When comparing Supreme Commander vs OpenTTD, the Slant community recommends OpenTTD for most people. In the question“What are the best LAN party PC games?” OpenTTD is ranked 5th while Supreme Commander is ranked 12th. The most important reason people chose OpenTTD is:
You can't go wrong with a game that has no purchase cost. Even better the user can contribute to the project or even use the code for their own, as the game is open-source.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Simulation of every shot
If there is a large building in between the line of sight of the player and the target, your units might hit the building instead. To compensate you can use artillery or missiles. However this type of full scale simulation is at the expense of CPU power.
Pro Massive battles with plenty of outcomes
Battles can involve hundreds of units. This allows for even experimental units that can single-handedly take out entire armies due to their sheer size. This way there is room for experimentation in what can works, or just to see what outcomes they have.
Pro Unlimited zoom increases visibility
You don't need a mini map to get an overview of the Battlefield: simply zoom out using the scroll wheel. If you want to "jump" somewhere else just zoom in to that exact spot.
Pro Authentic real time economy
When you spend resources on a building, they are not spent instantly but rather over the course of building. The same goes for collecting. Your buffer is small so try to match your spending rate with that of gathering.
Pro Rewarding, high skill cap
This game can satisfy you for hours. It offers a high level of play that not only takes a long time to attain but is also very rewarding when mastered.
Pro Advanced command system
By holding the shift key, you can see the commands you gave as an overlay on the map. Drag and drop commands to adapt them whenever you have to.
Pro Fundamentally different factions that are well balanced
Each faction in the game will have different abilities, units, transporters or stations that are unique to that faction. While one faction will have an advantage of a hovering engineer, another will have the advantage of a driving engineer, each being prone and un-prone to particular kinds of attacks. Somewhat like a rock paper scissors scenario where it will all balance out in the end. This way it keeps each faction feeling unique, but at the same time disallowing any to have too much of an advantage over the others.
Pro Asynchronous tech system
Upgrading one factory doesn't magically upgrade all the others. Decide wisely how much you spend on advancing in tech. Low tech spam can sometimes still be an option.
Pro Free and open-source
You can't go wrong with a game that has no purchase cost. Even better the user can contribute to the project or even use the code for their own, as the game is open-source.
Pro Still actively being developed
There are regular updates still being released for the game, meaning regular bug fixes as well as added features on a consistent basis.
Pro Allows for a lot of railway design creativity
You can build massive and complicated rail networks in the game, giving the player the freedom to come up with their own solutions and crazy designs.
Pro Tons of mods to download
There are many existing mods for the game, which can greatly extend the gameplay beyond that of the stock game.
Pro Very addictive - hard to walk away from when your little world is running
Especially if you're playing with some friends, this game is very enthralling (Heroes of Might and Magic 2 was similar, even though a very different game).
Pro Easily accessible multiplayer
It has built in multiplayer for LAN or online play, which makes it easy for the player to find and create online matches.
Pro Significant enhancements from the original game
- Stable multiplayer mode for up to 255 players in 15 companies, or as spectators
- Dedicated server mode and an in-game console for administration
- In game downloading of new content and game mechanics
Pro Convenient built in mod download interface
This allows the user to easily browse and download new mods for the game from within the game itself.
Pro Infinite possibilities
You seem to never run out of things to do in this game!
Cons
Con Stand-alone add-on Forged Alliance needed for stability
Vanilla game has balance issues, which is why it is recommended that the user installs the add-on, Forged Alliance.
Con Steep learning curve and need for planning involved
Supreme Commander takes a while to pick up and learn how to play well. Since everything in the game happens slowly, you need to plan.
Con Developers abandoned the game
However there is great community support in which they have released patches in order to fix outstanding bugs as well as support hosting a map vault where players can download community made maps to use in the game. There is also a matchmaking lobby tool available here, which makes finding online matches to play pretty easy.
Con Large battles with a poor CPU is not recommended in 4v4
The game can slow down significantly in large battles and on huge maps when there are a lot of players. This is especially the case for those using lower-end PCs.
Con Can be complicated to play for a beginner
For those unfamiliar with this style of game, there is a lot to learn in order to be competent at the gameplay. Some tutorials online should help, but it is a time investment some may not want to spend on the game.
Con Micromanagement is a bit too much
You have to either use glitches or really make all your decisions right.
Con Can be boring when playing alone
Due to the length of the win conditions and how long it takes to achieve things in the game, it can get a bit boring after much time spent. This is also true of the stock gameplay element, while mods can definitely help, what comes with the game out of the box can get old after a while.
Con Graphics are small on high res displays
When playing this game on a high resolution screen the game will look small and dense, which may be irritating that it does not scale to ones resolution as it can be difficult to read the text or see what is going on. However, in the settings one can set the UI scaling to 2x to make it much easier to tell what is going on.
Con The sounds drive you insane
You sit down to play the game for a slight bit of time, you get your headphones on and get blasted with BEEEEP and GJHHHH including VSHHH and DING DING DING DING WOOOSHHH too.
Con Online does not work cross versions
Old versions can't play online or LAN with newer versions of the game. So for those that prefer using an older version, or just have not updated, they will have to make sure those they want to play with online have the exact same version (or one that is compatible).