Supreme Commander Complete Guide (3 Sections) | AntMag

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Welcome to Supreme Commander, the deep real-time strategy epic from Gas Powered Games. You'll command massive armies in sprawling sci-fi battles, mastering advanced economic strategies and unit tactics across both PC and Xbox 360. It's a classic RTS experience for those who love strategic depth and large-scale warfare.

This guide dives into the technical and data-driven aspects of the game, helping you tweak your units for maximum usefulness and conquer challenging campaign missions. We'll break down the terminology like Mass, Energy, and Time (M, E, T) costs, and explain how build speed affects your production, so you can truly understand what's happening under the hood and dominate the battlefield.

1. CONTROLS

Walkthrough

1
Most controls in Supreme Commander are intuitive and explained in the tutorial.
2
Be aware of a couple of specific control quirks.
3
All modifier keys (Shift, Ctrl, Alt, etc.) can be combined freely, unless stated otherwise.
4
A particularly useful shortcut not mentioned in the manual is Ctrl + Z, which selects all units of the selected type(s) on the map.
5
For example, if bombers are assigned to group 4, pressing the '4' key, then Ctrl+Z, and finally Ctrl+4 at any time will ensure all your bombers are in group 4, ready for deployment.
6
Alternatively, you can zoom out, double-click on a bomber, and then press Ctrl+4 to achieve the same grouping.

Tips

Experiment with combining modifier keys to discover new shortcuts.
Use the Ctrl+Z shortcut to quickly gather all units of a specific type for strategic maneuvers.
Assigning units to control groups (e.g., Ctrl+4 for bombers) allows for rapid selection and command.

1.1. SELECTING UNITS

Walkthrough

1
Select a single unit: Left Click on the unit.
2
Select all units of a specific type on screen: Double Left Click on a unit.
3
Deselect all units: Left Click on an empty area of the screen.
4
Select all units within a box: Left Click and drag to create a selection box. If the selection is primarily mobile units, the game will guess which type of unit you intended and select only those mobile units.
5
Select all units and buildings on screen: Press Ctrl + C.
6
Select all units and buildings on the map: Press Ctrl + X.
7
Select all air units: Press Ctrl + A.
8
Select all sea units: Press Ctrl + S.
9
Select all land units: Press Ctrl + L.
10
Select all engineers and the Commander: Press Ctrl + B.
11
Select all units of a specific type on the entire map: Press Ctrl + Z.
12
Select all engineers on screen: Press Ctrl + Period.
13
Select all factories on screen: Press Ctrl + H.
14
Go to the Commander: Press Comma.
15
Select the Commander: Press Alt + Comma.
16
Go to the nearest idle engineer (a unit that can construct buildings): Press Period.
17
Select the nearest idle engineer: Press Alt + Period.
18
Cycle through idle engineers: Press Shift + Period.
19
Select the nearest factory: Press H.
20
Select the nearest land factory: Press Ctrl + Shift + L.
21
Select the nearest air factory: Press Ctrl + Shift + A.
22
Select the nearest naval factory: Press Ctrl + Shift + S.

Grouping Units:

Set selected units as a group: Select your units, then press Ctrl + [Number Key] (e.g., Ctrl + 1). All 10 number keys can be used for creating and selecting groups.
Add selected units to an existing group: Select the units you want to add, then press Shift + [Number Key] (e.g., Shift + 1). Units can belong to multiple groups.
Select a group of units: Press the corresponding [Number Key] (e.g., 1). By default, factories are not selected when you select a group.
Select the factories belonging to a specific group: Press Shift + Ctrl + [Number Key] (e.g., Shift + Ctrl + 1).
Add an idle engineer to a group: Shift + click on the unit icon of the desired group.

Tips

Your unit groups will appear as icons on the right side of your Heads-Up Display (HUD (heads-up display — the on-screen icons showing health, ammo and the minimap)) (a graphical overlay displaying game information).
Factories automatically assign their build queue's group numbers to newly constructed units.

1.2. GIVING ORDERS

This section covers the fundamental commands and hotkeys used to control your units in Supreme Commander. Understanding these is crucial for effective battlefield management.

Default Orders (Right Click):

Right-clicking on various targets issues default orders:

On Terrain: Move
On Enemies: Attack (Engineers will Capture instead)
On Allies or Construction: Assist (Engineers will Repair construction, Transports will Transport allied units instead)
On Transports: Transport
On Ferry Points: Transport (Transports will Ferry from that point)
On a Move Waypoint: Patrol (Undocumented)
On an Attack Waypoint: Coordinated Attack (Issue in reverse order of speed: artillery first, aircraft last. All groups attack simultaneously.)

Formation Movement (Right Click and Hold):

Hold Right Click to move units in formation.
Press Left Click while holding Right Click to cycle through formations.
Taking formation takes priority over reaching the destination; units may move backward to achieve it.

Default Formation Movement (Ctrl + Right Click):

Units move in a default formation.

Attack Move (Ctrl + Alt + Right Click or Attack + Left Click on ground):

Units will pursue enemies before completing their move order. Indicated by a red line with a blue Move waypoint.

Shift + Right Click: Queue Command

Adds the current command to the end of the unit's order queue.

Shift + Left Click and Hold on a command: Move Command Location

Allows you to reposition an existing command in the order queue.

Hotkeys:

R: Repair
E: Reclaim
P: Patrol (Engineers on Patrol will automatically Repair and Reclaim)
A: Attack
C: Capture
S: Stop
D: Dive / Surface
F: Ferry (Transports create a ferry beacon and start ferrying units)
I: Assist (Engineers and Cybran Mantis Repair; others deploy defensively; Factories take on build queues; Transports assist factories; Air units assist ferry beacons)
M: Move
U: Transport (Press once to load, again to unload)
Z: Pause Construction
O: Overcharge
L: Launch Tactical Missile
N: Nuke
[: Toggle Fire State (Fire At Will, Hold Fire, Hold Ground)
Ctrl + K: Kamikaze (Suicide)

Note: There are no default shortcuts for upgrading units, toggling cloaking/stealth, sacrificing, docking, or ordering factories to repeat orders. These require manual interface clicks.