Overview
See everything. Supreme Commander’s strategic zoom transformed RTS interface design—one mousewheel scroll took players from watching a single unit to viewing the entire battlefield as icons. Chris Taylor’s vision of grand-scale warfare finally had the technology to match. Thousand-unit battles, experimental superweapons, and multi-front conflicts demanded the macro-level perspective that zoom provided.
Fast facts
- Developer: Gas Powered Games.
- Designer: Chris Taylor.
- Year: 2007.
- Innovation: Strategic zoom.
Strategic zoom
| Level |
View |
| Close |
Individual units |
| Medium |
Squad formations |
| Far |
Unit icons |
| Strategic |
Full map |
Faction design
| Faction |
Philosophy |
| UEF |
Balanced, conventional |
| Cybran |
Stealth, speed |
| Aeon |
Technology, purity |
| Seraphim |
Alien power |
Experimental units
| Unit |
Function |
| Monkeylord |
Spider assault |
| Fatboy |
Mobile factory |
| Colossus |
Sacred assault bot |
| Czar |
Flying fortress |
Economic system
| Feature |
Implementation |
| Mass |
Extracted, fabricated |
| Energy |
Generated, stored |
| Adjacency |
Bonus placement |
| Overflow |
Shared resources |
Scale warfare
| Aspect |
Scope |
| Map sizes |
80km × 80km |
| Unit counts |
Thousands |
| Battles |
Multi-front |
| Duration |
Hour-long matches |
Legacy
| Title |
Year |
| Forged Alliance |
2007 |
| Supreme Commander 2 |
2010 |
| FAF Community |
Ongoing |
See also