-
Performance & technical improvements for Supreme Commander/TOTAL ANNIHILATION
Commenters repeatedly point out the game’s threading and AI path‑finding bottlenecks and celebrate mods or engine rewrites that fix them.“With modern tooling, libraries and such, many of supcoms old technical issues can be address… I think I'm close to a like for like version… 64,000 unit air fight … 60fps plus!” – slightlygrilled
“I've played the LOUD mod for years, seems to solve a bunch of performance problems.” – theandrewbailey -
Dislike of AI‑generated websites as homogenised, sloppy “corporate speak”
Many users complain that AI‑produced sites all look the same, reuse buzzword‑heavy phrasing, and lack individuality.“I can get past the AI slop design myself, but the writing style is absolutely grating, especially the short repetitive phrases. 'Punchy phrase. No X.' … Why is it always the same?” – joefourier
“The homogenization of the internet. The worst corporate speak PR pages are now what gets generated for every pet project” – DaveChurchill -
Enthusiasm for open‑source spiritual successors (Beyond All Reason, Spring engine, FAF, etc.)
The discussion highlights community‑driven projects that capture the feel of TA/SupCom while adding modern features and polished UX.“I recently discovered Beyond All Reason, a spiritual successor to Total Annihilation… It's open source, but looks nice and is polished… It supports insanely huge battles with hundreds of players and tens of thousands of units.” – modeless
“For what its worth, the Total Annihilation derived project with the most attention currently is BAR.” – somat
Total Annihilation, rebuilt for modern computers
📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)
🚀 Project Ideas
Generating project ideas…
SupCom Moho Engine Rewrite – Multi-threaded Vulkan RTS Engine
Summary
- A ground‑up rewrite of the Supreme Commander/Forged Alliance engine that adds full multi‑threading, an ECS architecture, and Vulkan rendering to eliminate threading bottlenecks and AI path‑finding lag.
- Core value proposition: enables massive unit counts (64k+ battles) at smooth 60 FPS on modern hardware while preserving the original game feel.
Details
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Target Audience | Supreme Commander/Forged Alliance Forever community, modders, RTS enthusiasts |
| Core Feature | Deterministic simulation with parallel systems, ECS (Entt), Vulkan rendering, improved hierarchical/path‑flow AI |
| Tech Stack | C++17/Rust hybrid, Vulkan, Entt ECS, std::thread/taskflow, optional Bullet physics |
| Difficulty | High |
| Monetization | Hobby |
Notes
- HN users highlighted the threading problem: “maqp: Definitely! Supcoms downfall was the poor threading support…” and the community effort: “slightlygrilled: I have actually been working on this! With modern tooling… can get that going at 60fps plus!”
- Potential for discussion: unlocking truly large‑scale battles, inspiring new mods, and serving as a benchmark for deterministic RTS engines.
AI Slop Detector – Browser Extension/Linter for Generative AI Website Patterns
Summary
- A lightweight browser extension (and optional CLI linter) that scans web pages for tell‑tale signs of AI‑generated designs—uniform card layouts, repetitive punchy phrasing, overused color schemes like Tokyo Night/Dracula—and scores the “AI‑slop” level while offering concrete diversification tips.
- Core value proposition: helps designers and developers quickly spot homogenised AI output and restore visual & textual diversity to their sites.
Details
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Target Audience | Web developers, designers, HN commenters frustrated with AI‑generated site sameness |
| Core Feature | Pattern detection (card grids, repetitive phrases, generic palettes) + actionable improvement suggestions |
| - Tech Stack | TypeScript/React for popup UI, Rust/Wasm for high‑performance regex/NLP heuristics, Chrome/Firefox WebExtension APIs |
| Difficulty | Medium |
| Monetization | Revenue-ready: SaaS subscription $9/mo per team (free tier for individuals) |
Notes
- Quotes from the thread show the pain: “DaveChurchill: The homogenization of the internet… The worst corporate speak PR pages are now what gets generated for every pet project” and “joefourier: …grating, especially the short repetitive phrases.”
- Practical utility: can be used in CI pipelines to flag AI‑generated landing pages, sparking discussions about AI ethics in design and encouraging more varied, human‑centric aesthetics.
RTS AI Arena – Plug‑and‑play AI Framework for Open-source RTS Games
Summary
- Provides a standardized, high‑performance AI bot API (with built‑in hierarchical path‑finding, flow fields, and multi‑threaded tick) for open‑source RTS engines like Beyond All Reason, Spring Engine, and FAF mods, complete with replay analysis, leaderboards, and easy bot submission.
- Core value proposition: lowers the barrier for AI researchers and modders to create, test, and compare sophisticated RTS AIs, fostering innovation and longer game longevity.
Details
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Target Audience | RTS AI researchers, modders of BAR/Spring/FAF, competitive AI enthusiasts |
| Core Feature | Unified AI interface, optimized pathfinding (HPA*/flow fields), deterministic multi‑threaded simulation, replay‑viewer & ranking system |
| Tech Stack | C++ (or Rust) core, Lua/JavaScript bindings for game integration, optional ECS, uses existing Spring/Godot backend |
| Difficulty | Medium |
| Monetization | Hobby |
Notes
- Community enthusiasm for large battles: “modeless: …BAR supports insanely huge battles with hundreds of players and tens of thousands of units.” and performance praise: “theandrewbailey: I've played the LOUD mod for years, seems to solve a bunch of performance problems.”
- Practical utility: enables regular AI tournaments, encourages academic collaboration, and can be showcased at events like SIGBOVIK or GDC AI summits, driving both discussion and tangible improvements to RTS AI quality.