![supreme commander forged alliance factions supreme commander forged alliance factions](https://www.gamespot.com/a/uploads/original/gamespot/images/2007/269/reviews/827125-941687_20070927_001.jpg)
Only after a laborious, blatantly indirect journey would the units arrive at their destination. Before, when issuing formation-move order to groups of units, particularly naval units, they'd veer off in all sorts of odd directions. Unit pathing seems to have been greatly improved as well. They also have far greater armor, offensive power and range than most other land units, making them a much more formidable unit, perhaps too much so. Destroyers are amphibious, capable of sprouting legs and taking off across land. While that's certainly useful if you're playing as Cybran, we can't imagine it being very enjoyable for the opposition. Compared to their lethargic locomotion in the first SupCom, these things have been sped up to the point where they rival some of the heavier land units. Returning units have been tweaked too, the most notable change we saw being the increased movement speed of the Cybran T2 destroyers. Units have been added in as well, including the Aeon's T3 rapid-fire artillery structure, a T1 gunship and auto-assist engineering suite for the Cybran, and a UEF T3 air transport. Along with many unit types, static defensive capabilities differ across factions, like the T3 torpedo ambush system unique to the Cybran Nation, or the T3 point defense only accessible by the UEF. Their T3 land unit selection includes a mobile shield generator, something the UEF and Aeon get a lesser version of at T2, and the Cybran don't get at all, as they have a T2 mobile stealth field system in its place. But it's not just in the experimental tier that make the Seraphim stand out. The Seraphim get some interesting experimental units, including a mammoth bomber plane that, in groups, will utterly annihilate any base with devastating explosive charges. This lets you access the distinct characteristics built into each faction more easily, which is a welcome change. With more rapid build times on some of the experimental units, you can now (again, assuming your resource rates are well-managed) have six or so spiderbots up and running within a relatively brief period of time. If you played SupCom when it first came out, you'll likely remember checking the build timer on your Cybran spiderbot (which no longer tramples friendly units) or Aeon colossus and realizing you could go make a sandwich and watch an episode of 30 Rock before the thing would be ready.
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Once you've stabilized your economy, which is still a significant part of the game, you can crank out some of the experimental units much more quickly in Forged Alliance. You have to be much more aware of your extractors this time around, making sure to expand your base of operations across the map until you can start churning out T3 fabricators and power plants, since extractors seem to play a much more vital role in maintaining reasonable resource rates in the early game.
![supreme commander forged alliance factions supreme commander forged alliance factions](http://www.gamesurge.com/pc/scforgedalliance/cutscene.jpg)
Accessing these differences between factions, meaning teching up to tier three (T3), requires a different kind of resource production strategy since GPG moved mass fabricators from tier one (T1) to tier two (T2). Though they, like the other three, possess similar lower tier units, higher tiers possess more individuality, particularly those of the experimental variety. Diversity is inserted primarily with the addition of a fourth faction, the more visually distinct Seraphim. GPG seems to have two main goals with the standalone Forged Alliance expansion: faster action and more diversity.
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And on the surface they do resemble each other, but after hours of playtime, you learn to appreciate the differences and understand how to capitalize and manipulate them to your advantage. Many lamented that the three factions in the original, the Cybran, Aeon, and UEF, looked and behaved too similarly.
![supreme commander forged alliance factions supreme commander forged alliance factions](https://i.imgur.com/CQGXC2S.jpg)
We were big fans of the game when it first came out, but there's no doubt it was one of the most complex, time-consuming RTSes in quite a while, and had an unapologetically steep learning curve. If you missed Gas Powered Games' Supreme Commander when it released in February, the new expansion offers quite a few changes.