The first missions gradually ease you into the many different concepts of the game, but you'll still find yourself with your hands full. In the beginning mission, your task is to establish your first base on a planet and build attack groups to neutralize an enemy outpost to the west. Once that's done, you'll have to go on the offensive to rescue a settlement under siege from Cybran forces. The good news is that if you can capture an enemy power station located to the southwest, you'll secure enough energy so that the besieged defenders can bring their artillery into the fight. After that, you must attack and destroy the enemy's ACU, and the easiest way to do that is to send a group on a flanking attack. The key is to bypass the formidable line of fortifications and destroy enemy air defenses in their rear. Once those are down, you can send attack aircraft after the enemy ACU.

We were impressed with the performance of the artificial intelligence, and one of the things that we noticed is that the AI doesn't appear content to do the same things over and over again. For example, in one battle, the AI correctly recognized that our main base was lacking in air defense after the bulk of our mobile air defense units were moved away to protect armies in the field. Just as we launched a huge offensive on the enemy base, a fleet of aerial gunships appeared to ravage our base, forcing a withdrawal. In another battle, we raced to construct nuclear missiles first, only to discover the enemy countered with antimissile defenses. Because both sides were separated by a large body of water and enemy air defenses were so heavy, our solution was to build strategic artillery to try to knock out the antimissile defenses and then let the nukes fly. However, the enemy also built strategic artillery and both sides exchanged shells. We also made the critical mistake of neglecting to build our own antimissile defenses, at which point an incoming nuke wiped out our main base. In other words, the AI performed solidly.

You can build hundreds of units before you hit the level cap, which means that some of the battles can get quite crazy as large masses of ground and air forces mix it up. The action is incredibly fast-paced at these times, and before too long, the burned-out hulks of wrecked vehicles litter the battlefield. One of the nice things about Supreme Commander is that this wreckage doesn't disappear over time, but it remains, so you can always recognize the sight of a huge battle.