It took about 2 - 3 hours for us to finally win against them' indicates a session length. '1836 hours and counting' and 'I have thousands of hours played on this game' show extensive playtime, which can imply high replayability and endgame content.
- Time-to-fun:
  - Summary: The game has a steep learning curve that can be daunting for newcomers, but once overcome, it offers a highly rewarding and enjoyable multiplayer experience.
  - Stance: Fun then drops
  - Anchor: Engaging in multiplayer matches
  - Time to anchor: 2h 0m
  - Friction: steep learning curve; initial complexity
  - Unlock drivers: mastering game mechanics; community support and mods
  - Conditions: playing with friends; engaging in multiplayer; using community mods; casual or serious playstyle
- Player Archetypes:
  - Competitive Veteran (buy)
    - Motivation: Competitive play and mastery of game mechanics.
    - Playstyle: Highly strategic and competitive, often engaging in PvP and tournaments.
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: veteran; competitive player
    - Reference games: Total Annihilation; StarCraft II
  - Casual Newcomer (sale)
    - Motivation: Enjoyment of the RTS genre and learning new strategies.
    - Playstyle: Casual and exploratory, often playing with friends or in cooperative modes.
    - Experience: newcomer
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: newcomer; casual player
    - Reference games: Factorio; Offworld Trading Company
  - Community-Oriented Player (buy)
    - Motivation: Community engagement and multiplayer experiences.
    - Playstyle: Cooperative and community-driven, often engaging in multiplayer and modded content.
    - Experience: mixed
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: community player; multiplayer enthusiast
    - Reference games: Planetary Annihilation; Total Annihilation


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Best RTS game ever (weight 0.88): This game is widely regarded as one of the best real-time strategy games ever made, surpassing many modern RTS games and setting a high standard for the genre.
- Large-scale battles and maps (weight 0.63): The game features very large-scale battles with massive maps, allowing for grand strategic gameplay and large-scale economies.
- Deep strategic and tactical gameplay (weight 0.49): The game is known for its deep strategic and tactical gameplay, requiring strategic thinking and offering a variety of strategies and tactics.
- High unit variety and scale (weight 0.46): Players can command massive armies with a large range of units, including unique and powerful experimental units, contributing to the game's epic scale.
- Active and supportive community (weight 0.39): The game has an active and growing community, with projects like Forged Alliance Forever providing updates, mods, and multiplayer support.
- Spiritual successor to Total Annihilation (weight 0.18): The game is considered an improved version and spiritual successor to Total Annihilation, offering similar gameplay with enhancements.
- Enjoyable campaign and story (weight 0.17): The game features a great storyline campaign that is fun and enjoyable, adding to the overall experience.
- Easy to learn, hard to master (weight 0.17): The game is easy to pick up and play, with an easy-to-understand GUI, but offers depth and complexity that make it hard to master.
- Strategic zoom feature (weight 0.15): The strategic zoom feature allows for seamless map viewing, enhancing the strategic depth and scale of the gameplay.

Common complaints:
- Compatibility issues with modern systems (weight 0.21): The game does not run well on modern hardware, including specific issues with Windows 11 and Linux.
- Criticism of Supreme Commander 2 (weight 0.13): Supreme Commander 2 is widely criticized as a disappointment and a shallow experience, reflecting significant player dissatisfaction.
- Poor optimization (weight 0.12): The game is poorly optimized, leading to various performance issues on different hardware configurations.
- General bugginess (weight 0.1): The game is described as buggy, with various software issues affecting gameplay.
- Performance degradation over time (weight 0.09): The game slows down significantly after several hours of play, indicating potential memory leaks or optimization issues.
- Performance issues with high unit counts (weight 0.09): Players report performance issues when there are many units on the map, suggesting optimization problems.
- Lengthy and repetitive matches (weight 0.09): Matches are reported to be long, tedious, and repetitive, affecting overall enjoyment.
- Unit balance and intuitiveness issues (weight 0.06): Units are not intuitive and there are balance issues, affecting gameplay experience.
- Poor AI (weight 0.06): The AI is criticized for being stupid and poorly designed.
- Screen freezing (weight 0.06): Players experience screen freezing during gameplay, indicating potential graphical or performance issues.
- Toxic community (weight 0.06): The multiplayer community is reported to be toxic, affecting the multiplayer experience.
- Poor pathfinding (weight 0.06): The game has issues with unit pathfinding, affecting gameplay mechanics.
- Poor UI design (weight 0.06): The user interface is criticized for being cluttered and poorly designed, affecting usability.
- Progression issues (weight 0.06): Players report being unable to progress past the first mission, indicating potential game-breaking bugs.
- Poor tutorial design (weight 0.06): The tutorial is criticized for being poorly designed, affecting the learning experience for new players.
- Dislike of local economy (weight 0.05): Players express dislike for the local economy and building mechanics.

Gameplay feedback:
- RTS Gameplay Focus (weight 0.51): The game is a real-time strategy (RTS) game that emphasizes classic and futuristic RTS elements. It includes large-scale battles, resource management, and a focus on long-term planning.
- Diverse Units and Factions (weight 0.47): The game offers a variety of units and factions, each with unique abilities and roles. This diversity enhances gameplay and strategic options.
- Deep Strategic Gameplay (weight 0.28): The gameplay requires strategic thinking and offers deep strategic mechanics. It includes tactical gameplay and complex gameplay elements.
- Resource Management (weight 0.26): Resource management is a key aspect of the game, involving logistics and conversion of resources like mass and energy.
- Multiplayer and Cooperative Modes (weight 0.23): The game supports multiplayer and cooperative gameplay, including co-op mode and matchmaking. Playing with friends is a significant feature.
- Large-Scale Battles (weight 0.21): The game features large-scale battles with diverse units and massive battlefields, enhancing the strategic depth.
- Skirmish and Single Player Modes (weight 0.17): The game includes skirmish mode with custom rules and single-player campaign missions.
- Community and Multiplayer Support (weight 0.16): The game has an active community and supports multiplayer through community platforms like Forged Alliance Forever (FAF).
- Mod Support (weight 0.11): The game offers extensive mod support, allowing for customization and community features.
- Technology Tiers (weight 0.09): The game includes technology tiers and high tech levels, adding depth to the gameplay.
- High Unit Limit (weight 0.09): The game allows for a high unit limit, with a 500 unit cap and no unit restrictions.
- Unique Unit Production (weight 0.09): The game features unique unit production and upgrades, adding to the strategic depth.
- Long-Range Artillery (weight 0.08): The game features artillery with long range and nuclear arsenal options.
- Customization Options (weight 0.08): The game offers customization options, including a customizable interface.

Performance notes:
- Poor optimization and performance (weight 0.35): The game suffers from poor optimization, leading to constant stuttering, performance issues, and high system requirements. Users report better performance is needed.
- Slowdowns with many units (weight 0.24): The game slows down significantly after several hours of play due to a large number of units built by the AI. This issue is exacerbated with weaker processors and high unit caps.
- Compatibility issues with Windows 11 (weight 0.15): The game has compatibility issues with newer versions of Windows, particularly Windows 11, where it often crashes or does not run properly.
- Performance issues with large battles (weight 0.12): Large-scale battles may still have lag and performance issues, causing choppiness and slowdowns during gameplay.
- Compatibility and resolution issues (weight 0.12): The game has compatibility issues with modern monitors and resolution settings, including problems with full-screen and windowed mode.
- Game speed drops over time (weight 0.1): The game speed drops dramatically over time, leading to a less enjoyable gaming experience, especially during extended play sessions.
- Mods and community improvements (weight 0.09): Community mods like Forged Alliance Forever and LOUD project mod have made improvements, allowing for large-scale warfare without slowdown and other enhancements.
- Miscellaneous fixes and adjustments (weight 0.08): Various fixes and adjustments are suggested by users, such as deleting game.prefs, installing specific DirectX versions, and adding command line arguments to create log files.
- Sound and graphical issues (weight 0.07): There are issues with sound not working on modern PCs and graphical issues with unit visibility, affecting the overall gaming experience.

Recommendations:
- Use Forged Alliance Forever (weight 0.44): Multiple reviews suggest using Forged Alliance Forever (FAF) for an enhanced and modern gaming experience, including better multiplayer and community support.
- Recommended for RTS fans (weight 0.33): The game is highly recommended for fans of real-time strategy games, including those who enjoy tactical and strategic gameplay.
- Highly recommended purchase (weight 0.28): Many reviews state that the game is highly recommended and worth the purchase, especially for strategy fans and fans of the series.
- Check out mods and community (weight 0.2): Reviews suggest exploring mods and joining the active community for a richer experience. Mods like Beyond All Reason and LOUD are mentioned as alternatives or enhancements.
- Watch tutorials and high-level play (weight 0.16): Watching YouTube tutorials and high-level play videos is recommended to improve gameplay skills and understand advanced strategies.
- Try Supreme Commander series (weight 0.15): If you enjoyed the original Supreme Commander, this game is highly recommended as a worthy sequel. New players are advised to try the original campaign first.
- Check out YouTube channels (weight 0.08): Watching specific YouTube channels featuring FAF games and tutorials can enhance your understanding and enjoyment of the game.
- Practice against AI first (weight 0.07): It is suggested to practice against AI before jumping into multiplayer to get a better grasp of the game mechanics and strategies.
- Get the Gold Edition (weight 0.06): Some reviews recommend getting the Gold Edition of the game for a more comprehensive experience.
- Recommended for Age of Empires fans (weight 0.04): If you enjoy Age of Empires, you might find this game appealing as well due to its strategic depth and gameplay mechanics.
- Join the community (weight 0.03): Joining the game's community is recommended for additional support, matchmaking, and a more engaging experience.

Other player notes:
No miscpoints

Emotions:
- Excitement (weight 0.29): Players are thrilled by the game's massive scale, epic battles, and strategic depth. The variety of units, innovative gameplay features, and the potential for additional content also contribute to this excitement.
- Frustration (weight 0.28): Players experience frustration due to frequent technical issues such as crashes, freezing, and poor optimization. Additionally, gameplay mechanics like unit balance, AI difficulty, and a steep learning curve contribute to this frustration.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.22): Players feel nostalgic due to the game's lasting quality and their long history with it. Many have played since childhood or for many years, appreciating its timeless appeal and classic RTS gameplay.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.15): Players enjoy the engaging and tactical gameplay, variety of units, and epic battles. The game's high replay value, customization options, and enjoyable campaign also contribute to their enjoyment.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.11): Players are satisfied with the game's strategic depth, high replay value, and active community. The balanced and large-scale gameplay, along with technical improvements, also contribute to their satisfaction.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0.1): Players are enthusiastic about the game's depth, versatility, and community contributions. The game's scale, strategic gameplay, and active community support fuel this enthusiasm.
- Joy (weight 0.07): Players find joy in the game's fun and engaging gameplay. Playing with friends, successful use of experimental units, and the overall enjoyable experience contribute to this joy.
- Admiration (weight 0.05): Players admire the game's strategic depth, scale, and uniqueness. The game's depth of gameplay elements and community support also contribute to their admiration.
- Disappointment (weight 0.05): Players feel disappointed due to the game's buggy nature and perceived downgrades in sequels. Performance issues and unhelpful allies also contribute to this disappointment.
- Appreciation (weight 0.03): Players appreciate the game's strategic depth, scale, and active community. The hard work of the community and the game's classic status also contribute to their appreciation.
- Hope (weight 0.02): Players hope for future updates, sequels, or remakes. They also hope for improvements such as client updates to remove lags.
- Nostalgic (weight 0.01): Players feel nostalgic due to the game's age and quality. The throwback RTS elements evoke memories of classic gaming experiences.
- Excited (weight 0.01): Players are excited by the game's immense scale and satisfying combat. The epic battles and sense of scale contribute to this excitement.
- Sadness (weight 0.01): Players feel sadness due to the lack of progress in RTS games and the absence of a third game in the series.
- Love (weight 0.01): Players express deep love for the game's unique qualities and experiences. The game's engaging and enjoyable nature fosters this love.
- Relaxation (weight 0.01): Players find the game to be a complete zen experience, offering the ultimate way to relax. The game's immersive nature contributes to this relaxation.
- Regret (weight 0.01): Players regret not playing the game earlier, missing out on its enjoyable and engaging experiences.
- Exhaustion (weight 0.01): Players feel exhausted due to the game's demanding nature, requiring continuous vigilance and effort.
- Liberation (weight 0.01): Players feel a sense of liberation upon seeing the victory screen after a long and challenging match.
- Pride (weight 0.01): Players feel pride in mastering the game's challenges and feeling smarter than the average person. The game's complexity and strategic depth contribute to this pride.}