| Roanoke Abyss Supreme Commander official skirmish map | |
| Max Players | 6 |
| Size | 20x20 km |
| An unnatural, sunken area of an otherwise normal ocean, many believe the Abyss was created by aliens for some unknown purpose. Though disproved by scientific surveys, the mere rumor of possible alien technology is enough for all three factions to fight savagely for control of the area. | |
Roanoke Abyss is an official map. It is a large circular archipelago with six major islands and eighteen smaller islands. The islands are simple low-lying areas with mass extraction points, trees and rocks. The large islands each have eight mass extraction points, and the small islands have one. There are no hydrocarbon deposits.
Official Description[]
An unnatural, sunken area of an otherwise normal ocean, many believe the Abyss was created by aliens for some unknown purpose. Though disproved by scientific surveys, the mere rumor of possible alien technology is enough for all three factions to fight savagely for control of the area.
Strategy[]
This map favors air and naval units. The significant distance between opponents, the lush reclaimable resources on the starting islands, and the shelter from early rushing land units often lead to large battles between naval and experimental units.
Expansion[]
In a ranked 1v1 match, opponents start on opposite islands. Claiming the large unoccupied islands gives a significant advantage because of additional resources and ground for a closer base. Patrolling air units will run into fuel problems, so these nearer islands also provide useful areas for air staging facilities. Transports are crucial when claiming other islands. An engineer ordered to move over the water from one large island to the next will take 3 minutes, while a transport can load, move and unload several engineers in 50 seconds.
Land units[]
Because land units are relatively ineffective, players rarely build large land forces or effective defenses against land forces. This makes surprise drops of T2 or T3 land units on an enemy base especially effective. Various defenses are available against this strategy, but it's difficult and expensive to cover all sides of the large islands to make them entirely protected from such strikes.
Air units[]
Air units rule this map. Tech 1 scouts provide vision on this large map, tech 1 bombers harass expansion, gunships tear apart unescorted naval units, Mercies destroy key infrastructure, and Tech 3 bombers can get a surprise kill. Air control is extremely important, especially against a Cybran player building a Soul Ripper.
[]
Naval battles often decide the victor. Bombardment from a single early destroyer can wipe an enemy off an island. A group of destroyers escorted by cruisers are especially effective because the cruisers provide effective anti-air and tactical missile defense. Still, this requires effective control of the waters, which usually requires large numbers of tech 1 submarines.
Aeon advantage[]
The Aeon have some signficiant advantages on Roanoke Abyss. According to the community stats, Aeon players win 55% of matches on Roanoke Abyss, while Cybran players win 45%, and UEF players win only 43%. The Aeon's Auroras can move freely around the map, harassing an opponent's expansion attempts. An experienced opponent will use frigates, point defenses and/or bombers to defend their starting position, but Auroras are still effective at attacking secondary bases and undefended mass extractors on small islands. The Aeon are also considered to have a very effective navy, headed by the Tempest experimental unit.