Supreme Commander system

Campaign

Campaign (or story) mode allows you to begin a new campaign, load a saved game, or replay a previously unlocked operation. This mode also offers access to an in-game Tutorial, which is highly recommended to both newcomers to the real-time strategy genre and returning players.

Supreme Commander 2 features three complete campaigns, with multiple operations that tell a single, larger story.

Skirmish

This mode enables you to play solo or cooperatively with computer allies against computer-controlled opponents of adjustable difficulty and play-styles in a variety of environments.

A Skirmish match is similar to a multiplayer one, but with computer-controlled foes rather than human ones.

You have a number of options:

1) you can choose your map from the list of available ones.

2) You can choose your faction, add or remove AI opponents with specific AI personalities and difficulty levels, and setup teams for co-operative or competitive play.

3) You can also set the Victory Condition. This determines the game mode. The options for the Victory Condition are:

Assassination: In this mode, victory is achieved only with the destruction of all enemy commanders, regardless of other considerations.

Supremacy: Here your goal is to destroy all enemy structures, Engineers, and Commander.

Infinite War: Play without any set limits or victory conditions, and to try out new builds or learn key concepts with or without AI opponents.

Upon completion of a Skirmish match, you receive a summary of your performance. It displays the battle statistics for each player, both military and economic.

Multiplayer

In Multiplayer mode you can Host or Join a multiplayer skirmish match.

Supreme Commander 2 supports multiplayer for up to 8 players. Multiplayer is identical to Skirmish, only you're playing against live humans.

Host: This lets you host a multiplayer match. You give it a name, decide whether or not to set a password, assign it tags (which can be used for searching), or make it Private for your Steam friends.

Once you're in the Multiplayer Lobby, you setup your game just like you do for a Skirmish match. You can chat with other players, setup teams, set your starting positions, and launch the game.

Quick Match: This searches for a game with the lowest ping and an available slot.

Join Game: This option brings up the multiplayer browser, letting you search for Public Games, Friends-only Games, and search people's tags. Once you find the game you want to join, you select it and press "Join Game." That takes you to the Multiplayer Lobby.

Resource Management

The two principal resources in both Supreme Commander 2 and the universe proper are Mass and Energy. Mass is the fundamental building-block of every unit and structure in your arsenal, while Energy denotes the power necessary to manufacture and maintain the systems.

Both substances are collected from the planetary surface via structures constructed by either your ACU or your Engineer units.

Mass

There are two ways to accumulate Mass. The most common method is via the use of Mass Extractors, which directly mine suitable physical matter from the planet's crust. Extractors can only be built upon the deposits marked on your map by your ACU's photoreceptors with the green hexagonal "Ma" iconography.

A secondary method of acquiring Mass is by reclamation. When units and buildings are destroyed, their charred remnants leave behind residual Mass particles that can be collected by either an ACU or an Engineer via the Reclaim command.

(While organic and inorganic topography such as trees and rocks once yielded usable amounts of Mass and Energy, even the most mundane units of modern firepower are simply too demanding to make such ancillary extractions usable.)

Energy

The chief way to harvest Energy is through the construction and preservation of Energy Generators. Though unlike Mass extractors these can be constructed anywhere on the map, it is generally advisable to place them near your other structures for defensive reasons. Energy production can be boosted via a Research upgrade.

(Formerly, Hydrocarbon Power Plants were able to dramatically enhance Energy output but as a by-product of the Infinite War, most alkyne-rich sources have been drained, destroyed, or irradiated, rendering their continued usage tactically unbeneficial.)