Slashdot Mirror
Total Annihilation Sequel Preview
An anonymous reader writes "Fans of much loved RTS Total Annihilation will be excited to hear that a spiritual successor is in the works under the name Supreme Commander. Information on this title has been scarce until today, when Gamespy released a preview with screenshots galore. The preview contains an overview of the game, the storyline and, coming tommorrow, an interview with Chris Taylor."
I was so addicted to total annihilation that it was the first and only game that I created maps for and played for hours and hours on end. The fact that the maps were not just the product of a game-packaged editor suite but could be any form of bitmap with a heightmap was one of the factors that drew so many people towards customizing the game environment. If you wanted to play on britney spears, that was easily doable given a decently sized scan.
Normally I'm not an RTS fan. Probably because I would always get my ass handed to me in Starcraft. But this game just looks amazing. The fact that it hs such an interesting and diverse scale is astounding. The nukes in particular. I remember in C&C and SC that a nuke might kill a few units and maybe damage a few structures but the nukes in this game actually seem like real nukes, full blown devistation. The whole zooming in idea reminds me of GoogleEarth.
if you had the time.
I found the games ran far too long, and though there were a wide range of units, combined arms were usually inferior to just building large quantities of 2 or 3 units.
C&C Generals had far shorter games with better incentive to build a few of most of the units you were capable of building.
The only reason I'm posting this short review is because many view TA 1 to be the best RTS ever made. My point is that it's all a matter of what you value most: huge waves of units and really really fast clicking or actual strategy.
Latewire
Total Annihilation was easily the most fun I've ever had playing an RTS. Warcraft III and Command & Conquer just don't give you the same rush as building 50 wasps and sending them simultaneously to swarm your enemy.
I recently revisted the game (after finding the original 2 disc installation) and noticed how poor the graphics were. The units were 3d and the terrain was 2d. It worked for back then, but nowadays we need everything 3d. The Ta-Spring project has been doing great in their recreation and enhancement of the original game. It features full 3d environments and even first person combat control. Some of the new weapons such as the plasma deflector are simply amazing and make the TA experience much better.
On the whole, TA-Spring has brought new life into TA without completely changing the game. It looks almost exactly similar to its original, except for the better graphics and advanced features.
I can only hope this sequel, Supreme Commander, will be better than the FIRST sequel, TA: Kingdoms. Futuristic combat just makes more sense given the view and nature of an RTS. One thing is for sure, the concept art and map design look out of this world - a theme that went well with the first TA.
Sigs are for Terrorists.
I don't know...Dungeon Siege was pretty awful.
LOAD "SIG",8,1
I loved this game! I loved it when you would start working on your metal reserves, and get a plant up and running.
You start on construction of a vehicle and.. wait.. where is my commander!
The strategy was to make as many flying transports as possible as fast as possible, and have them go "load" up the enemy commander, ceasing their production of anything.
It was fun! As long as you weren't the sucker who got carried away XD
Total Annihilation was the king of RTS.
This is the best possible news!
The unofficial
Despite it being nearly eight years old, TA is still easily my favorite RTS game out there. In my humble opinion, no other RTS game before or since has managed to balance simplicity, depth, and strategy quite like TA did.
I'm looking forward to Supreme Commander with bated breath.
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
The single best thing about the original TA was the *fantastic* score used for the soundtrack. The only game I've ever ripped the audio from to listen to alone.
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"
- Charles Darwin
I havnt played TA in years but even I know that turtling is the quickest way to lose a game of ta
It looks like it has the same feel as TA. Hopefully some of the same strategies will work. In the original you could hide a construction unit in the middle of nowhere and in the event your base is wiped off the map, you could eventually rebuild your whole base with enough time.
I've never played TA, how would it (and hypothetically, Supreme Commander) compare to others like Age of Empires/Mythology and War/Starcraft? I've been looking to get back into RTS, and this looks like a good candidate.
"That is the saving grace of humor, if you fail no one is laughing at you." -A. Whitney Brown
Strategy in a RTS? Surely you jest.
RTSs should be called RTCF(Real-Time Click Fest)
But maybe he will prove me wrong(I hope).
Many of the games features were designed to reduce micromanagement, freeing the player's brain (and mouse) for more important things.
For example, you could direct a given airfield to assign a team number to all units produced, and you could use the Shift key and mouse to define a multi-vector patrol route for the aircraft to navigate once built. Assuming you also had a few repair platforms around and activated, the aircraft would automatically assume a patrol along the assigned route, attack anything that came in range, and automagicaly fly off to repair themselves if they were wounded too badly.
You could also queue up a few dozen build orders for a selected number of construction vehicles (nice for putting together some fairly organized defenses), committing those units to that action for a half-hour or more, and then you could set a few more construction units (level 1 construction aircraft were good for this) on patrol in the general area. Not only would the patrolling const a/c automaticaly perform repairs on wounded units as they passed (or harvest enegry or metal if needed), but they would also stop and assist the building units with their tasks, adding their own construction power to the power of the original unit until the given target was completed.
The Shift key could be used to queue almost any type of order, be it builds, attacks, movements, or whatever, and I wish more RTS games would impelement that simple concept...
Mainframe/UNIX Bit Twiddler and long time Windows/Linux Hobbyist.
The Theorem Theorem: If If, Then Then.
I guess you play what you want. Either SC with its zerg/marine rushes or TA with its turtling.
Can someone tell me what the two-headed, club wielding icon for this story is? I've wondered for years. TY
This is *exactly* the right point to ask for Linux support!
Either a) A linux native version,
or
b) Disclosure of source code to Transgaming (or Codeweavers, or whoever) to create a Supreme Commander compatible WineX/Cedega. This should be a pretty easy option for them.
I just sent them an e-mail, and I plan on asking all my friends to e-mail them.
I suggest including tidbits like "I play Doom 3, Neverwinter Nights, and the Unreal series of games natively on linux, and I play Half Life 2, and World of Warcraft through cedega."
Linux gaming needs you! Before release is the right time to pester the developers.
WhiteWolf666 an exBush supporter. All you new-school,compassionate,save the children Republicans can rot in hell
How can you make a sequel to a "Total Annihilation?" What's the title.. "Still Annihilated?"
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
When TA came out, me and several guys at work bought it. This was in the pre-DSL days, but we had high priced ISDN modems for "working from home". We played tons of games of 2v2 with coworkers.
Those early games before we knew anything were the best. Building my first squad of brawlers (about 5) and emg'ing one of the enemy Coms to death. The abject fear when I faced my first incoming bertha strikes. The two pronged death of my ground attacks and my partners air-war-machine.
New maps and units kept us playing for at least a year. Buy far this was the best gaming dollar I every spent. I dusted it off 6 months ago and heck if I still don't think it is a barrel of fun.
I bought Dung Siege on the strength of CT's name, but it was bland. Great engine (seamless loads) but lacked any soul.
I will definitely give him another chance with this return...
Quite frankly from what I recall, TA was actually a VERY rush-positive game. A decent early-game flash rush could easily beat someone that was trying to confine themselves and play defensively. Of course, the best strategy was to rush early, keep the other person on the defensive, and use their desire to sit in their base and 'turtle' to grab all of the resource spots on the land and crush the enemy with overwhelming force.
Ah, good times, good times.
While you wait, checkout these other ports:
http://taspring.clan-sy.com/screenshots.php
- TA in 3d using a custom graphics engine
- has all the original units
- checkout the movies
http://ua.tauniverse.com/- TA in 3d using an unreal graphics engine
- has all the original units
- checkout the pictures.
The TA community is live with an active single and multiplayer action. I would say the best overall quality that TA has is that it scales. You can play on a tiny map where you control the actions of each unit. Or you can play 10 players each with 5000 units in huge epic battles.Def
One of the ways to handle such situations is to try to prevent the opponent from having the time and resources to porc up in the first place, but I guess that's pretty easy to say from the sidelines. :-)
Once he's porced up, though, he isn't expanding, and that gives you the upper hand in the long run.
I know I'd try to porc up if I thought I'd get away with it, but I'm not good enough to actually *win* that way. Sometimes it's better to go out with a bang, anyway...
Mainframe/UNIX Bit Twiddler and long time Windows/Linux Hobbyist.
The Theorem Theorem: If If, Then Then.