It’s not really a rival they actually work more collaboratively. FAF is aimed at competitive PVP while LOUD is aimed at co-op / Single player.

To that end, other communities have seen fit to begin adopting some of the principals involved in that performance, and I’m all for it - being that it’s a good thing for the entire Supreme Commander experience. I’m going to specifically mention Jip (from the FAF community) who has made every effort in that regard, and we consider him a valued friend of LOUD, not only as a regular user of it, but in his efforts to break down the walls between different communities and bring them together.

^ Quote from their mod page, their devs share notes on Performance Improvements that both mods included.