The player can command one of three factions: the Aeon Illuminate, the Cybran Nation, or the United Earth Federation (UEF).

These mech suits are designed to be transported through quantum gateways across the galaxy and contain all the materials and blueprints necessary to create a 37th-century army from a planet's native resources in hours.

The player is an inexperienced Commander who plays a key role in their faction's campaign to bring the "Infinite War" to an end.

Because humans have discovered replication technology, making advanced use of rapid prototyping and nanotechnology, only two types of resources are required to wage war: Energy and Mass.

Supreme Commander uses a "strategic zoom" system that allows the player to seamlessly zoom from a detailed close up view of an individual unit all the way out to a view of the entire map, at which point it resembles a fullscreen version of the minimap denoting individual units with icons.

Supreme Commander introduced several innovations designed to reduce the amount of micromanagement inherent in many RTS games.

The setting of Supreme Commander is a future where humanity is able to travel through the galaxy quickly using a quantum gateway, which is a portal opened from the fabric of space leading to a designated location potentially light-years away.

The Cybrans plan to use it to destroy the quantum gate network and free their enslaved brethren, while the Aeon seek to use it to broadcast a message of peace to all people.

Victory in the UEF campaign results in Black Sun destroying the critical planets of both the Aeon and the Cybrans, leading the galaxy into a new era of human superiority and ending the war.

[20] In the Cybran campaign, QAI, an enormously intelligent and powerful AI, uses it to spread a quantum virus and free all the symbionts under the control of the UEF, while disabling every quantum gate in the galaxy, stopping superluminal travel for five years, thus allowing the Cybran Nation to flourish without being attacked by the others.

Chris Taylor has stated that customizability was one of his goals for Supreme Commander,[5] and that the game would ship the development team's tools if possible.

[25] When detecting a multi-core processor, the game assigns a specific task, such as AI calculations, to each core, splitting the load between them.

It includes a tutorial, a portion of the single-player campaign, and a two-player skirmish map called "Finn's Revenge" in which the player can fight against an easy, medium, or hard Cybran AI.

[30] Taylor has hinted at a seventh generation console release in "the near future",[31] calling the Xbox 360 "the platform of choice".

[37] Two weeks after that patch, version 3255 fixed a peer desynchronisation bug, one that could be used to deceive the rating system (called an exploit in gaming jargon).

As of October 2011 to February 2018[41] there is a community created multiplayer client and server replacement under active development and continued core game bugfix support in the form of unofficial patches.

SoundtrackNet's Brian McVickar gave the soundtrack 3.5 stars out of 5, commented that the score has "a healthy dose of action" and "an infectious energy and gusto".

[46] Oliver Ittensohn from GSoundtracks gave the soundtrack 4.5 stars out of 5, stating: "It’s a very fine score and a great achievement.".

Soule's "thematic, rich and action-packed" orchestral writing, as well as the impressive level of detail in the synthesised music was praised.

[45] Charles Onyett from IGN also commented that the score is "top notch, really driving home the notion of an epic conflict.".

[4] Dan Stapleton of PC Gamer praised the versatility of the strategic zoom, and expressed his loathing of the next game that wouldn't feature it.

The dual-screen mode was highly regarded, the mission design was praised, and the emotional presence of the story was also recognized.

However, a few points were docked due to the general lack of diverse unit types, and the game's system requirements.

Meer remarked though, that Supreme Commander "feels like hard work", and that with the emphasis on epic scale, details are overlooked.

[67] Particularly the intuitive and helpful strategic zoom and base automation were praised, though the steep hardware requirements and naval pathfinding issues were found less appealing—while they would find their way to their designated target point, their routes were not always the most efficient.

[71] The issues addressed by its international counterpart were deemed more severe, and the reviewer was not impressed by the interface, finding the amount of control it gives over the game lacking.

Conversely, the review in the Australian version of GamePro voiced a negative opinion on the game, giving Supreme Commander a rating of five out of ten.

[72] GamePro assessed Supreme Commander as an over-ambitious game, with performance (measured in frames per second), even on high end systems, as a major negative point.

Especially the size and scope of the game were appreciated, while the steep learning curve was a less positive point for the German reviewer.

[84][85][86] It provides expanded mod and custom map support, with the core game itself undergoing changes to graphics, balance, and gameplay mechanics in the form of unofficial patches.